name: referral-activator description: > Turn recent client correspondence into a prioritized referral activation plan in under 3 minutes. Paste email threads from 3-5 different clients and get back: which clients are ready to refer you now, exactly what to say to each one, and when to send it. Use when you want to activate referrals from existing clients, figure out who to ask first, or stop guessing about which relationships are warm enough for a referral conversation. Triggers: "referral activator", "who should I ask for referrals", "activate referrals", "which clients would refer me", "referral plan", or any request to turn existing client relationships into referral sources. metadata: author: Kathryn Brown, Advisory OS version: "1.1.0" updated: "2026-04-15"

Referral Activator

Turn existing client relationships into referral conversations. Paste emails, walk away with messages ready to send.

Core Principle

Read before scoring. Absorb all the email threads before producing any output. The quality of the prioritization depends on seeing relationship signals across multiple clients — tone, responsiveness, praise, network mentions, recent wins. Don't score the first client before reading the last one.

What This Skill Does

You paste recent email threads from 3-5 different clients — one thread per client. Emails from them, emails to them, or both. The skill reads the relationship signals and produces a referral activation plan that does three jobs:

Job 1: Client Prioritization — Which clients are ready to refer you right now, which need warming first, and which aren't ready. Not based on gut feeling. Based on specific signals in their correspondence — how they communicate with you, what they've said recently, what wins they've experienced, and whether they've mentioned their network or peers.

Job 2: Ready-to-Send Messages — For every HOT client, a personalized referral message ready to copy-paste and send. Not a template with blanks. An actual message using details from their emails, written in conversational tone. The message uses the permission pattern — offering exclusive access, not asking for favors.

Job 3: Timing Guidance — When to send each message and why. A client who just had a win last week gets a different recommendation than one whose last win was 3 months ago. The timing is based on where the client sits in the natural energy cycle of a recent result.

The Activation Plan: Section by Section

1. Client Overview

One row per client. Quick orientation for everything that follows.

Format: Table.

2. Signal Analysis

For each client, the specific signals from their emails that determined their status. This is the evidence — not a gut feeling, not an assumption.

HOT signals (any 2+ = HOT):

• Responds to emails within 24 hours consistently
• Has given unsolicited praise in the correspondence
• Has mentioned their network, peers, or colleagues
• Has experienced a measurable win in the last 30 days
• Has renewed, expanded, or increased engagement recently
• Has already made an introduction (even casually)

WARM signals (present but not strong enough for HOT):

• Steady communication but slower responses
• Expressed satisfaction but not publicly or enthusiastically
• Mentioned peers but not in a referral context
• Last notable win was 31-90 days ago
• Relationship is solid but in maintenance mode

COLD signals (need reactivation before any ask):

• Communication has slowed noticeably
• Last significant win was 90+ days ago
• Correspondence is transactional — no warmth, no extras
• No mention of their network or broader goals
• You're in pure delivery mode with no strategic conversation

Format: For each client, a label/value table:

3. Referral Messages (HOT Clients Only)

One ready-to-send message per HOT client. This is the section that makes the skill worth more than a scoring exercise.

Message rules:

• Uses the permission pattern: "I'm opening up capacity" or "Before I announce this publicly" — not "Do you know anyone who needs..."
• References a specific win or detail from their emails — proves you pay attention
• Gives them a reason to refer that makes THEM look good — they get to be the person who knew about you first
• Includes a specific, limited offer ("2 spots this quarter" not "I'm taking new clients")
• Conversational tone — reads like a real email from a real person, not a marketing template
• Short. Under 100 words. Practice owners don't read long emails.
• No subject line suggestions unless asked — the user knows their client

Format: Each message in its own block, labeled with the client name.

4. WARM Client Guidance

For WARM clients, no referral message yet. Instead, one specific next action to warm the relationship before asking. This is a single step, not a sequence.

Format: For each WARM client:

5. COLD Client Note

For COLD clients, a brief note on what would need to change before a referral conversation makes sense. No action plan — just awareness.

Format: One sentence per COLD client: "[Client] — relationship is in [state]. Rebuild with [type of engagement] before considering referrals."

6. Activation Summary

A quick-reference dashboard for the entire activation plan.

Format: Table.

Estimated referral potential: [X] HOT clients. If even one refers a single prospect, that's a conversation you didn't have last month.

Quality Check (Internal — never shown to the user)

This section is an internal gate. Run it silently before presenting. Use it to correct the activation plan. Do not include the Quality Check in the output. The user should never see a Pass/Fail table or ranking — they should see a finished plan with messages that have already been through the gate.

