Professional Referral Lead Generation
Type of Proposal
Oral presentation
Faculty
Odette School of Business
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Schlosser
Proposal
The purpose of this research was to investigate innovative lead generation strategies for professional service firms in both rural and urban communities through relationship marketing. The scope of this research was the Canadian legal industry with a focus on small law firms in urban areas of Ontario. Specifically, this paper explored the possibility law firms relying on referral marketing through the creation of reciprocal referral agreement with rural accounting firms. An empirical research study was conducted by interviewing rural accountants, rural business professionals, urban clients of accountants, and urban lawyers. The research suggested that videoconferencing software could allow both urban and rural professional service firms to meet the needs of their clients, irrespective of their geography. Furthermore, there was an opportunity for lawyers practicing in urban areas to receive client referrals from rural accountants and refer clients back to the rural accountant as a form of referral compensation to create a sustainable referral relationship. The findings from this research are generalizable to professional service firms generally and demonstrate that it is possible for urban firms to establish a reciprocal referral arrangement with rural firms to generate additional revenue through the use of videoconferencing. This article has been able to fill a gap in the relationship marketing literature of professional service firms by developing a strategic way of leveraging a professional service firm’s relationship with its stakeholders in its referral markets domain.
Start Date
29-3-2016 2:30 PM
End Date
29-3-2016 3:50 PM
Lancer's Lair
1
Professional Referral Lead Generation
The purpose of this research was to investigate innovative lead generation strategies for professional service firms in both rural and urban communities through relationship marketing. The scope of this research was the Canadian legal industry with a focus on small law firms in urban areas of Ontario. Specifically, this paper explored the possibility law firms relying on referral marketing through the creation of reciprocal referral agreement with rural accounting firms. An empirical research study was conducted by interviewing rural accountants, rural business professionals, urban clients of accountants, and urban lawyers. The research suggested that videoconferencing software could allow both urban and rural professional service firms to meet the needs of their clients, irrespective of their geography. Furthermore, there was an opportunity for lawyers practicing in urban areas to receive client referrals from rural accountants and refer clients back to the rural accountant as a form of referral compensation to create a sustainable referral relationship. The findings from this research are generalizable to professional service firms generally and demonstrate that it is possible for urban firms to establish a reciprocal referral arrangement with rural firms to generate additional revenue through the use of videoconferencing. This article has been able to fill a gap in the relationship marketing literature of professional service firms by developing a strategic way of leveraging a professional service firm’s relationship with its stakeholders in its referral markets domain.