How to Track Referrals for Your Networking Group for Free

The short answer: use a web form for members to submit referrals and a spreadsheet that collects the answers. Add a second tab for 1-to-1s and a third for totals. It costs nothing, takes about an hour to set up, and works well for a group of up to about 15 members with one person who keeps it tidy.

Step 1: The referral form

Make a form with these questions. Keep it short; every extra field is a reason not to fill it in.

• Your name (a drop-down of members, so names are spelled the same every time)
• Who is this referral for? (the same drop-down)
• Date
• The person or business you are referring, with their phone or email
• What they need, in a sentence
• Type of referral if your group counts them separately (see what a qualified referral is)
• How many referrals this counts as, if someone is passing more than one

Point the form at a spreadsheet so each answer lands in a row.

Step 2: The columns the form can't fill

Add these columns to the right of the form's answers. The receiver, or the leader, fills them in later.

• Status: sent, contacted, meeting set, closed, lost
• Closed value: what the business was worth, in dollars
• Date closed

This is the part that usually breaks. The receiver has to remember to open the sheet and update it. Ask for updates at the meeting once a month and fill them in on the spot.

Step 3: A tab for 1-to-1s

A second form, or just a tab, with three columns: member, the member they met with, and the date. 1-to-1s are the leading indicator for referrals, so they are worth counting. See 1-to-1 meeting questions.

Step 4: A totals tab

Use a pivot table (or a SUMIF per member) to show, for each member:

• Referrals given and referrals received
• Closed business received
• 1-to-1s this month

Read the top lines out at the first meeting of each month. Recognition is most of what makes members give referrals.

Keep contact details private

The people being referred did not agree to be in a group spreadsheet. Share the sheet only with the leader, and send each receiver their own referral by email or text. Never paste the full sheet into a group chat or show it on the meeting screen. Share totals instead.

When free stops being enough

Most groups outgrow this when one of these happens:

• The leader spends more than an evening a month on updates and totals
• Receivers stop updating status, so closed business is undercounted
• Members ask "how am I doing?" and the only answer is "I'll check"
• A second chapter starts and you need two sheets added together
• Someone asks who can see the contact details, and the honest answer is "anyone with the link"

At that point software built for referral groups saves more time than it costs. See Ecoferral vs. spreadsheets and Google Forms for a task-by-task comparison, and how to track referrals in a networking group for what to measure.

If you do switch, keep the spreadsheet. Your group's history is worth bringing with you, and Ecoferral imports past referrals when a group starts.