How to Ask Clients for Referrals with Steve Fretzin

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In this episode, Alay and Steve discuss:

Harvesting low-hanging fruit to build your business.
Overcoming the fears of rejection and damaging relationships.
Balancing building relationships and billing hours.
Helpful language for asking for the referral.

Key Takeaways:

What are you doing to deepen your relationships that make it easier for people to give you introductions when you ask?
Be more specific than just “keep your eyes open if anything comes up” when asking for referrals. Learn how to coach your clients and networking partners through what you’re looking for and you’ll be amazed at how well it works.
You only have a certain number of client relationships – make sure you are prepared to make the ask when the time is right and don’t miss the opportunity to capture the easy business opportunities.

Tweetable Moments:

“You have to have a little bit of courage to trust in your code or trust in a process and try it out. And when it works, then of course, that’s the promised land.” — Steve Fretzin
“If you’ve got that awesome relationship, it’s just super easy and supernatural to make that ask.” — Alay Yajnik
“They didn’t make the ask, they didn’t have an approach, that train has left the station, they may not get another chance for a year if that. And it’s a huge misstep in the business development lifecycle. Because that’s where the easy business is, all the other business is going to be harder than that.” — Steve Fretzin

About Steve Fretzin:

Driven, focused, and passionate about helping attorneys to reach their full potential, Steve Fretzin is regarded as the premier coach, skills trainer, and keynote speaker on business development for attorneys.

Over the past 17 years, Steve Fretzin has devoted his career to helping lawyers master the art of business development to achieve their business goals and the peace of mind that comes with developing a successful law practice.

In addition to writing four books on legal marketing and business development, Steve has a highly-rated podcast BE THAT LAWYER and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, and Entrepreneur.com. He has appeared on NBC News, WGN Radio and has written articles for Attorney at Law Magazine, the National Law Review, the American Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association. You can also find his monthly column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.