This is a bonus post in the series, How to Grow a Probate Practice.
Cross-Marketing
In the second post in this series, I explained that getting referrals was the key to making your phone ring with new probate business. I went on to explain how to get referrals.
Aside from referrals, there is another strategy to make your phone ring that bears mentioning. If you do enough wills and trusts over the years, you will eventually get a steady stream of probates (or trust administrations) coming in. Survivors of the decedent almost always contact the attorney who did the will or trust first. I’ve even had clients who thought that only the attorney who drafted the will could do the probate.
Over time you should develop an estate planning practice along with your probate practice. Long-term, this is perhaps the best strategy to make your phone ring with probate. Yet, even in the short-term, you will likely get some business from it.
Therefore, developing an estate planning practice is an effective longer-term strategy and one that you should do. But in the near-term, focus on building up your referrals if you aren’t already doing estate planning.