How much is a normal referral fee

[fruitstick]

I am freelance and my clients regularly require other services and I pass them onto other people I know (graphics, photography etc).

I've been told that I really need to charge a referral fee for the work I'm passing on. I'm not good at this sort of thing - how much do people normally ask for?

One person in particular, I've probably passed on about £1500 worth of work so far!

I don't charge referral fees, I rely on mutual goodwill.

I pass work on to others in the hope they will reciprocate.

Or because it's good for my client's business which is then good for mine.

I don't do referral fees either. The photographer I use a lot has earned £00,000s following my recommendations!

I have also turned them down when offered them from orgs.

I feel very uncomfortable about referral fees, as it turns it into something else. As it is, I stake my reputation recommending who I think will be best for the job. Once 'you' start benefiting from referrals, it becomes a transaction/you are then motivated by something else etc.

If you want to pursue it, I would imagine 5/10/15% is probably an acceptable %

I also don't do referral fees. I make loads of referral and receive a fair few.

Receiving a referral is worth nothing to me. I am fully committed and in order to take on 1 job I have to not do another one. So I do take on referrals but they are not worth any money to me as I would have more than enough work without them.

Likewise, I won't accept nor offer referral fees. I'm happy to recommend other businesses but that's on the grounds of my faith in them, not on what's in it for me. Likewise, people recommend me, but that's because they trust me rather than what's in it for them. I'd far rather build a business based upon trust.

I've earned commissions on various bank accounts, investments, loans, re-selling software subscriptions, etc., but whenever that happens, I tell the client and knock it off my fees, so it's the client who benefits, not me. It means I do what's right for the client, not what earns me the most money, and that earns trust.

I did have a wobble once when a client sold a business for a few hundred thousand pounds and I recommended a financial advisor to them for advice on pensions and other investments. The IFA offered me several thousand pounds as an introducer fee. But I'd already charged my normal hourly rate to the client for a lot of time during the sale. It did hurt a little but I refused the introducer fee and told the IFA to reduce his commission accordingly, so he'd earn the same but the client paid less in his fees. So, client ultimately benefited rather than me even though client was happy with the IFA fees in the first place. But at least I have a clean conscious and the client is still a happy client and passing more work to me via their friends and family and new businesses.

Thanks everybody, that's good to know.

That's what I'm most comfortable with but I was being made to feel like a bit of a mug

Thank you for the reassurance.