Last updated: June 29, 2026

Thank you for your interest in the Palermo Business Solutions Referral Partner Program. This program is built on relationships. It exists so that people who know good businesses can introduce them to PBS, and so those introductions are recognized fairly when they turn into real work.

These Terms explain how the program works, what we ask of you as a referral partner, and how you earn and get paid. We have written them in plain language on purpose. We want you to be able to read this once, understand it, and feel good about working with us. If anything here is unclear, just ask us before you agree.

1. Program Overview and Referral Scope

The PBS Referral Partner Program lets approved partners introduce potential clients to Palermo Business Solutions. Your role is to make the introduction. From there, PBS handles the conversation, the pricing, the proposal, the close, and the work itself.

You are welcome to refer any PBS service. If you know a business that could use help, send it our way, whether that is bookkeeping, accounting, business planning, advisory work, or anything else PBS offers. We will decide whether a referral fits and whether it becomes a paid engagement. From time to time we may give you specific materials or a current focus for outreach, but that focus does not limit what you are allowed to refer.

Joining the program is something PBS approves, not something that happens automatically. We may accept, decline, pause, or remove a partner, and we may accept or decline any referred prospect, based on what makes sense for the business. Being approved as a partner does not guarantee that any particular referral will be accepted or will earn commission.

We reserve the right to update, enhance, modify, or discontinue any part of our services at any time, without prior notice.

2. A Few Key Terms

A few words show up throughout this document. Here is what we mean by them, so there is no confusion later.

Valid referral

A real business that you introduced to PBS through our approved process, that was not already a PBS client or already in our pipeline, and that PBS has accepted as a referral connected to you.

Eligible service

Any PBS service that PBS agrees to provide to a referred client under a paid engagement. We may treat a service as eligible at the time we accept the engagement.

Approved PBS service fee

The price PBS charges a referred client for the PBS service itself, under the approved engagement. This is the number your commission is based on. It does not include pass-through costs, which are explained in the commission section below.

3. The Partnership and Your Independent Status

We mean it when we call this a partnership. You bring relationships and judgment, we bring the service and the delivery, and together we help good businesses get the support they need. We want this to feel cooperative, because that is exactly what it is.

At the same time, it helps to be clear about how you fit. You take part in the program as an independent referral partner. You are not a PBS employee, and joining the program does not make you one. You run your own outreach in your own way, on your own schedule, and you cover your own expenses and taxes.

Because PBS owns the client relationship and the work, there are a few things that stay on our side. As a partner, you cannot commit PBS to anything, set or approve pricing, approve which services a client receives, promise an outcome, or make decisions for PBS. If a prospect needs an answer on any of that, the answer comes from us. That keeps everyone protected and keeps the experience clean for the people you introduce.

4. What Good Partners Do and the Hard Lines

The best partners in this program tend to do the same handful of things well. This is the heart of the role, so we want to lead with it.

What good partners do

They introduce real businesses that could genuinely benefit from PBS, not just names to rack up volume.
They talk honestly about what PBS does and let the quality of the work speak for itself.
They speak in their own voice and stay inside the facts and offers PBS has approved.
They respect the prospect, take no for an answer gracefully, and never push.
They submit clear, accurate information so PBS can pick up the conversation smoothly.

If that describes how you work, you are going to do well here.

The hard lines

A short list of things have to stay off limits, because crossing them creates real problems for the prospect, for PBS, and for you. These are firm.

Do not quote, estimate, or negotiate pricing. Pricing comes from PBS.
Do not promise results, guarantee outcomes, or commit to timelines on our behalf.
Do not give tax, accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, QuickBooks, legal, or financial advice as if it were coming from PBS.
Do not collect, ask for, or hold a prospect’s sensitive financial information.
Do not present yourself as part of PBS, or suggest you can speak or decide for PBS.
Do not use spam, false claims, fake urgency, or pressure to chase a referral.

Everything outside these lines is yours to handle in the way that feels natural to you.

5. Using PBS Materials and Going Public

When you are talking with someone you know, a friend, a neighbor, a business contact, you should sound like yourself. You do not have to read from a script. Reach out in your own words, as long as what you say is truthful and stays inside the facts and offers PBS has approved.

