Do you know who your prospects are? Someone who can hire you, right? Well, yes and no.
Sometimes there’s another decision maker. A spouse, a partner, a supervisor. How about the son or daughter of an elderly client. Maybe the family attorney. Or a trustee.
If someone needs to “sign off” on hiring you, they are as much a prospect as the person who would be your actual client. You should identify these people, network with them, and court them. Market to them the same way you would market to the actual client.
In fact, anyone who can refer clients to you should be placed in this category. You need to market to prospective referral sources just as much as prospective clients. Perhaps more since a good referral source can send you a lot of business while the son or daughter of an elder law client probably cannot.
Start by determining categories of prospective referral sources for your practice areas and niche markets. Go beyond the obvious choices–other attorneys, CPAs, insurance agents, and financial planners. Who else influences your actual client? But don’t stop there. Who influences those people? If you are an bankruptcy attorney and you want to network with real estate professionals, for example, you might want to start by networking with someone who teaches continuing education courses to real estate agents.
Once you have identified some categories of prospective referral sources for your practice, the next step is to identify candidates. Who works in those categories? Add these people to your ever-growing list of prospects.
You’ve got more prospects than you think.
