Choose a contact recommendation or a permitted introduction
If you cannot take a job, you can give the customer an appropriate trader's published business contact and let the customer choose whether to contact them. Making an introduction is a separate action: confirm who the customer wants you to introduce, what may be shared and whether the recipient can consider the work.
“Do you know someone who could help?” does not mean “Send my full address and photos to your whole contact list.” A useful handoff protects the customer's choice and avoids describing an unconfirmed trader as available or already booked.
This is a practical referral workflow, not a method for getting more recommendations. The referral growth guide covers that wider task. The receiving business still needs its own scope, agreement and appointment records.
Make the smallest useful handoff
| Situation | Next action | Keep separate |
|---|---|---|
| Customer wants a business to contact themselves | Provide the appropriate published business contact and explain what you know | No customer's details need to be forwarded |
| Customer requests an introduction to a named trader | Confirm the details they want passed on and check recipient fit | Permission to introduce is not acceptance of a quote |
| Recipient's availability is unknown | Check whether they can consider the general work before promising anything | A tentative discussion is not an appointment |
| Work needs a specific competence or registration | Confirm the relevant recipient evidence for that work | Knowing the person is not proof of the qualification |
| No suitable recipient is confirmed | Say that you cannot currently make a confirmed introduction | Do not invent a partner relationship |
Describe the basis of a recommendation accurately: work you have actually seen, a confirmed professional relationship, or simply a published business contact. Those are different levels of knowledge.
Copy the permission and scope record
- Customer's actual request and why you cannot take it: ___
- General service and area needed to check recipient fit: ___
- Contact-only recommendation or requested introduction: ___
- Named receiving business and published contact: ___
- Recipient's relevant competence/coverage check: ___
- Availability status: confirmed to consider / unknown / unavailable ___
- Customer's chosen details to share: ___
- Purpose of sharing and customer's recorded agreement: ___
- Details omitted because they are unnecessary: ___
- Who will contact whom next: ___
- Actual introduction date and recipient acknowledgement: ___
- Later outcome, only if confirmed: ___
ICO guidance asks businesses to consider whether sharing is necessary and fair, alongside overall data protection compliance. Use the customer's agreement to define this particular introduction and share the details it needs. Keep the introduction about the requested job; it is not permission for the recipient's unrelated marketing.
Prefer the customer's own contact with the receiving business when an introduction is unnecessary. If you do share information, use an appropriate private channel and the agreed details, rather than the original message thread with unrelated history.
Fictional electrician-to-decorator handoff
Fictional workflow example. After electrical work, a customer asks about repainting the affected room. The electrician does not provide decorating services. The customer first asks for a decorator's business number, so the electrician supplies a relevant published contact and makes no introduction.
If the customer instead asks for an introduction to that named decorator, the electrician checks that the decorator can consider the type of work and general area. The customer chooses which contact details and job photos can be passed on. The electrician records that limited agreement and identifies the next contact clearly.
The decorator assesses the actual preparation and repainting, confirms the person who can accept the work and sends their own quote. The original referral is recorded as an introduction. The work is recorded as booked only when that outcome is actually confirmed; the electrician does not assume that sharing a number created a customer or payer relationship.
Use a clear introduction and close your part of the handoff
Adaptable introduction wording: “With [customer]'s agreement, I'm introducing [named business] about [confirmed general work]. The customer has asked me to share [agreed details]. [Named person/business] will [confirmed next step]. Scope, price and timing remain to be agreed directly.” Replace every bracket with a confirmed fact.
After sending a permitted introduction, record whether the recipient acknowledged it and whether the customer knows the next step. If the recipient declines, return that fact to the customer and let them choose what happens next. Do not automatically send the private request to another business.
Use the existing customer-stage ledger if an outcome is later reported. Use Tradehand's job records for your own work and keep another business's prospective job separate. If the request came from Nextdoor, the request-to-quote worksheet explains the information the receiving trader will still need.
