capitalize on your “business currency” with better referral strategies.
by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice
question: i referred a large amount of business to an attorney friend and she hasn’t reciprocated. i asked her for a referral fee and she declined. i’d like to keep referring her because she does a great job for my clients and that makes me look good, too. what should i do?
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response: it is always the right thing to look out for your clients’ best interests. referring the best attorney you know for a job is the right thing to do. however, you are in business and need to nurture referral sources.
attorneys are major referral sources and relationships should be “managed” to get the best work for clients while keeping the door open for reciprocal referrals from them. referral sources are one form of your business currency and should be spent appropriately. i believe you should always refer the best person to your clients, but where that best person is not reciprocating, you should actively look for alternative people to refer. this requires you to develop new relationships, and find out their areas of expertise and responsiveness to clients’ demands.
you should not have asked for a referral fee, which is unethical for the attorney to pay. if the attorney would have given you something, i would question her repute and probably would not refer her going forward.
follow-up: this question dealt with referrals to an attorney that were not reciprocated. here is my short list of “business currency”:
- your contacts
- your clients
- what you know
- your interest in what you do
- internal pride in your work
- the ability to apply everything together
i’ve identified six items that represent “currency.” currency is what you use to get new business and develop and grow your practice. don’t pass up an opportunity to increase your currency account. look for ways to refer other professionals, maintain and nurture relationships, certainly keep track of who you know and let them hear from you on a regular basis.
more than 30 years ago, one of my friends – a managing partner of a reasonably sized firm – had a growth plan. part of it required every partner to have contact with every client at least once every three months – and had them report that contact.
seems micro, but it was one of the reasons the firm grew to become one of the top 15 firms in the nation. clients are who pay our salary and who recommend additional clients. keeping in touch is a must, yet i know many cpas who do not have much interest in it, and they are the most surprised when they lose a client. duh!
i just realized that i did not include “reputation” on that list. perhaps it should be there. is there anything else that can be included? what would you put on your list?