This dictionary is for the operations lead who keeps a partner firm's referral records and writes its reports. It opens the operations cluster with the three-object referral CRM schema; the CRM holds the records, and this page defines what each stage on them means.
Why sales-pipeline stages mislead a referral report
Sales CRMs are usually configured to forecast, and their stages carry that job with them. In Salesforce's default setup, for example, each opportunity stage comes with a probability and a forecast category: early stages fall into Pipeline, Negotiation/Review sits in Commit at 90%, and Closed Won lands in Closed, so moving a record to a later stage moves it up the forecast (our paraphrase of Salesforce's help page). A referral dropped into that pipeline acquires a probability nobody at SourceX assigned.
SalesforceSourceX's own documents rule out each of those inferences:
- Revenue. The terms say a lead, meeting or signed agreement alone earns no payable reward, and that portal and calculator estimates are projections, not promises.
- Timing. The unsigned sample of the Channel Partner Agreement keeps the attribution window, SourceX's assessment, acceptance review and Closing on separate clocks, and states that a supplier's Closing is not the referral payment deadline.
- Acceptance. SourceX reviews each company against a current program, and the agreement bars partners from telling a company that an estimate, positive interest, a signature or a data upload assures a purchase or a reward.
A stage model that respects all three has to be built from evidence, not from momentum.
What the record holds before any stage is assigned
Every referral record starts with the same small core: a reference code, the legal entity and its group (the once-per-company USD 50,000 floor and the Repeat Window treat a parent and its subsidiaries as one company), the CEO who decides, and the relationship owner at your firm. Two stage fields sit beside it. The first holds this dictionary's code. The second holds SourceX's dashboard label, copied exactly as displayed with the date you read it, because the agreement says partners receive generic stages or reference codes and those labels can change. Each stage move also carries a pointer to its evidence: a message, a portal reference or a dated dashboard reading.
The record never holds the company's files, samples or system access, and it never holds an amount before money arrives.
The evidence-based stage dictionary
Twelve stages in three groups. A record may hold one stage from the first two groups and one reward status at the same time, because SourceX's reward statuses run beside the company's progress.
| Code | Stage | Opens on this dated evidence | Produced by | What it does not mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Noted | A row in your own list saying why the company might fit | You | That anyone at the company has been asked, or that it fits |
| P2 | CEO asked | The dated message asking the CEO, directly or through the relationship owner, whether a conversation is wanted | Relationship owner | Interest; an unanswered ask is a no |
| P3 | CEO agreed | The CEO's written yes to being introduced | The company's CEO | Eligibility; the CEO can still change course |
| P4 | Introduced | A written introduction record, a portal submission or an email, with its timestamp | Partner of record | Credit; a link click decides nothing, and the 90-day window has only begun |
| S1 | Credited | The dashboard, or a message from SourceX, shows the company's verified application credited to you | The company applies; SourceX decides credit | Acceptance, or any reward |
| S2 | In review | The dashboard shows SourceX assessing operating history, documentation, rights and relevance | SourceX | A yes; criteria differ from program to program |
| S3 | Deal confirmed | The dashboard, or the CEO's own news shared with permission, shows a signed Master agreement and Dataset Deal Confirmation | The company and SourceX | Payment; a signed agreement alone triggers no reward |
| S4 | Closing | The dashboard, or the CEO's news shared with permission, shows SourceX's Closing notice to the company: every condition in its deal records met, including SourceX's written acceptance | SourceX | The payment date; the reward clock follows the Acquisition Partner's final written acceptance and handoff |
| R1 | Estimated | The dashboard's reward status reads Estimated | SourceX | Money owed; it is a projection built on proposed compensation |
| R2 | Eligible | The dashboard reads Eligible, which SourceX's process places after it has paid the company | SourceX | Approval; finance review and your tax and payment details come first |
| R3 | Approved | The dashboard reads Approved, meaning finance has approved the reward | SourceX finance | Cash in hand; the rewards page shows Processing while a payout is under way |
| R4 | Paid | The dashboard reads Paid, which it shows only once an actual payout is recorded | SourceX | A permanent figure; a later cut to the company's payout means a recalculation |
Six endings close a record, and each says whether it can reopen.
| Ending | Opens on | Can it reopen? |
|---|---|---|
| X1. CEO declined | The CEO says no, or leaves the single ask unanswered | Only if the CEO raises the topic again |
| X2. Screened out | A named fit fact fails, such as full-time headcount that never reached 50 at its peak | When that fact changes |
| X3. Not credited | SourceX decides in duplicate review that the company was already known to it or another valid introduction came first | Not by you; if you hold earlier dated evidence, section 7 of the terms sets out the dispute route |
| X4. Lapsed | No verified application within 90 days of P4 | No; continuing conversations do not stretch the window |
| X5. No deal | SourceX's no-deal notice, or the CEO's news that the company has stopped | Only as a new opportunity under the same referral; the USD 50,000 floor applies once per company, to its first qualifying transaction |
| X6. Withdrawn | The CEO withdraws permission at any stage | Only on the CEO's new request |
When several partners know one company, only one introduction can be credited, and SourceX settles overlapping cases in duplicate review. The dictionary has no stage for "shared"; the losing claim ends at X3.
