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"<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\">Many lawyers say, &ldquo;Most of my work comes from word of mouth.&rdquo;</p><br />But&nbsp;referral&nbsp;work does not come automatically.&nbsp; Your&nbsp;referral&nbsp;network is valuable, and needs to be nurtured.<br /><br />Professional referrers such as accountants, financial advisers, doctors and even other lawyers are constantly targeted by lawyers seeking&nbsp;referral&nbsp;work.&nbsp; If you don&rsquo;t maintain contact, they might send the work elsewhere.<br /><br />If your flow of&nbsp;referral&nbsp;work suddenly, inexplicably, dries up, what can you do?<br /><br />How can you strike up a conversation and&nbsp;break&nbsp;the drought?<br /><br />Think before you pick up the phone.&nbsp; What&rsquo;s in it for them?&nbsp; There&rsquo;s a risk of looking desperate, and even worse, it can look as if you only contact them when you want something. &nbsp;What other reason can you think of to get back in touch?<br /><br />Here are some ideas:<br /><ul><br />\t<li>Invite them for coffee or lunch &ndash; and have some interesting information to tell them or a topical issue to talk about;</li><br />\t<li>Send them an article you have written;</li><br />\t<li>Send them an article you have read (and in both cases, include a note to explain why you think the piece will interest your referrer);</li><br />\t<li>Invite them to join your network on LinkedIn &ndash; it&rsquo;s an ideal tool for getting back in touch;</li><br />\t<li>Plan a cocktail party or lunch and invite them to attend (unless your referrers are all competitors of each other);</li><br />\t<li>Refer a client to them;</li><br />\t<li>Invite them to attend a business event with you &ndash; this gives them a chance to network at the event, and meet people through you.&nbsp; You could book a table, or take just one person so you can give them your full attention.</li><br />\t<li>Send them information about a sponsorship opportunity, for example for a community organization or an event &ndash; you&rsquo;re offering them a chance to promote themselves.</li><br />\t<li>Invite them to join you at a social event for a charity or club.</li><br /></ul><br />The challenge is to focus on value for your referrer, not just for you.<br /><br />Investing time in a&nbsp;referral&nbsp;relationship can be very worthwhile.&nbsp; My client Matthew was a lawyer who worked from his home office.&nbsp; Larry was an elderly, retired lawyer whom Matthew had known for many years.&nbsp; Larry lived nearby, and called in regularly for coffee and a chat.&nbsp; Matthew was a bit concerned about the non-billable time he was spending having coffee with Larry, but because of their long-standing relationship he did not discourage Larry from visiting.&nbsp; Then one day Larry referred a valuable piece of business to Matthew, which more than justified the investment of time.<br /><br />Building relationships often does not feel like &ldquo;work&rdquo;.&nbsp; It can feel unproductive.&nbsp; Naturally, you need to control the amount of time spend on non-billable work.&nbsp; But relationship-building is an essential aspect of running a business.<br /><br />Which of your referrers can you get back in touch with today?<br /><br /><em>Shelley Dunstone lives in&nbsp;Australia&nbsp;and is a former law firm partner.&nbsp; She is the Principal of Legal Circles, which helps lawyers to build profile and attract clients.&nbsp; Visit her web site at<a href=\"http://www.legalcircles.com/\" target=\"_blank\">www.legalcircles.com</a>.</em>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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