Cultivating Referrals
Many attorneys obtain the lion’s share of their new clients from referrals. Indeed, for decades, referrals were the exclusive source of new business outside the yellow pages. But while the yellow pages have shrunk in importance, referrals have not.
Sometimes referrals inquire of your firm on their own – your role is purely passive. However, it should not be. An active, vigorous referral strategy can increase business ten-fold.
The lawyers who access the most referrals on a constant basis are firms who actively cultivate them. This means starting with your existing clients, the ones who already know, trust and respect you.
Unless you tell them you welcome new work, many existing clients won’t think to consider you for work that might be slightly different than what you did for them in the past, and many won’t think to refer you to their family, friends and business associates.
To be direct, you must actively tell your existing clients that you welcome their new work and any referrals they might send your way. Of course, telling them what kind of work you are seeking is especially important. A personal injury client may have no idea you also do employment work, for example.
There are, to be sure, lots of other referral sources beyond existing clients. Other professionals that you deal with on a daily basis – from doctors, dentists and therapists, to investment brokers, accountants, and bankers – all can be fruitful sources of referrals.
Again, all these people can send you business – and many are eager to do so – so long as you tell them that you would like them to and what kind of work to send.
And don’t forget law school classmates and other local practitioners. These are people you known and who know you. Even among other personal injury attorneys, clients can have conflicts, you may have a specialty they don’t, etc.
In short, approach all the people who, when the time comes, might think of you.
At Market Masters–Legal, we understand that attorneys must cultivate clients in many ways. Yes, we excel in bringing the power of television advertising to your fingertips, including trusted celebrities who position you as the authority on injury and other cases in your market.
Accordingly, we help you harness all your resources to deliver compelling, professional advertising campaigns that both build your brand and generate demonstrable results. Spend your time on your clients, while we keep your phone ringing.
We invite you to give us the opportunity to prove our effectiveness – and the unbeatable power of television advertising as part of your mix – with a low cost trial period. It’s a small risk, well worth taking.
