Despite recent developments in the literature dealing with the personal network of SME CEOs, one aspect has been studied little: the personal relationships that promote the company and, through recommendations, lead to new orders. By means of an empirical test on a sample of 405 SME CEOs, this article identifies the personal network configurations that give the biggest referrals effects. It shows that these effects depend on the personality of CEOs, which creates a more or less favourable signal. Furthermore, there is an interaction effect between personal network and personality.