Referrals Archives - Page 18 of 26 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Referrals for lawyers who want more referrals

September 5, 2014 by David M. Ward

You’ve got a client list. A list of people who hired you once and will hire you again if they need you. But what if they don’t? What if your clients don’t need your services ever again?

Is that it? You invested time and money to attract them and persuade them to hire you. You worked hard to do the work and make them happy. Your clients know, like, and trust you. But if they don’t need your services, is that it?

No. Your clients can send you referrals. And they will if you stay in touch with them. They’ll send more if you ask for referrals.

In fact, for each $1,000 in fees a client pays you there may be $5,000 or $10,000, or more, in additional fees waiting for you via their referrals.

Your clients can help you in other ways. They can send traffic to your website. They can promote your content or seminar or newsletter to their social media connections. They can introduce you to other professionals they know who could become new referral sources.

And. . .

. . .they can buy products and services from professionals and businesses you recommend.

Perhaps they need legal services you don’t provide. Do you think they might hire an attorney you recommend? I think so, too. In return, you might earn referral fees from that attorney, or their referrals.

Tell your clients you know other lawyers and if they need legal services of any kind, they should call you first.

(Note to self: go meet attorneys with different practice areas.)

Wait, what else do your clients need?

An accountant? Financial planner? Real estate agent? Mortgage broker? Insurance broker?

Would you like to receive more referrals from people like this? You’ll get them. As soon as you start referring your clients to them.

Referrals for lawyers who don’t want to askÂ for referrals. Go here.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing

How well do you know your clients?

June 24, 2014 by David M. Ward

When your clients like you, they tend to stay with you. And give you referrals. And send traffic. And say nice things about you on social media and review sites.

Yes or yes?

So, how do you get your clients to like you? One way is to show them that you like them. People like people who like them.

Yes or yes?

One of the simplest ways to do this is to show them that you remember some personal details about them. Like the names of their spouse and kids. Like their birthdays. Like whether or not they have pets.

When youÂ know your clients well enough toÂ remember these details, you tell them that you think they are important and that you care about them as people, not just bill-paying clients.

I got a call from a lawyer I haven’t spoken to in a couple of years. I asked him about his wife, by name. He didn’t say anything, but I’m sure heÂ noticed.

When you first meet with a new client, or a prospective clients, get them talking about themselves and take notes. Enter this information into your client database, and continue adding this kind of information, over time. The next time you speak with the client, have your database open and use this information during the conversation.

We are in the people business, you and I. We may sell products or services, or our problem-solving abilities, but what we really sell is ourselves.

Want to make your phone ring? ThisÂ shows you what to do.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Salesmanship

How to get more referrals by getting more referral sources

June 20, 2014 by David M. Ward

Every attorney wants to know how to get more referrals. One way to do that is to get more referral sources. Here’s a simple way to do exactly that:

(1) FIND THEM. Find five people who advise or sell to your target market. Other professionals, business owners, and so on. You can ask existing clients and contacts for recommendations, or just find them on the Internet. Zero in on those who have high-ranking websites, decent content, a large social media following, and a newsletter or email list.

(2) STUDY THEM. Read through their site. Subscribe to their newsletter. Follow them on social media. See who they know (e.g., professionals, clients, centers of influence), what they sell, and how they sell it (sales people, online, seminars, speaking, writing, advertising, videos, affiliates, etc.) You’re especially looking for those who are active marketers.

Read their About page and social media profiles. Find a few articles or posts you like. Follow some links and see who influences them. Look through their blog comments and social streams to see who they influence.

(3) CONTACT THEM. Send an email, introduce yourself, and compliment one or two of their articles, their products or services, or something about how they do their marketing. Mention what you do, but only mention it. If you have mutual contacts, or like or follow the same resources, mention that, too. Don’t subscribe them to your newsletter without their permission.

(4) ENGAGE THEM. Contact them again and propose a guest post on their site, and/or, suggest the same for your site. Send them a link to a resource you found, or something you wrote, that pertains to what they do. Ask them a question about something they do or something they’ve written. Share their posts and tweets on social.

(5) HELP THEM. See who responds. Learn more about them. Look for ways to work with them, promote their business or practice. Send them referrals. Introduce them to others in their niche who can help them. Promote their blog, their business or practice, their product or event on social and to your list. If they are local, invite them for coffee and get to know them better.

Is this a lot of work? You tell me. If one out of five respond favorably, and you do this every month, in six months you will have six new referral sources. If each sends only one new client per month, would that be worth the effort? What if they send three?

Marketing is easy when you knowÂ The Formula

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Referral sources, Referrals

Get more referrals by making it easy to give referrals

June 5, 2014 by David M. Ward

Yes, I’m a broken record.

Every few weeks, I say something about the importance of building a list, specifically, an email list. I tell you a list allows you to stay in touch with people who aren’t ready to hire you, and with people who did. I tell you that having a list will bring more traffic to your website, more referrals, and more subscribers to your list who might hire you, send traffic to your website, or send referrals.

