Think laterally, cross-sell and move closer

It's a new year and the perfect time to think about which foundations you can lay to deliver a successful 12 months. So, here are three (proven) tips you can put in place immediately, quickly, cheaply and easily to improve your marketing.

1. Closer client care wins work

If I had a pound for every time a client told me that doing a good job was the only marketing they needed to do because way clients would recommend them to their friends, I wouldn't have to work.

The world is changing fast and, with it, doing more to boost your visibility and continuously extend your personal network will continue to grow. However, it would be foolish to deny that client referrals remain the most productive source of new private client work.

Doing a great job is of course the anchor to ensuring client referral, but could you make a few tweaks to your client service model to stack the odds of referral even higher in your favour?

Clear advice in plain English is a must; taking time to explain your advice is what will bring you closer to clients and give you the perfect opportunity to introduce the need for related pieces of work (see point 2). If you asked someone to pop into the office for ten minutes to go through your advice, how many minutes on email would you save down the line?

If there's a question, don't email, pick up the phone. A quick chat not only enables you to answer the question more quickly and more clearly, it will also underline your commitment to your clients, mark you out from your competition and make clients more likely to refer you.

Another small tweak is to make sure every client is added to your database (making sure, of course, they're profiled correctly so they only receive relevant communications). Many advisers still think that continuing to communicate after a matter has been concluded irritates clients. Sometimes, perhaps, but it's nowhere near as much as being unceremoniously dropped as soon as the last bill has been paid. Stay in touch, stay front of mind.

Think about how you can stay closer to your clients and you will increase the chances of winning new work.

2. Cross-selling doesn't offend

Last month, I met an IFA (the result of a referral from an accountant client, which is a marketing lesson in itself). Aside from putting forward a very professional presentation and moving things on so he left with my details and my commitment, he also had a decent - and very polite - stab at cross-selling.

Despite the meeting being about one very particular piece of work, he took the time to remind me of the other areas he could help with, explaining why it was so important in relation to the piece of work we'd just discussed.

Did I feel offended, sold to and taken advantage of? No. I left thinking there was sense in what he had introduced and that it would be him I'd go back to when I finally admitted the need had arisen. Why? Because cross-selling doesn't offend.

3. Think more laterally

Referrals are your lifeblood. It's widely accepted that there is an established axis across the law, accountancy and financial services but what sits either side of that line? If you know that axis exists, so do all your competitors, so look a little further for fertile sources of referral.

Over the past two years, I've been privileged to work with some very good, successful private client advisers and all of them have the ability to think a little more laterally about where work could come from. Therefore, I have come to the unbending conclusion that correlation between their success and a more creative approach to referral is not a coincidence.

Aside from making better use of connections to barristers, take a wider look at who's involved with the types of clients you want.

I work with a prenup specialist who gets a lot of his referrals from a wedding planner. I work with a divorce lawyer who gets a number of referrals from someone who runs a personal protection service. What could a bodyguard know? Well, they're often the first - or even only - person those being protected have to confide in.

Douglas McPherson is director at Size 10 1/2 Boots

He writes a regular blog about marketing for Private Client Adviser