This decision tree is part of the mis-pick recovery guide. It answers one question for 3PL account advisors: when a retailer has years of wrong-item shipments that were traced, replaced and fixed, who can say yes to a conversation about that history?
Start here: the customer operations head convenes, does not sign
The first contact should be the person who can describe the records without opening them. For recovery history that is almost always the head of customer operations or customer experience: the complaint queue, the reason tags, the approval limits for replacements and the escalation path to the warehouse all run through that team.
That person can answer coverage questions in one meeting: which ticketing tool, how many years, roughly how many recoveries a year, whether replacement orders are linked back. What they usually cannot do is decide that the company's operating records are an asset to license. That decision touches customer data, a commercial contract with the 3PL and the company's own strategy, so it sits with the CEO. The convener's job is to bring the CEO in.
Fork one: is the introduced company the retailer or the 3PL?
Records about one wrong shipment sit with two companies. Before anything else, settle which one you are introducing, because the tree below changes with the answer.
| Party | Records it likely holds | Who signs | Licensing outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retailer | Complaint tickets, photos, reason tags, replacement approvals, its own escalation notes, replacement orders | CEO, with general counsel | Its own operating records, subject to review of customer personal data |
| 3PL | Pick and pack events, set assembly records, its internal root-cause notes | 3PL's CEO, with counsel | Its own process notes may be licensable; order data it holds for clients is generally the client's |
| Both | The shared email thread about the correction | Each party for its own copy | Case by case under each side's confidentiality terms |
The 3PL data ownership explainer sets out the usual split. A 3PL can be the introduced company in its own right when it meets the criteria; it simply cannot bring its clients' order data along.
The yes path in six questions
Work through these with the customer operations head, in order. Each answer either moves the introduction forward or adds a box to the tree.
- Are complaints, approvals and corrections actually kept, with dates? If tickets were purged on a schedule or replacements were never linked, the history is thin. Note it and stop; the system map shows what a complete chain needs.
- Whose records are they? Settle the fork above. For the retailer, its ticketing tool and order platform are its own. Data seen through the 3PL's portal is governed by the service agreement.
- Who would sponsor a data licensing discussion? Usually the COO, sometimes the CFO or CEO in a founder-led company. Get a name.
- Does general counsel need to be in the first call? Usually yes, because tickets carry customer names, addresses and photos.
- What does the 3PL agreement say about data? Note whether it has data use, confidentiality or return clauses. Counsel reads them; the partner does not interpret them.
- Does anyone else have a say? A parent company, a private equity owner or a board. Specialty distribution and private equity and special situations investors describe owners who often hold that approval.
The lit path in the graphic runs from the convener through the fork and the counsel gate to the CEO as signer. That is who the introduction should reach.
Access is not authority: four people who cannot say yes
The people with the best view of the data are often the ones with the least power to license it.
| Role | What they can see or do | Why it is not authority |
|---|---|---|
| Ticketing tool administrator | Every ticket, export settings, automations | Admin rights are a job function, not a mandate; in Zendesk, exports are off by default and must be enabled by the account owner through Zendesk support |
| 3PL account advisor or manager | Portal reports, pick history, the relationship | Works for one party or both; cannot commit either to a license |
| Warehouse operations lead | Pick events, set assembly, bin locations | Holds the 3PL's view only; the 3PL's CEO decides for the 3PL |
| Customer experience analyst | Reason-tag reports, volumes | Can size the history, not decide its use |
ZendeskEach can supply metadata for the brief: counts, years, system names, roles. None should be asked to export, screenshot or forward a ticket.
Gates that wait for counsel
These questions belong to the company's lawyers and SourceX's review. A partner flags them; the partner does not settle them.
| Gate | Why it needs review | Who decides | Common outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer names, emails, addresses in tickets | Personal data where privacy law applies | Counsel and privacy lead | Removed or pseudonymized |
| Customer photos | May show people, homes or labels | Counsel | Excluded or reviewed one by one |
| Data seen through the 3PL portal | Service agreement terms | Counsel, per the agreement | Scope set by the contract |
| Escalation emails with 3PL staff | Third-party names and confidential terms | Counsel for each party | Names removed, roles kept |
Where EU law applies, the GDPR treats any information relating to an identifiable person as personal data, and almost every complaint ticket names one. That shapes preparation; it does not rule the records out. Why data rights matter explains why SourceX reviews rights before anything is licensed.
What stays unknown until SourceX's rights review
Once the signer agrees to talk, four things remain open: which record classes and years the company can license, how customer data is removed, whether any buyer wants recovery histories, and whether an offer follows.
The introduced company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. 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 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions. The referral brief template puts the tree's answers on one page, and how to introduce a company covers the introduction itself.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
Once the customer operations head has named the executive who can say yes and settled whether the retailer or the 3PL is the company, register as a partner, confirm it on who qualifies and read the program terms before making the introduction.