The Referral Partner Playbook30 firms applied in 4 weeks

By the end of this you'll know who to write your lead magnets for, what to give them, and the page that turns them into partners.

One of our clients is a tax strategist for US high earners and business owners. His buyers make $500K+ a year, and they don't scroll LinkedIn looking for a tax strategist. When they want tax help, they ask their CPA.

So most of his lead magnets aren't written for high earners. They're written for CPAs, and every one of them points to a page where a firm can apply to send him the clients it can't fully serve.

This is the whole setup: who to write for, the 4 lead magnets from his last 4 weeks, the page, the questions on it, and how to pitch a partner without them thinking you're after their clients. The prompt in section 08 plans your first one.

Sep 17 to Oct 14, 2026. LinkedIn numbers are from his own analytics. Applications are from his partner page, counted once per email.

3x the applications of the 4 weeks before, and 3x the US firms. He works with US clients, so the US firms are the ones he can actually partner with.

Of the 18, 8 are small firms (2 to 10 staff), 4 are solo CPAs, 1 is a mid-size firm and 5 are bookkeepers or other financial professionals. 12 said their higher-earning clients make $500K or more. Those are the firms' own answers on the form.

If your buyer asks someone else before they'd ever look for you, write for that someone.

One CPA can have dozens of clients who fit his buyer. Win one firm and you've reached all of them, through the person they already trust with their money.

Four questions to find yours

1. Who does your buyer ask first? Not who they should ask. Who they actually ask, before they'd ever search for someone like you.
2. What does that person already earn from them? Your partner needs a reason to keep the relationship, so you can't be a threat to it.
3. What can't they do for them? That's the work they'd happily send you. For a CPA, it's the planning they don't offer in-house.
4. What would save them time or make them money this month? That's your lead magnet.

13 posts in 4 weeks: 8 that give, 1 lead magnet for high earners and 4 for CPAs. These are the 4, oldest first.

Comment counts are what LinkedIn shows on each post and include his own replies, so they're a guide to interest, not a count of people.

What the 4 have in common

• Each one fixes a problem inside the firm. Cleanups that eat the margin, evenings lost to month-end, tax planning nobody has time for. Never his own service.
• None of them pitch him. The post gives the thing away and ends on "Free access 👇". The ask to partner lives on the page, after they've got something useful.
• They use words CPAs use. QuickBooks, cleanups, the transaction chase, the return. If your partner would have to look a word up, cut it.
• They're built from real work. Every workflow is something a firm can run the same day with tools it already pays for.

Every CPA lead magnet points to the same page on his site, built only for accounting firms.

1. The headline says what the firm gets: "Turn the clients you can't fully serve into a new revenue stream."
2. A short intro: most higher-income clients need planning the firm doesn't offer in-house, and he partners with a small number of firms to handle it and share the upside.
3. 6 questions, one at a time.
4. A calendar for a 20-minute call with him, right after the last question.

The 6 questions

Ask about the firm before the contact details. A firm that's answered 5 questions about its clients is already halfway into the conversation by the time you ask for an email.

A CPA's biggest fear is losing a client. Every line of the offer has to say you won't take one.

• He works through the accountant. The firm makes the introduction and stays in the room.
• He doesn't go after their clients. He never approaches the firm's clients on his own.
• He doesn't take the compliance work. The return stays with the firm, every year.
• The firm earns from it. A referral fee, a share of the revenue, or the work done under the firm's own name.

Put this on the page, in the DM and in the first call. If a partner has to ask whether you'll poach their clients, you've already lost them.

The same machinery as any lead magnet. Only the audience changes.

1. The post goes out with the keyword on the graphic, and "Free access 👇" closes the post.
2. Everyone who comments gets a DM with the resource within minutes.
3. The resource ends with the partner offer and the link to the partner page.
4. The page asks the 6 questions and books the call.
5. The post gets reposted later the same day, while the comments are still coming in.

The full lead magnet setup, from the post format to the DM and the reposts, is free too: The Lead Magnet Guide.

Copy this into a new Claude chat, fill in the 3 lines at the top, and answer as it goes.

You're helping me plan a referral partner lead magnet for LinkedIn.

About me:
- What I sell: [your offer, one line]
- Who buys it: [your buyer, with their size or income]
- My best real result: [one result with a number, or "none yet"]

Do this in order and stop after each step so I can answer.

1. List 5 kinds of people my buyer already asks for advice before they'd ever look for someone like me. For each one, say what they earn from that buyer today and what they can't do for them.

2. Ask me which one I already know best. Then tell me, in 3 lines, what that partner gets from sending me a client, written from their side, not mine.

3. Give me 5 lead magnet ideas for that partner. Each one has to save them time or make them money in their own business, using something I already use or know. None of them can mention what I sell.

4. For the idea I pick, write:
   - the post, under 250 words: a hook with the outcome, 4 to 6 arrow bullets of what's inside, and "Free access 👇" at the end
   - the 1-line text for the graphic's comment box
   - an outline of the resource, section by section

5. Write the 6 questions for my partner page: firm type, how many of their clients fit, what those clients earn or spend, what happens today when a client needs what I do, the kind of partnership they want, and contact details. Give each one answer options.

Rules:
- Never make up numbers. If you need one I haven't given you, ask.
- Write in plain words my partner already uses. No jargon.
- Never say or imply I'll go after their clients.

It finds the people your buyers already ask, picks the one you know best, then writes the post, the comment box line, the resource outline and the 6 questions for your partner page.

Run it yourself. Pick the one partner your buyers ask most, build them one resource they'd use this week, and put it on a page that asks the 6 questions. Then post it.

Have us run it for you. Scale Content Labs writes LinkedIn posts for founders, in their voice, with lead magnets built for your buyers and the people who send them to you. It starts with a 5-question fit check that takes under a minute.