I presented at and attended the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Annual Conference this year and I got an opportunity to hear Dustin Cole speak.  The one thing that stuck with me that I want to share with you are these words of wisdom: bad clients only refer bad clients.

Haven’t you ever taken on a case with a horrible client that you can’t stand and rarely wants to take calls from and yet the only reason why you maintain the relationship and continue working on the case is because the client pays (probably only sporadically) and the client promises that his friends will come see you too.  And if you stick around long enough, you start to realize that his friends are sucky clients too!

The truth is that we all like to associate ourselves with those like us.  We tend to gravitate towards people that share our views and values.  That’s why they’re friends and we get along with them.  Well, if your client is a bad client and he refers you business from his friends, guess what – just like the initial client, they’ll be bad too!

Get rid of bad clients and focus your efforts on good clients and getting more of them.  Good clients will refer good clients.