One of the best ways to grow a law practice is to conduct joint ventures with other professionals and businesses that target the same markets and clients you target.
If you handle family law and target high-income executives in the health-care industry, for example, you should talk to business owners, insurance brokers, financial planners, consultants, accountants, and other (non-competing) lawyers who have an established clientele and/or actively target the types of people who fit the profile of your ideal client (and the people who can refer them).
You identify joint venture candidates, find ways to meet them, and learn more about what they do. You then tell them what you do and see if there is some common ground for working together for your mutual benefit.
This might mean conducting seminars together, sharing the costs of a mailing, or interviewing each other for your respective newsletters or blogs.
It might mean inviting each other to networking functions, co-authoring articles or books, or sending emails to each other’s lists with information or offers.
It might be keeping each other on a list of recommended “vendors” and referring to each other when a client or contact says they are looking for someone who does what you (and they) do.
And it might simply mean providing suggestions, feedback and encouragement to each other in your individual marketing ventures.
But don’t try to figure that out right now.
Just make a profile of the kinds of joint venture partners who might make a good fit for you. Once you’ve done that, you may discover that you already know people who fit that profile. Talk to them, tell them you think you should talk about “working together” and see what develops.
How to get referrals from, and set up joint ventures with, lawyer and other professionals
