Who is in your referral network?
I was working with one of my clients on Friday of last week. We were reviewing what he has done or is doing to attract new clients. He mentioned that he had a system in place with the receptionist. Anytime a cold call came into the firm in his practice area, she would pass them directly to him. I thought this was a great idea. He mentioned that he thought it might be a waste of his time. He went on to say that a lot of these calls went no where. I helped him put the time he spent on these calls into perspective.
Any business development activity is going to take time. It’s an investment. What if he were able to figure out sooner than later if the person calling was worth investing more time in? I asked him to create a list of questions. Have them ready for when he gets these calls. Determine in five minutes or less if he should move forward.
In the scheme of things, if he spent five minutes on 10 calls a year and landed one client, it would pay off. That would be a good investment of his time. Think about how much time you spend at a conference? How much time do you spend writing an article? This could be a very lucrative investment of his time and yours.
