Referrals are far and away your best marketing channel, as you own it 100% and no algorithm change, price increase, or influx of competitors is going to diminish its effectiveness.
Best of all, the ROI of referrals exceeds that of all your other marketing investments, for small dollars are all that is needed to fund an effective referral-generating program.
In this article, we outline for you the 7 steps we use to generate more lawyer-to-lawyer and other professional referrals. You can readily use these steps yourself or with your team.
For an alternate approach to growing your referral network, you can read here how a young lawyer added 50 referral sources and 100 cases using DMs.
Step 1: Set expansion goals. Can you 2x or 3x your referrals?
Begin by analyzing your current referral flow and efforts. How many are you receiving and what are you doing to obtain them?
3-4x scenario
Maybe your volume is low – 10-20% of your new clients are referred by lawyers, allied professionals, and past clients. And you and your team are not spending much time cultivating those referral sources, let alone seeking new sources.
In this situation, we would set aggressive targets: (1) triple your referrals within 18 months and (2) quadruple them in 30 months.
50% increase scenario
At the other end of the growth spectrum are lawyers who receive 50% or more of their new clients by referral, devote material attention to existing referral sources, and periodically seek out new sources.
Because the base number is already large, a 50% increase within two years would add a lot more referrals. But that target would still be achievable, for it is the rare attorney whose team is doing everything possible to maximize referral flow.
Step 2: Create a growth calendar
We increase referrals for lawyers using five tactics:
(a) Introduce you to new referral sources
(b) Build relationships with those new prospective referrers
(c) Strengthen your relationships with your existing referrers
(d) Keep you memorable and referrable with past clients
(e) Track progress against goals
Before getting started, we calendar what will be done and when. Below I outline what is scheduled for each of the five tactics, and in subsequent emails I detail the work we do for each tactic.
None of the processes requires special expertise so you should be able to readily plug the work into your practice, but receiving guidance the first few times can be helpful.
a. Introduce you to new referral sources
We first create a list of 50 local prospects, obtain your additions and deletions, then begin calling. It takes about two hours of dialing to set each appointment. We begin by setting two appointments a month, with each about two weeks apart.
b. Build relationships with those new prospective referrers
There is an art to doing this effectively. Depending on how the introductory call went, we contact the new source on your behalf a variety of ways four to seven times in the first year. Using scheduled cards, gifts, and emails, we seek to establish a personal connection that lasts.
c. Strengthen your relationships with your existing referrers
Few attorneys regularly reach out to their referral sources, let alone personally thank them for each referral provided. We fill both gaps, and recommend you do the same. Handwritten cards and thoughtful small gifts can have a big impact. Again, calendaring the outreach can ensure it gets done.
d. Keep you memorable and referrable with past clients
We email an engaging and branded newsletter each month on your behalf. The content is mostly non-legal, as the recipients are typically past their legal problems. You don’t have to send a newsletter, but some form of contact that keeps your name fresh is important.
e. Track progress against goals
We match every referral to its source, and record whether the referral becomes a client. This allows us to target our education, in case a source needs additional guidance on who you serve, as well as reward your prolific referrers.
Step 3: Expand your network
The surest route to more referrals is to get additional lawyers sending them your way.
More sources typically means more referrals, so the first step we take when retained is to set phone appointments with local lawyers and allied professionals who are interested in discussing a referral relationship. Here is how we:
Introduce you to new referral sources
We begin by compiling a list of 50 local professionals, with 80% being attorneys and 20% allied professionals who in our experience are likely to be interested in discussing a referral alliance with you. We share the list with you, and you have the option to add or delete names.
We then start calling each name on the list. We explain that we are calling on your behalf to ask whether the professional is interested in discussing a referral relationship on a 15-minute call with you. If we are unable to reach the professional, we leave a voicemail and send an explanatory email. Those explanations frequently result in a return call.
It takes us about two hours of dialing and emailing to set one telephone appointment. To calendar these appointments, before we begin dialing we ask you to give us some times each week when you are likely to be available.
You and the interested professional will receive text and email reminders of the appointment. Sometimes one party re-schedules, but most phone appointments are held at the time initially set.
To quick-start your partnerships, we set two appointments per month for your first three months. In subsequent months we calendar one appointment per month with a prospective referral partner to give us time to help nurture the new relationships.
We have set hundreds of appointments for lawyers using this approach, and have a good understanding of which professionals are (1) likely to be interested and (2) willing and able to refer.
The phone appointment
Your primary goals in your introductory call should be to: (1) learn about the professional’s practice and clients/patients, (2) listen twice as much as you talk, and (3) establish a connection.
Ideally, you will have a few minutes before your call to prepare by reviewing the professional’s website, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, and any other Google search results. You will also want to have several questions ready so you (1) are listening more than talking and (2) learn about the professional and his or her practice. Potential questions are:
— How did you come to start your practice?
— What do you enjoy the most about your work?
— What about your practice drives you nuts?
— What are your favorite types of clients/patients?
— What constitutes a great outcome?
— Who is an ideal referral?
— What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
Step 4: Build relationships with your new referrers
As you meet new referral sources, either on your own or through the phone appointments we set up for you, it is important that you plan how you are going to strengthen those new relationships and then follow through on your plans.
Touch points
We recommend you nurture those new relationships with 4-6 contacts of varying types each year. Below we describe the different types of contacts you can make.
