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Process Runbook / SOP
Referral Programme Management
[YourCompany.com] · Sales Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook covers how the Referral Programme Management automation operates day to day, what your team needs to do, how to handle exceptions, and who to call when something needs attention. It is written for the person who owns the programme operationally, not for the people who built it. FullSpec handles all build, configuration, and technical maintenance. Your role is to approve Xero reward payments, respond to flagged exceptions, and keep the contact list in Section 04 up to date.
01Process overview
The Referral Programme Management automation runs from the moment a referrer submits a lead through Typeform all the way to the reward notification email and the Xero bill being queued for payment. Three agents handle intake, outbound communications, and reward processing in sequence. The programme register in Google Sheets is updated in real time at every stage change. The only action your team takes in the normal flow is the finance contact reviewing and approving the draft Xero bill before payment is released. Everything else runs without anyone needing to touch it.
Process name
Referral Programme Management
Trigger
A referrer completes and submits the Typeform referral form
Final output
Referrer acknowledged, deal logged in HubSpot and Google Sheets, Xero reward bill drafted, and reward notification email sent on deal close
Agents running
Referral Intake Agent, Referral Communications Agent, Reward Processing Agent
Tools involved
Typeform, HubSpot, Google Sheets, Gmail, Slack, Xero
Weekly volume
Approximately 40 referrals per month (roughly 10 per week)
Human checkpoint
Finance contact approves and releases the reward payment in Xero after the automation creates the draft bill
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02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: There is one human step in the normal flow. When a referred deal reaches Closed Won in HubSpot, the automation creates a draft bill in Xero for the correct reward amount. The finance contact must open Xero, review the bill, and approve payment. Every other step below is fully automated. You do not need to check inboxes, update the spreadsheet, or send any emails.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
A referrer completes the Typeform referral form. The submission fires a webhook that starts the automated workflow immediately, with no delay.
Referrer
Automated
2
The Referral Intake Agent queries HubSpot using the referred contact's email address to check whether that person already exists as a contact or has an open deal linked to another referrer.
Referral Intake Agent
Automated
3
If no duplicate is found, the agent creates a new contact and associated deal in HubSpot. The referrer's name, reward tier, and submission timestamp are written into custom fields on the deal record.
Referral Intake Agent
Automated
4
A new row is appended to the referral programme register in Google Sheets capturing all submission fields and setting the initial status to Open.
Referral Intake Agent
Automated
5
The Referral Communications Agent sends a personalised acknowledgement email to the referrer via Gmail confirming the submission has been received, naming the referred contact, and explaining what happens next.
Referral Communications Agent
Automated
6
A formatted Slack alert is posted to the assigned sales rep's channel containing the referred contact's details, the referrer's name, and a direct link to the new HubSpot deal record.
Referral Communications Agent
Automated
7
Whenever the sales rep updates the deal stage in HubSpot, the Reward Processing Agent detects the stage change event and updates the matching row in the Google Sheets register in real time.
Reward Processing Agent
Automated
8
When the deal reaches Closed Won in HubSpot, the Reward Processing Agent creates a draft bill in Xero for the reward amount determined by the referrer's tier. The bill sits in draft and no payment is made until a human approves it.
Reward Processing Agent
Automated
9
The finance contact opens Xero, reviews the draft reward bill, confirms the amount and referrer details are correct, and approves the bill for payment. This is the only step that requires a human action in the normal flow.
Finance contact
Human
10
Once the deal is marked Closed Won, the Referral Communications Agent sends a reward notification email to the referrer via Gmail stating the reward amount, the expected payment date, and a personalised thank-you message.
Referral Communications Agent
Automated
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03Handling exceptions
The automation is designed to handle the vast majority of referrals without any human involvement. The table below covers the situations where something unusual happens and explains what the system does automatically and what, if anything, your team needs to do.
Situation
What the system does
What you do
Duplicate contact detected: the referred contact's email already exists in HubSpot
The Referral Intake Agent stops the normal creation flow and posts a Slack alert to the Sales Manager flagging the duplicate, including the referrer's name, the existing contact record link, and the submission details.
The Sales Manager reviews the Slack flag and decides whether to credit the referrer. If yes, manually associate the referrer with the existing deal in HubSpot and notify FullSpec if a register update is also needed.
Missing data in the Typeform submission: a required field such as the referred contact's email address is blank
The agent logs the incomplete submission to a designated row in the Google Sheets register marked Incomplete and sends an automated reply to the referrer asking them to resubmit with the missing information.
No action is needed unless the referrer contacts you directly. If they do, direct them to resubmit the form. The new submission will trigger the full flow from the beginning.
