# Contact "referral source" **URL:** \ **Category:** Lists, Lead Scoring & Workflows\ **Tags:** object\ **Created:** [April 11, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968 "2019-04-11T20:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sgagliano](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/sgagliano/32/102498_2.png) [@sgagliano](https://community.hubspot.com/u/sgagliano)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/1 "2019-04-11T20:15:32Z")
How can I relate one contact to another contact that referred it? Use case: If Jill referred me to Jack, I wanted to add a property “Referred by” that would lookup other contacts, and enter Jill as that value on Jack’s contact record. I want to add a custom property that is a lookup field of other contacts (that is apparently not available). Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![ConnorSlivensky](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/connorslivensky/32/43106_2.png) [@ConnorSlivensky](https://community.hubspot.com/u/ConnorSlivensky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/2 "2019-04-11T20:59:34Z")
You’d have to create two custom properties, one that holds a unique code for each contact and another that holds the code of the person that referred them. This blog should walk you through it fairly easily. > **[HubSpot User Blog](https://blog.hubspot.com/customers)** > > A blog for HubSpot users. Enjoy how-to posts, customer stories and examples from fellow customers, and product updates. ---
**Author:** ![sgagliano](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/sgagliano/32/102498_2.png) [@sgagliano](https://community.hubspot.com/u/sgagliano)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/3 "2019-04-11T22:10:01Z")
Can I just use the Hubspot “Contact ID”, that displays on exports, as the “Referring Contact Code” (step 1 in the blog post)? ---
**Author:** ![ConnorSlivensky](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/connorslivensky/32/43106_2.png) [@ConnorSlivensky](https://community.hubspot.com/u/ConnorSlivensky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/4 "2019-04-12T13:53:52Z")
I’m not sure. A quick Google search is saying (as of 2018) that the contact ID is only retreivable through the API and so wouldn’t be able to be used in the tools you’d need for the program (lists,workflows ect) ---
**Author:** ![rissole2390](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/rissole2390/32/29572_2.png) [@rissole2390](https://community.hubspot.com/u/rissole2390)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/5 "2019-04-19T08:17:01Z")
How would you do this simply if we used the Jack/Jill example? Not on scale like you are describing. The end goal is to run a report that I can see where my referrals have come from. ---
**Author:** ![sgagliano](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/sgagliano/32/102498_2.png) [@sgagliano](https://community.hubspot.com/u/sgagliano)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/6 "2019-04-19T16:15:26Z")
I was thinking the results of a query for contacts where referral partner is known, including the contact name field and the referral partner field, and then a pivot on referral partners. I think this could be submitted to hubspot as a recommendation for product enhancement. ---
**Author:** ![ConnorSlivensky](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/connorslivensky/32/43106_2.png) [@ConnorSlivensky](https://community.hubspot.com/u/ConnorSlivensky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/7 "2019-04-19T17:03:27Z")
@rissole2390 unfortunatly the link I provided is the only way I could think to pull this off. [@Phil\_Vallender](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/74) @MFrankJohnson any ideas? But I do agree there should be an easier solution built in. @sgagliano if you post it to the [Ideas Board](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/ideaslandingpage) there’s a better chance the dev team will see it. Let me know if you do and I’ll upvote it and I’m sure others will too. I’ve seen this request come up a couple of times now. ---
**Author:** ![rissole2390](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/rissole2390/32/29572_2.png) [@rissole2390](https://community.hubspot.com/u/rissole2390)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:31am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/8 "2019-04-26T11:31:33Z")
I think here is where someone has posted already. Definitely needs more upvotes though. [https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/Linked-Referral-Sources-to-Deals-Just-like-Contacts/idi-p/83307](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/Linked-Referral-Sources-to-Deals-Just-like-Contacts/idi-p/83307) ---
**Author:** ![NKrneta](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/nkrneta/32/31851_2.png) [@NKrneta](https://community.hubspot.com/u/NKrneta)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 7:27am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/9 "2021-03-29T07:27:41Z")
Hi, we are having the same issue, and we wanted to use this solution, but this blog link seems unavailable. Do you maybe have the correct link? If not, my question is how do you create a unique code property, preferably automatically. ---
**Author:** ![GCascais](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/gcascais/32/68653_2.png) [@GCascais](https://community.hubspot.com/u/GCascais)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/10 "2021-05-11T16:02:35Z")
Hi there, Unfortunately the link to the blog doesn’t work anymore. Can you update it please? ---
