8 tips to track your firm’s referral networks

Webinar: How tech can make tracking your referrers and introducers effortless (Thursday 3rd April, 12:00 - 12:30 GMT)

Do you ever find yourself asking… “What work have we given to/received from…?” or “Who knows… / who do we know at…?”. Then our 25-minute webinar will show you how you can:

1. Automate tracking of your referral network
2. Prevent work introducers from slipping through cracks
3. Help your team collaborate better — without extra admin
4. Eliminate manual CRM data entry once and for all

Find out more and book your place here

Tip 1 - Keep it simple

Some stats for you, but only based on my experiences.

5% of your staff will be able to use a 100 button database. 40-60% can use Excel. 90% will be able to use a 5 button database.

But 100% can use their inbox.

So make sure you are not asking your fee-earners to learn anything new, or log into a database and log who they know, how well and who they email before your systems work for them. Make their BD and CRM aspects of their work life, effortless.

I’ve 30+ years of CRM experience in professional services. And in my experience, not asking fee-earners to do database chores is far nicer for everyone than requiring them to do admin before anything good can happen

Tip 2 - Log every introduction. Received or given

Record emails and meetings in your CRM (or equivalent) to maintain a detailed history of your relationship and identify patterns over time. It 'should' do it automatically. Nothing works if whatever system you have doesn’t have any data in it.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so as well as everyday correspondence being automatically tracked, make sure your teams record referrals in and out, who with, how successful it was, and what it was worth. Fair easier said than done, but that's what we help with.

You’ll then be able to run off reports in a click of your finger when you need the facts and stats.?

Tip 3 - Utilise Outlook

Make sure your CRM or Referrer Network Tracking software links with Outlook emails and calendars. This ensures no correspondence is missed, no matter what was discussed in the email. Then everyone gets to find out who-knows-who and who-emails-who, without anyone lifting a finger of effort.?

Tip 4 - Don’t let referrers fall through cracks and gaps

Do you know which introducers your firm has forgotten to keep in contact with?

Imagine never having a work referrer fall through gaps ever again. That is what CRM, or referral tracking tools can do for you.

Use your Referral tracking software (or big complex CRM database if you like hitting nuts with sledgehammers) to inform you on a monthly basis if any introducers have not been contacted in 'X' months.

Then, when you get your ‘these people have been forgotten’ alert, just ping those contacts a short note to have a coffee or a call. Dead easy. And quick.

This sort of tracking means you can all spend your time doing what you do best, not worrying if referrers have fallen through gaps.?

Tip 5 - Keep your own list in a drawer? Or centralise?

Multiple staff keeping multiple spreadsheets isn’t ever going to allow your firm’s left hand to know what your right hand is doing.

Your only option is to centralise. It’s not even hard or expensive to do.

Don't let not having a big central CRM stop you.

If you won't go beyond Excel, you could have one central spreadsheet that everyone contributes to, or one that is managed by one person.

Or use referrer tracking software.

Or a great big CRM database (if you really like hitting nuts with sledgehammers).

Tip 6 - Big CRM database V Referrer tracking software

If you don’t yet have a CRM... and think it’s going to solve all your problems, hold your horses. They can take years to consider, get the budget, install, learn how to use, and massive amounts of willpower to keep using.

If you already have one, you’ll be aware that some fee-earners are great at BD - with or without a database. Buying a big CRM probably didn't help the others.

But automated alerts based predominately on Outlook correspondence and meetings will help everyone – because nobody has to do anything to benefit.

CRM databases have been around for 30+ years, but they still have usage & adoption issues!

If fee-earners were going to use one, they'd have done it by now. The obvious reason of poor adoption of big CRMs is because they are not what your lawyers, solicitors, accountants, surveyors et al, need or want.

Tracking Outlook activity and summarising with inbox alerts simply doesn’t have any of these problems – because nobody needs to lift a finger of effort for everyone to understand your relationships with your referrer / introducer / reciprocity networks.

Look to leapfrog cost, time and adoption headaches with software that links to Outlook and gives automated inbox alerts when relevant. It’ll be up and running in a few weeks, and costs pennies compared to big CRMs. You have been warned.

Tracking software is NOT expensive (ours starts at ￡100/month - others are available), is quick and easy to setup and use. Not something you can say about big complex CRMs.

Tip 7 - Start tomorrow

Don't spend years thinking how to track referrers and what big CRM solution you need to purchase to solve this problem.

Referrer tracking software that is quick and easy to setup, then up and running and doing what it should be doing within a few working days of chatting with your supplier is possible.

Once you are up and running, sit back and laugh at your competitors taking years to grapple with the 'big CRM decision' and staying as they are for another year.

Laugh at their ROI.

Because ROI on simple software will happen when your first one or two referrals come in.

Tip 8 - Only choose software that delivers alerts into inboxes

How often do you see “has anyone done anything with...” requests emails flying around your firm?

Having a big database you have to log into does not solve this. Fee-earners are not known for their patience in hunting through a database for information that may or may not be there.

Definitely not twice anyway.

But what if an alert popped into your inbox a day before your meeting with a referrer?

And in it was who knows them, any introductions given or received, who has been emailing them, and anything else that has happened with them or their colleagues at their firm.

Or what if you received a weekly inbox alert about activity with the contacts you know?

The only effort you need to expend is having a quick scan through the alert(s) to see if there is anything you should be aware of.

Find out how easy Referrer Network tracking software can be for your firm, here.

Webinar: How tech can make tracking your referrers effortless, Thursday 3rd April, 12:00 - 12:30 GMT

Find out more and book your place here

Hope this helped, get in touch if you need help.

All the very best, Simon