Module 11 workshop: a partner and review plan

Pull the module together into a one-page partner and review plan for your own business. Work step by step from your referral numbers to ten named partners, a review and testimonial routine, a show and media calendar and a short compliance check, using Lantern & Lane as the model.

Read the transcript

Module 11 workshop: a partner and review plan.

Word of mouth feels like luck until you write it down.

This workshop turns everything in the module into a single page you can pin above your desk: who refers you, how you will look after them, how you ask for reviews and testimonials, which rooms and outlets you will work, and how you will know it is working.

Step 1: Measure where bookings come from.

List every booking from the last twelve months and its source, named as precisely as you can.

Group them into referrals (past clients, guests, venues, vendors, personal network), search, social, shows and media, and other.

Step 2: Set targets.

Pick three numbers for the next twelve months.

Keep them modest and countable.

Step 3: Name ten partners.

Use the scoring table from the networking lesson.

Score each candidate from 0 to 10 on ideal-client fit, booking order, quality match, whether you would recommend them, and whether you can send them work.

Step 4: Write down every money arrangement.

List each referral fee you pay or receive, each paid listing, each reciprocal arrangement and each gift above a small courtesy.

Beside each one, write how the client learns about it.

Step 5: Fix the review and testimonial routine.

Write the routine as tasks your CRM can create automatically.

Day after the event: personal thank-you and the in-person or phone review ask.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Set referral and review targets from your own booking data
• Build a twelve-month calendar of partner, review, show and media activity
• Check every referral, review and endorsement practice against Canadian rules and platform policies

Word of mouth feels like luck until you write it down. This workshop turns everything in the module into a single page you can pin above your desk: who refers you, how you will look after them, how you ask for reviews and testimonials, which rooms and outlets you will work, and how you will know it is working. Set aside two hours. You will need your booking records from the past year and a spreadsheet or a notebook.

Step 1: Measure where bookings come from

List every booking from the last twelve months and its source, named as precisely as you can. Group them into referrals (past clients, guests, venues, vendors, personal network), search, social, shows and media, and other. For each group, note inquiries, bookings and revenue.

Lantern & Lane’s starting point, from the first lesson in this module: referrals produced 20 of 40 bookings and about 56 percent of booked revenue, and one referred inquiry was worth about four Google inquiries. Two venues and one rental company produced 9 of the 20 referrals. That concentration is both a strength and a risk. If one coordinator changes jobs, a fifth of the pipeline goes with her.

Step 2: Set targets

Pick three numbers for the next twelve months. Keep them modest and countable.

1. Referred bookings. Lantern & Lane wants 26 referred bookings, up from 20. At its 50 percent close rate, that needs 52 referred inquiries, or about one a week.
2. Active partners. Ten partners who each sent at least one inquiry in the year, up from six.
3. Reviews. The studio runs about 40 events a year. Asking every client in two steps, with a 45 percent follow-through, gives 40 multiplied by 0.45, or 18 new Google reviews, about one and a half a month.

Write your own three numbers and the arithmetic behind each one, so you can see what has to change if a number slips.

Step 3: Name ten partners

Use the scoring table from the networking lesson. Score each candidate from 0 to 10 on ideal-client fit, booking order, quality match, whether you would recommend them, and whether you can send them work. Keep everyone scoring 8 or more. Then add a column for the one thing you will give each partner first.

Notice that Lantern & Lane added a large suburban banquet hall. That is deliberate. It spreads the studio’s referral sources beyond the west end and toward bigger cultural weddings.

Step 4: Write down every money arrangement

List each referral fee you pay or receive, each paid listing, each reciprocal arrangement and each gift above a small courtesy. Beside each one, write how the client learns about it. Lantern & Lane accepts no referral fees or commissions, as its website says, but it does have one reciprocal arrangement: it and the Etobicoke rental company regularly send each other clients. The plan states that this relationship is disclosed in a single line on the studio’s vendor recommendations sheet and in the proposal, and that the studio recommends at least one other rental option for every client. If you cannot write a clear disclosure line for an arrangement, end it.

Step 5: Fix the review and testimonial routine

Write the routine as tasks your CRM can create automatically.

