Your Next Big Case Could Come From Here

💡 Many lawyers rely only on other attorneys or professionals for referrals, but there’s a powerful source of repeat business and new cases that most firms completely overlook. In this Best Of episode, John Hinson explains why these connections matter, how they can become your biggest advocates, and the simple ways to stay top-of-mind.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• The referral network every lawyer underestimates — and why it’s costing you business.
• Simple habits that keep past clients engaged and ready to send you referrals.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Rethinking Referral Sources
• 0:58 Practice Area Considerations
• 1:30 Keeping Past Clients in Your Network
• 2:55 Parting Advice on Client Relationships

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

We're talking about the relationships you have with your past clients, right? So we talk about referrals a lot here, and I think a lot of attorneys just automatically default to their referral sources being either other attorneys who are referring them cases that they can't take on for whatever reason, or maybe it's other business owners in other industries, like CPAs, chiropractors, stuff like that therapists that would refer them business from a situation that is escalating in some way, right? Well, there are other referral sources as well, your past clients being a big chunk of that, and, for whatever reason, I think a lot of attorneys just don't think about them in that way, and maybe there are some practice areas that lend themselves to that right. Like, maybe if you're a criminal defense lawyer, you don't necessarily want to have the same felon constantly coming back to you and maybe you do, I don't know. Or maybe family lawyers maybe they don't want to keep filing divorces for the same person, like they're Elizabeth Taylor or something. But I think, for the most part, past clients whether it's transactional work or even some litigation stuff they are still a valuable source because they already trust you, assuming you've done a good job and they're happy with everything. But for whatever reason, there's a lot of reasons why people either don't use you again or they just never come back around and contact you again, whether it's fees are out of their budget or they don't necessarily need any more legal work, or maybe you made a mistake and they don't trust you anymore. Whatever it is, there are a bunch of different ways, but it's so, so valuable to keep those past clients in your network, and that's a big reason why, when we're working with our clients and we want them to send email newsletters, we want their leads and past clients on that email list to create those touch points to come back around again, whether it's for repeat business, which we've seen happen a lot, or it's those past clients who are like yes, I remember working with you. I know someone who is going through a similar situation. I'm going to send them your way, and it's just such an easy, small thing to do that brings in business that you otherwise never would have had.

Speaker 1: 2:35

So in every case, even if things don't go the way that you or the client wanted them to, always try to just end things amicably. Don't burn bridges. Try to make things right if there was that negative situation and keep them around. Keep them on your contact list. Stay top of mind with them. You never know, right. I mean, the worst thing they're going to do is unsubscribe, and that's fine, you know. So keep those past clients in mind. They are a really good referral source for your firm and can really be great ambassadors and evangelists for your firm and be your biggest cheerleaders, all right. So I hope that was a good little nugget of inspiration for you today and that'll do it. We'll see you tomorrow.