It’s an investment, not an expense

July 18, 2023 by
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Yesterday, I talked about following up with prospects and clients before, during, and after the case or engagement. Most lawyers get it. But many lawyers don’t do it because it takes a lot of time. 

I say it’s worth the time because it helps you get new business, keep clients from leaving, and generate positive reviews that can multiply that effect.  

But (surprise) lawyers are busy. Even if they want to do it, it’s too easy to let it slide. 

I mentioned having an assistant do it. Have them make the calls, send the emails, and otherwise manage follow up and other marketing activities for you. Yes, there is a cost, just as there is a cost to you if you handle this function yourself. If you take an employee away from their other work, that work might fall through cracks and cause problems. 

I say it’s worth the risk because the benefits outweigh that cost. Especially if you have a reasonable volume of cases or clients. 

Think about it. Do the math. If you hire someone part time and pay them $4000 per month, and they’re able to save one case or client per month or get one client to return, your costs would be covered, wouldn’t they? And if that assistant is able to stimulate clients to provide more reviews and more referrals, and this generates two additional cases (or saves) per month, you would double your investment. 

Over time, these numbers would compound.

You know I’m a big proponent of making referrals a primary marketing method for most attorneys. If you’ve read me for a while, you also know that you can stimulate referrals without explicitly talking to clients about the subject. But, let’s face it, talking to clients about referrals is a powerful way to get more of them. A lot more. 

If that’s not something you want to do, have your marketing assistant do it for you. 

I built my practice primarily with referral marketing. A key to making that happen was delegating as much as possible to assistants. 

It was an investment, not an expense. And it paid off in spades.

How to talk to clients about referrals

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Closing the sale, Increase your income, Law office management, Referrals

Unforced errors

July 17, 2023 by
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We needed some work done on our house and got a couple of bids. Company number one made a compelling presentation and a reasonable bid (compared to what we expected based on our initial research). Company number two had an even better presentation, and we went with them even though they had a significantly higher bid. 

NB: It’s not just about price or fees; you can get more customers or clients by doing a better presentation. 

One thing that made the difference is the way the salesperson at company number two followed up with us after his presentation. He called and texted and emailed and showed us he was at the top of his game. 

They did the work, and we’re happy with it. The building inspector who came out afterwards told us (without prompting) that the company had done excellent work. 

So, we’re happy. But puzzled. We haven’t heard from the salesperson or anyone else at the company since we authorized the job. 

Leaves you feeling like a commodity instead of a client. Slam, bam, thank you sucker. 

Anyway, not following up with us was a mistake. And not just because there’s a cooling-off period and we could have canceled the job if we got cold feet. Following up after the sale gives the company the opportunity to keep the customer happy and take a step towards creating a “lifetime” customer or client instead of just another entry in the ledger. 

We didn’t hear from them after the work was done, either. No calls to see if we’re satisfied or had questions. 

And that’s another mistake. 

To this day, weeks later, they don’t know if we’re happy. Or have other work we want to talk to them about. Or have a neighbor who might like to talk to them. 

Nothing. Not even a note thanking us for our business.

Or a request to provide a review or referrals.

If they had asked for a review, we might have mentioned that the building inspector volunteered that they did a great job. Thorough and tidy. Very reassuring to a prospective customer who sees that review. 

But now, because the company didn’t ask, no review. 

If this is how they operate on every sale, they’re missing out on a lot of additional business. A cautionary tale for anyone in a service business or profession. 

It’s so simple. Call the client after the work is done (or have an assistant do it), see if they have additional questions or concerns, send them some brochures or a referral card they can pass out to people they know, and if they’re happy, ask them to leave a review. 

The only thing worse than not doing some simple after-sale follow-up is what company number one did after they emailed us their bid. 

They did nothing. 

They didn’t follow up to see if we want to go ahead with them, had any questions, or needed help with financing. They didn’t ask if we went with another company and, if so, why. 

And now, weeks later, they haven’t followed-up with us to ask if we’re still interested (and hadn’t hired anyone). Or if we went with another company, had problems, and needed to talk to them about fixing it. 

