What do you think would happen to your practice if you suddenly stopped marketing? If you pulled your ads, stopped networking, never wrote another blog post or article, and never gave another presentation–what would happen?
Henry Ford said, “Without advertising a terrible thing happens–nothing.†He meant, of course, that if a business doesn’t continually keep its name and wares in front of the marketplace, the business will eventually die.
Lawyers don’t have to advertise but if they stopped marketing in all forms, will their practice eventually die?
Maybe not.
If a lawyer has been around for awhile and has a base of a few hundred current and former clients, most lawyers could continue to bring in repeat business and referrals, probably enough to sustain and grow the practice in perpetuity.
But they need a mechanism for staying in touch with their client base and. . . they have to do it. They have to regularly send emails and/or letters, at the very least reminding their clients that they still exist and can still help them and the people they know.
I assume that the lawyer is well-practiced in, and fully committed to, client relations (customer service). When you treat clients like they are kings and queens, when you deliver more value and service than they expect, how could they not come back? How could they not tell others?
Lawyers who excel at client relations, and stay in touch with their clients, don’t have to rely on advertising or networking or other “reaching out†methods to sustain and build their practice.
Notice I said, “relyâ€. Reaching out to find new prospects and bring them into your marketing funnel is smart. It can help your practice grow faster. If you’re doing these things and they’re working, don’t stop.
But isn’t it nice to do those things because you want to, not because you have to?
Referrals from clients are the foundation of a healthy law practice
