Rainmaking Recommendation #133: Strategic Referral Partnerships

Image Courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net/Stuart Miles

For the past few Rainmaking Recommendations we have been taking about referrals:

• That referrals can become the lifeblood of your practice,
• The psychology of referrals, and
• How to tell people what you do to get more referrals.

Today, I want to discuss Strategic Referral Partnerships.

Strategic Referral Partners are the companies and individuals who are already doing business, or know the people, with whom you would like to cultivate as a client.

For example, if you are a personal injury attorney, then good Strategic Referral Partners may be orthopedists, chiropractors or massage therapists; if you are a lawyer who works with businesses, then your Strategic Referral Partners could be CPAs, insurance brokers who service your clients, other vendors who provide goods and services to the clients you are seeking.

Think beyond the obvious.  There are so many people who do business with your ideal client.  The trick is to define your ideal client and find the others who work with them.

Then reach out.  Yes, you have to actually reach out to create a relationship with these Strategic Referral Partners.  This can be done by:

• Joining associations in which they are members;
• Finding them on social media and connecting with them on the site;
• Directly emailing them; or even (gasp)
• Calling them.

Regardless of how you meet them, all you need to say is:

“I know that you work with (insert ideal client description).  Since I work with the same type of clients, maybe we can see how we can refer clients between us.” 

Creating relationships with these people can result in a plethora of referrals.