It’s makes sense to focus most of your attention on your clients and professional contacts who regularly send you business. But there are many other people who can send you business.
I’m talking about
- Prospective clients. Folks who signed up on your list, attended your event, downloaded your report, or talked to you about their case.
- Former clients. They hired you once and while they might not need to hire you again, they might know people who do.
- Social media connections. Even if you’ve never met them or talked to them, you’re connected digitally and that gives you permission to communicate with them, which can lead to referrals.
- Professionals, business owners, consultants, experts, and others in your niche or target market who don’t know you, or know you but have never referred, and others who don’t know you but are open to meeting you.
- Your business clients’ employees, vendors, and other business contacts. Your clients know a lot of people who know a lot of people and have influence with many of them.
- Friends and relatives. They have neighbors, co-workers, businesses they patronize, and more, who might need your help today or one day.
According to people who have studied the subject, the average person knows 250 people. You probably know more. If each of those people knows 250 people—do the math. That’s a lot of people in your extended network. An untapped source of referrals.
Why not tap into it?
You can do that by simply educating your network. Make sure everyone knows 3 things about you:
- What you do—your services, practice areas, problems you solve, benefits you deliver. Many don’t know what you do or they don’t know everything you do, or all the ways you help your clients.
- Your ideal client. Tell them what a good referral looks like for you. What do they look like? What do they do for a living? What are their problems and desires? And, what are the life events that typically trigger their need for an attorney who does what you do?
- Your content—your book, blog, channels, seminars, etc., and how to access it. Many in your network might not be willing or able to refer clients to you, but they might do the next best thing—refer their contacts to your content, directly or through social media. That can lead to a lot of new business.
It’s also good to educate your network about what to do when they recognize someone who might need your help. What should they tell them about you? What should they tell them to do if they have questions or want to hire you?
Most of the people you know have never sent you a referral. Many are willing and able, but don’t know how.
Educate them and you might awaken an army of new referral sources.
