Two plans, one rule that never bends, and one principle underneath everything: the program is self-funded. Every dollar of referral pay comes out of revenue already received, nothing is ever owed on a deal that didn't happen.
Not one check, three streams. And all three open the same door: the customer's first payment clearing. A meeting alone pays nothing; a customer pays everything.
Cash the moment the referred customer's first payment clears. Every close, every level, on top of the percentage. If they don't move forward, nothing is owed.
A share of the build fee at whatever level the partner has earned (the ladder below), paid against each installment as it is received.
Of every monthly payment that customer actually makes, landing monthly for as long as they stay. The customer cancels, it just stops, nothing to claw back.
There is no outside funding mechanism behind this program, so it never spends money it hasn't received. In writing, in the agreement: no referral payment of any kind (bonus, percentage, or residual) is due until CobbledWorks has received the customer's initial payment. Meetings, intros, and proposals that don't convert cost the program zero. The 60-day take-back keeps it true even when a customer cancels early.
Measured on a rolling 12 months, never a January reset. New levels apply going forward; a level earned holds until the yearly review; the rate locks the day a deal closes.
The one-sentence version a partner can repeat: "Start at 8%. Hit 5 in a year, new deals pay 10%. Hit 10, they pay 12%. You keep what you earn."
One big coin when the deal signs. Then a small coin every month the customer pays, for as long as they keep paying. It does not end on a date.
On an average $195 a month plan that is about $20 per customer per month, for as long as they stay. Flat 10% at every level: the ladder rewards volume, this rewards loyalty.
Three profiles, all three streams added up, every dollar triggered by a customer who actually paid. These are year one, on the real ladder: builds from $995 to $4,995 (about $2,020 on average) and plans from $129 to $329 (about $195).
Year one is the smallest year, and that is the point rather than the catch. The build share is paid against each installment over a term of up to 24 months, so most of a build signed in month ten pays out in year two, and the 10% monthly has only had part of a year to stack. A partner sending one a month is at roughly $1,087 a month by year five, on relationships they already had, every cent of it funded by customers who paid.
Not a lesser tier, a different amount of paperwork. Every rate is identical to the Partner rate. The build-fee share is the one line that moves.
Nothing else does, and no number of referrals moves you across on its own. Once you have sent three, we will ask whether you would like to come on as a Partner and move up to 8%. Saying no is a real answer: your rate does not drop and the door stays open.
Partners sign an agreement and give a W-9, because past $600 a year the IRS requires one, and they take on deal registration, a 30-day window, non-circumvention, and confidentiality. The extra points buy those duties, not a better class of person.
If you do sign later, your count carries over. Six already closed puts you at Pro I at 8%, not back at the bottom.
Money from each sale runs in two separate pipes. Virginia and Tom earn their normal, full commission on every deal no matter where it came from; referral pay comes from its own budget. The pipes are never connected.
Why it can't bend: if referred deals paid the closers less, the warmest leads would become the least-wanted leads. The program's growth depends on the opposite.
None of it due before the customer's first payment arrives, and the residual piece spread across two years of payments we have already received. The closers' commission is on top and unchanged.
A customer is worth about $6,700 over two years (a $2,020 build plus 24 × $195) against about $810 in referral cost. The floor we hold is 3×. Even if real numbers come in at half, it clears, and because payment always follows revenue, the program can never outrun the cash that funds it.
Residual cost per partner plateaus by design: customers age out of the 24-month window as fast as new ones enter. Ceiling per top partner: 24 customers × $6/mo = $144/mo, known in advance.
Model: partner roster ramps 2→5 in year 1 and 5→10 in year 2, averaging 8 closes each, plus ~6 unsigned referrers a year. Each additional average partner adds ~$58,400 of signed value per year for ~$4,000 of cost, and because every payout trails a received payment, the program's budget IS the revenue it creates.
The amendment: the $100 moved from per-meeting to per-close, released only when the customer's first payment clears, the program has no funding source outside its own revenue and never owes a dollar it hasn't collected. Dollar examples use the real ladder, builds from $995 to $4,995 and plans from $129 to $329, averaged across the mix. A single deal can be half these numbers or double them.