In trade, cooperation with partners — designers, doctors, trainers, installers, or dropshippers — is one of the most effective channels for attracting new customers.
To make this process transparent and controlled, Torgsoft provides special tools: intermediary accounting and a referral program. When introducing such partnership schemes, entrepreneurs most often ask specialists the following questions:
"How can mutual settlements be automated if a partner sells our product and takes their percentage?",
"How can we track which employee of a partner organization, for example, a specific doctor at a clinic, recommended us to a customer?",
"Where can we see the total amount owed to an intermediary for their services?", as well as
"What is the difference between a referral program for partners and a regular «Refer a Friend» promotion?".
The answers to these questions are built into the flexible settings of Torgsoft marketing tools. Below, we will look in detail at how to properly organize work with intermediaries and recommendations.
1. "Intermediary" Mode: Setting Up Commissions and Discounts
The "Intermediary" mode is used when you need to sell goods to a partner at a discount for further resale, or pay them a monetary reward if the goods are purchased directly by their customer. You can find this tool in the Marketing — Intermediary menu.
To answer entrepreneurs’ questions about how to set a percentage for a partner, the program allows you to create an intermediary card and set a Product Group Discount for them. You can specify:
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Discount/reward percentage: applied when goods are shipped.
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Discount/reward amount: a fixed amount in the currency, accrued for each unit of goods from the selected product group.
If the purchased product is not included in the specified product group, it will be sold without an intermediary discount.
How to process a sale through an intermediary?
In the "Trade with Invoice Issuance" mode, when creating a document, you can choose an invoice form that determines who exactly pays the money:
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To the intermediary (the intermediary pays). The invoice is issued directly in the intermediary’s name taking their discount into account. In this case, you also specify the final "Intermediary’s Customer" to understand who the goods are intended for.
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To the customer through the intermediary (the customer pays). The invoice is issued in the final customer’s name, but the intermediary who brought them is specified. The customer pays the full price, and the discount turns into a commission reward, which is recorded on the intermediary’s balance for further payment. This fully solves the issue of automating partner deductions for sold goods.
2. Referral Program: Detailed Recommendation Tracking
If your goal is not only to accrue commission but also to track traffic sources in detail, especially in the health, beauty, or sports industries, the additional option "Referral Program: Partner and Recommendation Tracking" is used. It was previously known as "Accounting by Clubs and Trainers".
This tool allows you to track a two-level recommendation structure:
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Referring partner: the organization you cooperate with, such as a medical center, sports club, or design bureau.
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Referrer’s employee: a specific person from this organization who referred a customer to you, for example, a specific doctor or trainer.
To answer the question of how to link a customer to a specific doctor or trainer: in the customer card (Marketing — Customers), on the "Other" tab, simply select the relevant "Referring Partner" and "Referrer’s Employee" from the drop-down list. After that, you will be able to generate reports and see exactly how many customers were brought by a specific organization or its individual employee, so that you can pay them bonuses on a justified basis.
3. What Is the Difference from the «Refer a Friend» Promotion?
Entrepreneurs often confuse partner programs with the "Refer a Friend" promotion, but their business purposes are fundamentally different.
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Referral Program and Intermediaries — are B2B tools for working with professional partners, dealers, and organizations. Financial obligations are recorded here, commissions are paid in actual money, and the profitability of cooperation with business partners is analyzed.
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The «Refer a Friend» promotion — is a B2C marketing tool for increasing the loyalty of regular retail customers through word-of-mouth recommendations. In this promotion, a customer who owns a discount card receives one-time promo codes and gives them to their acquaintances. When a friend comes to the store and buys goods using this promo code, they receive a one-time discount, while the regular customer who referred them automatically receives a fixed bonus amount or a percentage of the friend’s purchase on their discount card. These bonuses are not paid out in cash but are used as a discount on the customer’s next own purchases in your store.
4. Mutual Settlements: How to Control Commissions and Debts
So that the business owner always sees a clear financial picture of cooperation with partners, the "Intermediary" mode includes the "Balance with Intermediaries" tab.
All information is collected here:
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The amount of goods shipped to the intermediary and their customers.
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The amounts of payments received.
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The amount of deductions to the intermediary for their services, that is, their earnings.
If the customer has paid the invoice in full, for example, 100% for the goods, and 30% of this amount is owed to the intermediary as a reward, this debt will automatically be recorded on the balance. At the end of the month, you can click the "Payment to Intermediary" button to record the fact that the money was transferred to them. The system will automatically balance the final totals, and you will always know that you have fully settled with the partner.
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