Legal Marketing | Attorney Marketing | Marketing For Lawyers

Where do your best new clients come from?

If you are like most of the lawyers I know, your best clients come from referrals. Any time someone says nice things about you and takes the time to make a personal introduction to a prospective client, the relationship is going to be off to a good start.

Do you receive as many referrals as you should?

Most lawyers would say "No."

But most lawyers would insist that doing a good job and just "being a good lawyer" is enough to get you more referrals.

Isn't it?

Absolutely not.

In fact, even the greatest lawyer in the world will not get his fair share of referrals if he does not make an effort to attract them.

Below are seven ways to get more referrals. How many of them are you currently using?

1). Give Clients Permission to Promote You: Many clients do not blatantly promote your services because they do not know that you want them to. Make sure you let your clients know that you welcome and appreciate their referrals. Explain to them how valuable a referral is to your business and help them learn to identify your ideal client.

2). Develop the Buddy System: Find another professional service provider (accountant, real estate broker, doctor, financial advisor) who shares a similar client base. Offer to connect your clients with those folks when they need their services.

The buddy system also works well among attorneys. You simply explain to your clients that they should call you for ANY legal need and you will help them find the right lawyer. This gives you the opportunity to refer clients to other lawyers in many different practice areas.

3). Target a Center of Influence: There are certain people in the community who have significant influence over others. Members of the clergy and business leaders in particular can influence many decisions. Wise attorneys reach out to these folks several times each year and make sure they stay "top of mind" with them.

4). Be a Leader: People gravitate toward leaders. In fact, people want to be given direction and they want to please a leader. Always take an active role in the leadership of any organization you join. This will not only raise your profile, it will also make you more attractive to referral sources.

5). Be an Expert. Offer educational information in any speech you give or article you write. Use any opportunity for public exposure to educate your community. This will help you attain expert status and it will make you more attractive to potential clients and referral sources.

6). Give to Others and Be Seen Giving: If you give your time, money and/or energy to others you will receive more referrals. People want to work with people they know, like and trust and it is hard not to like a charitable person. Be a giver and be seen giving.

7). Show Appreciation: The best way to get more referrals is to show your appreciation to others when they pass a referral to you. This can be done as simply as sending a handwritten note or it can be done by sending the person an actual gift or gift card. (Check with your state's lawyer regulation agency before implementing a gifting program). Showing your appreciation will not only reinforce the referral behavior it will also deepen your relationship with the referral source.

These are just seven of the dozens of ways you can increase the amount of referrals you receive. If you have not yet implemented some of these ideas I highly recommend you give them a try.

There are three types of people who will refer prospective clients to your law firm. All of them are important and all can be extremely valuable.

The first type of person is someone who is a center of influence. This means they are respected within a particular group or community, they offer advice to people in need and where they lead, others follow. These people are critically important to lawyers in consumer based practices. A person who is a center of influence has the potential to refer dozens of cases to you. These people have deep relationships.

The second type of person is a friend, family member or someone you met in a social situation. These people fit into what is called your natural network. This means they are generally not people who understand what you do for a living and many times they think they have knowledge of the law because they have seen it on television.

The third type of person is a client, former client or a friend or relative of a client. If you have been a good lawyer, and you treat these folks with respect, it is just a matter of staying 'top of mind' with them and helping them identify a potential need for your services.

Referrals generally come from relationships built on a strong foundation. If you are looking to develop relationships that help you grow your law firm, you must have a giver's mentality. This video describes the mentality of a giver and how it can help you get more referrals.

There are three ways to give to others to get more referrals.

Make an Introduction: This is a great way to build a relationship with your potential referral source. Introductions can often lead to business relationships. Open your rolodex to these potential referral sources and they will reward you with referrals.

Send them a Client: Keep your eyes open for possible opportunities to send clients to them. If they have a law firm, send them clients in their area of expertise. This is the quickest way to build a relationship with a potential referral source.

Stay Top of Mind: This is important for everyone. You must always stay top of mind with your referral sources. This can be by sending a newsletter or by some other means. Staying top of mind is critical to sourcing referrals.

Sourcing referrals requires good communication. If you communicate and develop relationships you will be a winner at getting more referrals.

Attorneys covet referrals. If you want to get more referrals as a result of your attorney marketing you need to build a strong network of friends, clients, prospects, and evangelists who will encourage others to work with you. This video provides attorneys with three ways to build up a strong network of advocates who will recommend their services.

Growing your network is essential to the success of attorney marketing. If you want more clients and/or better clients you need to spend some time growing and developing a network of people who will refer business to you.

