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

How to get big personal injury cases

June 23, 2008 by David M. Ward

A personal injury attorney wrote and asked me if I have a strategy for bringing in bigger cases. I was a personal injury attorney for most of my legal career and when I look back at what I did, I have to say that I did not have that strategy. In fact, I intentionally focused on bringing in a volume of smaller cases.

My thinking was that quantity would bring quality. Bring in thousands of clients over a period of years and you are bound to have some big cases in the mix. And that was certainly true for me. But I also recall thinking, as every personal injury attorney does, that one day, I’ll get a case that will bring me millions of dollars in fees and I’ll be able to retire if I want to. But in twenty years, that never happened. Big cases, yes, but not a single practice-making monster.

But there’s something else I understood and that was that I was not one of the big boys. The biggest cases are almost always handled by the biggest names and most of the time, they are referred there by other attorneys. I wasn’t prepared to compete in that arena. I didn’t have the expertise and, more importantly, I didn’t have the passion for developing it.

The best strategy for getting the biggest cases is to become one of the best lawyers. Win bigger and bigger verdicts, develop your skills and your reputation amongst the bar, and when you have the respect of your colleagues, you will get their referrals.

Another way to get big cases is the one adopted by a lot of attorneys who aren’t one of the best and that is to appear to be. They swing a big stick with multiple full page yellow page ads and TV commercials, they sponsor charitable events attended by centers of influence in their community, they network with the right people, send press releases celebrating their victories, and otherwise promote themselves so that they appear to be one of the biggest and one of the best. And by and large, it works.

To do this, you need money and some marketing skills, but most of all, you need drive. The biggest promoters have big, healthy egos. They are driven as much by the desire for attention as the desire for money. I’m not taking anything away from them. They are usually good enough to serve their clients well and smart enough to bring in one of the best when they aren’t.

If you’re not one of the best and you aren’t willing or able to become one, and if you’re not willing to do what the big promoters do, there is an alternative: target niche markets. Become the biggest fish in a small market where word of mouth is strong and limited resources (and hubris) can go a long way. Become the attorney everyone in that market thinks of when they think of injuries. Network in that market, write for that market, serve that market and the centers of influence in it, and over time, you’ll get big cases. Do it well enough and long enough and you may even get one of the very biggest.

Filed Under: Advertising, Image, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Networking, Press release, Publicity, Referrals, Specializing Tagged With: best-way-to-get-personal-injury-clients, get-to-big-persnal, getting-the-big-personal-injury-cases, how-do-i-get-personal-injury-clients, how-to-blog-and-bring-in-personal-injury-cases, how-to-bring-in-injury-cases, how-to-get-a-big-pi-case, how-to-get-an-ingery, how-to-get-big-cases, how-to-get-big-personal-injury-cases, how-to-get-bigger-cases, how-to-get-bigger-personal-injury-cases, how-to-get-millions-for-personal-injury, how-to-get-personal-injury-cases, how-to-get-personal-injury-cases-in-pa, how-to-get-personal-injury-cases-marketing, how-to-get-personal-injury-clients, how-to-market-personal-injury-attornies, Marketing legal services, what-are-the-biggest-personal-injury-cases

The quickest way to bring in clients

June 4, 2008 by David M. Ward

Q: How do I bring in quality clients fast? I think the best way to bring in a steady stream of [type of] clients is to find a good referral source. What should I do?

A: Referrals are the BEST source of quality clients, but they are usually not the FASTEST. It takes time to build relationships, earn trust, develop a reputation.

If you can compensate those sources (i.e., referral fees to other attorneys, if permissible), or work out other kinds of alliances (paid advertising, cross-promotions) where the source has a more immediate incentive for working with you, then you could get some quick business.

Of course your clients are the first place to look. They should be willing to refer, but they may not be able.

Generally speaking, nothing is faster than advertising (except publicity, but you have limited control with that). Cost is obviously an issue. You could try writing for targeted publications and speaking and networking at targeted events. You’ll get access to the right markets, at no cost, plus the unspoken endorsement of the meeting holder or publication, and if you get your message in front of the right people, you will get clients.

Remember that you are always marketing to at least two separate markets: prospective clients and prospective referral sources. One is not necessarily better than another, nor faster.

Q: How do I know if I’m targeting the right market?

