It’s usually described as a joint venture. Sometimes, they’re called “strategic alliances,” “marketing partnerships” or “referral relationships”. Whatever the term, one thing is clear: it’s one of the quickest ways for an attorney to bring in new business.
It’s also one of the best ways.
It works on the principle of “borrowed trust”. When another professional, business owner, or other influential person in your market introduces one of their clients or contacts to you, or you to them, you don’t have to do a lot to get that prospective client to know how you can help them, or get them to trust you. They learn about you and trust you because they know and trust the person who introduces you.
A marketing joint venture is simply an agreement between you and someone with products or services that complement yours and don’t compete with them.
They introduce you to their clients; you introduce them to yours.
But there are different ways to make that happen.
If you provide estate planning and asset protection services for business owners, professionals, and executives, for example, and write a newsletter, you could connect with consultants, insurance brokers, or real estate agents who also write a newsletter. Each of you sends each other’s newsletter to your list, along with a letter of introduction.
Do you create videos or do a podcast that targets business owners in your niche or market? You could invite tax experts, authors, or speakers to be a guest on your channel, and you on theirs.
If you handle consumer oriented matters, you might JV with landscaping or building contractors and interview each other, via Zoom, about the best practices for finding and hiring professionals in your fields. But don’t limit yourself to obvious JV partner categories. You could JV with restaurant owners, caterers, car dealers, party planners, dog groomers, or wedding consultants.
Anyone with a list of clients or customers or social media followers could be a candidate for a joint venture. Think about who you know and who they know. Talk to them about a possible joint venture and you might be surprised at how many are interested.
And how quickly that leads to new clients for you.
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