Referral relationships can be some of the most valuable sources of business, but only if you can clearly see who is sending opportunities, what happened to those referrals, and which partnerships are actually producing results.
Shape Referral Tracking connects referral partners directly to the records they generate so you can follow those relationships over time.
Once a referral partner is linked to a record, Shape automatically associates that record with the partner. From the referral partner’s record, users can review linked referrals, see key details about those opportunities, communicate with the partner, and use reporting to understand referral volume and progression.
Referral tracking is available across Shape industry templates, although the exact fields and details shown may vary depending on the system.
What Is a Referral Partner?
A Referral Partner is a dedicated record type in Shape used for people or organizations that send business to your team.
Depending on the industry, this may include:
- Realtors
- Brokers
- Attorneys
- CPAs
- Financial professionals
- Business partners
- Strategic partners
- Affiliates
- Other professionals who refer customers or opportunities
Referral Partner records work like other CRM records in Shape. Users can store contact information, notes, activities, tasks, communication history, company information, and other relevant details.
The Referral Partner record also includes referral tracking functionality so you can see the opportunities connected back to that partner.
Why Track Referral Partners in Shape?
Knowing that someone sent you a lead is useful. Knowing what happened to that lead is much more valuable.
Referral tracking helps answer questions such as:
- Which partners send the most referrals?
- Which partners send the highest-quality opportunities?
- How many referrals make it through important pipeline stages?
- Which partners generate the most closed or funded business?
- Which referral relationships are growing?
- Which partners should your team spend more time nurturing?
Instead of keeping referral relationships in spreadsheets or relying on users to remember where a lead came from, Shape ties the relationship directly to the CRM record.
That makes referral attribution part of your normal sales workflow.
Creating a Referral Partner
Creating a Referral Partner record is simple.
Select the + button in Shape, choose Referral Partner, and complete the required information.
We recommend including as much useful partner information as possible, particularly:
- First and last name
- Phone number
- Company Name
- Relevant address information
- Any partner-specific custom fields your organization uses
Keeping the Company Name populated is especially useful because Shape’s Referral Partner Performance reporting can group and analyze referral activity by company.
Linking a Referral Partner to a Record
To track a referral, link the appropriate partner using the Referral Partner field on the record.
Search for the partner by name or other available identifying information, then select the correct record.
The record types available in this search depend on your Shape template.
For example:
- Some Mortgage systems primarily search Referral Partners and Contacts.
- Shape Professional systems may allow the Referral Partner field to search across additional record types such as Leads, Prospects, Accounts, Referral Partners, and Contacts.
- Other industry templates may use their own applicable searchable record types.
Once the Referral Partner field is populated, Shape automatically associates that record with the linked referral partner.
There is no separate referral tracking step required.
One Primary Referral Partner Per Record
Each record has one primary Referral Partner relationship.
If your organization needs to track additional people or sources involved in generating the opportunity, Shape includes other attribution fields that can be used alongside the Referral Partner field.
Depending on your configuration, these may include:
- Referral Source
- Source
- Sub-Source
- Reference ID
- Buying Agent
- Selling Agent
- Additional contact or service-provider relationships
- Other source-attribution fields
This allows the Referral Partner field to represent the primary partner relationship while preserving additional attribution when more than one person or source contributed to the opportunity.
Referral Partner vs. Referral Source
The Referral Partner and Referral Source fields serve different purposes.
Use Referral Partner when you want to link the opportunity directly to a person or partner record and track that relationship throughout Shape.
Use Referral Source when you need additional attribution that does not necessarily represent the primary referral partner relationship.
For example, a past customer might refer a friend while the opportunity also has another professional partner associated with it.
Your organization can use the available source and attribution fields together to capture the level of detail that matters to your business.
Referral Partner vs. Marketing Source
Referral Partner tracking is also separate from your normal marketing source attribution.
A record can have a marketing source or campaign while also being linked to a Referral Partner.
For example:
Marketing Source: Zillow
Referral Partner: Jane Smith, ABC Realty
Those fields answer different questions.
The marketing source explains how the opportunity entered your marketing ecosystem, while the Referral Partner field identifies the individual partner associated with the referral relationship.
Keeping those separate gives you a much clearer picture of where business actually comes from.
Viewing a Referral Partner’s Linked Referrals
Once records are linked to a Referral Partner, Shape automatically builds a referral history on that partner’s record.
Open the Referral Partner record and navigate to the Referral Tracking area to review the records associated with that partner.
Users can see key information about the linked referrals without needing to manually search the CRM for each one.
The information shown varies by industry template.
In general, the Referral Tracking view can include information such as:
- Referred customer’s name
- Contact information
- Current status
- Assigned user
- How the partner is linked to the record
- Other important record details
Mortgage systems typically include additional loan-specific information such as funded dates and more detailed relationship information.
Other Shape industry templates may display a different set of relevant details.