A: A market is only as good as your ability to communicate with it. Do prospects have an organization you can join? Meetings you can speak at? Publications you can write for or advertise in? Can you find centers of influence in that market with whom you can network?

Most lawyers look at their services first and then look for people who need those services. Better is to find a market with a need, then look for ways you can satisfy that need.

Start with professionals and business contacts you already know. What markets do they serve? What unresolved needs do those markets have? Find the market first, then work backwards.

You’ll have greater success giving people what they WANT, which may or may not be what they NEED. Find out what people want and then look for ways to help them get it.

Filed Under: Advertising, Networking, Publicity, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: best-way-for-attorneys-to-get-clients, best-way-for-lawyers-to-get-clients, do-blogs-help-bring-in-clients-to-attorneys, fun-ways-to-bring-in-clients, how-attorneys-bring-in-clients, how-lawyers-bring-in-clients, how-to-bring-in-clients, how-to-bring-in-photography-clients, personal-promoters-for-lawyers-to-bring-in-clients, ways-for-lawyers-to-get-clients, ways-to-bring-in-clients

Referrals mean better clients, bigger income for lawyers

April 2, 2008 by David M. Ward

Where did your clients first find out about you? Chances are it was one of the following:

They were referred to you
They saw an article you wrote or heard you speak
They met you at a networking event
They saw your ad
They saw an article about you or saw you on the news
They found your web site via a search engine

Whatever brought you clients in the past is probably something you should continue to do in the future.

Do it in more places, do it more often, do it better, and you should bring in more clients.

But no matter what other marketing strategies you use, the cornerstone of your marketing efforts should be based on getting more referrals.

Referred clients are the best clients. As a general rule, they come to you pre-sold. You don’t have to convince them to hire you, to pay what you ask, or to follow your advice.

Referred clients tend to be better clients, too. They are less likely to complain and more likely to come back to you again and again. And, because they were themselves referred, they are far more likely to refer other clients to you.

Lawyers who get a lot of referrals tend to have the most profitable (and enjoyable) practices.

Use other marketing methods to bring clients to your attention if they suit your style and budget. But build your practice on a foundation of referrals.

Referrals from clients are the easiest to generate. But while clients may be the most willing to refer, there are usually limits as to how much–or how often–they CAN refer.

Non-client referral sources may have the ability to refer you a lot of business, but they may not (yet) be willing to do so.

You need strategies to deal with both situations.

For clients, the simplest strategy is simply to stay in touch. Clients who don’t have anyone to refer to you today may have referrals tomorrow. Your objective is to be "in their minds and their mailboxes" when that occurs.

For non-client referral sources–attorneys, other professionals, business owners, and so on–don’t count on merely letting them know what you do. You may get some referrals that way, but your best sources are likely to come only after you have built relationships with key centers of influence.

Building those relationships doesn’t necessarily depend on your ability to refer them business. Do it if you can, but if you can’t, you can either

Build a personal relationship, based on friendship and common interests, and/or
Help them professionally in other ways. For example, while you might not be able to refer them much business yourself, you can introduce them to some of your colleagues who might be able to refer them business.

Relationship marketing means helping others first, without demanding or expecting anything in return. It means finding out what prospective referral sources want and looking for ways to help them get it. Put aside what you want for now, and help others, FIRST. Try it and watch what happens.

Zig Ziglar said, "You can get anything you want in the world by helping enough people get what they want."

Shameless plug: The number one resource for lawyers who want to build a referral-based practice is my own, "Referral Magic" marketing course. More than 5,000 attorneys worldwide are using Referral Magic to get more clients and build a successful law practice. You can learn about The Referral Magic Marketing Program on this page.

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: bigger-income-means, following-a-referral-means, means-of-referrals, my-referrals-mean, referals-means, referral-income-mean, referral-mean-in, referral-means, referrals-mean, that-mean-referra, to-recieve-a-referral-means, what-do-referrals-mean, what-is-referral-mean, what-is-referral-means, what-is-referrals-means, what-means-referrals, what-oe-referral-mean, what-reerrals-mean, what-referral-means, what-referrals-mean

Direct mail to lawyers, seeking referrals. Good or bad idea?

