Civil Law

Have you heard the saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket? Well it’s so true for business professionals, especially lawyers.

Diversification of your client base is crucial as is not relying on one or two clients for all of your work, because change happens within organizations and to organizations every day.

People leave companies, needs change, mergers happen. Companies go out of business. You just never know.

It’s so important to also make sure that your building relationships with many different people at your client not just your main contact because again if one person leaves you don’t want to be phased out.

In this particular situation the longtime in-house legal team changed when the GC left and my client was left odd man out when a new in-house counsel came in and brought in his own favorite law firm. He was phased out, and as a result he had a difficult 2021. But it didn’t need to be like that if he had planned ahead.

This is exactly why I always say it’s so important to be marketing yourself and your business even when you don’t think you need it because anything can happen.

This is also how LinkedIn can help you because it’s such a visible and free way of marketing your capabilities and expertise.

Speaking and writing can also help you as well as networking and sending regular emails that are helpful to your clients and referrals because that’s how you keep them warm and that’s how you say top of mind with them.

Here are a few ideas for how to broaden your client base:

1. Look through your address book and get back in touch with clients you haven’t done business with in awhile. Then reach out to referral sources beyond your immediate network.
2. Ask current clients to refer you to others who could use your services. If your website doesn’t already feature client testimonials, now is a good time to add those. Case studies highlighting how your company helped clients can attract new business. You can pull some of these from your LinkedIn profile recommendations.
3. Now is a really good time to enhance your online presence. Ensure that your website is updated and highlights your firm’s strengths. Make sure you’re taking advantage of tools such as SEO that can help you boost business.
4. Look into strategies you might not have considered previously such as social media marketing. If it seems daunting for you, start small. You don’t need to be on all of the social channels – for most business professionals LinkedIn is the most important channel on which you should focus to reconnect with your clients and prospects.
5. Consider ways of expanding on your existing expertise to offer new products or services. This may help you move into new industries and markets. For example ask yourself what ancillary services or products could you easily create in order to allow your company to serve more types of clients?
6. Consider partnerships with other organizations if it makes sense. Find ways to partner with other businesses with which you may already have an informal relationship, or get creative and market your product and services in different forms.
7. Get more involved with professional organizations, pro bono work, community service organizations, your alumni networks – all of these are great ways to meet people who could be potential clients and referral sources. Plus you’re doing good for the community.
8. Focus on PR. This is a great time to focus on enhancing your visibility, which can raise your profile and keep you top of mind with current clients as well as people who aren’t familiar with you. You can do this through traditional PR (quote and article placements) as well as speaking engagements and owned media such as starting your own blog, podcast or video series which you can then promote on social media, email and other channels.
9. Many businesses offer online courses or workshops based on their services or industry. You can package these as a subscription or recurring online class, or offer them as a one-time purchase for your customers.
10. Never eat alone. While it’s more challenging to network in person in these socially distant times, it’s not impossible. And you should make it a priority. While social media enables you to reach more people in a shorter span of time, one-on-one, in person communication still provides a stronger connection to people.

So the key takeaway of all of this is to always be prepared. And always be marketing. And of course to not let that all those eggs crack.

I think if anything the last two years have shown us that anything can happen. So never stop marketing yourself or building relationships.

Here’s a video with more on this topic.

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