Referral Based Marketing for Solos: Why, and How, and From Whom

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As terrific as blogging is, solos cannot live by blog alone. Referral-based marketing is a gold mine for solo lawyers, regardless of how and whether you network, and regardless of how much experience you might have in solo practice. Learn why it’s important, and how to use your blog in conjunction with a referral marketing plan.

What Referrals Mean To Solos

Pop quiz – what’s the strongest form of marketing, bar none?

This is too easy. You know the answer: referrals – hands down. Advertising, writing, blogging, speaking engagements, seminars, newsletters – they all pale in comparison, when we’re talking about the strength of the conversion factor. And what’s the conversion factor? It’s the key to measuring the success of any particular marketing move – basically, how powerful a particular marketing method is when it comes time to convert the target of the marketing from a “potential client” to a “signed client.”

Why are referrals such powerhouses of conversion? Because we trust our friends, neighbors, and current advisors. We don’t trust advertisements. Even ostensibly objective writing and seminar speaking engagements can strike an observer as “tainted” by marketing objectives, and thus suspect. When we’re looking for a personal injury lawyer, the sad fact is that most of us are not going to watch one of those late-night “Have you been injured?” commercials and excitedly jot down the number to call the next day! More and more often, we’re not even going to open the business directory of the telephone book. (We will, however, hit the web – but that’s fodder for a completely different series of posts.)

What are we going to do instead? Well, the vast majority of us are going to ask around for a referral.

Where Do Referrals Come From?

When you start thinking about building your referral marketing program, it might seem a little overwhelming at first. Who should you target? Attorneys? Friends and family members? Current clients? And if you’re brand new to the practice of law, or new in a particular geographic area, you’re not going to know very many attorneys, and referrals might seem to be a waste of time. When you approach referrals from the perspective of making a list, it might seem like a futile exercise in such circumstances.

So, don’t approach it in such a linear fashion. Look at it like a web – not a circle (as most networking training programs would have you do), but an interconnected web of dots, all connected to other dots, and each dot representing a new potential for a referral source.

Start your program, however, with something that’s familiar to us all – making lists. But in this case, the list is just the beginning. Make three lists – your current clients, attorneys you know (even those you just barely know), and everyone else (friends, other business associates, former classmates, family members) who might be in a position to act as a source of referrals for you. Each one of these types of people will be approached differently, so you’ll want to track them separately.

But remember – that’s just the beginning. In coming posts, I’ll show you how to process those lists and approach the folks you’re going to target.

Current Clients Are GOLD

A word about current clients, or four – GOLD.

Grateful – current clients already bear you good will and a bit of gratitude for taking care of them (and if they don’t, you need to fix that – it’s a far bigger problem than trying to get the next client)
Organic – the referrals that come from clients are organic. They arise holistically from a previously existing relationship, and are based on the client’s personal experience. The client merely wants to help a friend; there’s no business advantage in it for him or her (generally speaking). As such, it may carry more weight than other kinds of referrals.
Legitimate – referrals coming from satisfied clients are arguably more likely prompted by true, authentic regard for the lawyer and her skills, or at least the person asking for the referral may perceive it that way.
Direct – client referrals come from direct, personal knowledge which carries a lot of weight with folks looking for a lawyer.

Grateful, Organic, Legitimate, Direct – current clients’ referrals are GOLD for solo lawyers when it comes to the conversion factor.