Commercial Solicitor
“I would say that BNI has helped me grow my business enormously...”
Case Study: Irene Dallas of Dallas & Co Solicitors - Commercial Solicitor
For solicitors, referral marketing is a powerful tool. Word of mouth recommendations are essential to establish trust when you deal with sensitive issues like divorce, wills or business agreements. This is true for Irene who runs Dallas and Co Solicitors, and every Wednesday morning you can find her bright and early at the Henley Regatta chapter of BNI. While she was initially hesitant about joining BNI, it quickly proved a worthwhile investment of her time and money. Irene explains:
“I was invited to a business networking breakfast by a contact, but I wasn’t really told more than that. At first, I didn’t really like it. I didn’t like how prescriptive it was, or being told what to do. But I do think you need to do something more than once to make a decision about it. So I went back again, I did a bit of research and I spoke to a few people about it. And I recognised that there were people in the room that I liked and who I thought would be good referral partners for me.”
Like most people new to referral networking, you probably want to know how much business you can expect from BNI. While the results you get do depend on what you put in, for solicitors can usually see a great return.
We asked Irene if her BNI membership has grown her business: “I would say it’s helped grow my business enormously. To the point where my business now actually has membership in two groups – I’m in the Henley chapter and I have an employee in the core group in Ardington.”
“So I joined around 18 months ago, and in the last financial year I think we’ve had around £45,000 worth of business from BNI. I don’t tend to deal in huge big-ticket items, but the small pieces of work really do just add up. BNI represents around 25% of my business now.”
Yes, BNI will give you business. But for many of our members, that’s not all BNI provides. There are a lot of other benefits to membership as well. For Irene, there was one thing that stood out: “I’ve made some very good contacts that I can rely on, and we’ve also become friends. It’s allowed me to really expand my network and make some great friends in the process.”
Real Member Stories: Solicitor
“It’s allowed me to really expand my network and make
some great friends in the process”
“If you’re considering BNI, then my advice is this: Come to two meetings. Talk to people. If you've never networked before you really need to understand how referral networking works and work out if there are people in the room who can refer work to you directly or who are likely to have a client base or contacts who can refer work to you.”
“I know a lot of people think it’s very prescriptive and that you have to be accountable every week. But honestly – that’s why it works. It might be daunting, but it works, and it works well.”
Contact Irene Dallas
Call: 01491 410 240 | Email: irene@dallasandcosolicitors.com | Visit: dallasandcosolicitors.com
Tagged as: Finance & Legal
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