February 20, 2008 by David M. Ward

I received a letter from a probate lawyer who is seeking referrals from large PI/Med Mal firms who need guidance in wrongful death and minors’ compromise cases. He and his partners had compiled a list of law firms and written a letter they intended to “mass mail”. The letter introduced the probate firm, described their capabilities, and requested referrals. He asked for my opinion of this strategy and letter.

I liked the idea of targeting specific kinds of cases from specific firms, (assuming they had reason to believe those firms didn’t have in-house capability to handle those matters), but I didn’t think their plan to mass mail letters would be effective.

One-shot mailings like this are unlikely to generate any business. About the only chance you have is to reach someone at precisely the time when he or she has a case they need help with and they don’t have anyone else to refer it to. While that could happen, it makes more sense to begin to build relationships with lawyers (anyone) who DON’T need your services at the moment and do what you can to be the one they think of when they do.

Marketing, especially referral marketing, is a process, not an event.

Here are some of my additional comments and suggestions:

** If you’re going to contact a cold list, you need to do something to get a response so that you can continue to stay in touch with them and win their trust, over time. I’d recommend offering to send a “Free Report” that educates them on the issues they need to be aware of so that (a) they can do a better job for their clients and (b) be better able to avoid malpractice. This will be a benefit to them and position you as an expert. You can also offer a free phone review of their case. If the list is short enough, you could SEND the report and make a second offer to get them to respond (so you can stay in touch). The second offer could be a second report, a checklist, a form, or anything else.

** I’d suggest that you find people you already KNOW who can refer you to the people on your list, OR to people who may know them, OR to people who may know people who know them. Then, you can contact these lawyers with the name of a mutual contact. Much more effective.

** I’d also consider working towards having a colleague (in this case., another med mal lawyer) write (sign off on) a letter in which they endorse your services to their fellow practitioners. They’ve used you, they recommend you, they trust you, etc. This is the strongest kind of letter you can send.

** Letters do a have a place, but, I’d prefer to see you call. You want to build relationships with these potential referral sources, and to do that, you need to talk to them.

Find a reason, and call. The reason could be because you want to interview them for an article, you’re doing a survey for your newsletter or blog, to invite them to your free seminar, to offer them a copy of your new report or a subscription to your newsletter. It could even be to simply introduce yourself and find out more about what they do.

You’ll hit it off with some of them and follow up with coffee or lunch. You only need a few good ones to start, then you can leverage those relationships to gain introductions and endorsements to others.

Filed Under: Advertising, Communication, Marketing legal services, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: attorney-direct-mail, dirct-mail-effective-for-attorneys, direct-mail-for-attorneys, direct-mail-for-attorneys-probate, direct-mail-for-legal-clients-good-or-bad-idea, direct-marketing-letters-from-law-firms, is-it-a-good-idea-to-email-lawyers, is-sending-letters-to-potential-clients-a-good-idea-for-lawyers, lawyer-marketing-letters-to-potential-clients, lawyer-sending-email-to-potential-clients, letter-seeking-referrals, marketing-letter-to-potential-client-from-attorney, marketing-letters-to-potential-clients, referral-direct-mail-endorse, specializing-in-direct-mail-marketing-for-attorneys

How to think and grow rich

December 11, 2007 by David M. Ward

Napoleon Hill’s classic, “Think and Grow Rich,” was based on a twenty-year study of the world’s richest people. Hill concluded that one thing successful people consistently do is set goals.

A long-term study at Yale University also found a correlation between success and goal setting. Researchers surveyed one years’ graduating class and found that only three percent had written goals. Twenty years later, it was learned that the students who had specific, written goals were earning more than the remaining ninety-seven percent of graduates, combined!

3% beat 97%!

Goal setting works, and it’s easy to do. Here are Hill’s six steps for setting goals:

Step 1: Goals must be SPECIFIC. What exactly do you want to achieve? It’s not enough to say you want to make a lot of money, for example. How much do you want to earn per year or per month?

Step 2: You need a specific time WHEN you will achieve your goal. By what month or year or day? What’s the deadline?

Step 3: Your goal must be WRITTEN. Carrying it your head is not good enough.

Step 4: You must develop a PLAN to achieve your goal. A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Step 5: You must decide the PRICE you are willing to pay. What are you willing to do? What will you give up? How much time and other resources will you invest to achieve your goal?

Step 6: READ your goals, out loud, every day. And think about them throughout the day.