Words. Periodically sending thoughtful notes, ideally handwritten on your personal stationery, is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to connect with a referral source. The note can reference something that made you think of the referrer, provide some personal news, or just express thankfulness for your new relationship.
Gifts. Ideally you have learned enough about your prospective new referral source so that you can tailor your gifts to their hobbies and interests. The gifts should not be expensive; something small but thoughtful is best. Maybe a team jersey or other alumni wear for a sports lover, travel memorabilia from a location the source loves, or bagels or other goodies for the office. Avoid branded swag that advertises your firm.
Time. An occasional face-to-face meeting, even if just for a few minutes in between CLE sessions or other Bar gatherings, can help cement new referral relationships. The trick is making the meeting about them and not you. What’s new in their life, practice, or outside interests? Do they have anything big coming up, whether hire, trip, or family addition?
Assistance. Providing a cross-referral remains the gold standard of helpfulness in referral partnerships, but there are many other ways you can assist. You can direct them to a new contact, whether potential hire, advisor, or vendor. You can recommend new tools that have proven useful in your practice.
The unifying thread in all these contacts is giving. You are never asking for anything, including referrals. You are instead seeking to be a good friend, staying in touch and being helpful whenever you can.
Tips
We suggest you focus on the types of contacts you enjoy, for those are the ones you are most likely to stick with.
Some of these contacts can be delegated. In addition to setting up the initial phone appointments with prospective new referral sources, we typically handle gifting, thank you cards, and notes as part of our Referral Amplifier service.
Be sure to track your contacts so you know when the next one is due. Without that tracking you are likely to neglect some of your referral sources.
Whatever contact type or frequency you use, never fail to send thank-you’s for each referral received. That is the surest way to make that the last time a source sends you a referral.
Step 5: Cultivate your existing sources
When meeting with lawyers interested in our Referral Amplifier service, I frequently learn that they have no organized system for staying connected to the firm’s existing referral sources.
Contacts are haphazardly made, if done at all. Thank you’s for new referrals are infrequently sent. And updates are often not provided.
In these scenarios, the fixes needed are relatively straightforward. The trick is systematizing them so that they occur every time, and on schedule. The two most useful tools for creating your own referral-enhancing system are:
1. Referral-tracking sheet. All that is needed is a simple spreadsheet which notes: (a) the date a referral is received, (b) who provided it, and (c) whether the referral was signed as a client.
This is the data that will be used to determine:
– Are your referrals increasing?
– Who are your VIP referrers?
– Do any referral sources need additional instruction on who you serve?
2. Outreach calendar. Any digital calendaring software will work for this purpose. On it you will annually schedule 4-6 varying touch points every 2-3 months for each of your referral sources, both existing and new.
As detailed in my prior email, those touch points can be personal notes, gifts, get-togethers, or assistance. Varying them is helpful. And they should always be about giving, not receiving.
In addition, a handwritten thank you card should be sent each time a referral is received, along with periodic updates on matter progress and completion.
Implement this straightforward program of touch points, along with the steps I previously listed to add and cultivate new referral sources, and watch your professional referrals steadily increase.
Step 6: Stay memorable and referable with past clients
My interviews with nearly 100 successful attorney-marketers have identified 3 techniques for obtaining referrals from past clients:
1. Requests. I don’t recommend you directly ask for referrals from lawyers and other professionals, but I do for clients.
Lawyers understand that every professional wants to receive referrals. Clients do not know this and need to be told that referrals are important to your practice, you value them highly, and referrals receive special attention.
In the words of interviewee Chris Earley:
“We call it a culture of referrals. We can’t assume that people know we want referrals. ‘Just so you know, we are built on referrals and we would love and appreciate your referral. That would mean a lot to us.’ The more we said that, the more referrals flowed.”
2. Check-in calls. A useful technique during slow periods is to call past clients, inquire how they are doing, and then ask for referrals. Here is how interviewee Jennifer Gore-Cuthbert goes about it:
“In legal and other service businesses you have these meaningful relationships with clients, and then the relationship ends and you can fall out of touch. Every so often we like to call and say, ‘Hey, we were thinking about you and wanted to touch base. Are there any referrals you have outside of what we do? We have a large network of lawyers we can connect you with.’”
3. Newsletters. Old school? Yes. Effective? Also yes. Here is what interviewee Jason Melton says about them:
“Have a newsletter. How many times have I run into old clients and they don’t remember my name? If you asked me, ‘Who is my plumber,’ I don’t know. I can look it up in my phone, but don’t know off the top of my head. We are drinking our own kool-aid if we think people remember our names.”
Adopting even one of these 3 techniques will increase the number of referrals you receive from past clients. Adopting all 3 will have a sizable impact.
Step 7: Track results and expand your winning techniques
The last step in increasing your referrals is simple: track your results and do more of what is working.
If you find you have been successful at adding and cultivating new referral sources, keep it up. If paying more attention to your existing referral sources is increasing their productivity, try adding touch points.
If asking your past clients for referrals, calling them periodically, or sending them a newsletter is helping, try adding a second contact technique.
In summary
Quickly recapping, the 7 steps to more referrals covered in this email series were:
1. Set expansion goals. Can you 2x or 3x your referrals?
2. Create your referral growth calendar
3. Expand your network
4. Build relationships with your new referrers
5. Cultivate your existing referral sources
6. Stay memorable and referrable with past clients
7. Track results and expand your winning techniques
I hope you have found this introduction to increasing your referrals helpful.