At The Rainmaker Institute, one of the things we are most frequently asked is: “How can I effectively find more and better clients?” While I can assure you there are no silver bullets or magic wands, there are some deceptively simple, yet amazingly powerful strategies small and solo law firms can use to market their law firm and create a referral-based law practice.
Let’s tackle the issue of referrals first. Attorneys know when it comes to law firm marketing, referrals are the best way of finding new clients, but here are 4 common myths I would like to dispel about referrals:
Myth 1. Clients are the best source of referrals. This surprises a lot of attorneys when I tell them this is a myth. Clients are simply the most obvious source of referrals, not often the best source.
There are simply too many variables you cannot control when trying to get more referrals from clients:
• Do clients know all the different services your law firm offers?
• Can they accurately explain who your ideal law firm clients are?
• Are they able to give a clear and compelling reason why someone should hire you?
• Will they remember you when they meet someone who needs your services?
• Did they just receive a large bill from you and don’t feel especially “good” about your law firm at this moment?
Every law firm should have a 3-stage client education program that:
(a) Educates your new clients about your firm’s services, who your ideal clients are, and what makes you different.
(b) Stays connected with former clients by providing value to them every 4-8 weeks
(c) Position you as a “leading expert” by highlighting your wins, your community involvement/leadership, and publicity.
The reason why the overwhelming majority of client referrals occur on a random, infrequent basis is because firms do not consistently apply a 3-stage client education program. More about this in a future post.
Myth 2. Most legal referrals come from other attorneys. According to Jay Foonberg’s excellent book on law firm marketing only 25% of an established legal professionals practice comes from referrals from other attorneys, so logically about 75% of your law firm clients will come from other sources (this may vary greatly by practice area).
A simple marketing tip is to set up an easy tracking system as part of your client intake file and then review on a quarterly basis to identify where those leads came from. There are also some legal software products that can be customized to track that information automatically.
Just as you need a client education program to increase referrals from clients, you may also benefit from a lawyer referral system—a systematic approach to developing relationships with lawyers and non-lawyers for the purpose of generating referrals.
Myth 3. Online legal directories can produce a lot of referrals fast. There is some indication that white collar workers are starting to use online legal directories as a screening mechanism and they may even view attorneys who are listed in the directory as “more qualified” than attorneys who are not, but this is far from conclusive.
Generally speaking, local and state bar directories like the one at the Los Angeles County Bar Association or the New Jersey State Bar Association are more effective, but most non-bar-affiliated online directories have become the equivalent of online yellow pages and do not offer any more benefits than advertising in a telephone book.
If you’re going to spend money on an online legal directory try your state or local bar association first to test it out.
Myth 4. Formal networking is a great way to get more referrals. Over the years of helping thousands of attorneys build million+ dollar practices, we have found that formal networking events (like trade shows and chamber of commerce, etc) work exceptionally well for a select group of attorneys— and not at all for most legal professionals. Here are a couple reasons why:
(1) Attending the wrong kind of group—one filled with their peers not their prospects. Unless your target market is another attorney I can’t recommend spending much of your valuable marketing time hanging around other lawyers. Go where your prospects are, especially the decision makers, not the gate keepers.
(2) Acting like you’ve entered a “meat locker.” Have you ever been to a networking event and felt like you just walked into a meat locker—everybody is a butcher and everybody’s really hungry (desperate). Going to a networking event to find new clients is like going to a bar looking for your soul mate. While it may happen, the odds are stacked against you.
The best way to look at a formal networking event (as opposed to an informal networking group like asking a couple colleagues out for a drink after work) is to go there for two reasons: first, to build relationships with potential referral sources (people you have identified that have a direct connection with your target market) and second, to find out how you can be a referral source to other professional service providers.
(3) Lack of a follow up plan. When you find a potential referral source you have about 48 hours to follow up with them or they will likely forget about you. Have a plan for calling them, emailing them, or both the day after the event for the purpose of determining if they are interested in getting together face to face. If you are a solo practitioner or just starting out we do recommend trying out a formal leads groups, like Business Networking International depending on your practice area.
I was recently speaking with a lawyer who just launched her practice. She said she was working hard to market her practice, but not getting any results. When I asked about her marketing activities, she mentioned attending several formal networking groups. In fact, all told she was going to almost 15-20 different groups every month!
I advised her to immediately drop all but 2 or 3 of the groups and focus her efforts on following up with potential referral sources. Within the next 30 days she was able to land 4 meetings with accountants and financial planners. Those face to face meetings resulted in 5 new cases coming in the following month.
By now you’re probably saying, if all these are myths, then what’s the best source of referrals? Strategic Referral Partners (SRPs) are the best source of new referrals. SRPs are people who already have a relationship with or already do business with the people you want to reach. More about that next time.