Did you? Did you add a form to your website that allows visitors to sign up for your list?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Is this thing on? You do want to get more referrals, don’t you?

Okay, let’s say someone slipped some LSD into your water bottle and you imagined you actually do have a list. You have a few hundred people on that list, a mix of former clients, current clients, professional contacts, and a random assortment of website visitors.

You hallucinate emailing something to your list. Once a week, you write something that passes for readable and send it out. Sometimes you write about the law, sometimes you write about interesting cases and clients, sometimes you write general consumer or business information. When you get back from your vacation to Italy, you write about the food. When you read a great book, you share something you got out of it.

Okay, you get the picture. A few paragraphs once a week. The only requirement is that it’s not completely boring, and hey, this is a hallucination, so it should be brilliant.

Now what?

At the end of your weekly scribbling, you ask readers to forward the email to someone who might be interested in the content or something you have offered (e.g., a seminar, free consultation, free report, etc.) Add another sentence, “If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe by going to. . .”.

Some of your subscribers forward the email. People you don’t know get a taste of your wisdom, and the tacit endorsement of the person who forwarded it.

Word-of-mouth, digital style.

That’s how it’s done, at least in a hallucination. Of course, this will never work in the real world. Forget I mentioned it.

Marketing online for attorneys. Go here toÂ see how it’s really done.

Filed Under: Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Referrals, Relationship marketing

How well do you know your clients and prospects?

May 27, 2014 by David M. Ward

Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

In other words, when there is a close match between what you offer and what your client wants and needs, you don’t need to persuade him to hire you, you need do little more than show up.

Do you know whatÂ your clients want? Do you know whatÂ keepsÂ them up at night? Do you know what other options they have considered?

Do you know where they live and how much they earn? Do you know what they do for work and what they do on weekends?

You may not know these things if you are like most lawyers who define their target market merely in terms of legal problems. That is, anyone who has a certain legal issueÂ is a potential client. That may be true in a literal sense, but if you stop there, you’ll never achieve the kind of synchronicity that draws clients to you and makes them immediately see you as the best solution.

You need to define your target market in terms of your ideal client. Who is an almost perfect match for you? You need to know your clients and prospects so you can focus your marketing efforts on attracting them.

If I tell you I know lots of clients I can refer to you but I need you to tell me what you are looking for, what would you say? When you can answer this question with specificity, marketing gets a lot easier.

I’ll be able to quickly identify clientsÂ whoÂ would be a good match for you and I will be able to tell them why they should contact you.

When your ideal client reads something on your website, they will know that they don’t need to look elsewhere, they’ve found the right lawyer.

When you are networking or on social media and someone asks you what you do, you’ll be able to tell them not only what you do but for whom you do it, making it more likely that they will self-identify.

Many lawyers are hesitant to define their ideal client, or publicize it, because they are afraid they won’t attract clients who don’t fit the profile. “If I say my ideal client is in the insurance industry, I won’t attract clients in the transportation field,” they say.

Yes, and that’s the point.

You don’t want to get the scraps in a variety of markets, you want the lion’s share in one market.

Big fish, small(er) pond?

Choose a target market. Define your ideal client. Get to know everything you can about them. And then offer them exactly whatÂ you know they want.

When you do, you won’t have to explain why anyone should choose you instead of any other lawyer. Everyone will know.

For help in defining your target market(s) and ideal client, get this.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Networking, Referrals Tagged With: ideal client, niche market, peter drucker, target market

The lifetime value of one-time clients

May 19, 2014 by David M. Ward

I got an email from a marketing expert I follow who asked us if we would prefer to have a customer or a buyer on our list. What’s the difference? A customer is someone who buys something or hires you once and then goes on their merry way. They might come back, they might not. A customer, on the other hand, is someone who makes a custom of buying from you, “because of the trust, respect, and loyalty they have for you.”

So, customers are better than buyers.

Repeat clients are better than one-time clients.

Does this mean lawyers should only practice in areas where clients make a custom of hiring again and again? Should we choose business law, for example, with lots of repeat business, over consumer bankruptcy where the client might hire us once in a lifetime?

Not necessarily.

Someone who “buys” from you once and never again isÂ potentially just as valuable as someone who hires you frequently. They should be courted and nurtured. We should build relationships with one-time clients, even if they never hire us again.

The lifetime value of a client is only partially measured by the fees they pay us. There are many other ways they can deliver value and help our practice grow. They can provide

Referrals
Website traffic
Recommendations and positive reviews
Introductions to other professionals, meeting holders, editors, bloggers, etc.
Invitations to networking events
Feedback about our services (so we can make improvements)
Information about our target market or community
Likes, re-tweets, and sharing of our content
Forwarding our emails to others in our target market

They can send us business, help us build our list, and otherwise help us bring in more business. In fact, what a client does for us outside of paying fees could easily be worth far more than the fees they pay. In terms of referrals alone, some clients who never hire you again could be worth many times the fees generated from clients who hire you again and again.

In fact, someone who never hires you could be worth far more to you than someone who hires you repeatedly.

The lesson? Treat everyone as though they are your biggest client. Provide extras. Help them every way you can. And stay in touch with them, before, during, and after the engagement or case.

