For more great articles and FREE attorney resources visit us: www.RainmakerLawyer.com
Referrals are part of attorney marketing and you should receive more referrals. Think about it. You know people you believe should be referring you more business, but, for whatever reason, they do not.
Don’t you wonder why?
The reason is simply because they are not thinking about referring you business. In fact, they are probably not thinking about your ideal client. Ever.
Don’t you want to fix this problem?
Here is a three step attorney marketing referral system that will help you fix this problem forever. You will need to practice it a few times. It will not seem natural at first. But once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed at how well it works.
Our brains function like computers. We store information in organized files. In order to remember something, we need to know which file to look into in order to retrieve it. To get someone to remember a person who could be a potential client for you, you have to get them to open up the mental file where that information is stored. The exercise below will help you do that when you are in a one-on-one setting.
Attorney Marketing Referral System Step One: Start up a referral conversation
Usually I start a referral conversation by asking how the other person finds his clients. They usually reciprocate and ask me how I find clients for my business. When they ask, I tell them most of my clients come to me through referrals. They usually say they like receiving referrals too. At that point I ask them to describe their ideal client. That leads step two.
Attorney Marketing Referral System Step Two: Get the other person into a referral mindset
Now you have to shift the other person from thinking about their clients to thinking about people they know who might be good clients for you. To make this shift I usually say something like:
“Getting referrals can be tough because people do not always recall everyone they meet.”
Then I ask them if they have ever met a famous person. This can be a celebrity, it can be a politician, it really can be anyone. You just want them to recall the meeting and the person. I ask them to describe the event where they met the famous person and I ask them to describe the qualities of the famous person. Where were you? Was he nice? What did he say? Getting them to recall details is important because it helps them open the mental file completely.
Attorney Marketing Referral System Step Three: Use a memory jogger
The next step is to get them to think of the kind of person you want to meet. You can transition into asking for specifics by saying something like: “It is amazing how many people we meet on a regular basis. Did you know most people in business meet, on average, over 300 new people each year? By any chance do you know someone who…”
This is where you fill in the person you want to meet. A trust and estates attorney, for example, would ask about a CPA. An immigration attorney could ask about Human Resource professionals. An attorney who practices administrative law would ask about doctors. A criminal attorney would ask to meet attorneys in any number of practice areas.
After you ask for your referral, make sure you are clear on who is a good referral for them (so you can send them someone for their business).
Attorney Marketing Referral System Step Four: Follow up
After you get back to your office immediately do an email introduction of the person you were just speaking with to someone who could be valuable to their business. Always give before you expect to receive. This is extremely important.
Nine times out of ten, you will receive a referral in return.
If you use this strategy once each week for 50 weeks a year, you will come away with 50 new referrals. If you only do business with half of them you will wind up with at least 25 new clients. That’s not too shabby.
Find a way to work this referral process into your weekly activity. Once you master this attorney marketing referral system, it will pay you dividends for a long time.