Connect with another firm

What a direct connection does

A direct connection makes two firms matchable to each other. It's the simplest thing in FirmLinks and usually the first thing worth doing.

Only an administrator can send or answer connection requests.

Sending an invitation

From Collaboration Center › Direct Connections, choose Invite a firm to connect.

You're asked for the firm's domain — just the domain: no https://, no www., nothing after it.

We look the domain up first. If that firm is already on FirmLinks, your invitation goes to it as a connection request, rather than creating a second account for a firm that already has one. If it isn't, you're asked for a contact's name and work email, and they're invited to the platform.

Add a line saying why you're asking. It's shown with the request, and it's the difference between an accept and a shrug.

While you wait

Your request sits under Requests › Waiting on them, where you can cancel it. The other firm's administrators see it under Needs your response, and hear about it by email unless they have switched Connections emails off.

When it's accepted

Both firms become matchable to each other immediately, and the firm appears in Connected firms with the date. From there you can view its profile or remove the connection.

Removing a connection

Remove connection on the row. The two firms stop being matchable through that channel. It doesn't touch any group you both belong to, or any engagement you've already worked on together.

Why a firm you match with isn't in this list

Connected firms lists direct connections only. Firms you can match with through a group are in that group; firms matched through open networking aren't listed anywhere, because there's no relationship to list. If you want to see everything you can match with, use See every firm you can match with rather than reading this list as the whole picture.

If a firm doesn't want to pay

They don't have to. A firm you invite can accept the connection, be invited onto your engagements and do the work without a subscription. The paid plans are about what a firm can originate — its own engagements, its own groups, open networking.