Before presenting, verify internally against five checks:

Enforcement rules:

1. Failed checks: If any message fails a check, rewrite it before presenting. The output contains only the corrected message — no flag, no note.

1. Weakest message: If there are 2+ HOT clients, rank the messages internally and rewrite the weakest before presenting. Verify the rewrite internally.

1. Missing data: If the emails don't contain enough information to assess a signal, note it in the Signal Analysis section itself: "Not enough data to assess [signal type]." That note IS user-facing — it tells them what's missing. The QC process that produced it is not.

What the user sees: The Client Overview, Signal Analysis, Referral Messages, WARM Client Actions, COLD Client Notes, and Activation Summary. No Quality Check section.

Rules

• One input batch per run. Don't mix clients from different practices or businesses.
• 3-5 clients per run. Fewer than 3 doesn't give enough contrast for prioritization. More than 5 makes the output unwieldy.
• Include both sides when possible. Emails from the client AND emails you sent give the skill the full picture — tone from both directions, what's been addressed vs. what's open.
• Recency matters. Use correspondence from the last 60 days for the best signal read. Older emails give context but the scoring should reflect the current state of the relationship.
• Don't fabricate signals. If the emails don't contain enough information to determine a signal, say so. "Not enough data to assess network activity" is better than assuming they don't have one.
• No client names in output unless the user provides them. If the user pastes emails with names, use them. If they've anonymized, keep it anonymous.
• Messages must be sendable as-is. The HOT client messages should be something the user can paste into an email and hit send without editing. Write in first person, conversational tone, natural language.
• Permission pattern only. Never write a message that says "Do you know anyone who needs..." or "Would you be willing to refer..." The message offers exclusive access or early information. The referral becomes their idea.
• Keep the plan scannable. Each section should be absorbable in a single glance. Use tables, label/value pairs, and short lines. The activation plan is a reference tool, not a document to read.
• Output as a markdown file. Name the file: referral-activation-[YYYY-MM-DD].md (lowercase, hyphens, no spaces).

Output Format

# Referral Activation Plan

| | |
|---|---|
| **Date** | [Today's date] |
| **Based on** | [X clients, Y email threads] |
| **Period covered** | [Date range of correspondence] |

---

## Client Overview

| Client | Industry | Relationship | Current Services | Status |
|--------|----------|-------------|-----------------|--------|
| [Name] | [Type] | [Duration] | [Services] | HOT |
| [Name] | [Type] | [Duration] | [Services] | WARM |
| [Name] | [Type] | [Duration] | [Services] | COLD |

---

## Signal Analysis

### [Client Name] — HOT

| | |
|---|---|
| **Signals** | [Bulleted list] |
| **Key quote** | "[Direct quote from email]" |
| **Last win** | [What, when] |

### [Client Name] — WARM

| | |
|---|---|
| **Signals** | [Bulleted list] |
| **Key quote** | "[Direct quote from email]" |
| **Last win** | [What, when] |

### [Client Name] — COLD

| | |
|---|---|
| **Signals** | [Bulleted list] |
| **Key quote** | "[Direct quote from email]" |
| **Last win** | [What, when] |

---

## Referral Messages

### [HOT Client Name]

[Ready-to-send message — under 100 words, permission pattern, references specific win from emails]

### [HOT Client Name]

[Ready-to-send message]

---

## WARM Client Actions

| Client | Next Action | Why | When |
|--------|-------------|-----|------|
| [Name] | [Specific action] | [Signal from emails] | [This week / next 2 weeks] |

---

## COLD Client Notes

- **[Name]** — [One sentence on what needs to change before referrals]

---

## Activation Summary

| | Count | Action |
|---|---|---|
| **HOT** | [X] | Messages ready — send this week |
| **WARM** | [X] | Warming actions — next 2 weeks |
| **COLD** | [X] | Rebuild first |

**Estimated referral potential:** [X] clients ready for a referral conversation this month.

What Makes This Different

Most practice owners know they should ask for referrals. They don't because they don't know who to ask first, what to say, or when the timing is right. So they do nothing.

This skill removes the three barriers:

• Who: Scores clients based on actual relationship signals, not gut feeling
• What: Writes the actual message — not a template, a ready-to-send email
• When: Tells you whether to send now or warm the relationship first

You paste emails you already have. You get back a plan you can act on today. The referral conversations that follow were always available. You just needed someone to read the signals and write the first message.