The important part is that users can open a Referral Partner and quickly understand the business connected to that relationship.
Total Linked Referrals
Referral Partner list views can include a Total Linked Referrals column.
This shows how many records are currently associated with each Referral Partner.
The column can be sorted from highest to lowest or lowest to highest, making it easy to identify partners with the most linked referral activity.
This can be useful for:
- Finding your highest-volume partners
- Prioritizing relationship outreach
- Reviewing partner portfolios
- Identifying referral relationships that may deserve more attention
Total Linked Referrals measures volume. For deeper performance analysis, use the Referral Partner Performance report.
Referral Tracking in Mortgage
Mortgage systems include additional relationship tracking because a loan often involves several outside professionals.
A mortgage record can separately track relationships such as:
- Referral Partner
- Buying Agent
- Selling Agent
- Other Contacts or service providers
These relationships remain distinct.
If someone is linked as the Referral Partner, Shape identifies them as the Referral Partner. If someone is linked as the Buying Agent or Selling Agent, Shape preserves that relationship accordingly.
This gives mortgage teams a clearer understanding of who played each role in the transaction.
Referral Partners in File Contacts
When a Referral Partner is linked to a mortgage file, that person can also appear within Service Providers › File Contacts.
This gives users a quick way to access the linked partner’s record directly from the loan file.
Instead of searching separately for the partner, the user can move between the loan and its associated contacts more easily.
Communicating With Referral Partners
Referral Partner records can use Shape’s normal communication and productivity tools based on your system configuration and user permissions.
This can include:
- Text messaging
- Calling
- Notes
- Tasks
- Calendar follow-up
- Communication history
Referral Partner relationships can also be used in Shape automation.
For example, organizations may use partner relationships in:
- Triggers
- Drip campaigns
- Filters
- Merge tokens
- Automated status updates
- Marketing audiences
- Other workflow rules
This makes referral tracking useful beyond reporting. The relationship can become part of how your organization communicates and follows up.
Keeping Referral Partners Updated During a Transaction
Some Shape templates, particularly Mortgage, can use automation to keep linked referral partners and other file contacts updated as an opportunity progresses.
For example, a mortgage workflow may send updates around milestones such as processing, underwriting, approval, clear to close, funding, or closing.
Templates can be configured to communicate with the appropriate linked Referral Partners and Contacts automatically.
This helps reduce manual updates while keeping important partners informed about the business they referred. The existing Mortgage guide also notes that linked Referral Partners can participate in configured partner portal and automated loan-update workflows.
Referral Partner Performance Report
Shape’s Referral Partner Performance report goes beyond simply counting referrals.
It helps organizations understand how referral partner leads progress through the sales pipeline and which partners are generating meaningful business.
The report is available across Shape industry templates, with the final production metric adjusted for the industry.
What the Report Shows
The Referral Partner Performance report evaluates leads connected through the Referral Partner field.
Users can review:
- Total linked referral volume
- Referral Partner
- Company
- Progression through selected statuses
- Conversion percentages between pipeline stages
- Final production volume
- Top-performing partners
- Referral trends over time
This makes it possible to compare both the quantity and quality of referrals.
Choose Up to Four Pipeline Statuses
Users can select up to four statuses to represent the stages that matter most to their business.
Shape remembers the selected statuses for future report runs.
For example, a mortgage organization could choose:
Application › Submitted › Approved › Funded
The report then shows how many referred leads reached each stage and how effectively they progressed from one stage to the next.
Other industries can choose the statuses that best represent their own sales funnel.
This is important because two Referral Partners might each send 50 leads, but the results could be very different.
One partner may send a high volume of leads that rarely progress, while another sends fewer leads that consistently convert.
Referral Partner Performance helps make that difference visible.
Referral Partner Performance Graph
At the top of the report, Shape displays a bar graph of up to the top 25 Referral Partners based on linked referral volume.
The graph also provides company-level context using the Company Name stored on Referral Partner records.
Users can review current or previous month activity to quickly identify which partners and companies are generating the most referral volume.
Referral Partner Performance Table
The report table provides a deeper look at individual partners.
It can display up to the top 100 Referral Partners based on linked referral volume.
Information can include:
- Referral Partner
- Company
- Total Leads
- Status 1 volume
- Status 2 volume
- Status 3 volume
- Status 4 volume
- Lead-to-Status 1 progression
- Status 1-to-Status 2 progression
- Status 2-to-Status 3 progression
- Status 3-to-Status 4 progression
- Final production volume
Users can also apply date and company filters to focus the analysis on the relationships they want to review.
Measuring Referral Value Across Industries
The final production metric in the Referral Partner Performance report is adapted to the Shape industry template.
For example:
- Mortgage: Loan Amount
- Insurance: Premium
- Solar: Project Cost
- Small Business: Total Deal Amount
- Debt: Estimated Total Debt
This helps organizations move beyond counting referrals and understand the actual business value associated with their referral relationships.
