Why conveyancers cant rely on referrals

Many marketing experts will tell you that as a conveyancing practice if you do great work you can build your firm based on referrals. But is that correct?

Not necessarily.

Ask yourself what motivates a client to to take the risky step of referring your firm to friends and family.

Even if you do a good job the questions that your clients will be asking themselves are as follows:

Do I want to be responsible if my friend has a bad experience? Will I get credit if it works out, blame if it doesn't?

Does sending more business in this direction help me, or does it ultimately make my conveyancer too busy, overwhelmed, or motivate her to raise her fees?

Will the my conveyancer be upset with me if the person I recommend proves to be difficult, or does not pay his invoice?

How does it make me look? Do people like me recommend conveyancing lawyers?

Is this difficult to explain, complex to understand, fraught with danger irrespective of how good my conveyancer is?

Does it look like I'm getting some sort of special treatment in exchange (excuse the pun) ?

Meeting your client’s expectations should be a given - even the SRA require that. Exceeding a client’s expectation should be the first step. In order to earn word of mouth, you need to make it risk free, and worthwhile to overcome the natural reluctance outlined above.

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