Do Your Clients Refer You or Your Firm To Others? Most Don’t!

By Tom Kane (Reprinted from Tom’s LegalMarketingBlog.com dated June 9, 2016)

According to a survey by The BTI Consulting Group, only 40.1% of clients “recommend their primary law firm to a peer.” As bad as that statistic is, the good news is that it is better by almost 7% over the previous year, and better slightly than five years ago.  According to the survey it “still leaves more than half of all clients wanting.”

As I, and many others have consistently stated, clients hire lawyers they know, like and trust.  Clients consider not only the quality of the legal product, but also how the services are provided.  Referrals from satisfied clients is the “express lane” to more work and new business.

So, what should you do?  A few recommendations include:

Seek feedback (No. 3 on my list of Top Ten Marketing Tips)

Set goals that match those of the client

Invest in understanding the client’s business (a failing I’ve heard from clients over the years)

Don’t wait for the client to ask about succession plans

Educate the clients “in new, high-value topics” (off-the-clock I would add)

The good news is that more and more firms, according to BTI, are doing a better job of systematically adopting practices to “improve client service on a continuing basis.”

Are you and your firm doing the same?

Tom Kane is a member of the Greensboro Bar Association and former NC Assistant Attorney General. He has spent the past 30-plus years as an in-house legal marketer and consultant to law firms throughout the U.S. He is the author of LegalMarketingBlog.com. He can be reached at (386) 225-9612.