Serendipity Series 4
Every time I turn around, the networking is working; I suppose that’s why it’s call networking. One morning, I attended a final divorce hearing for a gentleman who was referred to me by the mediator who had negotiated the settlement agreement for both the husband and the wife. He had also filed a motion to seal the family’s finances from the prying eyes of the public, and he wanted a lawyer to argue the motion for him. We attended the final evidentiary hearing by Zoom and argued the motion at the same time.
That afternoon, I received an unexpected call from the client. Did he have a question? Did he have a problem? No! He just wanted to share what he thought was a funny story. After enjoying lunch with a friend to celebrate finalizing his divorce, he had stopped in his partner’s office to ask him for a “business lawyer” referral for the friend.
His partner told him to “give me a minute; I can’t recall the name of the lawyer I want to recommend off the top of my head, but I’ll check my emails and send it as soon as I find it.”
The partner had just come through, sending him my contact card and explaining that we had had lunch last year, I had given him a copy of my book, and he was impressed with the scope of my practice. My client thought that was hilarious.
But it’s not just your own networking contacts who will refer you clients. Everyone you know knows another 250 people, don’t they? So, when everyone you know also knows who you are and where your passion lies, then they each will refer business to you, as well, as one of my coaching clients discovered when he finally pitched his own daughter at dinner one Saturday. (Her reaction? “But, Dad, if I had known what you did for all these years, I could have referred you clients!”)
So, the same afternoon as my morning hearing, I had a consult for my own mediation practice, a couple who wanted to confirm that mediation was their choice of divorce process and, if so, to talk about my mediation style. My law intern researched (she calls it “creeping”) them and discovered her own serendipity: she went to high school with their oldest daughter!
Sure enough, that’s who had referred them!
For more on how to market your professional practice, reach out to me at Joryn@JorynJenkins.com or find me at Your Collaborative Marketing Coach, because your marketing is my marketing!
