Lawyers sometimes forget that they are in the personal services business. Cold calling and direct mail just doesn’t work. Such activities are too impersonal. Without a relationship with someone, why would they hire you? Unless they trust you, either through a referral source they do trust or otherwise from personal knowledge gained, they are not likely to retain you. Think about how you react to direct mail, or other impersonal solicitations. Morningstar Multimedia posted a good article on the point on their blog entitled “How to Get More Referrals”. It’s worth a read.
So, make contact with as many people as you can – clients, former clients, friends, other professionals, whomever – who can introduce you to potential clients or refer legal work to you. The more contacts you make, the more relationship building that takes place; and the more personal the relationship, the more clients you’ll gain.
