Law Firm Marketing Solutions

Guiding your practice to increased revenues while reducing your work hours so you have less stress with more control thus serving your clients better than ever.

If you like this newsletter, please do your friend and me a favor and forward this newsletter to them.

If your friend DID send this newsletter to you find all of our in depth law firm marketing information by clicking here right now.

-----------------

January 2010, Issue #44

-----------------

In this issue:

Marketing for Lawyers through Relationship Building

-----------------

Referral Marketing

It is well known that one of the most dependable and cost effective forms of marketing for lawyers is referral marketing. Referral marketing, or relationship marketing is often referred to as "networking" and networking can refer to finding new people who don't know you at all as well as working with people who already know you. In networking, you contact/connect with these people and move them to the point of wanting to refer to you because you have developed what I refer to as "know, like, trust, relationship, credibility and (most importantly) top of mind awareness (TOMA)". When you have this in place these folks will refer to you. You can manage this process via the four lists process that I wrote about in August of 2009.

Relationship Building

In order for referral marketing to work, it is vital that you build a relationship with each person on your list. Experts agree that for referral relationship marketing to be a success, you need to go through several phases in order to get the ideal referral sources that provide you with consistent and quality referrals over time.

When marketing for lawyers, you need to do your best to move through these phases with each of your contacts, almost certainly generating more new contacts along the way. However, how do you do this? Read on.

The following is a set of questions that will help you establish a relationship over a few meetings with another lawyer you may meet at a bar association meeting or wherever you may meet them who might be a referral source for you. Now these questions are an example of how the process goes over a period of time. The last thing you want to do is rush the process. In addition, you can adapt these questions for other professions so do not limit yourself to other lawyers. Finally, you don't want to memorize these either just use them as a guide.

• What did you get your undergraduate degree in?
• Did you work between getting your undergraduate degree and starting law school? If yes, what did you do?
• What sort of things do you like to do for fun? If nothing now, what did you used to do for fun before the law took up so much of your time?
• Do you have a significant other? Are you married? If yes, does your husband/wife/partner work as well? Do you have any children? If yes, how old are they?
• What made you decide to become a lawyer?
• What do you like the best about being a lawyer?
• What do you dislike the most about being a lawyer?
• What do you feel is the best gift you bring to the practice of law in comparison to the average attorney?
• What do you see as being the upcoming trends in your particular practice area or areas?
• What type of client should I look for to refer to you? In other words, what is your ideal client?
• How could I help you to build your practice?
• Would you be interested in doing any joint marketing for lawyers? If yes, do you have any ideas on that front? (Of course, if they are interested you can suggest some ways to jointly market.)
• Since I value your opinion, may I ask you a few questions to get your input on enhancing my practice?
• What are the top three frustrations for you in dealing with other lawyers and referring clients to them? Why?
• What are some reasons that you have not referred a client to a particular lawyer in the past?
• What things would you like to see from people you refer to?
• What types of professionals are you getting referrals from?
• Do you think it would benefit me to network with those same people or do you have any other suggestions on who I might network with instead?
• Which specific people in x profession do you think I should be talking to?
• Would you have two or three people you would feel comfortable introducing me to?

Each question really builds so you are ready to ask the next one. If you ask the senior questions first it is likely you will not get positive responses since the relationship is not developed enough. You need to hold off on later questions until you know someone better. You might meet with someone over breakfast, lunch or dinner several times or maybe even months before you have exhausted the list totally. Each person you have targeted is different and has a different timetable.

Indeed, do fun things with your prospective and current referral sources if you can. You don't have to talk business all the time you are with them. It is about the relationship more than anything else. You also don't have to be a back slapping charismatic social type person to be successful at building relationships. You do have to be a good listener and good at asking open-ended questions. If you need some help with the topic of this newsletter feel free to call me for some complimentary quality time to coach you in the matter.

Comments, ideas, questions or topics you would like to see addressed in future newsletters? I would love to hear from you. Just reply to this newsletter and tell me what you think.

Best regards,

Henry Harlow
Founder, www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com