We make a big deal about referral cases on this blog and to our clients as well. Why do we focus so much of our attention on referral cases? It’s simple: referral cases are far and away your best cases in terms of ROI. Why? We’re going to explain why referral cases are so valuable and why you firm can’t afford to miss out on opportunities to cultivate them.

Referrals are Free...Sometimes

That’s right. If your law firm handles cases the right way, referral cases should actually be free. If you get positive results for your clients, follow up and exceed expectations, referrals should end up coming to your firm from satisfied clients. In the event that your firm gets a referral case without spending any money on obtaining that case, then your ROI is off the charts. Referrals that come out of thin air, however, are very uncommon. So what should you do in order to obtain more referral cases? It’s pretty simple: ask for them!

Asking for Referrals

Expecting your clients to automatically refer you cases is a problematic strategy. While your firm may do great work for all of your clients, you must be proactive in cultivating referrals. Sending your clients home with information about all of your practice areas will remind your clients that your firm does more than just handle auto accident cases or SSD cases. You should also ask all of your clients at the end of their case how your firm did through a survey and then ask for referrals if they were satisfied. Many people won’t even think about referring cases to your firm unless you ask them to.

People May Have Other Legal Needs Later

Some of your clients may have other legal needs and not realize that your firm can handle those cases as well. Simply educating your clients on everything you can help them with in the legal arena will produce additional cases. The lead has already been converted, which means you don’t have to spend money convincing them that your firm is the best firm to handle their legal needs. ROI is much higher for existing clients for this exact reason and is another potential source of referral cases for your firm.

Referrals = Money

Referrals are by far the most efficient way for your firm to develop new business. You don’t have to spend much money to help satisfied clients recommend your services. Your clients will do most of the heavy lifting by telling their friends and family about your law firm and the great work you did on their case. Your firm needs to merely ask for these referrals, which often times is the cost of paper and ink. That is why referrals are so profitable and why they can represent the best ROI in terms of advertising. Want more referral cases for your law firm? Contact Network Affiliates today so we can discuss how your firm can best develop referral cases.

The last impression you leave with your current clients is extremely important. They are officially going out into the world as either a brand advocate or a brand antagonist for your firm. Firms have the power to sway clients’ opinion, but very few take the necessary steps to do so. It is all about what you leave them with.

Give them something to talk about

Write a sincere letter explaining your appreciation for their business, and your sincerity for their recovery to a normal life. Take it a step further and express your desire to help others in similar situations. Provide them with links to sites where they can express their experience. If you are worried about getting more negative reviews than positive ones, this gives you an opportunity to reevaluate your client services.

Tell us how you really feel

Give them an opportunity to tell you how you can better assist them. This can be done on camera or via email. If you send them a survey via email, make sure it is mobile compatible (browsed easily on a phone). The majority of your clients use their phone as their primary resource to access the Internet.

Follow up

There are several email platforms that allow you to schedule emails. Utilize these platforms to send a follow up email after a client’s settlement, just to make sure everything is going well. This is an extremely valuable way to build brand loyalty.

It is so easy to move on to the next client only to forget about the money and time you invested to get the client before them through the door. Nurturing those past-clients results in referral business, which means better quality cases; plus it makes everyone in the office accountable by measuring their current client approval rate. Contact Network Affiliates today to learn more about what your firm is leaving behind.
 

Where a lot of law firms fail in their marketing is in creating credibility with its clients. Law firms can lose credibility very easily and it can be done in a multitude of ways. The problem with losing credibility is that once it is gone, you will be hard pressed to ever get it back. So it is important to make sure your law firm is taking a proactive approach in maintaining and building its credibility with its current and potential clients.

What, were you talking to me?

Many law firms don't realize that their policies and attitude could be misconstrued as indifference. One form of indifference that most law firms are guilty of is not returning correspondence in a timely manner. This is especially true when it comes to returning phone calls. It is common in the business world that phone calls aren't returned for days at a time. In the world of law, this is unacceptable. When people are injured, they don't have time to wait days for a phone call from their law firm. Your clients, frankly, don't care how busy you are or how important your other clients' issues are. They need answers and a resolution to their case immediately. Instituting a policy where all phone calls are returned the same or by the next morning in the event of an after hours call would minimize the indifference some may feel from your law firm. This will keep your law firm in your clients' good graces and will show that your firm cares, which builds credibility.