Referral Partner Record Visibility
Referral Partner databases can become complicated, especially in industries where multiple users may work with the same outside professionals.
Mortgage is a common example. Several loan officers in the same geographic market may all work with the same Realtor.
There is not one universal way every organization should manage this.
Some organizations prefer a shared Referral Partner database so teams can maintain one clean partner record.
Others prefer users to maintain their own partner relationships separately, even if that results in duplicate partner records.
Shape includes role-based record visibility settings that can help organizations control how Referral Partner records are shared across users and teams.
The best approach depends on your organization’s structure, ownership model, and expectations around partner visibility.
If you are unsure how to configure Referral Partner visibility, Shape Support can help review the available options with you.
Referral Partner Best Practices
A few habits can make referral tracking much more useful.
Link the Referral Partner Early
Populate the Referral Partner field when the opportunity first enters Shape whenever possible.
This helps keep attribution consistent from the beginning of the relationship.
Keep Company Information Updated
Populate the Company Name on Referral Partner records.
This improves company-level reporting and makes Referral Partner Performance analysis more useful.
Use the Referral Partner Field Consistently
If someone is the primary professional partner responsible for the referral, link them using the Referral Partner field rather than relying only on notes or a generic source field.
That is what allows Shape to build referral history and performance reporting around the relationship.
Use Additional Source Fields for Additional Attribution
If more than one person or channel influenced the opportunity, use the other available source and attribution fields rather than trying to place multiple people in the primary Referral Partner field.
Decide How Your Organization Wants to Handle Partner Visibility
Determine whether Referral Partner records should be broadly shared or more tightly controlled by user or team.
Consistency matters more than choosing one universal model.
Review Referral Performance, Not Just Referral Volume
The partner sending the most leads is not always the partner producing the best business.
Use the Referral Partner Performance report to compare volume, pipeline progression, and final production.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Create a Referral Partner?+
Select the + button in Shape, choose Referral Partner, and complete the required fields.
We recommend also adding company and complete contact information whenever possible.
How Do I Link a Referral Partner to a Lead or Opportunity?+
Open the record and use the Referral Partner field to search for and select the appropriate partner.
Once selected, Shape automatically associates the record with that Referral Partner.
What Records Can I Search From the Referral Partner Field?+
This depends on your Shape industry template and configuration.
For example, some Mortgage systems search Referral Partners and Contacts, while Shape Professional may support additional record types.
Can One Record Have Multiple Referral Partners?+
The primary Referral Partner field supports one Referral Partner.
If additional people or sources contributed to the opportunity, use the other available attribution fields such as Referral Source, Source, Sub-Source, Reference ID, or industry-specific relationship fields.
Is Referral Partner the Same as Lead Source?+
No.
Referral Partner identifies the person or partner connected to the referral relationship.
Lead Source, Marketing Source, Source, Sub-Source, and other attribution fields can separately explain how or where the opportunity originated.
Can I See All of the Leads a Referral Partner Has Sent Me?+
Yes.
Open the Referral Partner record and review the Referral Tracking area to see records linked to that partner.
The exact details displayed depend on your Shape template.
Can I Sort Referral Partners by Number of Referrals?+
Yes.
Use the Total Linked Referrals column on supported Referral Partner list views and sort the values to identify higher- or lower-volume partners.
What Happened to the Associates Tab?+
Shape no longer uses the term Associates.
That functionality is now called Contacts to better reflect the broader types of people organizations may associate with records.
What Is the Difference Between a Contact and a Referral Partner?+
A Referral Partner is a dedicated record type used for a primary business referral relationship.
Contacts are broader and can represent additional people associated with an opportunity, file, customer, or business relationship.
The exact usage depends on your industry template.
Can Referral Partners Be Used in Automation?+
Yes.
Referral Partner relationships can be used throughout supported Shape filters, triggers, campaigns, merge tokens, and other automation functionality.
Can I Communicate With Referral Partners From Shape?+
Yes.
Referral Partner records can use Shape’s normal communication and productivity features based on your system configuration and permissions.
How Do I Know Which Referral Partners Are Performing Best?+
Use the Referral Partner Performance report.
It allows you to compare referral volume, progression through up to four selected statuses, conversion between those stages, company information, and final production value.
Why Is Company Name Important on a Referral Partner?+
Company Name provides additional context about the partner and is also used in Referral Partner Performance reporting.
Keeping it populated helps you analyze both individual partner and company-level referral activity.
Turn Referral Relationships Into Measurable Business
A strong referral program is about more than knowing who sent a lead.
Shape connects the Referral Partner directly to the opportunity so your team can see the full relationship over time.
You can track every linked referral, review current outcomes, communicate with your partners, automate updates, compare referral volume, and measure how those opportunities actually move through your pipeline.
That gives teams a much clearer picture of which relationships are producing business and where continued partner engagement can have the greatest impact.