You never know what someone can do to help you.

The Referral Blitz is one way to get clients and contacts to help you build your practice. Click here for details.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, List building, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: lifetime value

Networking for lawyers who don’t like networking

May 9, 2014 by David M. Ward

Think of a professional, business owner, or executive, you know. Got it? Okay, next, think of someone else you know in the same market or community who (you are pretty sure) doesn’t know the first person. This could be a business client, or prospective client.

Now, call the first one and ask if they know the other person. If they don’t, tell them how great they are and tell themÂ you want to introduce them. They might be able to do some business together. They might be able to help each other in some way (write articles, interviews, joint venture, referrals, etc.) Or, they might just meet a kindred spirit.

Next, introduce them. Do a three-way call, or meet for coffee.

Then, get out of the way. Your job is done.

One of the most valuable (and easiest) things you can do in networking is to simply introduce people. In doing so, you are providing value to both. Of course, you’re also helping yourself this way. The two you introduce may not do business together but they will both be grateful that you made an effort to help them.

Networking for lawyers doesn’t have to be formal, time consuming, or awkward. It can be done quickly and over the phone. And it can yield huge benefits.

Think about who you know and who might like to know them. And from now on, when you meet someone new, think about who you know you can introduce them to.

Want more referrals? Consider doing a Referral Blitz.

Filed Under: Networking, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing

Most Clients Find Lawyers Through the Internet, but. . .

April 24, 2014 by David M. Ward

Findlaw conducted a surveyÂ about how people go about finding a lawyer. To nobody’s surprise, the top two answers were the Internet (38%) and referrals (29%). This compares to results of a similar survey they did nine years earlier which found that only 7% used the Internet and 65% asked for referrals.

(If you’re curious, only 4% use the Yellow Pages, compared to 10% in the earlier survey).

So, yes, everything you’ve heard about having an Internet presence is true.

You know my position on this: even if they don’t find you through the Internet, you need a website to showcase your talents so that if they find you through any means, including referrals, they can “check you out” online. This includes YOU sending them to your site.

The survey says nothing about the type of case or engagement, fees, or other criteria. It just says most clients find lawyers through the Internet, but “most” doesn’t mean “best”.

I maintain that the best clients, the ones who pay the biggest fees, ask the fewest questions, and remain loyal over time, come from referrals, not the Internet. Clients who use the Internet to find attorneys tend to be price shoppers, harder to please, and fickle.

You need an Internet presence, and you will get clients that way. But Internet marketing will never replace referral marketing for building a law practice, no matter what the survey says.

Marketing online for attorneys. Click here.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals Tagged With: findlaw

The Fortune is in the Follow-up

April 21, 2014 by David M. Ward

One of the most important aspects of marketing any business or professional practice is follow-up. For many, it’s also one of the most challenging.

Because they must, most attorneys have a process for communicating with existing clients. This process is driven by the demands of the case or legal matter. Copies are mailed, calls are made to discuss strategy, progress reports are sent on a pre-determined schedule. Once the case is settled or the matter is completed, however, follow-up is often done haphazardly and too often, not at all.

And then there’s everyone else.

Prospective clients
Former clients
Referral sources/professional contacts/”friends of the firm”
Prospective referral sources
Bloggers/editors/publishers
Meeting planners
Etc.

Each category has a different purpose. Following-up with former clients, for example, can lead to repeat business, updates, referrals, traffic to your website or sign-ups for your event. Following-up with bloggers can lead to guest posts, interviews, and links to your web content. Following-up with prospective clients can lead to new cases or engagements but can also lead to referrals.

Within each category are individuals who are further along in their relationship with you and thus more likely to respond to your contact. There are also individuals who have more potential than others, e.g., a prospective referral source who is well known in your target market, a prospective client who could bring you a lot of business, etc.

I’m sure you appreciate the value of following-up with these people. You know that former clients are your best source of new business (repeat, referrals). You know that staying in touch with prospective clients is good for business.

But how do you manage everything?

You start by creating lists. There are many software solutions for doing that. Pick one. Import your existing database or create new lists manually. It is time well spent.

Add a code or tag or field to each contact in your database so you can sort your lists by type and date range and other criteria. For example, you should be able to do a sort and find a list of former clients with whom you haven’t spoken OR emailed in more than 90 days.

Now what?

You’re almost there. The hard part is done. Now, you just need a plan for staying in touch with everyone. There are three parts to the plan:

Schedule. How often will you contact them?
Media. Will you use email, phone, regular mail, or social media?
Content. For example will you send them personal emails, a general newsletter, or both?

You’ll probably find it easier to start with one category. Create a plan for following-up with former clients, for example. Once that’s done, you can consider other categories.

Once you have things set up, flag key individuals for customized follow-ups. You’ll want to call certain people more often, for example, or call some people but only send email to others.

This may seem a daunting task but if you take it step by step, you can do it. Once you have, you’ll be glad you did.

Marketing is easy, when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Communication, Law office management, Marketing Plan, Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: follow up, staying in touch