Follow-up during the presentation process, after the deal is signed, and after the work is done. Or after the prospect doesn’t sign up. 

Never stop following-up. Because tthe fortune is in the follow-up.

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: ,

Some can, some can’t; some will, some won’t

July 11, 2023 by
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No doubt you’ve figured it out: not everyone can and will send you referrals.

Some clients love you and are willing to help, but don’t know anyone with a legal issue requiring your services. Or they know people, but those people can’t afford your fees. Or they can, but your would-be referrer doesn’t have the skills or influence to make referrals happen. 

Put this on your list: 

“Teach my clients and contacts how to recognize my ideal client and how to refer them.” 

And then there are clients and contacts who know people who clearly need your legal services, and can afford you, and those contacts have the skills and influence to make those referrals happen. 

But they don’t want to. 

Maybe they have another lawyer they work with, or maybe they don’t know you well enough yet to trust you to do a good job for their contacts. 

Put this on your list: 

“Build more trust with my clients and contacts so that they are willing to send me referrals and introduce me to their contacts.”

Something else. 

Some people know people who need your help, have the ability to refer them to you, and they are willing to do so.

But they don’t. Why?  

Usually, it’s because they’re busy and it simply doesn’t occur to them. Or they don’t think you have enough work and don’t need or want more.   

Put this on your list:

“Make sure my clients and contacts know I appreciate referrals and want more of them.” 

Note that these people already know you and will read something you send them, and you can do that through the mail or email or in a newsletter.

You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to.

While you’re pondering this, imagine how much new business this can create for you and how much easier and less expensive your marketing will be when you get (a lot) more referrals. 

If that sounds good, start with this

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Filed Under: Referrals

Build family to build your practice

June 20, 2023 by
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Your clients and former clients, your professional contacts, everyone who knows your name and would take your call—that’s your family.

One of the simplest and best ways to grow your practice is to grow your family. 

That means (a) increasing their number, and (b) increasing the strength and depth of your relationships

And you do that by going out of your way to serve them and help them, not just with legal matters but with other areas of their business or personal life.

Make them feel good about themselves for hiring you or referring people to you

You also increase their number by looking for opportunities to meet the people they know—their employees, partners, friends and colleagues. People they can introduce to you and who can become a part of your ever-growing professional family. 

As your family grows, look for ways to get to know these people better and help them. Give them referrals, advice, and introductions. Give them helpful information and stay in touch with them.

In other words, by networking with the people you know and the people they know., your family will grow and so will your practice. 

What does it take to do this successfully? 

You need to be willing to talk to people who aren’t necessarily in need of an attorney, and be genuinely interested in them and not just what they can do for you. You need to be a good listener, because that’s how you show them you are interested in them and how you learn what they need or want so you can help them get it.  

And you only need to find a few.  

Yes, you need to talk to more than a few to find that few. But just long enough to learn what they do to see if they might be a good match for you.  

Find a few of the right people and they can lead you to more.  

To start, commit to getting to know your clients better than you do now. Call or email them off the clock, say hello and ask how they’re doing. Don’t be surprised when they’re glad you called and ask you about a new legal matter or tell you about someone they know who might need your help.  

If that happens, enjoy the win. But don’t contact them solely for that purpose. Contact them to say hello. 

Heres a step-by-step plan for growing your professional family

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Filed Under: Leverage, Networking, Referrals

Talk it into existence

May 12, 2023 by
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There’s something to be said for being the “strong silent type” and letting your work speak for itself. There’s also something to be said for talking about what you do and how you help people. 

Because people who need your help want to know what you can do to help them.

That doesn’t mean you should talk about yourself all the time. We all know people who do that and wish they would stop. It does mean finding ways to communicate the benefits you offer without talking about them directly. At least not all the time.

An effective way to do that is to collect and use testimonials and reviews from satisfied clients, and endorsements from lawyers and other influential people who know you and your work. 

Let others do (most of) the talking for you.

