How to Track Closed Business in a Referral Group (TYFCB Explained)

TYFCB stands for "Thank You for Closed Business." The term comes from BNI, and many referral groups use it or simply say "closed business." It is the dollar value of work a member won from a referral, reported by the member who received it, as a thank-you to the member who gave it.

Counting referrals tells a group how active it is. Counting closed business tells it what the activity is worth.

Why it matters

• Members see what their seat is worth. "I received 14 referrals" is nice. "I closed $23,000" is why someone renews.
• Givers get thanked. A member who hears that their referral became a job gives another.
• Guests get a reason to join. "Our chapter closed this much for each other last year" is the strongest thing a leader can say to a visitor.
• Leaders see problems early. Plenty of referrals and little closed business usually means the referrals aren't qualified.

Who reports it, and when

The member who received the referral reports the closed business. They know what it was worth. The giver should not have to ask.

Report it when the work is won and paid, not when it is quoted. A quote is a hope.

Agree on what counts

Groups argue about closed business when the rules were never written down. Decide these once.

1. Revenue, not profit. Report what the customer paid. It is simple, and nobody has to reveal their margins.
2. Repeat business. Choose a rule: count each payment as it comes in, or count the first year. Either works. Mixing them doesn't.
3. Long sales. A referral passed in March may close in November. It still belongs to the member who gave it.
4. Commissions. Members paid by commission, such as real estate, mortgage and insurance, report the fee they earned, not the price of the house.
5. Business between members. When a member buys from another member, it counts like any other closed business.
6. Second-hand business. If a referred customer later sends a friend, decide whether that counts toward the original giver. Many groups say yes.

Keep the list to one page and give it to every new member.

Totals are shared. Details are not.

The chapter needs the totals. It does not need to know who the customer was or what one household paid a contractor. Report dollar amounts against the referral, and keep the contact's name, phone and email between the giver, the receiver and the chapter leader.

Ways to collect the numbers

• Slips at the meeting. Members fill in a thank-you slip and read it aloud. Good for recognition. Someone still has to add them up.
• A form or spreadsheet. Better than paper, but the closed amount isn't tied to the referral it came from, so nobody can see which referrals paid off.
• Software that follows each referral. The referral is recorded when it is given. The receiver updates it as it moves, and adds the value when it closes. The total is always current.

The third way is the only one that answers "what happened to the referrals we passed?" See how to track referrals in a networking group.

Three common problems

1. Under-reporting. Members close the work and forget to say so. Fix it with a monthly prompt: "Here are the referrals you received. What happened to each?"
2. Round guesses. Ask for the invoice amount, not an estimate.
3. Numbers nobody sees. If the total is never shown, members stop reporting. Put it on the screen at the meeting and on the chapter's website.

What to do with the numbers

• Each month: total closed, and the members who gave the referrals that closed
• Each quarter: closed business per member, so each seat's value is clear
• Each year: a headline number for recruiting guests

How it works in Ecoferral

The member who receives a referral updates it as it moves: contacted, meeting set, closed or lost. When it closes, they enter what it was worth. The giver is told and gets a thank-you, and the receiver can add a public thank-you that the leader approves for the chapter's website.

Closed business rolls up into each member's monthly report, the chapter's report and the organization's view of every chapter. A chapter website can show "closed this year" as a live number, and the leader can switch that off. See referral tracking.