Maverick and Company

This month I want to tell you a little story and a not so little secret about referrals.  I call this story, The Attorney & The Frog.

Once upon a time there was an attorney who lived in a magical place called “Chicago.”  Our hero was a smart guy who knew that one of the simplest ways to build his business would be to develop referral partnerships.  Since he specialized in employment law, he wanted to develop a relationship with a criminal attorney.  Since neither did the work of the other, they’d be able to share business.

So our hero set out on a quest to find a criminal attorney with whom he could share referrals and live happily ever after.

He first came upon a very smart criminal attorney who was part of a very prestigious firm.  He was willing to meet with our hero and happy to send referrals back and forth.

One problem… the criminal attorney seemed rather stuffy to our hero.  He didn’t seem to find our hero’s jokes very funny.  While a very nice man and probably a very good attorney, our hero often thought, “he has the personality of a frog.”

So the situation was not ideal but what could our hero do?  He needed a good criminal attorney and wanted the wonderful referrals.  Yet when he thought about getting together with “the frog,” he cringed.  He felt tired.  He could not make himself be excited.

Our hero sat in the woods pondering his dilemma.  “I just have to suck it up,” he said to himself. “This is what professionals do.  It’s called NETWORKING.”

Luckily a passing fairy overheard him.  Unlike most fairies, this one had on a black suite and a pair of wickedly sharp high heels.  (She was very, very beautiful.)

“You don’t HAVE to work with people you don’t like you know.  You could look for a criminal attorney who is both a qualified PROFESSIONAL and has a desirable PERSONALITY.”

“Huh,” said our hero.  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

So our fairy went on to teach our hero one of the greatest secrets to referral partnerships:

If you don’t like the people you partner with, developing and maintaining a relationship will suck and you’ll do it less and less or not at all.

If, alternately, you partner with people who you do like, you’ll find it easy, you’ll do more of it, you’ll get more referrals to clients you’ll love too.

(For this service our hero gave the fairy many thanks and much praise and a heavy bag of gold coins.)

So our hero went out again, resolved to find a criminal lawyer he could stand and even enjoy hanging out with.  He found one and they went on to pass many referrals and even occasionally get together with their wives for margaritas on our hero’s back patio.  Truly, they lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

The End

The morale of the story, develop referral partnerships with people you really like, people who are also you CHOIR and you’ll get more done and get better referrals.

Also, pay the fairy well.  Ha ha!  No seriously.

If you’re wishing for a bit of your own magic when it comes to referrals, check out this month’s classes and put the magic fairy to work in your business.  Visit our Classes & Books page at www.maverickandcompany.com