8 PROVEN STEPS TO DOUBLE YOUR REFERRALS
was a very nice touch and made a big
impression on me. Since then I’ve sent
them three more referrals. Say ‘thank
you’ every single time, regardless of
whether you land the client or not.
5. Do not just rely on other attorneys
for referrals. Many of an attorney’s
best referral sources can be outside
of the legal industry. For example, if
you are a bankruptcy attorney, develop
relationships
with
psychologists
and marriage and family counselors
because we know financial stress
impacts people on multiple levels,
including their mental health. If you have
a criminal defense practice, connect
with substance abuse therapists. If
you are a real estate attorney, seek to
build relationships with commercial real
estate brokers. If you are a business
attorney, attend networking events
filled with CPAs. If you are an estate
planning attorney, reach out to financial
advisors and planners. Be willing to
look outside of your existing network to
other non-legal professionals.
include LinkedIn, Superpages.com,
Avvo.com and your local or state trade
associations.
3. Write up a letter of introduction
to serve as a template. Here’s an
example of a letter you would send to
non-competing attorneys:
Here is the 8 step system I have
taught thousands of attorneys to
create a referral network:
1. Identify your best possible referral
sources. These will be other attorneys
you don’t compete with and non-legal
professionals who work with a similar
clientele as you do. I’ve mentioned
several examples above. Keep in
mind that you want to choose those
that have a growing business (not at
the end of their career, winding things
down), maintain close connections with
their clients, do excellent work, have
a great reputation (both online and
offline), that you feel comfortable with,
and that describe their best clients in
similar terms as you.
2. Create a database of 100-200
professionals in your local area.
This should include every person who
has ever referred someone to you as
well as your identified best possible
referral sources. Some good resources
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys
REFERRAL
LETTER
TO
NONCOMPETING
ATTORNEYS
WITH
A
DIVORCE PRACTICE
My name is __________of the
law firm _____________ in
(city, state).
I’m writing to see if you
would be interested in getting
together with me to learn about
each other’s services and
respective target markets. It is
my hope that such a meeting
can lead to the creation of a
referral relationship that would
benefit both of our firms.
We have been in business
since ______, and we focus
our practice on (your area of
practice).
Many of our clients ask us
for referrals to trusted and
experienced divorce attorneys
who can help them with divorce
and post-divorce issues. For
our part, we are constantly
looking to expand our network
of professional advisors in the
local area, from whom we can
identify potential referrals for
our clients.
For
more
information
about our firm, we invite
you to visit our website at:
________________
In the next week you’ll receive
a call from our office to see if
you are interested in getting
Winter 2016
together in person.
I look forward to meeting you
soon, face-to-face.
Sincerely,
4. Have your assistant mail out 10-20
letters per week on your letterhead.
Do not send a bunch of letters at once
-- pace yourself. Many attorneys ask if
it has to be a mailed letter. No, it does
not, but in many cases you will get a
better response. Most professionals
will open a letter from an attorney.
There is an overreliance on email and
fewer people are sending mail these
days so it stands out. Email can get
lost. You may also want to try sending
an “In mail” using LinkedIn, if you are a
proficient user of LinkedIn.
5. For each letter you send out,
plan on having your assistant make
three to four calls to try and reach
the person you sent the letter to. The
purpose of your call is two-fold: to see
if they are interested in getting toget her
and to set a face to face appointment if
they are. This is not direct solicitation
or a sales pitch – it is simply a followup call to see if they are interested in
meeting with you face-to-face. Call
them once per week for three to four
weeks before giving up.
Prepare a simple phone script for your
assistant and make sure he or she has
the answers to simple questions about
your law firm:
·
How long have you been in
practice / business?
·
Who is your ideal client?
·
Where are you located?
·
What’s your primary practice
area?
·
What’s your website URL?
·
How did you find my name /
contact information?
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