Build Your Practice the Easy Way with Client Introductions

Many legal professionals have figured out that their most productive client development activity is referrals from existing clients. And they don’t just hope that doing good work will generate referrals, they prompt their clients gracefully to identify contacts who will most likely be a fit.

They also know that the best referrals are client introductions – situations where their clients actively introduce them to someone they think would benefit from talking to them. There’s two steps to actively generate client introductions:

First, ask them about a very specific client profile, in a manner that prompts them to deny your question. If you were a human resources attorney looking to represent small businesses, you might ask something like, “You probably don’t know anyone who recently started their own business and is thinking of hiring staff for the first time?”

Second, if they do know someone who might be interested in talking to you, coach them on how they might introduce the idea to their contact. Something like, “I’d hate to call someone who wasn’t interested in taking my call. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share with them how we’ve worked together, and why you thought they might be interested in talking with me?”

Here’s a couple of tips for prompting introductions from your clients:

• Develop a series of client profiles that serve as examples of people in specific situations that might make them a candidate for your services. You can attempt to prompt your clients every time you talk, so long as you have a different client profile to bounce off them.
• Ask for introductions often. The rule of thumb is that 60% of your clients will at least try to think of someone to introduce to you if you prompt them gracefully.
• Don’t forget to give referrals whenever possible. The law of reciprocity states that people develop a sense of obligation whenever you do them a favor. Follow Emerson’s rule of compensation - “give more to get more”.