Building your law firm’s reputation from the ground up can be a tiresome and lengthy effort, not to mention you really have to put out. So how are you supposed to get work and do what you set out to do, help people? Below, Abby Drexler, a contributing writer and media specialist for National Crime Reporting, Inc., provides Lawyer Monthly with 5 top tips to attract new clients to your emerging law firm.
Building a considerable team of referrals is the binding glue in creating a formidable professional network. In most law firms, attorneys have to face their fear to network or place their entire career in the hands of the firm. Unprecedented concerns may end one's career without substantial ground. Hence, it is prudent for a lawyer to have a network of referrals for personal gain as well as the firm’s.
Another scenario is a fresh law school graduate who dives head first into entrepreneurship. Some are fortunate to have a leg up in the business by having an averagely sized professional circle. In most cases, fresh graduates experience an albatross and paralyzing fear when trying to lift a new firm off the ground due to lack of clients. There are a few obvious but unexplored options one can follow to scale up the legal business.
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Strike conversations with potential clients
Approaching new prospective customers is the first step in taking a plunge in networking. There are tons of events catering to legal affairs, hence a ton of high profile business suits in attendance. A one on one marketing opportunity can have a long-lasting and profound effect. Market yourself by mentioning your niche of focus in law and the firm’s name. Mention your position as founder of the firm and spark an even more enthralling conversation.
Potential clients are not limited to high-end functions. The easily dismissible janitor or cupcake seller may have connections with well-paying clients. A successful referral system considers everyone a possible client because society is an interconnected society. It might even be a strike of gold when one attends a less glamorous event and identifies as the only white-collar professional. This focus will draw warranted attention to market yourself and give out business cards.
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Foster formidable bonds
Filling up the phonebook does no good to the firm if one eschews having a genuine interest in people. This means write up the important events in people’s lives such as birthdays or anniversaries to deliver a message or gift. Constant communication will keep you in their minds as a friend who would be rewarding in a case. The list of these people includes next-door neighbors and off the grid society. While most law firms display striking similarities, a personal acquaintance will incline to contact a familiar face in need of legal intervention.
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Have a professional online presence
Most people will fact check a person’s, product’s or business’ credibility online before committing an investment or resource. A brochure type of website is an excellent format for a law firm as it provides extensive information that may be otherwise boring to explain in informal chats. Additionally, link an active blog to the page and link it with social media platforms like Facebook. Many businesses have tripled their sales from shared Facebook and Twitter posts. Consider investing in an online marketing software that personalizes newsletters and connects with at least ten people in a month. Simplify the content’s message to relate to viewers and eliminate the unnecessary difficult magna cum laude details.
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Refine the customer experience
It is excruciating to call up a customer service line and receive a less than satisfying response. While the human resource should have their work figured out down to a science, engage the staff at a personal level to find out the tone they use to respond to callers and the details of the response. The entire staff should reflect the law firm’s mission statement with intricate details such as professionalism. More so, have the HR team set up follow up calls or emails to ascertain that clients received their well-deserved treatment.
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Observe integrity
A nine to five job such as legal work requires one to have an integral social outlook outside office hours. There are plenty of successful law firm founders who retain a casual outlook beyond office hours. Their working secret is to stay within the limits of acceptable social norms. This would mean that a potential client may silently question your dependency if he sees your snorting substances at an after-work session.
Setting up a wide and forthcoming professional network may not always work out in the first attempt. Resilience to learn and make progressive moves is a founding factor in scaling up the legal business. Applying the right ingredients while looking for clients will result in lean workflows and overheads in a short period.
