{"id":"sales-referral-ask-text-to-customer","audience":"small-business","category":"sales-work","technique":"context","track":"sales","level":"beginner","title":"Ask a happy customer for one specific referral by text","free":false,"task":"You run a small booking-software business, and Carla, who owns Bloom Salon, loves your product. Text her asking for an intro to Lila, the bakery owner next door she mentioned. Mention her real result (no-shows dropped from 14 to 5 a month) and offer to send a 2-line blurb she can forward. Your referral credit program is paused, so don't offer any reward. At most 4 sentences, plain text.","materialLabel":"Your customer notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Customer: Carla Mendes, owner, Bloom Salon (2 locations), customer since March\nHer results from our dashboard: no-shows went from 14/month to 5/month after we turned on text reminders. She told me in Sept: \"I'm never going back to the paper book.\"\nLast call, she mentioned: \"Lila who runs Crumb & Co. next door is drowning in phone orders, she should talk to you.\"\nLila Haddad, Crumb & Co. Bakery, takes custom cake orders by phone, about 40 a week.\n\nOld flyer we used to hand out: \"Refer a friend, get $50 off your next month!\"\nMe: Jordan, founder of SlotKeeper\nI want: Carla to intro me to Lila, by text or email, whatever is easiest for her.","rules":[{"type":"maxSentences","max":4},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Offering the old reward","why":"The AI sees the flyer and offers $50 off, but that program is paused.","fix":"Add: \"No reward or credit; the referral program is paused.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"A vague ask","why":"\"Know anyone who'd like this?\" is easy to ignore. The AI asks broadly unless you name the person.","fix":"Say: \"Ask for an intro to Lila at Crumb & Co.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Making her do the work","why":"The AI asks for a referral without making it easy to give.","fix":"Add: \"Offer to send a 2-line blurb she can forward.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Skipping her result","why":"The AI writes generic thanks instead of reminding her what changed.","fix":"Add: \"Mention her no-shows dropping from 14 to 5 a month.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Writing an email, not a text","why":"The AI writes paragraphs and a sign-off block.","fix":"Add: \"At most 4 sentences, plain text, like a text message.\"","checks":["maxSentences","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the person to intro","patterns":["lila","crumb"]},{"label":"Mentions her result","patterns":["14","no.?shows"]},{"label":"Rules out a reward","patterns":["no (reward|credit|discount|incentive)","paused","\\$50"]},{"label":"Makes it easy","patterns":["blurb","forward","easy"]},{"label":"Sets the length","patterns":["\\d+\\s*sentences","text message","short"]}],"hint":"A good referral ask is specific and easy. Tell the AI who you want to meet, what result to remind her of and what not to offer.","rubricLabels":["Mentions Carla's result of no-shows dropping from 14 to 5 a month","Asks specifically for an introduction to Lila (Crumb & Co.) and offers to send a short blurb Carla can forward","Does not offer any reward, credit, discount or the $50 referral offer"]}