Easy to do. Yet most people (97%) don’t.

Many people who “try” setting goals give up in frustration when they don’t achieve them. Often, that’s because they are too focused on results, something they cannot control. If you set a goal to get one new referral source this month and it doesn’t happen, you feel defeated. But you can’t force people to do what you want them to do. You cannot control results. What you can control, and should focus on, are activities. You have complete control over what you do.

Start by figuring out your averages. If you find that one out of every ten professionals you have lunch with actually sends you referrals, and you know you need to make two phone calls to get one solid lunch date, then your activity goal for the month would be to call and invite twenty professionals to lunch. Of course the ultimate objective is the referrals, and they will come. You just don’t know when or from whom, but with enough activity, you will eventually get the results you seek.

“Result” goals are important. They inspire you to achieve great things and provide landmarks for your journey. But also set “activity” goals. By consistently hitting your activity goals, every day of your journey is a success.

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Productivity, Referrals Tagged With: attorney-card-clipart, clients, clip-art-referral, clipart-referral-at-school, i-have-been-approahed-by-a-personal-injury-attorney, i-work-by-referal-clip-art, picturesreferrals, referral-card-clipart, referral-center-clipart, referral-clip-art, referral-clipart, referral-program-cliparts, Referrals, referrals-clip-art, referrals-clipart, referralsimages

The 100% referral based law practice

November 26, 2007 by David M. Ward

Submitted for your approval is this video on the referral based business by John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing. John says every business can be 100% referrals and while we can debate that conclusion, we can all agree that this is a worthy goal.

The big take away from this short video is that we all need to be thinking more about referrals. You may not be ready to do everything John recommends (or everything I recommend), but if referrals are on your mind more often, you will be more likely to do something, and something beats nothing every day of the week.

By the way, don’t watch this video unless you are able to substitute the word "clients" whenever he says "customers".

Filed Under: Referrals

You only need a few (good) referral sources

October 4, 2007 by David M. Ward

To create a successful, referral-based law practice, you only need strong relationships with a few good referral sources â€” people who can and will provide you with a lifetime of referrals.

Most of the referral sources you will meet (and already know) are not the â€œrightâ€ ones. They may have the willingness, but not the ability to refer the volume and quality of clients you seek. Or, they might have the wherewithal but, for whatever reasons, hold back on referring them to you.

A small percentage of the prospective referral sources you meet will be the â€œrightâ€ ones. I donâ€™t know what the actual ratio will be, but letâ€™s say that only one in fifty will be â€œright.â€ If your goal is to develop relationships with three good sources in the next two years, then you would need to prospect 150 to find those three.

When I say â€œprospectâ€ I donâ€™t mean â€œtalk to.â€ You have to do much more than that speak to someone a couple of times before they start referring or before you will know if they are even a candidate. You have to spend time together, getting to know each other, building mutual trust, socializing, bonding, possibly having your spouses meet (and approve each other!)

It is a courtship; you spend quality time, face-to-face, belly-to-belly, getting to know people on a personal, intimate level. Without these â€œhigh-touchâ€ activities, you will never be able to develop the kinds of strong relationships you want and need, even if you do meet someone who is otherwise â€œrightâ€.

Technology, or high-tech, will never replace high-touch. Building relationships takes time and effort and emotional involvement. But high-tech can help you in two important ways.

First, you can use high-tech to find candidates and initiate contact. The Internet is your database, email and telephone your reaching out methods. Networking online is not as effective as networking in person, but it sure is efficient. Use it to find people who appear to be good candidates by virture of their business and their openness to â€œmeetâ€ new people (you). Eventually, invite those candidates to meet in person or otherwise take the next step towards building a relationship.

Second, use high-tech to stay in touch with candidates who arenâ€™t ready to take the next step. Times change, people change, relationships change, and you want to be on their radar screen when they do become ready.

Never lose sight of your objective, that of finding a few of the â€œrightâ€ ones, but donâ€™t ignore the many others who can provide value to you and should be a part of your business network. They may send you just one referral in ten years, or they might never send you referrals, but, through their contacts, lead you to others who do.

And thatâ€™s the biggest lesson for today: networking is not about who you know, itâ€™s about who they can lead you to.

Filed Under: Networking, Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: bonding-with-referral-sources

Magic words that make you rich

September 7, 2007 by David M. Ward

Want to know how to get more referrals? It’s easy. All you have to do is use these MAGIC WORDS:

"Can you help me?"