Going public is where we ask you to loop us in first. Anything that puts the PBS name out into the world, like a landing page, a paid ad, a social media page, a website, an email campaign, or branded graphics, needs PBS approval before it goes live. This is not us trying to say no. Plenty of these ideas are great, and we are happy to work on them with you. We just want to see them first.

How approval works

You send us what you would like to use or publish.
We approve it, suggest changes, or let you know it is not a fit, and we do that in writing.
An approval covers that specific item, unless we tell you otherwise.

For public promotions, PBS may also ask you to include specific wording, disclaimers, or disclosures as a condition of approval.

PBS owns its brand, its materials, its templates, and its website and client-facing language. Please use them only in the ways we have approved, and do not change them in a way that alters the offer, the meaning, or the service.

6. Submitting and Validating Leads

All referrals come to us through the approved PBS process, which is the form or link we provide. A referral sent another way, by text, email, or a quick verbal mention, may not be tracked and may not qualify for commission. Using the approved process is what protects your credit.

When you submit a referral, give us enough to work with: the business name, a contact name and how to reach them, a little context about the business, the reason you think PBS can help, and a note that the prospect is open to hearing from us. The more real and complete the information, the easier it is for us to move.

Submitting a referral is not the same as it being approved. PBS reviews each one and decides whether it is valid, whether it is a duplicate, whether it fits an eligible service, and whether it moves forward. We will let you know where things stand.

7. Duplicate Referrals and Attribution

Now and then, two partners will point at the same business, or a prospect you submit will already be someone PBS knows. Here is how we keep that fair and simple.

In general, the first valid referral recorded in our system is the one credited.
A referral does not earn commission if the prospect is already a PBS client, already in our pipeline, an active opportunity, or already submitted by another partner.
If there is ever a question about who gets credit, PBS makes the call, and that decision is final.
Referring yourself, or a business you own or are closely tied to, needs PBS approval ahead of time and may not qualify.

Please keep any attribution question between you and PBS. The prospect should never be pulled into it.

8. Privacy and Handling Information

Treat the information you come across through this program with care. In practice, that means keeping it simple.

Stick to basic business contact details and a short description of why the business might need PBS. That is all you need to make a good introduction. Please do not collect or pass along sensitive material like bank information, payroll records, tax returns, financial statements, QuickBooks access, logins, passwords, or private business documents. If a prospect wants to share something like that, let them know PBS will handle it, and just submit the referral so we can take it from there.

Use any prospect or lead information only for making the referral to PBS. Do not share it, sell it, publish it, or use it for anything else. And if you ever receive sensitive information by accident, let us know so we can handle it properly.

The same care applies to PBS itself. Please keep PBS program materials, referral tools, internal instructions, partner resources, access links, and commission information private, and do not share them with anyone unless PBS approves it.

9. How Commission Works

When a referral you sent becomes a paying client, you earn a commission. Here is exactly how it works.

The commission is 8.5% of the approved PBS service fee for the engagement.
It is paid one time for each approved engagement.
It becomes eligible for payment after the referred client signs the engagement, makes the required first payment to PBS, and PBS confirms that the referral and engagement meet these Terms.

The 8.5% is calculated on the PBS service fee, which is what we charge for our actual service. It does not include pass-through costs, meaning amounts we are simply passing along rather than charging as our fee. Those excluded items include sales tax, software such as QuickBooks Online, reimbursed expenses, third-party services, and other costs PBS is only passing through. The commission is on the service, not on the extras flowing through it.

If the same client signs an additional approved engagement within twelve months of when your referral was recorded, that new engagement earns commission too, under the same 8.5% rule. After that twelve-month window closes, additional work for that client no longer carries a commission.

A few things do not earn commission, just so there are no surprises: joining the program, being approved, submitting a referral, sending a duplicate, booking a meeting, a no-show, a referral that does not close, or a client who never makes the required payment. The commission is tied to real, paid work.

10. Getting Paid

Once a commission is earned and approved, getting it to you is straightforward.

PBS processes approved partner payments on the 1st and 15th of each month. Those are processing dates, not the moment a commission is earned. A commission has to be eligible and approved first, and then it goes out on the next processing date.

