When was the last time you spontaneously said something positive about something?
You might recommend something like a movie or a TV show, but professional services are very different.
Do you sing the praises of your barber, shout about a plumber from the rooftops, or rave about the marketing agency responsible for your insightful think pieces?
Law firms love referrals, but we need to understand how shaky a prospect that is and consider what can be done to make it more sustainable.
Is relying on referrals a bad idea?
Relying too heavily on any single source of growth is risky — and referrals are especially vulnerable.
A recent study shows that people are far more likely to share bad experiences than good ones:
• 95 per cent said they’d share a bad experience, compared to 87 per cent who’d share a good one.
• 54 per cent would share a bad experience with five or more people, but only 33 per cent would do the same for a good one.
• On social media, the numbers drop even further – 45 per cent post about bad service, and just 30 per cent post about good.
Despite this, 85 per cent of firms rely on referrals as their main source of client growth.
So unless your clients fall into the lucky 33% who actively talk about positive experiences, you're missing out.
Firms that depend solely on word of mouth are likely to hit a wall – not because they're bad, but because people simply don’t share the good stuff as often.
Does anyone care about your success as much as you?
We do, that’s why we want to help you provide a unique service that will make your clients care too.
How can I boost referrals?
We are not trying to destroy the way that you have been growing your firms for years, but rather trying to illustrate the uphill battle you face.
You need to think about your firm from an outsider perspective and consider whether you would recommend the service you provide if it were not tied to your job.
That can be a humbling experience for some solicitors who might be overlooking client satisfaction in favour of getting work done to a reasonable standard.
However, do you want to just achieve a reasonable standard?
If you eat a sandwich and it’s fine, you will just go about your day.
If you eat a delicious, filling lunch that makes you savour every bite, you will find every opportunity to tell your co-workers about it.
It’s a crowded space, and only the truly exceptional stand out enough to be recommended.
If your firm doesn’t consistently stand out, clients won’t talk about you.
This might not mean that they are unhappy with what you do, but it does mean that the experience didn’t give them a reason to share.
The statistics are not on your side, but we are.
How do I stand out enough to make referrals happen?
Wanting to stand out, and recognising the significance of doing so, is the first step.
The next step is to optimise your processes so that you can take time to make your clients feel special.
• Imagine a world where you reply to a client as soon as they get in touch.
• Imagine having the time to talk them through every step of their legal issue.
• Imagine getting paid for every bit of work you do and not wasting any time.
(That last one is because you deserve some happiness, too!)
Smokeball is the key to standing out from the crowd.
By optimising your workflows, Smokeball allows your talented team to get stuck into the work that they trained to do.
Rather than missing important information from clients as it drowns in your overburdened inbox, Smokeball’s AI assistant, Archie, can summarise conversations for you so nothing is ever missed.
That summary feature is also incredibly helpful if anyone on your team takes time off, as that will no longer cause a case to grind to a halt.
We know that you have plenty of clients, and your clients know that too.
They don’t care – they want to feel special.
When they feel special, they’ll tell people about you.
Referrals can work, but you have to give them something worth referring people to in the first place.
Stand out from the crowd with a law firm that people can’t wait to talk about. Book a demo today!
