Referrals are the Sina Qua Non of a professional practice. No doubt, you get referrals, perhaps a lot of referrals, but I promise, you can get more. 

Maybe enough more to pull back on (or eliminate) your other marketing strategies, because referrals are extremely profitable and relatively easy to get. 

If that sounds good, I suggest you begin by figuring out why you’re not getting more referrals. 

The simplest way to do this is to survey your clients, especially at the end of the case or engagement. Ask them about your legal work and the “customer service” provided by you and your staff.  

What did they like, what do they think could be improved, and why?

You need to know.

They may have misunderstood something or expected something different. They may have had a bad experience with someone on your staff. They may think you did a good job but had an issue with some minor aspect of your service that is bothering them. 

After they fill out the survey, talk to them to learn more. You may not be comfortable hearing negative feedback, but it is important to hear it because it will allow you to improve your services and client relations and thus get more referrals. 

Besides improving your service, there are other reasons you might not get as many referrals as you could. Here are a few of the more common reasons:

• Your clients are satisfied with your services and willing to send you business, but don’t have the business to send. The solution is to target other types of clients and markets.  
• Your clients may not know who would be a good referral for you. Teach them about your practice areas and the kinds of clients you serve or want to serve. 
• Your clients may know people who need your services, but think you’re successful and busy and don’t need or want more work. The solution is to educate them that your practice was built on referrals and you appreciate receiving them. 
• Clients might not know the value of referrals. Make sure they understand that the referred client gets help without taking time or risk shopping around, the referring client gets the satisfaction of helping a friend, and you get a new client without advertising or networking in the cold market.
• Your clients may be uncomfortable making referrals. Make it easier for them to do it by telling them what to tell the referral about you and how you can help them, and also what to tell you. 
• Finally, you may not be getting as many referrals as you could simply because you haven’t shown enough appreciation for past referrals. Make sure you thank your clients who send you referrals orally and by sending them a handwritten thank you note. 

Referrals the lifeblood of your practice. This is how you get more of them.

Getting more referrals from clients and prospects can be as simple as educating them about the benefits of referrals—for everyone. 

The referred client gets the help they need from an attorney recommended to them by someone they know and trust. And they don’t have to spend time and effort finding them and risking a mistake. 

The client who refers them gets the appreciation of their friend. And you get more clients and, arguably, better clients because they are friends or business contacts of your existing clients.

A referral practice is less expensive to build than, say, an ad-based practice, which means you can afford to offer competitive fees without sacrificing your high level of service. You get more clients, at no cost, and your clients get more value from you. 

To get more referrals, you should also educate your clients and prospects about the best and easiest ways to make referrals (best and easiest for all 3 of you), and tell your clients and prospects that you like and appreciate referrals, because they don’t always know that.

Many clients are willing and able to refer clients to you, but think you don’t want or need them because you’re busy and successful. Others don’t refer simply because they never thought about the subject.  

Help them think about it by bringing up the subject. 

Attorney Jack Early tells his clients: “Just so you know, we are built on referrals and we would love and appreciate your referral. That would mean a lot to us”. 

He says the more he says that, the more referrals he gets. “We call it a culture of referrals,” he said in a recent interview. 

Simple. Straight forward. Successful.

How to get more referrals from your clients

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