You don’t want to attract people who can’t afford to hire you. You also don’t want to attract clients who have gone through several attorneys before you and “can’t seem to find the right one”.

But you also don’t want to attract prospective clients who are completely happy with their current firm and not looking for anyone else. 

You want to attract your “ideal” clients, those with the right combination of needs and wants and temperament, who are looking for the help you provide and are willing and able to pay for it.

You may occasionally work with a client who isn’t ideal, i.e., tolerate them, but you shouldn’t target them. 

You should target your ideal and focus on them in your marketing. 

Start by taking inventory of your current and former clients. Make a list of positive attributes you want to attract, i.e., attributes exhibited by clients you’d like to clone if you could, and another list of negative ones you want to avoid.

Create a profile of your ideal clients’ industry or market, their problems and goals, their financial strength, and other factors that define what makes them ideal. 

You want more clients who are like your best clients; this is what they look like. 

What then? How do you find them? 

The best way is via referrals. People tend to associate with people much like themself. People in their market or industry or neighborhood. People in their age group or who have similar interests. People they know, like, and trust. 

And the businesses and professionals they work with or patronize. 

Whatever it is that makes your ideal clients ideal, referred ideal clients makes them better. 

Because they come to you pre-screened and pre-sold.

Yes, there are other ways to find ideal clients, and they may provide you with bigger numbers. Advertising in a trade publication, for example, might generate a lot of leads who fit the profile you seek. But there’s no easier or more profitable way to bring in ideal clients than through referrals. 

How to get more referrals

Yeah, that’s something you never want to hear. Because if a client or professional contact doesn’t know that you (and/or your firm) do a certain type of work or handle a certain type of case, you shouldn’t be surprised when they hire someone else. 

Yes, they might ask if you handle X or can help them or a friend with Y—but you shouldn’t count on it. People get used to your being a (type) of lawyer or representing a (type) of client. It might not occur to them that you might do something else, and they’re busy and won’t bother to ask.

So… the first rule for getting more repeat business and referrals is to make sure everyone you know knows what (else) you do. 

What if you DON’T do anything else? Great, this gives you the opportunity to remind people that you “specialize” in your field. Since clients and the people who refer them prefer hiring or referring a lawyer who specializes, it gives you an advantage over other lawyers who don’t. 

But. . . you also want them to know that you know lawyers in other fields and might be able to refer them, and they should call you about any legal matter.

Not just because you want to serve them by introducing them to someone who can do a good job for them. But also because it gives you more referrals to give to colleagues who might think of you when they get a case or client they don’t handle (but you do). 

Ya with me? 

One more thing. Tell them this often. Tell them again (and again) what you do and that they should call you for any legal matter.

Tell them often, because people forget what you told them before, especially when they haven’t heard from you in a while.

Stay in touch with the people in your world, because the only thing worse than hearing someone say they ‘didn’t know you did that’ is hearing them say they don’t remember your name.