Partner Network

What counts as an active partner?

An active partner is another business on Referly that has accepted your partnership request (or whose request you've accepted) and whose partnership status is currently active. Pending requests don't count. Declined or canceled partnerships don't count. Only active, confirmed partnerships contribute to your Partner Network score.

Why does your partner network matter?

Your partner network is the foundation of your referral business. Without partners, there's nobody to send referrals to and nobody sending referrals to you. A strong, diverse partner network signals to other contractors that you're embedded in the trade community — that you have real relationships with real businesses.

When contractors browse your profile on Referly, your trust score is one of the first things they see. A high Partner Network score tells them: this contractor works with others. They're connected. They're part of the ecosystem. That makes them far more likely to send their first referral your way.

Who should be in your partner network?

The best partner network is built from contractors you already know and trust — people whose work you'd genuinely recommend to your best customers. Think about the last 20 jobs you've completed:

• Who did you refer customers to?
• Who referred customers to you?
• Who do you call when a job is outside your trade?
• Who would you trust to show up and do good work if your best customer called them?

Those are your natural partners. Start there. Connect with the two or three contractors you work with most often, get those partnerships formalized, and build from there.

How to build a strong partner network fast

The fastest way to build your network is to reach out directly to contractors you already know. The conversation is simple: "I'm on a platform called Referly that tracks referrals and handles the fee side automatically. I refer your customers, you refer mine. It takes two minutes to set up." Most contractors say yes immediately.

Beyond your existing contacts, Referly's partner discovery feature lets you browse contractors in your area by trade and trust score. Look for contractors with high completion rates and responsiveness scores — those are the partners worth adding to your network.

What if a partnership becomes inactive?

If you cancel a partnership or it becomes inactive, it no longer counts toward your Partner Network score. The score is based on currently active partnerships only. This is by design — an inactive partnership isn't a real partnership. The score reflects your actual network, not your historical one.