We pay through methods like PayPal, Zelle, or another method PBS approves, and what is available may depend on where you are located. Please give us complete and accurate payment information, since we cannot release a payment without it, and we are not responsible for delays caused by incorrect details or normal bank and platform processing time.

Tax documentation

If you are a U.S.-based partner, we will ask you to provide a Form W-9 before we pay commission, and we will issue a Form 1099 when the amount you earn requires it. If you are based outside the U.S., you are responsible for your own taxes, reporting, and any local requirements that apply to you. PBS may hold a payment until the documentation we need is complete.

11. PBS Controls the Client Relationship

Once you have made the introduction, the client relationship sits with PBS. We handle pricing, scope, onboarding, the service itself, renewals, and how we communicate with the client going forward. This is what lets us protect the quality of the work and stand behind it.

It also means the referred client is a PBS client, not yours to manage. You are always welcome to stay friendly with the people you introduce, but decisions about their service, their pricing, and their account belong to PBS.

12. Your Protection and Ours

This section is about keeping things fair if something ever goes wrong. We have kept it plain on purpose.

You are responsible for how you act as a partner. If a claim or cost comes from your own outreach, your own statements, the way you handled information, or your breaking these Terms, that responsibility is yours, and you agree to cover PBS for it. That is simply the flip side of running your outreach in your own way.

On our side, we want you to know what PBS is responsible for. If there is ever a dispute over a referral, PBS’s financial responsibility to you is limited to the unpaid commission tied to that referral. PBS is not responsible for indirect or extended losses beyond that, such as lost profits or business you expected but did not get. That limit covers what PBS owes you. It does not remove your own responsibility for your conduct, your statements, how you handle information, or your use of PBS materials.

13. Inactivity and Ending the Relationship

We hope this is a long and active relationship, but we also want to be clear about how it can wind down.

If a partner goes ninety days without submitting a referral, PBS may move that partner to inactive. Before that happens, we may check in around the thirty and sixty day marks, just as a friendly reminder. We may also send partner newsletters now and then with updates and reminders to help you spot good referral opportunities.

Either of us can step away from the program at any time. PBS may also end a partner’s participation right away in more serious situations, like breaking the conduct rules, misrepresenting PBS, mishandling private information, using unapproved materials, or creating real risk for PBS, a prospect, or a client.

What happens after

You stop referring new business through the program and stop using PBS materials.

Commission you already earned on valid referrals is still paid, unless it was forfeited by a violation.

For a referral that is still in progress, PBS will look at it and decide. A clean pending referral can still be honored, while one tied to a rule problem may not be.

14. PBS Decisions and Disputes

To keep the program running smoothly, PBS holds final authority on the judgment calls: whether a referral is valid, who gets credit, whether a referral is eligible for commission, whether to accept a client, and how the program is run day to day.

If you ever have a question or a disagreement about a referral, attribution, commission, payment, or your status, bring it to us directly. We ask that you start by sending us written notice of the issue, and we will work with you in good faith to sort it out over the next thirty days. Most things can be resolved just by talking them through.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina.

15. Electronic Acceptance and Partner Acknowledgment

You accept these Terms by taking part in the program. That includes checking the acceptance box, submitting the application, signing through the application form, joining the program, submitting a referral, using PBS materials or referral tools, or accepting a commission payment. Any of these means you have read these Terms and agree to follow them.

If you are accepting on behalf of a company rather than yourself, you confirm that you are authorized to agree to these Terms for that company.

By taking part, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms, that you take part as an independent referral partner and not as a PBS employee, that you cannot commit PBS or make decisions for PBS, and that PBS holds final authority over referral validity, attribution, commission eligibility, client acceptance, payment approval, and program administration.

PBS may update these Terms or the program from time to time. We will make the current version available through our website, the application process, partner materials, email, or another PBS-approved method. If we make a change, continuing to take part in the program means you agree to the current version. Changes apply going forward and do not remove a commission you have already properly earned.

If you have questions about these Terms or need assistance, contact us at:

Palermo Business Solutions
[email protected]
(855) 446-0575
Wilmington, NC

PBS Referral Partner Program Terms