The short definitions
Partner-sourced means the partner created the opportunity. They introduced the customer, and when they did, your team had no open opportunity with that account. Without the partner, the deal would not exist.
Partner-influenced means someone else created the opportunity, usually your own sales team or your marketing, and a partner later did something specific that helped it close. The deal existed before the partner showed up.
Both matter, for different reasons. Sourced revenue tells you whether partners are a real source of new customers. Influenced revenue tells you whether partners make your existing pipeline close faster or bigger. The trouble starts when the two are defined loosely, counted twice, or mixed up in a board slide.
The attribution rules
Write these rules down and apply them the same way to every deal. Most attribution arguments are about edge cases nobody decided in advance.
| Situation | Attribution | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Partner refers a new prospect with no open opportunity and no recent CRM activity | Sourced | The partner created the opportunity |
| Partner registers a deal they are selling themselves, approved as new | Sourced | Same test: the opportunity did not exist |
| Partner submits an account your rep already has as an open opportunity | Influenced at most | The opportunity existed first, so the submission cannot be sourced |
| Your rep creates the opportunity and a partner later joins a call or introduces a decision maker | Influenced | The partner helped, but did not create the deal |
| Inbound lead that mentions a partner on the demo form | Sourced only if the partner confirms the referral and submitted it, otherwise influenced | Self-reported attribution is a clue, not proof |
| Existing customer expands after a partner's project | Influenced, unless your agreement pays partners on expansion | Expansion revenue comes from an account you already own |
| No partner activity recorded before close | None | Influence added after the deal closes does not count |
The precedence rule is simple: a deal has one attribution type. If it qualifies as sourced, it is sourced, even if three other partners also helped.
Touch types that count as influence
Influence needs a specific action with evidence. Vague "we know them" claims are where reports get inflated.
| Touch type | Counts as influence | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to a decision maker or economic buyer | Yes | The email or meeting invite |
| Joined a demo, discovery or technical call | Yes | Meeting on the opportunity record |
| Customer reference or case study from a shared client | Yes | Name of the reference and date |
| Scoped or quoted implementation services | Yes | The partner's statement of work or proposal |
| Co-presented the proposal or business case | Yes | The meeting and deck |
| Partner is listed on the account but did nothing on this deal | No | |
| General marketing, such as a joint webinar the buyer attended months ago | Usually no | Count it in marketing attribution instead |
Time windows
Attribution also needs dates, or any partner can claim any deal.
- Sourced lookback. A submission is sourced only if the account had no open opportunity and no meaningful sales activity in the last 90 days. Pick a number that matches your sales cycle and keep it.
- Sourced protection. The partner's claim lasts for your protection period, often 90 days from approval. If the deal has not reached an open opportunity by then, the claim lapses. The deal registration guide covers protection periods in detail.
- Influence window. An influence touch counts only if it happened while the opportunity was open: after it was created and before it closed.
How to set it up as CRM fields
Your CRM is where attribution has to live, because that is where revenue is reported. In HubSpot these are custom deal properties. In Salesforce they are custom fields on the Opportunity object. The names below are suggestions.
| Field | Type | Values | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sourcing partner | Lookup to the partner account (or association in HubSpot) | One partner | Partner team, on approval |
| Partner attribution type | Dropdown | Sourced, Influenced, None | Partner team, checked at close |
| Partner submission date | Date | Date the partner submitted or registered | Set automatically from the submission |
| Influencing partners | Multi-select or related list | Any number of partners | Rep or partner manager |
| Influence touch type | Multi-select | Introduction, call, reference, services scope, proposal | Rep or partner manager |
| First influence date | Date | Date of the first qualifying touch | Rep or partner manager |
| Attribution approved by | User | Name | Partner team, at close |
Three practical points:
- Default the type to None. A blank field gets read as "partner involved" by whoever builds the report. None is explicit.
- Make attribution type required at Closed Won. Use a validation rule so a deal cannot close without it.
- Lock the sourced fields after approval. Reps editing sourced attribution after the fact is how trust between sales and partners breaks down.
How to report both without double counting
Double counting comes from two places: the same deal counted as both sourced and influenced, and the same deal counted once per partner.
Fix the first with the single-type rule above. Fix the second by reporting at two levels and never mixing them:
- Program level. Each deal counts once. Partner-sourced revenue plus partner-influenced revenue equals total partner-involved revenue, and that total can never exceed your company's new revenue.
- Partner level. Each partner gets credit for every deal they sourced or influenced. A deal with two influencing partners appears in both partners' scorecards. These numbers are useful for comparing partners, but adding them up overstates the program.
Show sourced and influenced as separate lines, with partner-involved as their sum. Never present influenced revenue as if it were additional to your sales team's numbers. It is the same revenue, seen from a different angle. For the full set of program metrics, see the partner program KPIs guide.
A worked example with numbers
You close $600,000 in new annual contract value (ACV) in a quarter. Five deals had partner activity.
| Deal | ACV | How it started | Partner activity | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawk Digital | $36,000 | Brightline Agency registered it, no prior CRM record | Brightline ran the sale with your rep | Sourced: Brightline |
| Atlas Logistics | $54,000 | Signal Partners referred it, no activity in 90 days | Signal made the introduction | Sourced: Signal Partners |
| Fjord Analytics | $42,000 | Your rep's outbound | Cobalt Consulting joined a technical call and scoped implementation | Influenced: Cobalt |
| Lumen Health | $60,000 | Inbound demo request | Brightline gave a reference, Signal co-presented the proposal | Influenced: Brightline and Signal |
| Kestrel Foods | $28,000 | Your rep had an open opportunity for three weeks | Cobalt submitted it as a referral, then introduced the CFO | Influenced: Cobalt (referral rejected as sourced) |
Program-level results:
- Partner-sourced revenue: $36,000 + $54,000 = $90,000, or 15% of new ACV.
- Partner-influenced revenue: $42,000 + $60,000 + $28,000 = $130,000, or about 21.7%.
- Partner-involved revenue: $220,000, or about 36.7%.
Partner-level results:
- Brightline: $36,000 sourced, $60,000 influenced.
- Signal Partners: $54,000 sourced, $60,000 influenced.
- Cobalt Consulting: $70,000 influenced.
Add the partner-level figures together and you get $280,000, because Lumen Health appears twice. That is $60,000 more than the program actually touched. It is the most common way partner reports get overstated, and the reason program totals must come from deal-level data.
If you pay a 15% referral fee on sourced deals only, the quarter's fees are $5,400 to Brightline and $8,100 to Signal Partners. The referral fee guide covers how to set that rate.
Common mistakes
- Letting partners self-declare attribution. The partner proposes, your team decides against the CRM record.
- Counting the partner's own customers as sourced. If a partner's existing client buys from you after an introduction, that is sourced. If your rep already had the account open, it is not, no matter who the partner knows.
- Changing definitions mid-year. Comparisons between quarters stop meaning anything. Change rules at the start of a period and restate the old numbers if you must.
- Ignoring conflicts until payout. Disputes over who sourced a deal are easier to settle the week the submission arrives. The channel conflict guide covers how.
Tracking it without spreadsheets
Attribution only holds up if every partner submission carries a timestamp, a partner name and a status, and lands on the right CRM record. A partner portal with referral forms and deal registration gives you the submission side, and a CRM sync keeps the attribution fields next to the revenue. Then sourced and influenced revenue come out of the same report your sales team already trusts.