A great law firm business development tactic is to introduce your clients to your firm’s other clients. Another great tactic: Ask your clients to introduce you to their suppliers, supports, advisors, and the individuals they go to as experts. In other words, in order to meet new prospects and develop new client relationships, work with your clients to “host” meetings with non-competing and complementary prospects. This is the foundation for Jay Abraham’s host-beneficiary approach.


In our first post in this series, we mentioned the importance of becoming your clients’ trusted advisor. In the second, we briefly touched on the importance of client relationships and client retention. Most recently, we talked about asking for referrals. New client development with the host-beneficiary approach builds on these steps.


If you have become your clients’ trusted advisor and have established the good will that comes from a successful business relationship, they will return the favor – when you ask for referrals – by introducing you to other in-house counsel and their clients. The goodwill and solid relationships that they have will work in your favor. It will provide you with the opportunity to, as Abraham suggests, make their clients your prospects.

If you look back to the mind map we referenced in an earlier post, you’ll notice that Jay Abraham’s methods teach that clients who came to your firm via a referral:

• Spend more


• Buy more often


• Are more profitable, and


• Are more loyal

Here at the Closers Group, as part of a client retention strategy, we encourage lawyers to ask for continued business. We also work with our clients to ask their clients for referrals.


Referrals are one of the best tools for law firm business development. While asking a client to act on your behalf may seem like an odd way to build a relationship, it is extremely effective. Referrals show a confidence in your legal skills, allow your clients to share with non-competing colleagues at other companies “their best,” and open the door to opportunities for introductions to in-house counsel and executives at your client’s company.

In our previous post, we discussed the importance of thinking in the long term and how it shapes our approach to helping our clients win new business. Another element of long term thinking that we often discuss is client retention.


Client retention is a key element of long term revenue creation. Jay Abraham has pointed to three primary reasons why clients leave long term relationships:

1. Lack of contact leads to their forgetting about the relationship.


2. Their situation changes.


3. They become dissatisfied.

Clearly, the first of these is the easiest to overcome – and we encourage the lawyers and marketing teams we work with to develop and take advantage of a contact system. Your clients won’t forget about you when you stay in touch: let your clients know what you and your firm are currently engaged in; send them articles or reviews of legal decisions that they may be interested in; ask your clients to join you on a conference panel.


Make sure you are communicating the status and next steps of your work on a regular basis and stay on top of changes your clients are experiencing as well. Ask them about other challenges that they are facing and offer your assistance. Be aware of your relationships, and keep on the lookout for subtle changes.


While client dissatisfaction is never comfortable to deal with, it’s something you should be aware of long before a client disengages. Even if it seems insignificant, when even the smallest issues arise during an engagement, deal with it immediately. Especially if they have been a long term client, take action and win them back. According to Abraham, 80% of these relationships can be recovered with instant actions – in fact, you may find that they become your best clients.

Jay Abraham has been called “America’s number one marketing wizard” enough times that it’s the tagline used on the “About” page of his website. He’s seen as a genius at getting down to basics and, having worked with him in the past, I check in periodically to see what’s new.


Often, there are treasures to be found. A great example is the mind map developed by Greg White of Phoenix Information Solutions in Melbourne, Australia. This tool provides a graphical representation of Jay’s key sales consulting services (for lawyers and other professionals) that were included in his book Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got. If you’re interested in the mind map, you can find an updated version here.


The concepts presented in the book and on the mind map are all used in one way or another in our legal marketing training sessions and workshops. For example, our training emphasizes thinking long term. When it comes to approaching a new prospect or a long term client, we encourage the lawyers we’re working with to:

• Understand the prospects’ and clients’ needs and internal pressures
• Become a trusted advisor, and
• Protect the prospects’ and clients’ interests

When we work with our clients, we follow Jay Abraham’s “Strategy of Preeminence.” As a law firm marketing and business development consultant, we aim to become a valued friend, to offer rewarding solutions that are profitable for everyone involved – and we encourage the lawyers we work with to approach their prospects and clients in the same way.


In our next posts, we’ll share other ways in which Abraham’s marketing principles have shaped our approach.

In our work with clients, we often see lawyers and management teams who struggle with selling to other lawyers such as the in-house counsel of a prospective client’s agency. However, we also see a number of situations in which internal marketing is ignored – even in firms where the leadership has already worked with other business development consultants.


Particularly in larger firms with a wide range of practice areas, in addition to practicing attorney marketing approaches, why not sell to the people who you know best – your own colleagues? Focus on providing a “pitch” to build legal sales together. Focus on co-marketing opportunities: ask for references, set joint meetings with clients and prospects, and develop joint presentations for conferences.


If you offer high-quality legal services, make sure your own firm members know it and can sell it. Let them know that you’ll return the favor. Share copies of updated bios, redo practice area descriptions if necessary, share published articles with every member of the firm, and ask to attend practice group meetings in other areas of the firm.


Maybe “Good fences make good neighbors,” but they can grind attorney marketing efforts to a halt. Breaking down the barriers and working together with colleagues at your firm is good for enhancing attorney marketing and for business development.

In our previous post, we discussed ways to enhance business development with opportunities presented at conferences. Today, let’s return to building on the legal services marketing approaches you can employ while gathered with other members of industry associations.


One of the best business development tactics has always involved word-of-mouth marketing from your clients. A solid legal sales approach is to ask your clients for an introduction to their peers or other contacts. Rather than just asking your client for an introduction, however, why not mix things up a bit and go beyond that initial contact?


By asking your client to join you in a combined presentation, you can add value to the conversation. Rather than simply offering one opinion, this blended presentation allows for the perspective of both a lawyer and another member of the industry. If you’d like to add even more perspective and value to the conversation, consider bringing in one of your legal service partners – just don’t forget to ask for referrals, speaking opportunities, or even co-authorship opportunities for articles for trade journals.


Another client retention and business development opportunity involves bringing clients from non-competing industries together. By mixing things up this way, your clients will have the chance to learn from the others’ experiences, brainstorm tactics for growth and surviving in a down economy, and make connections within the others’ industry associations.


In other words, when you approach legal marketing, think of your processes, tactics, and strategies as part of a recipe. Take advantage of opportunities to bring all of the ingredients together. Not only will you get credit for great legal marketing, but by mixing it up you will also increase your reach and create even more business development opportunities.

Our recent Closers Group survey indicated that many firms find that business development consultants often fail to deliver on teaching solid closing skills. In addition to a lack of focus on closing, however, it seems that many of these consultants often overlook some of the most basic tools for attorney marketing.


When we work with our clients, we focus on identifying great opportunities and helping our clients maximize the impact of their efforts.


Let’s look at upcoming conferences as an example:

• Are you just planning to attend, or are you considering lawyer sales, searching for speaking opportunities, committee positions, or the ability to become a panel leader?


• If you’re planning to speak, will you use the text just that once, or will you expand your research, write and publish an article, and then build on that article’s success?

Attending a conference is a great way to learn more about a given topic, but it’s also a starting point from which you can increase exposure. Using a speech as the foundation for an article, to expand your bio, and even to add content to your firm’s website (and increase traffic and generate leads through links to the site from the conference web page and the sites of organizations sponsoring the event) is a great way to maximize the response to your efforts.


Working with the Closers Group can show you how to multiply the impact of your legal marketing exposure. We’ll help make sure that you don’t overlook any aspect of a speaking opportunity, program committee position, or other business development opportunity.