One of the first books I purchased to help me with getting my mediation practice off the ground was "Mediation Career Guide" by Forrest S. Mosten.
This book contains a lot of good advice on starting and marketing a mediation practice. I'd like to discuss some of the methods suggested by Mr. Mosten and my experience with them.
The first method Mr. Mosten suggests is mailed announcements. Mr. Mosten suggests purchasing quality announcements and mailing them to everyone you know who may refer you business.
I tried a variation on this theme. I used VistaPrint to design a postcard announcing the opening of my practice. I came up with what I thought was a good target market for referrals, Certified Divorce Financial Advisers (CDFA) in my area. I mailed a postcard to all of them I could find listed.
That was 3 years ago and as yet I have not received one referral from any of the CDFAs to whom these announcements were mailed.
I was discouraged by this and have not done any other mailings since. At the time my practice was focused primarily on divorce mediation and CDFAs seemed like the perfect "audience" for my message. Perhaps the downfall of my attempt was that I did not know any of these people personally or even through others.
I would be interested to know if any of you have tried similar mailings and what your experience was.
Jane, I'm in the process of getting a mailing put together. A friend of mine in the direct mail business is helping me get a card out to all the law firms here in town. I'm focusing on non-family civil cases, and I still view my primary audience as lawyers, so I'm going to get a card out to all the firms in town.
ReplyDeleteI think though that a mailing like this is just an initial step. Even more so than lawyering, I think that practice as a mediator is really relationship driven. I know when I hire a mediator, I want someone that I have some trust in. I much prefer hiring people I know. So my plan is to follow up the mailing with some targeted calls and lunch invitations. I think you hit the nail on the head right at the end. It's not enough that people know you are available to provide this service, they have to know you (directly or indirectly) to a certain extent as well.
Thanks for the insight Glenn. I have attempted to network with those whom I come in contact with in social settings. I always have a business card at the ready. Still about half of the calls/contacts I do receive are from cases which I have been court appointed to mediate. So far however only about 25% of the cases I have been appointed to have actually come in for mediation. The rest have settled on their own or with Friend of the Court.
DeleteAs I have expanded my training to include General Civil and Elder Care/Guardianship/Probate I have been looking at ways to market my services in these arenas. While I have had a few brainstorms, which I will elaborate on as this blog progresses, I am really bootstrapping this endeavor and most times do not have the available funds to splurge on traditional marketing strategies.
I do believe in the old adage that you have to spend money to make money, however since my funds are limited I want to make sure I'm spending them in a manner which will give me the "biggest bang for my buck."