They say the two best days in a boat owner’s life are: the day they buy the boat… and the day they sell it.

It’s funny because it rings of some truth. The hidden lesson is why I have been a part of a boat rental club instead of buying.

Freedom Boat Club, to be specific—and while I’m not sponsored, I am a fan. The concept is smart: no maintenance, no dock fees, newer boats - just show up and go (after training and boating captain certification of course).

Last week, I got a short email from them within about 24 hours of our first summer outing.

I appreciated it was a survey AND a referral opportunity though I’d caution most against putting in two calls to action.

Today, we’re focusing on their referral program.

The gist? Refer a friend, and if they join, I would get a local cash bonus.

Copy and landing page link:

Referral Opportunity – Earn Cash!

Did you know that you can earn a cash reward for referring friends to join Freedom Boat Club? If your referral becomes a member, you’ll receive a local referral cash bonus from your club!

Submit Your Referral Here: Referral Form

I talk to clients about referral systems a lot. It’s not enough to earn customers. We should be earning customers, earning their future business, and earning business from people they are connected to.

It made me think about how underutilized referral systems still are in so many businesses - mine included. And how easy it can be to turn casual advocates into intentional introducers—if you make it easy and rewarding.

There are different types of connectors:

• A referral is anytime someone sends someone your way.

• An introducer makes the warm connection for you (think personal handoff).

• An affiliate shares you with their audience, usually with a tracked link and commission setup.

• A partner might co-market with you in an ongoing, strategic way.

Each has a place—and ideally, a system. Jay Abraham (well known for his referral systems) famously contends most businesses are sitting on a goldmine of opportunity, if they just bothered to formalize and automate how people send others their way.

If you’re still relying on word of mouth to “just happen,” this is your nudge to build the system behind it.

• Consider having them post purchase, post experience, post survey, and on some cadence such as monthly or quarterly.

• Warm intros? Affiliate links? Thank-you gifts? Revenue share?

• Make it clear. Make it easy. Make it worthwhile. Make it authentic.

Let your happy clients do what they already want to do—talk about you.

And make sure you’re ready to reward them when they do.

For this week’s AI, we’re going to share something fit for the topic:

A few months ago, I created a CustomGPT—trained on Jay’s philosophy and tailored to help structure referral offers. Use this prompt and see what you get for ideas:

CustomGPT link

Prompt:

“My business, [Business Name] ([website URL]), is considering launching a referral program. We’re in the [industry] space and most of our clients find us through [brief explanation—e.g., word of mouth, content, events, etc.].

Can you give a few structured referral program ideas?

We’re especially interested in:

How to reward warm introductions without making it feel transactional

Options for affiliate or ambassador models that fit our audience

Simple ways to automate or systematize referrals post-purchase or post-engagement”

No matter what the results are - keep going until you get 2-3 ideas you can really consider.

Please note: any any info you enter into the CustomGPT isn’t viewable by us.

Try the CustomGPT

Until next week,

Rebecca and the Advisory 9 team

P.S. If you want to learn how to build your own customGPT—hit reply. We’ll send you a couple of our videos.