You can also share success stories about the cases and clients you’ve helped. Not to brag, but to illustrate what you do in the context of real cases and clients. 

Success stories are implied testimonials.

You can also use this strategy to get more referrals. 

How? 

It’s simple. When you talk about a case you’re handling, or have done in the past, simply mention that the case was referred to you (by a client with a similar case, or by another lawyer, etc.) 

This tells people that others think enough of you and your work that they tell others about you. It suggests that you have experience helping people with the same or similar issue.

You get more referrals not by asking because you are “referrable.” 

What else can you do to talk it (referrals) into existence? When you sign up a new client, give them some extra business cards (reports, brochures, etc.), and say, “I’m giving you a few extras in case you talk to someone who needs my help”. 

That’s it.

You plant the seed that they might speak to someone who needs your help and equip them to tell them about you.

How to get more referrals from your clients

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Referrals

Get more referrals by doing something referable

March 30, 2023 by
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Referrals aren’t limited to someone (a client, colleague, friend) telling someone else about you and encouraging them to call you about their situation or question. Referrals also occur when someone tells someone about something you did or said.

Something interesting, noteworthy, or helpful. 

Because when people share that, it is a referral by another name. 

When a client tells a friend about the case you are handling for them, about your upcoming event, or even about a humorous situation you told them about, it might prompt the people they tell to realize they need to talk to you about a legal situation. 

That’s a referral. 

When people hear your story, example, how-to, or interesting nugget of information, they often pass it along to others. 

And while this can and does happen organically, you can make it more likely to be passed along by putting your story or nugget in writing and sending it to your clients and contacts.

Some lawyers call this a newsletter. But it can also be delivered via a blog, a handout or mailer, or in a presentation. 

Start by collecting things you do throughout the day, or things you hear or read that might have some interest to or benefit for your clients and contacts or the people they know. Be especially alert for things that are remarkable, timely, humorous, or contrary to conventional wisdom. 

Anything surprising is a good bet.

Make it easy for them to share by summarizing it in sound bites or bullet points. Tell them what it means and who might want to see or hear it. Give them lists, flyers, or reprints, and make sure everything includes your website and contact information.

You don’t have to do anything more than share your story or nugget. If it’s interesting enough, the people you share it with will do the rest. 

How to get more referrals from your clients

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Filed Under: Referrals

The best way to grow a valuable network

March 23, 2023 by
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Every lawyer in private practice wants to develop a network of business contacts, referral sources, and influential business connections. People who can lead them to others and lead others to them.

Ready for some good news? 

You don’t have to have a massive network to accomplish that. If they are the right people, you only need 5 or 10.

The right people are those who know have influence with people in your target market and are willing to work with you.

That means they like and trust you and want you to prosper, or believe you can be of value to their clients and contacts.

These people are worth their weight in gold, which is why you only need a few. 

Where do you find these folks? Generally, not at formal networking events. The kinds of people you want to meet rarely attend these. 

The best way to find influential people and connect with them is to deliberately target them. 

That means identifying high quality prospective clients in your target market, or people who sell to or advise them, and creating a plan to meet them. 

Sometimes, that can be as simple as contacting them and introducing yourself. But the most effective way to meet them is to talk to your existing network and find out who knows them and will introduce you, or let you use their name. 

Where do you start? By identifying twenty or thirty key people in your target market. Make a list, study them, and create a plan to meet them. 

What then? What do you do after you meet them? You find out what they need or want and help them get it. 

That’s where the work begins. 

It may sound daunting, but this is a lot easier than trying to build a network of hundreds of people who aren’t influential or won’t work with you.

Find out the top twenty or thirty people in your target market and focus on them. Because you only need a few.

How to find and meet lawyers and other referral sources in your target market

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Filed Under: Networking, Referral sources, Referrals

Come with me if you want to live

March 16, 2023 by
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You want your clients and contacts to see you as someone they can count on when they are in trouble, need help or information. Legal advice or anything else—business advice, referrals or introductions. Whatever they need, you want them to contact you first, so you can help them or help them find someone who can.

