If you’re getting a decent flow of referral leads but your conversions are underwhelming, you’re not alone. Piling more leads into your pipeline doesn’t fix the real problem: treating every referral the same. This guide is for people who want more than a pile of unqualified leads—they want a simple, no-nonsense way to separate the gold from the noise, so they can focus on what actually closes deals.
Let’s dig into how you can use Refer to segment and prioritize your referral leads, so you can spend your time where it counts.
Step 1: Get Real About What a “Good” Referral Looks Like
Before you segment or prioritize anything, you need a gut-check: what does a genuinely good referral look like for you? Not all “qualified” leads are created equal, and sometimes, well-meaning referrers send over people who are just browsing, not buying.
Ask yourself: - Who are your best current customers? What makes them a good fit? - What are the warning signs of a referral that’s just going to waste your time? - Are there industries or company sizes that almost never convert for you?
Don’t skip this. If your criteria are fuzzy, your segmentation will be, too.
Pro Tip: Write down your must-haves and deal-breakers for a “good” referral. Treat it like a checklist, not a wish list.
Step 2: Use Refer’s Custom Fields to Capture What Matters
The default contact info—name, email, company—isn’t enough if you want to get serious about prioritizing. In Refer, you can set up custom fields on your referral forms. This is where you separate tire-kickers from real opportunities.
What to add? Depends on your business, but here are a few ideas that actually help:
- Role or Title: Are you talking to a decision-maker or a junior staffer?
- Company Size: If you only sell to companies over 100 employees, ask for headcount.
- Budget or Timeline: If a lead isn’t planning to buy for 12 months, is it worth your immediate attention?
- Referral Source: Who sent them? Some referrers send gold, others send noise.
Set up your form once, save hours later. Don’t go overboard—three to five custom questions is plenty. If your form is longer than a job application, you’ll scare off good leads.
Step 3: Build Segments Based on Real Conversion Data
Once you’ve got richer data on your referrals, you can actually segment them in a way that matters. In Refer, this usually means using tags, filters, or saved views to slice your list.
How to decide on your segments: - Start with the obvious: High-fit vs. low-fit. Decision-maker vs. info-gatherer. - Look at historical data: Which types of referrals closed fastest? Which ones ghosted you? - Don’t over-complicate: You don’t need 20 segments—start with 2-4 that are actually actionable.
Examples that work: - “Hot” leads: fit your ideal profile, have budget/timeline, referred by your best partners. - “Warm” leads: seem like a fit, but missing key info or have a longer timeline. - “Needs nurture”: not a great fit now, but maybe in the future. - “Ignore politely”: wrong industry, no budget, or sent by that one referrer who never gets it right.
What to ignore: Overly granular segments like “Companies with 51-75 employees in the Midwest using SAP.” You’ll just make more work for yourself.
Step 4: Prioritize With a Simple Scoring System
Now you’ve got segments, but you still need to decide who gets your attention first. This is where people get lost in the weeds with scoring systems that require a PhD to maintain.
Keep it dead simple:
- Assign points to your must-haves. For example:
- +2 if they match your ideal customer profile
- +1 if they’re a decision-maker
- +1 if they have a short buying timeline
- -2 if they don’t have a budget
- -1 if they’ve come from a low-quality referral source
Add up the points. Anyone above a certain threshold gets your immediate attention.
How to do this in Refer: Use custom fields and tags to filter and sort. You may need to do the actual scoring in a spreadsheet if you want more control. Don’t get hung up on automation—manual is fine if you’re not drowning in leads.
Pro Tip: Revisit your scoring every couple of months. If you’re chasing high scorers who never close, change your criteria.
Step 5: Act on Your Prioritization—Don’t Just Admire It
You’ve got your segments and scores. Now, don’t just sit there and feel good about your organized list—actually use it to drive your follow-up.
For your top-tier leads: - Respond fast. Speed matters—a quick reply can make or break the deal. - Personalize your outreach. Reference the referrer or specific details they provided. - Move them into your main sales process ASAP.
For mid-tier or “warm” leads: - Set reminders to check in later. - Send helpful resources to stay top-of-mind.
For low-priority or “ignore” leads: - Thank them for their interest, but don’t burn cycles chasing dead-ends. - If possible, automate a polite “not a fit right now” response.
Don’t waste energy on every lead. Focus on where you actually have a shot.
Step 6: Track What Works (and Drop What Doesn’t)
This is where most people drop the ball. Segmentation and prioritization aren’t “set and forget” tasks. If you never look back to see what’s converting, you’ll just keep repeating the same mistakes.
What to track: - Conversion rates by segment or score - Time to close - Feedback from your sales team (or yourself, if you’re solo) - Which referrers are sending the best (and worst) leads
What to ignore: Vanity metrics like “number of referrals received.” If they’re not converting, who cares?
How to improve: - Tweak your form questions and segments based on actual results. - Shift your focus toward your best-performing referrers and segments. - Don’t be afraid to cull segments that aren’t working.
A Few Things That Don’t Work (So You Don’t Waste Your Time)
- Over-engineering your segments. If you’re spending more time tweaking your segments than talking to leads, you’ve missed the point.
- Chasing every lead equally. Your time is limited—treat it that way.
- Relying on gut feel alone. Use actual data from Refer, not just your hunches.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Segmenting and prioritizing your referral leads in Refer isn’t rocket science—unless you make it that way. Start with clear definitions, capture the right info, keep your segments actionable, and focus your energy where you’re most likely to win. If something’s not working, change it. The goal isn’t a perfect system; it’s a process that helps you close more, faster.
You’ll get better results by keeping things simple and tweaking as you go, instead of getting stuck in endless planning. Now, get back to those leads that actually matter.