Getting referrals “is just common sense.” It’s no more than writing letters asking for them, says Trey Ryder, a law firm marketing consultant in Payson, AZ, who specializes in education-based marketing. Yet few firms ever try it.
Ryder breaks the job down into five letters. They work, he says. He cites one estate planner client who used all five and wound up with several thousand inquiries.
1. A letter to nonattorneys
Start with a letter to the potential referral sources who are not attorneys.
The best referrals don’t always come from clients, Ryder says. They come from people who trust the firm and recommend it.
Those are people such as CPAs, financial planners, bankers, and insurance agents. They are respected by their own clients and can bring a lot of business to the firm.
Tell them the firm (or individual attorney) is now focusing on practice area X and is a source of information in that area.
“When people see that the firm is a central resource, they get charged up about referring people there.”
2. A letter to former clients
Next is a letter to former clients asking them to reconnect.
Attorneys often lose track of past clients, Ryder says. But it’s essential to reconnect with them because people who have paid for services in the past “are likely to come back for further services.”
He cautions, however, that the letters have to be personal to each client and also need to carry the attorney’s signature. A form letter will do no good here.
The text of the letter is an invitation to call the firm for services and to bring the former clients up to date on what the firm is doing.
The letter also needs to carry some information “that will increase their confidence in the firm.” To that end, it’s appropriate to put in printed marketing materials. Include a few testimonials as well. And along with that, include the attorney’s bio.
A written letter is far better than an e-mail, he says, because people are more likely to keep a hard copy.
3. A letter to prospective clients
There also needs to be a letter to prospective clients.
Send it to all the names on the firm’s contact list. It’s essential to stay in touch with those people and keep the firm’s name in front of them.
This letter is similar to the one to former clients and should include the same marketing materials.
4. A letter to other attorneys
The fourth letter goes to other attorneys asking for their referrals.
“It’s an introduction letter,” Ryder says. Tell what practice areas the firm specializes in and tell what competitive advantages it can offer in pricing or whatever.
But be careful with this. “Don’t target the competitors.”
Send the letter instead to attorneys with complementary practices and to those in entirely different practice areas.
Also send them to firms that market to the same audience but to a different part of that audience. For example, a small firm that’s going after individual real estate clients might send the letter to larger firms that handle complicated real estate transactions and are pushing the individual clients aside.
Other attorneys are a valuable referral source, he says. Their clients trust them and therefore trust the attorneys they recommend.
5. A letter to the editors
Finally, send a letter to the editors of the publications the firm would like to get quoted in or write articles for.
In this letter, point out current problems and explain that the firm can provide information on them. Any reporter writing a story about a legal issue will turn to the attorney who not only knows that issue but is available for an interview, Ryder says.
Thus, this letter has to give free educational materials. “The media people eat that up.” They know their readers want useful and helpful information, and they are glad to have a source for it.
He cites one television news program that did a five-night series on a topic, quoted an attorney, and at the end offered the attorney’s educational booklet on it.
“Don’t be afraid to give away something free,” he says. If it’s mentioned in the news, there’s an implied endorsement from the publication.