Are you giving clients away to your competitors?

I recently had a conversation with a client of mine who was telling me that her business has slowed down considerably as a result of the pandemic. She told me that she just wasn’t bringing in as many new matters and wasn’t doing as much business as she was doing last year, and that a lot of her clients had decided not to move forward with new projects because of all of the economic uncertainty.

I asked her what she was doing to stay in touch with clients and to replace the in-person networking she had been doing before the coronavirus hit. She used to be an active networker and marketer, speaking at client events, visiting clients at their businesses, attending social events in the evening. But since the pandemic, all of that has gone away.

She told me she wasn’t doing much at all, and that she’d only been in touch with a few referral sources through Board she sat on that were still meeting virtually, and she’d been in touch with the clients she had ongoing work for, but that she hadn’t been actively reaching out to her other clients or referral sources at all in the past several months. There had been virtually no one-on-one contact at all.

After thinking about it some more, she said, “Come to think of it, I was on social media the other day and noticed a picture of one of my clients with one of my competitors playing golf. My competitor had posted the picture with the hashtag #bizdev. Maybe I should touch base with that client.”

Unfortunately, it may be too late.

Don’t make the same mistake. Yes, the pandemic may have made some clients decide to re-think their legal needs, or to slow down on taking on new projects. But don’t assume that all of your business slowdown is just a result of the pandemic. And don’t assume that your client will come back to you just because you have done good work for them in the past. It may be that one of your competitors has moved in on that client.

Even if you’re not ready to meet one-on-one with clients in person, you can reach out to the virtually – pick up the phone and make a call. Send an email just to see how they are doing. Send a note on LinkedIn, a text, or a private message on social media. Don’t make it about you or about selling your services – just check in.

Remember, if you aren’t reaching out to your clients and taking care of them, someone else might.

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