• Day after the event: personal thank-you and the in-person or phone review ask.
• Day 2 to 7: review link sent with the delivery moment (gallery, final invoice, debrief).
• Day 10 to 14: five-question testimonial interview with clients who match the ideal buyer, followed by the permission email.
• Every Monday: reply to all new reviews, good and bad, using the four-part response for complaints.
• Every January: retire testimonials that no longer describe how you work.

Add the platforms you will focus on. For Lantern & Lane: Google for every client, one wedding platform for every third couple, LinkedIn recommendations from corporate clients.

Step 6: Plan shows and media

Choose no more than two paid shows a year, and run the cost-per-booking sum for each before you commit. Add venue open houses and one networking group. Then list three media angles, with a target month and five contacts each. Lantern & Lane’s plan: one January wedding show, two venue open houses, a monthly association breakfast, a January data pitch on guest counts and an October holiday party tip sheet.

Step 7: Assemble the one-page plan

Copy this template and fill it in.

1. Targets: referred bookings, active partners, reviews.
2. Top ten partners: name, give-first action, quarterly check-in month.
3. Money arrangements and disclosure lines.
4. Review and testimonial routine: tasks and platforms.
5. Calendar: shows, open houses, networking, media pitches, by month.
6. Tracking: the source field on every inquiry, reviewed on the first Monday of each quarter.
7. Owner: who does what. At Lantern & Lane, Marco owns partners, shows and tracking; Priya owns reviews, testimonials and media.

Review the plan every quarter against the three targets. If a partner has sent nothing for two quarters and you have sent them nothing either, replace them. If reviews are behind, the routine is not running, so check the CRM tasks before blaming clients.

Step 8: Start with the first 30 days

A plan that waits for a quiet month never starts. Pick the handful of actions that make the rest possible and put them in your calendar this week. Lantern & Lane’s first 30 days looked like this:

1. Add a required “how did you hear about us?” field to the inquiry form and the CRM, with named options.
2. Send a short thank-you to the five people who referred the most work last year, each mentioning a specific event.
3. Book coffees with the two highest-scoring new partners.
4. Set up the automatic review and testimonial tasks, and test them on the next event.
5. Rewrite the vendor recommendations sheet with the rental company disclosure line.
6. Draft the January data pitch and build the first ten media contacts.

Six tasks, perhaps eight hours in total. After a month, the inquiry source field alone will tell you more about your marketing than a year of guessing.

In Canada and the GTA: your compliance check

Before you finalize the plan, run each activity past the rules covered in this module. This is a summary, not a substitute for the full lessons or for legal advice.

The CASL penalties are why the consent column matters: the maximum administrative monetary penalty per violation is $1,000,000 for an individual and $10,000,000 for a business. The Competition Act’s civil maximums for deceptive marketing are similar in scale. You are unlikely to face either if you follow the plan, but the numbers explain why disclosure and consent belong on the page alongside the marketing. The CRTC’s CASL frequently asked questions and Google’s Maps user-generated content policy are worth bookmarking.

A GTA calendar for the plan

Lay your partner, review and media activity over the local year.

• January to March: engagement season brings wedding inquiries and the main wedding show season. Venues and vendors are quietest, so book introduction coffees and site visits now. Pitch wedding trend and budget stories in January.
• April to June: wedding season begins. Shared events with partners start, so the 48-hour thank-you and photo sharing become weekly habits. Corporate planners begin thinking about holiday parties.
• July and August: peak weddings and outdoor events. Reviews arrive with photo galleries weeks after each event, so watch your profiles. Slow news periods make it easier to place a local story.
• September and October: fall wedding shows and venue open houses. Pitch holiday party stories. Hold your mid-year partner review.
• November and December: corporate holiday party season. Engagements cluster around the holidays, so send past clients a warm note before then, when their friends start to announce.

Communities across the GTA also have their own wedding and celebration seasons tied to religious and cultural calendars, which do not always follow this pattern. If you serve a particular community, mark its key dates on the calendar and plan partner activity around them.

Keep the paperwork. A plan that relies on consent and permission needs records. Keep the date and basis of consent for every contact on your mailing list, the signed or emailed permission for every testimonial, written terms for every referral fee, and the photographer’s licence for every image you share. If a client, a partner or a regulator ever asks, you can answer in minutes.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the source or a lawyer for your situation.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 15 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)