Referral request template for executive coaching
Use this referral request worksheet to ask a satisfied customer for a relevant introduction without pressuring them. It is written for executive coaching and starts with an illustrative offer: a structured leadership coaching programme. Replace the assumptions with evidence from your own business before using the result.
Leave with a specific referral request and an optional introduction message.
Start with a real buying situation
For the worked example, the audience is a founder preparing to manage a growing leadership team. Their problem is that important decisions return to the founder even after delegation. The desired practical outcome is clearer decision ownership and a repeatable reflection routine.
The example is deliberately bounded: personal discussions must have explicit confidentiality boundaries. That condition should influence the promise, scope and next step rather than disappear from the marketing copy.
| Illustrative offer | a structured leadership coaching programme |
|---|---|
| Buyer question | Which recurring decision would you like your team to own without you? |
| Possible evidence | a sample session agenda and a client-owned progress journal |
| Useful asset | a delegation reflection worksheet |
How to complete your referral request
- Confirm that the customer has had a useful experience.
- Describe the kind of person and problem you can help with.
- Ask whether an introduction would be appropriate.
- Provide a short optional message they can edit.
- Respect a decline and keep any incentive explicit.
Worked example
These entries are illustrative planning material, not research findings or customer results. Keep the structure and replace the content with verified details.
| Why an introduction may be appropriate | Ask after the customer confirms the work was useful. Do not assume satisfaction from payment alone. |
|---|---|
| Who we can help | a founder preparing to manage a growing leadership team facing the following problem: important decisions return to the founder even after delegation. |
| The low-pressure request | If someone in your network is dealing with this issue, would an introduction be appropriate? No problem if nobody comes to mind. |
| Optional introduction text | Optional introduction: “I thought you might find this relevant. They offer a structured leadership coaching programme. You can decide whether a conversation would be useful.” |
| Follow-up and consent | Let the customer choose whether to introduce you. Do not request a contact list or enrol a referred person into a sequence without an appropriate basis. |
Review before using it
A useful operational measure in this example is completion and reflection on agreed behavioural experiments. That does not automatically make it a marketing attribution metric. Define the source, period and owner before drawing conclusions.
- Can the customer decline comfortably and understand exactly who would be contacted?
- Check the delivery assumptions: Agree session cadence, confidentiality, cancellation and sponsor reporting.
- Use evidence rather than promises. Keep coaching separate from clinical care and avoid psychological diagnoses.
- Discuss the draft with someone who understands the buying situation. Start with: “Which recurring decision would you like your team to own without you?”
- If the next step is a trial, define its purpose. One possible starting point is to run a clearly scoped introductory session and agree one behaviour to practise.
Common mistakes and a better review
Do not fill a missing fact with an impressive-sounding number. Mark it as an assumption, explain how you will check it and give that check an owner. A short, honest document is easier to use than an elaborate plan built on unknowns.
| Watch for | Asking for access to a customer’s entire contact list creates friction and privacy concerns. |
|---|---|
| A real buyer concern | How can I prove coaching will pay for itself? |
| Useful response direction | We can agree observable behaviours and review them. We should not present a coaching conversation as a guaranteed financial return. |
| Evidence to collect | The buyer’s own account, a sample session agenda and a client-owned progress journal, and records relevant to completion and reflection on agreed behavioural experiments. |
Your working sheet.
Make the exercise your own. Notes are saved in this browser when storage is available. Download a copy to keep; avoid confidential information on a shared device.
Example: Ask after the customer confirms the work was useful. Do not assume satisfaction from payment alone.
Example: a founder preparing to manage a growing leadership team facing the following problem: important decisions return to the founder even after delegation.
Example: If someone in your network is dealing with this issue, would an introduction be appropriate? No problem if nobody comes to mind.
Example: Optional introduction: “I thought you might find this relevant. They offer a structured leadership coaching programme. You can decide whether a conversation would be useful.”
Example: Let the customer choose whether to introduce you. Do not request a contact list or enrol a referred person into a sequence without an appropriate basis.
Review your work
This is a reflection checklist, not an automated assessment.
Questions
How do I adapt this for my executive coaching business?+
Is the filled example ready to publish?+
What should I do after completing the worksheet?+
Illustrative business worksheet. No customer results, market rates, traffic volumes or performance benchmarks are implied.
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