Transparency = credibility

While transparency has turned into a buzz word due to social media, that shouldn't diminish its importance to your business. Being 100% honest with your clients about the status of their case and the expected outcome is crucial. If your law firm does a poor job of managing expectations, your law firm will lose all credibility when the client doesn't receive the outcome they expected with their case. Thus, it is important to always be honest with the client about their case even if it isn't something they want to hear. This means you should tell them that you haven't had time to look at their case if they call and ask if there is anything new to report on their case. People appreciate honesty. But this honesty needs to start well in advance to actually obtaining cases.

Transparency during intake

Your intake specialists need to be well versed in the types of cases your firm does and does not handle. They should also know who to refer cases too in the event that your firm doesn't handle specific types of cases. Being able to answer someone's questions and do the right thing builds credibility for your law firm. If you were to take a case that your firm doesn't specialize in and botch it, your firm loses all credibility. If your firm just ignores people who have cases your firm doesn't handle, you are missing out on an opportunity to build credibility. This is very basic but many law firms don't use intake as an opportunity to build credibility and build their law firm's brand.

Transparency should be a cornerstone of your law firm's brand. People can see right through brands that aren't being genuine and will call these firms out in public. With the proliferation of social media, this is more true than ever and it stays online forever. Make sure your firm is building a credible brand. People like talking about good experiences with brands and your law firm could be the beneficiary of this positive word of mouth by remembering to build credibility every step of the way during a client's life cycle. Contact Network Affiliates today to learn about more ways to build a credible brand.

From October 1^st – 3^rd, Network Affiliates hosted a convention in lovely South Beach, FL at the Ritz Carlton.  The focus of this convention was mainly on emerging media and its affect on traditional media.

The first speaker was Frank Palumbo from Nielsen who presented on the three screens: TV, PC and mobile.  The point of the presentation was to show that TV is still the dominant force in the media world, but video on the Internet and mobile devices are certainly emerging forces.  Internet and mobile video viewing have increased overall video consumption as opposed to taking viewers away from TV.  Frank also spoke at length about how Nielsen collects its data and selects candidates in order to best represent every demographic possible in their ratings surveys.  All in all, it was a very informative presentation that really showed where we are heading in terms of our media consumption and how all three screens have a place in the consumer’s life.

The next presentation dealt with mobile marketing and was presented by Joel Morrow of Mobile Fusion, Network Affiliates’ mobile partner.  Joel spoke about how mobile marketing can be used by a lawyer to help generate cases and give potential clients another way of contacting the firm.  Joel went on to explain how mobile technology works and the rules and regulations for texting clients.  Another portion of Joel’s presentation touched on how smart phones will outnumber regular phones by next year and how mobile websites are just as important as having a texting platform when trying to reach potential clients.  Joel made a compelling case that mobile is an attractive medium for law firms and could help lawyers reach clients that they historically have had trouble reaching.

The final presentation on Friday was give by Network employees Justin Holderness and myself (Clay Frickey) about social media and reputation management for law firms.  Justin spoke at length about the best practices for Facebook and Twitter and how to acquire more fans and followers on these social networks.  Justin also showed how to schedule publishing content on these networks and what type of content to put on these social networks.  I spoke about reputation management, how to manage your reputation online and why it’s important to be active in these social spaces.  The key is to listen, respond and engage in a timely and professional manner on social media outlets.  Social media also ties together a firm’s marketing efforts and gives law firms another way to communicate with its clients and potential clients.  These social networks are here to stay and knowing what is being said about your firm and how to respond is more important than ever.  We received great feedback and interaction from the audience and enjoyed the enthusiasm the topic elicited.

On Saturday, Network Affiliates released its new creative concepts for 2010.  The new Network creative covers a wide variety of topics and has many different, easily customizable commercials for use by lawyers.  The new commercial concepts appeal to every demographic and have components for personal injury, worker’s compensation and social security.  There was also new creative produced to promote Network Affiliates’ new mobile marketing campaign.  The ads were warmly received and add to an already impressive library of over 1200 television commercials.

Last and certainly not least were the roundtable discussions that brought a close to the convention.  The conversation was lively as always and provided actionable ideas to take back to everyone’s firms and implement right away.

All in all, the convention in South Beach was a huge success and we from Network Affiliates would like to thank everyone that attended and the Ritz Carlton for being great hosts.  Our next convention will be in March 2011 in Las Vegas and we are looking forward to it as always.