*This post originally appeared in the December 2019 edition of our print newsletter.
A crisis going on right now in the U.S. is impacting every single law firm in the country, including yours. And it’s not a financial crisis or a crisis of conscience, but something a lot more frustrating: a referral crisis.
According to a study conducted by Texas Tech University, law firms are only getting about one-third of the referrals they should be. The study found that, on average, 83% of satisfied clients are willing to make referrals, but of those, only 29% actually do it.
Let me say that again. Out of all the clients who are willing to refer you, only 1 in 3 actually takes the leap. The other two received excellent service, were happy with your work, and were even willing to refer you but they still didn’t do it. That’s the referral crisis in a nutshell. Every law firm has two-thirds more referrals out there just waiting to be nudged from an idea into reality.
Here at Spotlight Branding, in the course of our work helping law firms successfully market their businesses, we’ve discovered the secret to ratcheting up your referral ratio from one-third to two-thirds (or more) all without meeting a single new person or spending another penny on advertising. All you need to do is stay in touch.
If you consistently stay in touch with your current and past clients and remind them what you do, that can make a huge impact on your referrals. You need to consistently reach out to them and put your firm’s name and expertise front and center; you’ll increase awareness of your brand and keep your firm top of mind. That will inevitably increase your referrals without impacting your advertising budget.
Think of it this way: If you’ve just eaten at a restaurant and had an incredible meal, aren’t you more likely to recommend that restaurant to a friend when they ask where they should go for dinner? Even driving by the restaurant and seeing the sign can have the same effect. The simple truth is, the more recently someone has used or interacted with a business, the more likely they are to recommend that business when it comes up in conversation. I’d say that’s doubly true for law firms because endless situations occur every day where recommending an attorney would be valuable.
In the past, law firms relied on holiday and birthday cards to stay in touch with their clients, but, in the hectic, fast-paced, digitally saturated world we live in today, that’s not enough anymore. For our clients, Spotlight Branding uses email newsletters, print newsletters, and regular social media posts to provide the same gentle prod. Along with reminding clients you exist, those methods can also reinforce your expertise by offering quality, expert content about your practice areas. We also urge our clients to be active in their communities, participating in local events and extending sponsorships in order to make their brand a household name.
As icing on the cake, these practices can also increase your repeat business for the same reasons. If a past client is already thinking of you because they’ve just seen your email newsletter land in their inbox, received a Christmas card from your firm, or seen a post from one of your social media accounts, they’ll be a lot more likely to pick up the phone and call you when they need a lawyer in their corner.
If you want Spotlight Branding’s help cultivating top-of-mind awareness and closing the referral gap at your firm, contact us to schedule a consultation. Let’s kick this referral crisis for good.
Spotlight Branding
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