If you get work from other lawyers, you need to market L2L just like you would B2B or in any other manner. I work with lawyers whose source of business – whether litigation, appellate practice, PI, or other niche practices –depends in part on referrals from other lawyers. It is often their life blood for legal work.
If other lawyers are a meaningful source of legal work for your practice, you need to focus your business development activities with them in mind, as you would with any other of your prospects. Sally Schmidt’s recent post on Attorney at Work provides helpful tips on marketing lawyer-to-lawyer:
- Identify your lawyer-targets. Quite simply, they are the lawyers who don’t do what you do. They could even be lawyers in your firm (yes, look at marketing your service to your partners), or toward other firms that don’t provide your legal services;
- Educate them about your practice. Let other lawyers know that their clients might be at risk, and how you might help them. Find ways to not only educate the other lawyers, who could refer work, about your practice; but offer ways to educate their clients as well;
- Network with lawyers. Just like clients hire lawyers they know, like and trust, lawyers who would refer their clients to you are no different. So, build relationships with other lawyers by networking where they hang out – at bar meetings (specifically committees/sections not full of competitors), and entertain at lunch or in other settings; and
- Add value to their practice and clients. This tip runs with educating your audience:
- Look for opportunities to write for their blog, journal, newsletter or other venues;
- Pull together a brief but informative piece about your practice for others to give to their clients; and
- Offer to consult with their clients at no charge.
Remember, risks are involved for lawyers to refer you to their clients. It is vital that you build solid relationships so they will know, like and trust that you will take VERY good care of THEIR clients.