Named buyer
The referrer can name an agency owner, account lead, freelancer, or fractional marketer — not a generic audience, list, or role inbox.
Score the referral before treating it like demand.
Cold outreach produced 121 sends and zero real replies, so the next growth signal has to be higher quality: one warm operator with an active client job, a clear first report, and a reply that can be counted without wishful thinking.
A warm intro only counts if these three gates pass.
Active job
The buyer has a real prospect/client deliverable due in the next 14 days: sales-call prep, review mining, creator brief, or local SEO diagnosis.
Measurable reply
The expected answer is a paid order, named referral, proof/sample request, or exact objection. “Interesting” is a fail until clarified.
Use this before forwarding the page.
+2Buyer already sells web, SEO, ads, social, content, or fractional marketing services.They understand why research packets save billable time.
+2They can name one client/prospect to audit, mine, compare, or script for this week.A named business turns curiosity into a use case.
+1They have bought research, audits, VA help, freelancer help, or AI tooling before.Existing spend lowers first-order friction.
+1They can judge the sample report in under five minutes.Slow evaluation means the first report is too vague.
-2The referrer only says “I know some marketers” or “this might be useful.”Do not forward until there is a person and a job.
-2The buyer wants a software subscription, dashboard, or automation platform.Task Agents sells finished packets, not a SaaS seat.
Threshold: 4+ points is worth a manual 1:1 forward. Under 4 points, ask one qualifying question first.
Qualified demand and revenue conversion.
This scorecard protects the next test from false positives. The metric is not page views; it is one buyer action that can move revenue or learning: paid starter order, named referral, proof/sample request, or exact purchase-blocking objection.
Tag the blocker in the buyer’s words.
Use one label only after the buyer says it: trust/source quality, client-ready packaging, unclear first use case, turnaround risk, price/value, or not the buyer. The next asset should answer the top named blocker, not add more generic marketplace copy.
Personal 1:1 ask for a trusted referrer.
Quick filter before I ask you to forward anything: do you know one agency/freelancer with a real client or prospect deliverable in the next 14 days? If yes, this scorecard says whether the intro is actually qualified: https://tasks.irislabs.dev/partners/referrer-scorecard/ — I only want a paid starter order, named referral, sample request, or the exact reason they would not buy.