**Author:** ![MFrankJohnson](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/mfrankjohnson/32/22490_2.png) [@MFrankJohnson](https://community.hubspot.com/u/MFrankJohnson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 7:08am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/11 "2019-05-05T07:08:49Z")
**Q** : How can I relate one contact to another contact that referred it? I want to add a custom property that is a lookup field of other contacts (that is apparently not available). ? **Short A** : Contact-to-Contact relationships do not exist in HubSpot. Nor does HubSpot have any ability to build these relationships within the platform directly -- see [HubSpot ERD (March 2019)](https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/crm-integration-guide/overview) for confirmation. **Longer A** : Long ago, we implemented a drop down list of HubSpot users as a referral solution for a client only to learn that it quickly became unmanageable due to human error. Since then, we only use Single Line Text fields for this purpose. Single Line Text fields still allow many issues (including human error). However, Single Line Text fields don’t ‘break’ things as is the case with dropdowns when their options are changed on live records. ---
**Author:** ![Dan1](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/dan1/32/57856_2.png) [@Dan1](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Dan1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/12 "2020-09-16T11:23:54Z")
Hi @sgagliano , We also tried to figure this out recently and came to the same conclusion which @MFrankJohnson suggested. It’s a little more manual but it is working for us. I put together a [quick video](https://youtu.be/8mH04CgoT6w) which details how we set it up. I hope this helps. [ ![31784iC00B28E22C9017FA.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/b/6/b607877e11a6fded56b714237624755f1a38a7d7.png) ](https://youtu.be/8mH04CgoT6w) Dan Currin Co-Founder [OrgChartHub](https://orgcharthub.com/) [GeoMapper](https://geomapper.io/) OrgChartHub & GeoMapper named in the [Top 30 HubSpot Apps](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/500-apps-of-summer) ---
**Author:** ![mb02](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/mb02/32/74736_2.png) [@mb02](https://community.hubspot.com/u/mb02)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/13 "2020-11-18T00:15:19Z")
Hey Dan, this has worked a treat for me as a workaround. Fingers crossed HubSpot will build a referral source solution in, but for now this will keep me going. Thanks so so so much! ---
**Author:** ![JennL](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/jennl/32/35608_2.png) [@JennL](https://community.hubspot.com/u/JennL)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/14 "2021-08-23T19:48:43Z")
What about [how-can-i-add-a-parent-or-child-company-to-an-existing-company-record](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/companies/how-can-i-add-a-parent-or-child-company-to-an-existing-company-record) **"Can I create more than one level of parent-child relationships?** Yes, you can create multiple levels of parent-child relationships. However, only one level of the hierarchy will appear in the _Related companies_ section: the immediate parent and child companies of the record you are on." I feel like Hubspot could easily (in a: the field mapping process already works sense) duplicate the **parent-child** field association to use as a new **referred by** field. Its crazy that we have to still do a work around manual process that includes a link, Thats not great for reporting on. -Jenn ---
**Author:** ![MFrankJohnson](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/mfrankjohnson/32/22490_2.png) [@MFrankJohnson](https://community.hubspot.com/u/MFrankJohnson)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/15 "2021-08-23T20:16:47Z")
Interesting discovery about the ‘linkability’ of a single-line text property that contains more than a URL, Dan. As usual, you continue to push the boundaries. 😎 ---
**Author:** ![Dan1](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/dan1/32/57856_2.png) [@Dan1](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Dan1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/16 "2020-11-18T13:58:12Z")
Hi @mb02 , Thanks for taking the time to message, really pleased you found it helpful. Kind Regards, Co-Founder [OrgChartHub](https://orgcharthub.com/) [GeoMapper](https://geomapper.io/) OrgChartHub & GeoMapper named in the [Top 30 HubSpot Apps](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/500-apps-of-summer) ---
**Author:** ![BradOliver](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/bradoliver/32/69180_2.png) [@BradOliver](https://community.hubspot.com/u/BradOliver)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/17 "2021-06-23T17:04:50Z")
Thanks @Dan1 The video was very helpful. 🍻 ---
**Author:** ![Alejosanchez](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/alejosanchez/32/42672_2.png) [@Alejosanchez](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Alejosanchez)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/18 "2021-10-19T17:57:08Z")
Hi community, I would like to share with you the next Linkedin´s Blog from our Senior Solutions Engineer @jackcoldrick [Here](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/create-referral-program-hubspot-using-marketing-hub-jack-coldrick/) he explains how you can create a referral program with all the processes optimized. Hope this information will be useful for all of you! ---
**Author:** ![ddinsio](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/ddinsio/32/80638_2.png) [@ddinsio](https://community.hubspot.com/u/ddinsio)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-referral-source/13968/19 "2023-05-19T15:06:15Z")
Very helpful! This is awesome @Alejosanchez