People like to help. Ask them to do something and chances are they will. You can ask for referrals, of course, or something much simpler and non-threatening, like help in building up your newsletter mailing list.

Here’s another way your clients could help you:

“Would you help me with my practice? It won’t cost you a cent, and you’ll be doing me a big favor. Just take ten of these reports I’ve written and pass them out to your friends or family (clients/customers). I’d really appreciate your help.”

Even if only one in ten actually passes them out, you can quickly get your "expertise" into the hands of a lot of people, along with the implied endorsement of the client or referral source who distributes them.

Simple. Inexpensive. Powerful.

Filed Under: Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: free-magic-words-that-make-you-rich, magic-word-to-get-rich, magic-words-that-make-you-rich, magic-words-to-become-rich, magic-words-to-get-rich, magicwords-that-make-you-rich, what-are-the-magic-words-to-get-rich

How to use your business card to get referrals

August 28, 2007 by David M. Ward

When you hand out your business card, always hand out two. "I’m giving you two cards, one for you and one to give to someone who might need my services."

This causes them to think about who they know who might need your services. They might think of someone immediately and tell you. They might ask for additional cards, because they know several people to give them to.

It also plants the seed in their mind that they should be on the lookout for referrals.

Simple, but it works.

Filed Under: Business cards, Referrals Tagged With: attorney-business-card-psd, attorneys-business-cards-psd, business-card-links, business-card-twitter-facebook, business-cards-attorney-marketing, card-personal-lawyer-psd, checklist, facebook-link-for-business-cards, facebook-twitter-logo-for-business-cards, gold-lawyer-business-card-psd, having-flavors-me-on-busiess-cards-professional, lawyer-business-card-psd, lawyer-business-cards, lawyer-card-psd, lawyer-psd, lawyer-visit-card-referral, lawyers-business-cards, marketingtoolsforlawyers, what-information-do-you-include-on-business-cards-attorney, wht-do-you-include-on-a-business-card

What to put in a thank you letter

August 28, 2007 by David M. Ward

Q: What are the main points to get across in a thank you letter to a client? Is it appropriate to add that I’m working to build my practice and referrals are appreciated?

A: It’s not wrong to mention referrals in a thank you letter, but I think it’s better when a ‘thank you’ is just that and nothing more. Let the client know that you appreciate him or her and just wanted to say so. It will mean more to them that way, don’t you think?

I also recommend that the ‘letter’ be a ‘note’ — hand written on note cards. It’s more personal that way and people appreciate that you took the time to write them a personal note. There’s less room on a thank you card, too, so you can be done with just a few sentences, whereas your letterhead has a lot of space to fill.

The note should say:

1. Thank you; I appreciate you; I am glad to know you
2. Reference something personal about them or their case
3. Call me if you have questions about anything
4. Thanks again

Sign the note, "Sincerely," or "Warmly," followed by your signature.

That’s not the only way to write a thank you, but it works. In just three or four lines, you show the client that he is not just a name on a file to you, you really do appreciate him.

Hand written notes are an extremely potent form of communication for another reason: nobody sends them. So when you do, you will really stand out in the mind of the recipient. You didn’t send a form letter, you didn’t email, you took some of your precious time to pen a personal note and put a stamp on it.

One attorney started doing this and told me his secretary made him stop. Apparently, they were getting so many calls to say "thank you" for his "thank you," she didn’t have time to do her work. But it was a nice problem to have (and they didn’t stop) because they also got a lot of referrals.

Try it, and watch what happens.

Filed Under: Client relations, Referrals, Thank you letters Tagged With: attorney-marketing-letters, checklist, clients, mss, myfreef, slogan-gold, Steve Jobs, thank-you-cards-attorney, thank-you-letter-for-a-lawyer, thank-you-letter-for-attorneys, thank-you-letter-for-client-from-lawyer, thank-you-letter-lawyer, thank-you-letter-to-a-lawyer, thank-you-letter-to-attorney, thank-you-letter-to-client-from-attorney, thank-you-letters-to-attorneys, thank-you-letters-to-lawyers, thank-you-lettes-to-a-lawyer, thank-you-note-lawyer, tips-on-thank-you-letter-for-attorney