Reward tier cannot be determined: the referrer's details do not match any configured tier rule
The Reward Processing Agent pauses the Xero bill creation step and sends a Slack alert to the process owner flagging that manual tier assignment is needed, including the referrer's name and the submission details.
Review the referrer's details and assign the correct reward tier in HubSpot's custom field. Once the field is updated, notify FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com so the Xero bill can be created for the correct amount.
Finance contact does not approve the Xero draft bill within five business days
The automation sends a reminder Slack message to the finance contact on day three and a second reminder on day five. After five days with no action, a Slack alert is also sent to the process owner.
Follow up with the finance contact directly. If they are unavailable, a delegated approver will need to action the bill in Xero. Contact FullSpec if the bill needs to be recalled and reissued.
Referrer does not respond to the acknowledgement email or reward notification within a defined period
The system does not chase the referrer automatically beyond the initial emails. The Google Sheets register row retains its current status so the referral remains visible.
If a referrer contacts you to say they did not receive an email, check the Google Sheets register to confirm the row exists and the email field is correctly populated. If the email address was invalid, update the record and contact FullSpec to resend.
A connected tool is unavailable: for example, HubSpot or Xero has an outage
The automation platform retries failed steps automatically up to three times with a short delay between attempts. If all retries fail, the affected step is logged as an error and a Slack alert is sent to the process owner with details of the failure.
Check the relevant tool's status page to confirm the outage. Once the tool is back online, contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com and the team will manually re-trigger the failed step or confirm it has recovered automatically.
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04Who to contact and when
Fill in the rows marked with placeholders once your team is confirmed. Keep this table updated whenever roles change so that Slack alerts and exception notifications reach the right person.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Process owner (day-to-day programme oversight)
[Your name]
[Your email or Slack handle]
Sales Manager (duplicate decisions, exception approvals)
[Rep name]
[Rep email or Slack handle]
Finance contact (Xero bill approval and payment release)
[Rep name]
[Rep email]
Sales Coordinator (register queries, referrer communications support)
[Rep name]
[Rep email or Slack handle]
FullSpec builder (technical changes, re-triggers, agent updates)
FullSpec
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (errors, outages, billing, access issues)
FullSpec Support
support@gofullspec.com
For any situation where the automation has stopped mid-flow, a step has errored, or you are unsure whether a record has been processed correctly, email support@gofullspec.com with the referrer's name, the approximate submission time, and a description of what you expected to happen. The FullSpec team will investigate and confirm the outcome or manually complete the affected step.
05Ongoing maintenance
The automation runs without daily attention once it is live. The tasks below are the only maintenance actions required to keep it running accurately and in line with your programme rules.
Any time a new referrer is added to the programme
Confirm the referrer exists as a contact in both HubSpot and Xero before they submit their first referral. If they are missing from Xero, the reward bill creation step will fail. Add them in Xero and notify FullSpec if the contact link needs to be verified.
Process owner or Finance contact
Any time reward tiers or amounts change
Send the updated tier rules to FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com before the change takes effect. The Reward Processing Agent's logic must be updated by FullSpec before any new referrals are processed under the new rules. Do not update tier rules in the spreadsheet alone as the agent reads from its configured rules, not the sheet.
Process owner, actioned by FullSpec
Monthly spot-check (first week of each month)
Open the Google Sheets register and scan for any rows where status has not moved for more than 30 days. Check the corresponding HubSpot deal to confirm whether the referral is genuinely stalled or whether a stage change event was missed. Report any mismatches to FullSpec.
Process owner or Sales Coordinator
Weekly error-log review (every Monday)
Check the designated Slack channel for any error alerts posted by the automation during the previous week. Confirm each one has been resolved or is being followed up. Forward unresolved errors to support@gofullspec.com.
Process owner
Any time a team member changes role or leaves
Update the contact table in Section 04 of this runbook. Also notify FullSpec so that Slack alert routing and any email template sender names can be updated to reflect the new contact. Failure to update routing means exception alerts will go to the wrong person.
Process owner, actioned by FullSpec
Quarterly volume review (every three months)
Review the total number of referrals processed over the quarter against the programme's targets. If monthly volume has grown significantly above 40 referrals, discuss with FullSpec whether any rate limits or Google Sheets row thresholds need attention. Confirm the automation cost remains in line with the $120/year plan.
Process owner
The single most common maintenance issue for this process is a reward tier change being made in the Google Sheets register or programme rules document without the corresponding update being made inside the Reward Processing Agent. When this happens, the agent continues to apply the old tier amounts until FullSpec updates the configuration. Always contact support@gofullspec.com before any tier or amount change goes live.
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