Why would you want to do something that seems so time consuming and may not lead to legal work? 

Because it might indeed lead to legal work, but you won’t know that if they don’t contact you. 

And while it might not lead directly to legal work, it might provide give you someone you can refer to another lawyer and that lawyer might then reciprocate and send you a referral. 

Helping your clients and contacts this way might also lead to goodwill, which eventually leads to legal work, e.g., traffic to your site, growing your list, filling seats at your event, or other things that bring you more leads or business contacts. 

And hey, what’s the alternative? People ask for something and you turn them away? 

Bad karma. And bad business. 

For starters, make sure you tell your clients, prospects, and business contacts to call you about any legal matter, because “I know a lot of lawyers in other practice areas.” (If you don’t, this is your chance to go meet some.)

If you have the ability to refer 5 or 10 clients a month to other attorneys, even if it’s just to get some questions answered, do you think that might bring you some referrals from those attorneys?

If it takes up too much of your time (it won’t), you can stop doing it. But you won’t want to. Because the more you help people, the more people will help you. 

Prove me wrong. Try it for 60 days and see what happens.

Once you see good things happening, teach your clients and contacts to call you if they need anything else—an accountant, a real estate or insurance broker, a financial advisor, a vendor or business, or. . . anything.

You want people to call you first because it’s good karma and good for business.   

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Filed Under: Networking, Referrals

Every dud knows a stud

March 2, 2023 by
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In the corporate and legal worlds, employees and pre-qualified before they are hired. Prospective clients and customers are similarly screened, to determine their needs and wants and ability to pay. 

In the network marketing world, however, prospective distributors aren’t pre-screened or pre-qualified because it is a waste of time. 

You never know whether a prospective distributor will sign up in your business, or if they do, if they will get to work. 

And it doesn’t matter because it’s not about them, it’s about who they know and can lead you to.

Your friend might have no interest in becoming a distributor, but might know people who are very interested. You talk to your friend and find out who they know.

Because duds lead you to studs. 

Yes, we’re talking about referrals. 

Lawyers should pre-qualify prospective employees and prospective clients, but not prospective referral sources or business contacts, because it’s not about them, it’s about who they know.

You might meet a business owner who doesn’t need your services, but they can lead you to people who do. Or to people who know people who do. 

Guess what? The same is true of your clients. They might not be able to send you referrals, but might know people who can. 

When you embrace this idea, you understand that it’s not about anyone you know or meet, it’s about who they know.

Your job is to find out who they know.

How to get more referrals from your clients

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Filed Under: Referrals

Simply the best

February 17, 2023 by
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You are the best in your field. The most talented, the most successful, the most dedicated to your clients. 

That’s why your clients hire you; that’s why prospective clients should do the same. 

Unfortunately, you can’t go around saying you’re the best. Even if it’s true. 

You want others to say this about you. Which is why you should do everything you can to obtain testimonials, positive reviews, and praiseworthy survey responses from your clients, and endorsements from prominent people (especially other lawyers).

It’s also why you should get yourself invited to be interviewed by centers of influence in your niche and be seen in their company. 

If you say you’re the best, people will doubt you. Maybe laugh at you. If your clients and others say you’re the best, it must be true. 

Not only does third party praise help you bring in more business, these kinds of comments give your clients a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that they made a wise decision to hire you.

It also means you’ll attract higher-paying clients and a lot more referrals, because you’re not just competent, you’re the best. 

Don’t be shy about asking your clients for reviews and testimonials. If they’re happy campers, they should be happy to provide them. But you have to ask because they may not know how important this is to you.

And, while you’re collecting these, you can create the same effect by liberally adding client success stories to your articles, posts, presentations, and other content. That’s where you describe a client’s case or situation before they came to you and how you rescued them and made everything better. 

Set up a file to collect emails and quotes from people who say something nice about you. Thank them, tell them how much it means to you, and ask, “May I quote you?”

Happy clients are the foundation of a successful practice

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Referrals
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