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Client referrals open doors for attorneys

By: dmc-admin//August 10, 2009//

Client referrals open doors for attorneys

By: dmc-admin//August 10, 2009//

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Attorneys are always looking for new clients.

But in a down economy where marketing expenses are tight, one of the best ways to generate new business can be through current and former clients.

Solo practitioner Nancy M. Trueblood said, especially during a recession, people are looking for attorneys who are attentive, and that can require more than an annual Christmas card.

“I would say maybe a third of what I’m working on now came through either repeat clients or referrals from happy clients,” said Trueblood, who does small business and real estate work.

The same is true for Milwaukee attorney Jonathan P. Groth.

As a personal injury associate at Pitman, Kyle & Sicula SC, Groth said he gets a fair amount of work through referrals by “mining” his list of former clients.

He said he keeps in touch with former clients by sending e-mails or newsletters updating them about his practice.

“Financially, you never know what’s going to happen next, so it’s good to keep in touch with people,” Groth said.

Business advisor Sara Holtz emphasized the importance of networking with clients as a cost-efficient alternative to expensive marketing at the American Bar Association meeting last week.

Holtz, who founded California-based business development firm ClientFocus, said in addition to providing quality legal representation, attorneys can also offer “off-the-clock” advice to clients.

That can include helping a client cope with a job loss and finding new employment.

“I think if you are there in these difficult times, when the economy turns around, people will remember who was there for them,” Holtz said in an interview. “That will position you well for getting new business.”

The ability to generate work from client referrals, rather than taking “someone off a Web page” can also be easier for the attorney, said Madison attorney Thomas R. Glowacki.

In his experience practicing family law, Glowacki said referrals during a tough economy take a lot of the “penny pinching” concerns out of the equation, especially in divorce cases.

Glowacki said in post-judgment divorce work, repeat clients or referrals know he is not going to “spin the meter” on them and run up fees.

“It gets back to not wanting to pull teeth with some prospective client,” he said. “A referral from a friend or client goes a long way in building trust.”

Trueblood also said it is a matter of economics for the attorney or firm as well.

As the chair of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Committee, she suggested most attorneys cannot afford to spend a lot of money on advertising.

“It may work for big firms to have full-page telephone book ads, but you don’t generally see that with a lot of solos and small firms,” she said.

For attorneys in small firms, the possibility of “cross-selling” is also appealing, said Holtz.

If the firm practices in a variety of areas, it allows attorneys to refer work internally.

Groth said he has gotten calls from former personal injury clients about wills or trust work and he has referred those people to other attorneys at the firm.

“If you have done a good job for them and then refer them to someone else who also does a good job, they will remember that,” he said.

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