Illustrative arithmetic. If SourceX pays a referred company USD 100,000 on its first qualifying transaction, the reward is USD 55,000, the greater of USD 50,000 plus 5% and 15%. While the record sits at R1, that USD 55,000 is a projection; it reaches your books only at R4.
Labels to retire, and the stage that replaces each
| Label | What it quietly claims | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Won, or closed-won | That money is coming | S3 or R4, whichever the evidence shows |
| Commit, or committed | A place in a sales forecast | P3, CEO agreed |
| Qualified | That someone has accepted the company | S1 or S2 |
| Expected reward, or pipeline value | An amount nobody offered | No field until R4 |
| Hot, or warm | The introducer's mood | The next step's due date |
| Closed | Either Closing or a closed record, and readers cannot tell which | S4, or an ending code |
| Lost | That something owed was taken away | The ending code |
| Approved, used before finance acts | A clash with the dashboard status | Reserve the word for R3 |
Who moves each stage, and when to escalate
The P stages are yours: the relationship owner opens P2 and P3, and the partner of record opens P4 the day the CEO agrees in writing. The S stages and R statuses belong to the company and SourceX. You read them; you never press the CEO to move one.
- Day 90 without S1. Move the record to X4 on its dated day.
- Duplicate review on the dashboard. Hold the record at P4 with a note. If you disagree with SourceX's decision, send your dated evidence to SourceX; do not ask the company to arbitrate.
- R4 with no money received. Leave your cash field empty and ask SourceX with the referral details.
- A status moves backward. Record the reduction and SourceX's stated reason. Under the program's rule, a cancellation, refund or chargeback that lawfully reduces the Actual Supplier Payout reduces the reward proportionately, and any excess already paid is adjusted.
- A long stay in S2. SourceX has not published typical durations for any stage, so there is no benchmark to escalate against. Read the dashboard monthly and leave the CEO alone.
A quarterly report relabeled (Illustrative)
Illustrative. A generic partner firm's seven records, audited against the dictionary on one day.
| Record | Old label | Evidence found at the audit | Stage now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rec 1 | Won, expected reward USD 55,000 | The CEO's news, shared with permission, of a signed Confirmation; dashboard reads Estimated | S3 and R1; the amount deleted |
| Rec 2 | Qualified | An introduction email from day 12; no application shown; the audit fell on day 97 | X4, lapsed |
| Rec 3 | Hot | The relationship owner talked with the COO; the CEO was never asked | P1, noted |
| Rec 4 | Committed, 90% | The CEO's written yes; no introduction submitted yet | P3, with submission due today |
| Rec 5 | Closed | Dashboard reads Paid; the money has arrived | R4, paid |
| Rec 6 | Lost | Dashboard shows not credited after duplicate review | X3, not credited |
| Rec 7 | Pipeline, 60% | Dashboard shows review under way | S2, in review |
The old report said "two won, one committed and a weighted pipeline". The relabeled one says: one reward paid; one deal confirmed with its reward still Estimated; one company in review; one CEO agreed and awaiting submission; one company noted but never asked; one lapsed; one not credited. Nothing in it can be added up into a forecast, which is the point. For a waterfall that removes duplicates and group merges before counting, see reporting a referral pipeline without inflating it.
Reconciling, closing and keeping the dictionary current
Once a month, run an evidence audit: for every open record, point to the evidence behind its current stage. If you cannot, move it back to the last stage you can prove. Then compare each S and R stage with the dashboard label stored beside it; the dashboard wins. The field-by-field version of that monthly match is in reconciling SourceX statuses with a fund's CRM.
Date the dictionary itself. When SourceX publishes a new terms version or renames a dashboard label, add a dated note to the stage it affects rather than editing history. SourceX's own descriptions of the statuses sit on the rewards page, the status glossary and where a partner sees the current stage.
Before a company earns P1 at all, hold it up to the published screen: a full-time headcount that peaked at 50 or more (contractors excluded), years of records produced in its own work, clear authority to license that material, and a CEO open to talking. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 70% of the data is in English. Whether the records match current demand is SourceX's question, answered in S2.
Where an evidence-only model is uncomfortable
- It looks slow. Records sit at P4 or S2 for weeks with nothing to show. That is accurate. No published figures exist for time in each stage, and a model that invents movement to look busy defeats its purpose.
- Some evidence is not yours to record. S3 often reaches you first as the CEO's news. Without the CEO's permission to note it, the record waits for the dashboard.
- Dashboard wording can differ. SourceX's labels may not match this dictionary word for word. Keep both and map them with a date; never translate silently.
- One firm sees one claim. Your records cannot show another partner's introduction or an earlier contact between SourceX and the company. X3 exists because of that blind spot.
- Nothing here forecasts income. A firm that needs a budget figure should plan for zero and treat any reward as received cash once it arrives. More operations guides are in the guides library.
Next step
Refer a company. No cap on rewards. Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
With the dictionary in place, register as a partner so P4 rests on a signed agreement, check every P1 company against who qualifies and file the version of the program terms your stage definitions follow.