There is a little used legal marketing strategy that can help you grow your law firm fast. This strategy is setting up your own referral network. This legal marketing video explains how powerful this can be.

Creating your own referral network allows you to aggressively contact lawyers in practices that do not compete with you and ask them to refer you business. It also provides you with outstanding resources for your clients. Investing in setting up a network like this will always provide a significant return.

Here is how it could work:

Let's say you are a probate attorney and you graduated from Hudson University School of Law in 1996. You could start the network by inviting all the law school graduates who from that year to an event. At the event you announce that you are forming a referral network and you invite everyone to apply. You then have them fill out a simple application and you interview everyone. You select people you believe would be a good fit for the network (who are not probate attorneys). You then repeat the process with lawyers in your local chamber of commerce and your local bar association, etc., etc.
Forming your own referral network is a fantastic legal marketing strategy that people in every practice area can use to their advantage.

There is a technique that my clients use to help them get more referrals. It works like a charm because it is designed to help your clients and prospects think of people they know who may be your ideal client. This video describes how it works and how to use it.

Whenever you sit down with someone you get into the conversation by bringing up their business. This is easily done by asking them how they get most of their clients. Once they answer say something like:

"That's really interesting. I get most of my clients by word of mouth. You know, a past client tells a friend or colleague about me. It's funny but I have found that the most difficult thing about getting these referrals is getting people into the right mindset."

Then ask the person you are with to think of a time when they met someone famous. Have them recall the event in detail. After they tell you about that event, ask them if they know someone who has the qualities you are looking for. For example:

Real estate attorneys would ask something like:
"Do you know someone who is looking for a new house?" or "Do you by any chance know someone who is a Real Estate agent?"

Business transactional attorneys would ask something like:
"Do you know a business owner who is really successful?"

Probate attorneys would ask something like: "Do you know a good accountant?"

The story you have the person tell in the beginning of this process helps their brain get into the mode of remembering people from their past. Once they are in that mental state they are more likely to remember other people when you prompt them.

In order to get referrals, you need to ask. Sometimes when you ask you will get a blank stare. If you ask using this technique, you are more likely to better quality referrals in the future.

Most lawyers include networking as part of their legal marketing plan. This is a good idea but to do it effectively you need to have a strategy. This video touches on how to approach networking and make the most out of it.

Here are three ways to make networking pay off as part of your legal marketing plan:

Know Who Your Want to Meet

Don't just sign up for an event without knowing who is scheduled to attend. At a minimum, look at the people who are putting on the event or who are sponsoring the event and see if they are people you would like to meet.

The best case is to get a list of possible attendees from the host in advance. This way you can determine who you would like to meet. Once you know who you would like to meet, you should find a way to have a mutual friend (like the host or event sponsor) introduce you.

Be a Connector

Once you meet someone at a networking event, you should follow up with them by introducing them to someone who would be valuable to their business. Sending them a referral is an ideal way to immediately deepen the relationship. Absent the ability to refer business to your new business acquaintance, an introduction to a valuable referral source is the next best thing.

Keep in mind that it is always better to give something to someone before you ask them to do you a favor. Always try to pass something along of value first and then ask for a referral.

Follow up, Follow up, Follow up

Always add new people you meet at networking events to your newsletter list. (Ask permission first.) This is critically important. They cannot refer business to you if they don't remember you.

Networking is like any other legal marketing activity. It requires discipline and consistency but if it is done correctly it can deliver excellent results.

Everyone wants more referrals. Very few attorneys incorporate a referral system into their legal marketing plan. There are five simple steps that will help you turn your former clients into sales people who promote your law firm.

The five steps that will help you get more referrals are:

Do great work. Your clients must have a terrific experience when they work with you. You must be a good lawyer and you must provide a great experience for your clients. If your clients always receive a return phone call and they are always treated with respect, you meet the standard of good client service. If you go above and beyond and really provide outstanding service, they will talk about it. That's when the great referrals happen.

Give referrals to others. People who give selflessly always receive more in return. This is Ralph Waldo Emerson's law of compensation. People who give referrals to others always receive more back. Sometimes it takes a while but it always happens.

Get your referral sources into the right mindset. Tell them a story that illustrates the qualities of a great client. Help them spot the issues your typical client possesses when he comes to you for help.

Ask for the referral. Make sure people know that your law practice is accepting new clients and you value referrals. In fact, make sure you say that referrals receive the highest priority.

Keep in touch. This is probably the most important of the referral rules. If you keep in touch with your clients and referral sources, they will naturally think of you when the need arises.

Implementing a referral system within your law firm marketing plan is not something that comes naturally. It requires work. Once your system is implemented, it will deliver referrals to you over and over again.