8 New Ways to Find Local Clients

As a Social Security disability representative, finding new clients can be challenging. While some practitioners find paying for leads effective, it is only one strategy of many.

Building local relationships, goodwill, and name recognition will go a long way in keeping your incoming flow of inquiries strong. Here’s why: Most people make decisions by leaning on recommendations from friends and family. You need to make sure you come to mind as a trustworthy, local resource when potential clients are gathering information.

Here are some concrete ways to grow your practice’s name recognition and reputation in your area:

1. Write an op-ed, or even a column, for your local newspaper.
2. Offer to give a class at your local library.
3. Join an organization (like yours truly!) with a referral service.
4. Sponsor a local children’s sports team.
5. Buy an ad in a journal at a local fundraising event.
6. Build a relationship with a local homeless shelter. (Notice that at the bottom of this organization’s webpage (linked above) is the direct contact information of a disability representative they trust.)
7. Contact local chapters of impairment-specific groups (American Cancer Society, NAMI, The Arc, etc.) to see if they’d like to have a presentation or if you could get involved as a volunteer.
8. Reach out to local medical associations, medical schools, and other places where treating providers might work and see if you can help train staff. (This is a way to teach providers about Social Security as well as a potential referral source.)

Do you have other interesting or unique ideas? Email them to us and you might be featured in a future blog post!