Fragmented referrals and duplicated effort

Before RQ, Cheetham Jackson managed inbound referrals through a mix of informal channels and standalone tools, including email, phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp, and Monday.com. With more than 100 joint venture partners, referrals were not captured consistently end to end. Some appeared in Intelliflo with no context or audit trail. Others were never recorded centrally at all.

Emily, Head of Operations, explains:

“Some joint ventures would send an email to their lead advisers. Others would call. Some would text. Some added the referral straight onto Monday.com, which was meant to be our shared tracking system with partners. That would have been the best way for us, but often that step got missed.”

Advisers were also duplicating work. Each referral had to be entered into Monday.com to update partners and again into Intelliflo to support performance tracking and regulatory oversight. Every update – booking a meeting, progressing a case, or closing it – needed to be reflected in both systems.

“What would happen is they would either not update Monday.com or not update Intelliflo. It made structured conversations really hard because we didn’t actually know what was going on. We were relying on 35 advisers to track referrals individually, on top of duplicating admin and servicing both the client and the joint venture.”

This created operational strain and compliance risk. Reporting was unreliable. Oversight depended on individual discipline rather than process. Informal referral methods left gaps in audit trails.

Emily also highlighted a deeper data issue. Before RQ, Intelliflo’s lead functionality was not used properly. Referrals were routinely added as clients before any meeting had taken place, creating a back book full of records that were not genuine clients.

As a result, Intelliflo data did not reflect reality. Pipeline was harder to assess, outcomes were unclear, and reporting could not be relied on with confidence. Referrals would sometimes exist in the system with no clear record of how or when they were received, or who had referred them.

Monday.com cost around £1,200 per month but did not integrate with Intelliflo or support a compliance-led referral process. As referral volumes increased, this model became increasingly difficult to justify.

Migrating from Monday.com to an Intelliflo-first referral workflow

Cheetham Jackson introduced RQ to replace Monday.com and move to a single referral workflow built directly around Intelliflo.

The objective was clear:

• Intelliflo remains the system of record
• Advisers work in one place
• Referrals are captured once
• Compliance is enforced by the process on RQ, not individual behaviour

RQ integrates directly with Intelliflo and is available as a native integration via the Intelliflo platform. Referrals created through RQ flow straight into Intelliflo, removing the need for duplicate data entry while ensuring a complete, auditable referral trail.

Using Intelliflo correctly: leads first, clients later

A key part of the change was correcting how Intelliflo itself was being used.

Before RQ, referrals were routinely added as client records before any meeting had taken place. This inflated the client back book with people who were never clients and made pipeline data difficult to trust.

Through the RQ integration, Cheetham Jackson adopted Intelliflo’s lead functionality properly:

• All referrals are now created as leads
• Records only convert to clients once a first meeting is booked

Emily explains:

“Through partnering with RQ, we were able to explore the lead functionality within Intelliflo. Referrals are now classed as leads, which is exactly what they are. They only convert to clients once a first meeting is booked. That’s really helped us clean up our data.”

This change improved data accuracy, created a clearer pipeline, and ensured that Intelliflo better reflected the true state of the business.

A controlled rollout across the JV network

The integration was rolled out carefully and iteratively. Emily worked closely with the RQ team throughout testing and implementation.

“We worked really closely with RQ's team. In the early stages we were testing almost every other day before going live. We rolled it out to smaller joint ventures first, then to priority partnerships once it was stable. Any issues that came up as usage increased were flagged and fixed.”

RQ replaced Monday.com entirely as the referral layer, while Intelliflo remained at the centre of the firm’s regulated processes.

The result was a single, Intelliflo-first referral workflow that reduced admin, improved data quality, and embedded compliance into everyday activity.

Compliance by design, clearer oversight, and cleaner data

Moving to an Intelliflo-first referral process using RQ has delivered clear operational and compliance benefits:

• Single source of truth
  Referrals are captured consistently in one workflow, visible to the central team, and supported by a clear audit trail.‍
• Big cost saving
  Saves £14k + p.a. by removing needless IT‍
• Removes duplication and reduces admin for advisers
  Advisers focus on Intelliflo. RQ handles referral capture, tracking, and partner updates around it. No more duplication and far less admin‍
• Cleaner data and reporting
  Using leads correctly removes non-clients from the back book and improves pipeline accuracy and reporting confidence.‍
• Aligned partner behaviour
  JV partners now follow the same referral process as the firm, reducing reliance on informal communication.‍
• Compliance embedded, not assumed
  RQ provides structure and evidence, reducing dependence on individual judgement and helping both the firm and its partners meet regulatory expectations.

Emily summarises the shift:

“Before RQ it could feel like us and them. RQ has joined the dots. It’s made it us together. If we all use the same system, we’re all compliant. It gives our partners a solution rather than expecting them to keep up with changing regulation on their own.”

Scaling with confidence

Cheetham Jackson continues to work with RQ as referral volumes grow. While some revenue and fee-sharing data cannot yet be pulled directly from Intelliflo, interim workarounds are in place and longer-term improvements are planned.

With Monday.com removed, Intelliflo at the centre, and a shared referral workflow in place, Cheetham Jackson now has the structure needed to scale its joint venture network while maintaining control, visibility, and compliance.