Customer Referral

Customer Referral Thank-You

Outcome: When someone becomes a customer, connect with them on LinkedIn and send a warm thank-you that invites product feedback and a low-pressure referral signal, without making the first customer touch feel like a sales ask.

First-run onboarding gate

Before running this skill for the first time in a workspace, load ../../references/onboarding.md and complete the onboarding questions. Do not proceed until you know: LinkedIn account type (free/basic = no connection notes; recommend 10 connection requests/day and never exceed the FirstTouch max of 20/day; Sales Navigator/Premium = connection notes available; recommend 20 connection requests/day and never exceed the FirstTouch max of 30/day), HubSpot access (MCP, service key/private app token, HubSpot list only, or none), and which play the user wants to run. Recommend high-intent plays before broader outbound to keep the LinkedIn account healthy.

When to use

• a deal moves to Closed Won
• a new customer starts onboarding
• a user/admin completes setup or hits first value
• the founder, AE, CSM, or account owner wants to thank the customer personally
• the team wants to ask for feedback and light referrals without launching a bulk campaign

Inputs

• Customer source: HubSpot Closed Won/customer list, HubSpot workflow/list output, CSV/imported customer list, or FirstTouch-accessible customer source
• Sender/routing rule: founder, account owner, AE, CSM, or named executive sender
• Relationship context: product purchased, use case, onboarding status, first-value milestone, or why they chose the product
• Referral ask style: soft network ask, partner/customer intro ask, or feedback-only if the relationship is too early

HubSpot is preferred for Closed Won/customer routing and CRM logging. It is not mandatory when the user provides a customer CSV, imported list, or FirstTouch-accessible customer source with explicit customer status.

Step-by-step

Before drafting or queueing any contact, run the standard safety gates from ../../references/safety-governance.md: Gate 0 suppression/DNC, Gate 1 duplicate/recent-contact check, Gate 2 owner/CSM routing, Gate 3 daily cap sharing, and Gate 4 human approval. Suppressed, opted-out, duplicate, recently contacted, or misrouted records are skipped and logged.

1. Build the new-customer cohort

Use the safest available source:

• HubSpot connected: query or use a list/workflow of contacts associated to Closed Won deals, new customer lifecycle stage, onboarding-start events, or first-value milestones.
• HubSpot list only: use the provided HubSpot list/source FirstTouch can access; do not ask a rep to mint HubSpot credentials they do not own.
• No HubSpot: use a customer CSV/imported list or FirstTouch-accessible customer source with explicit customer status.

Capture: contact, company, role, owner/CSM, customer start date or milestone, product/use case, LinkedIn URL/status if available, and any suppression/recent-touch signals.

2. Pick the right sender

Default sender priority:

1. relationship owner / AE / CSM if the customer knows them
2. founder/executive if this is a founder-led thank-you motion
3. assigned team member if routing is defined by HubSpot owner or FirstTouch assignment

If owner routing is missing or ambiguous, stop and ask. Do not send a customer thank-you from a random sender.

3. Check LinkedIn relationship state

For each customer contact:

• Already connected → draft a LinkedIn message.
• Not connected → queue a connection request first; after the connection is accepted, queue the thank-you/referral message on the connection_accepted branch.
• Unknown connection state → check FirstTouch relationship data where available (list_linkedin_team_connections shows team connections); if still unknown, present the row for review with BOTH drafts (a connection request and a connected-path message) and let the human pick - never assume connected.

Connection-note behavior:

• Free/basic LinkedIn: connection request must be blank/no note.
• Sales Navigator/Premium: a short warm note is allowed, but default to a blank request if the sender wants a lower-friction account-health posture.

4. Draft the message

Load firsttouch-messaging before drafting. Keep it warm, specific, and usually 2 sentences max. The message should:

• thank them for choosing the product
• ask one lightweight feedback question about how the product could be better
• include a soft network-value line only when it feels natural
• never make the customer feel immediately monetized

Default pattern:

"Thanks again for choosing {product/company}. As you get into it, I would genuinely love to know what we could make better. If someone in your network would get value from this too, happy to be useful."

Founder-led variant:

"Really appreciate you choosing {product/company}. If anything could be sharper as you get started, I would love to hear it. If another founder/operator in your network is dealing with the same problem, I am always happy to help."

CSM/owner variant:

"Excited to have your team onboard. As you get into {product/company}, what is one thing we could make easier? If anyone in your network is trying to solve this too, I am happy to point them in the right direction."

Feedback-only variant:

"Thanks for choosing {product/company}. As you get into it, I would genuinely love to know what we could make sharper. No ask, just want to hear it."

5. Present for approval

Show an approval table:

Every row must be marked awaiting approval - will not send until the assigned human approves that row. Do not treat one table-level approval as approval to send the whole batch unless the user explicitly approves every listed row.

6. Queue FirstTouch Dynamic Actions

After approval per row:

• before creating any one-contact LinkedIn action, run get_guide with topic=dynamic_actions, then call add_dynamic_action in the supported order
• if not connected, create a linkedin_connect action first; if a thank-you message should follow only after acceptance, append the linkedin_message to the connection_accepted branch
• if already connected, create the linkedin_message action directly
• enforce duplicate checks, account-safety limits, and approval status from ../../references/safety-governance.md
• log execution and outcomes back to HubSpot when HubSpot is connected and the integration supports timeline logging
• if HubSpot is not connected, keep the execution record in FirstTouch and clearly state CRM owner routing/logging was unavailable

7. Route replies

• Product feedback → route to founder/product/CS owner.
• Referral or intro offer → route to owner/AE/CSM with context.
• Negative feedback → route to CSM/support and do not ask for referrals.
• No reply → do not chase with an aggressive referral follow-up; this is a customer relationship motion, not a cold sequence.

Output

• new-customer cohort with routing and suppression status
• approved connection/message plan per contact
• thank-you/referral drafts
• FirstTouch Dynamic Actions queued only after approval
• HubSpot/FirstTouch logging summary
• routed follow-up tasks for feedback, support issues, or referrals

Pitfalls

• Sounding transactional: thanking a new customer and immediately asking for referrals can feel extractive. Lead with gratitude and feedback.
• Skipping owner routing: customer relationships are sensitive; route through the person they know or the agreed founder/executive sender.
• Using a connection note on free/basic LinkedIn: free/basic requests should be blank/no note.
• Messaging before connection acceptance: if they are not connected, queue the thank-you message on the connection_accepted branch, not as an immediate message.
• Autosending without approval: never. This skill prepares and queues approved FirstTouch actions; it does not bypass human approval.

Reference

• Messaging: ../../references/messaging-framework.md
• Safety/owner routing: ../../references/safety-governance.md
• System model: ../../references/system-grounding.md