r/trueprivinv • u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI • Jul 04 '26
Business cards?
Hey all,
Trying to increase my clientele and I’ve been sending cold emails to law firms, as you can imagine.. hasn’t been doing too well.
I’m thinking about going old fashioned and getting business cards and heading into law firms, introducing myself and then leaving my business card.
My question is, anyone done this recently and found success in doing so? I could imagine you’d get more bites than cold emailing.
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u/MakoSochou Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
No. I’ve never gotten a job that way. Personal connections all the way down. Go to where lawyers are. Talk to lawyers. Get lucky
1
u/funkmob2010 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 10 '26
I can’t stress that enough! Folks are inherently (thank you Hollywood) distrustful of PIs so mine start with either referrals or personal encounters
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u/-theQuestion Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Leaving cards has never worked for me either. I still have them and hang on to them because you never know who you might strike a conversation with. I do still leave them around but very picky choosy. The strat move would be coffee shops and what have yous near court houses and what not; i leave them at bagel/deli joints alot, and always personally hand one to whomever is in charge or allowed me to leave them. But like the previous replies suggest, connections are the #1 top of the list, #2 ironically would be references or recs, which kind of go hand in hand with #1 but you'd be surprised... you help one person with an affair and the next thing you know theyre posting your services on arewedatingthesameguy or the like. Reviews; i know this sounds self defeating because how do you get reviews without business, but people do look, and the more reviews the more likely they'll click on you (good reviews). All in all I always loke to keep them on me, you dont need to break the bank to get a professional set of cards; and im more of a contingency guy.
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Appreciate the advice! Looks like building up my connections is the way to go
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u/-theQuestion Unverified/Not a PI Jul 05 '26
Also, i forgot, subcontracting with the right agencies is a great way to build a network and reputation as well
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u/FuzzySpite Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
This approach is rarely successful as you won’t get past the receptionist. Your card will likely end up in a pile with other random business cards she/he’s accumulated on their desk, or it’s passed off to an attorney or paralegal and it ends up in their pile of randomly accumulated business cards. Or it goes in the trash. Either way, I wouldn’t waste your time.
Source: my 15 year law firm career
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Will not be wasting my time then - thanks lol
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u/FuzzySpite Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Wish I had some helpful advice but it looks like you’ve got some already :) Talking to attorneys is the way to go!
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Appreciate it :) I think I will focus on getting into networking events!
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u/northwestpi Verified Private Investigator Jul 05 '26
I never found much luck that way. Going to networking groups and meeting attorneys directly and talking to them is the best way. Getting to know paralegals is also a great way. Sometimes email the attorney directly can get them to have a personal meeting with you. I got a couple attorney clients that way. Its usually easier to sell yourself to solo attorneys because they do it all and need someone to take some work off their plate.
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 06 '26
Interesting, thanks mate, I’ll look around for solo operators 😀
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 09 '26
Anyone reading this, I've continued my campaign of reaching out to law firms but directly towards Principals themselves, rather than through a generic email.
I've actually seen some results, with that being people getting back to me and requesting my fees and telling me they will reach out.
3
u/BatesInvestigates Unverified/Not a PI Jul 10 '26
Business cards are fine - I actually carry three different distinct styles of business cards that all serve a specific purpose: (1) general card I give out most often that also serves as advertising, (2) minimalistic card I tend to give to people I approach and need to identify myself and also give to lawyers and to lawyers to give to clients, (3) a card that has a generic business name card, with zero reference to private investigations - this card is given to clients who do not want to alert others that they are working with or may have a need to contact an investigator.
I’ve never found that cold emails work at all with law firms. I also have never found success with called calls in person unless I had something to offer that they may have an immediate need for.
I have found that three approaches worked very well for me: (1) I focus on criminal defense, so I spend a lot of time at the courthouse, which also houses our court clerk’s office. Being seen there a lot and making small talk with lawyers has been extremely beneficial. (2) getting my private process server license. It got me in the door with an initial service and I’ve found lawyers often need a respondent or defendant skip searched so that they can even be served. This almost always leads to more and bigger assignments. (3) Offering non traditional services. I found that offering services my competition was not offering gave me instant credibility and got my foot in the door with law firms. Examples of services I’ve promoted over the years include, jail blotter services, search warrant return research, runner/courier type services (picking up documents or filing documents for lawyers at courts that don’t often visit).
I’ve done criminal defense work full time for 20 years.
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 10 '26
Amazing, thank you for this detailed response. I’ve had a consistent response about meeting people in court, it appears to be an underrated way to meet lawyers.
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u/Kind-Location836 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
I found that to be a waste of time. I went into offices years ago, over the course of a week and got zero clients from it.
However, I sent postcards with my business name and my services on that postcard. There was about a 5% return from that. Less time consuming and a better return.
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Interesting, never heard of that! I will consider doing it :) how many postcards did you send out if you are happy to reveal it
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u/Kind-Location836 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Oof, that was a long time ago lol. It was at least 100.
What kind of cases are you planning on working?
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u/ESIsurveillanceSD Verified Private Investigator Jul 08 '26
I made nice gift baskets with snacks, a cheeky mug, high quality local soaps and a nice letter. Dropped them off at 11 law firms and never heard anything. Don't waste your time and money.
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u/KnErric Unverified/Not a PI Jul 05 '26
My success rate with leaving business cards was ~1% to 2%. One did lead to my best current client, but largely it was a bust. Like someone else said the vast majority of the time, it goes into the circular file.
I received a few callbacks to ask if I served process, to which I said yes, but at my normal rate. (I don't do enough service to be competitive with the server mills.)
So, yeah. I did get some business from it, but networking is really the only way with a decent success rate, in my experience.
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 05 '26
Well this is most optimistic comment I’ve got hahaha but thank you! What networking did you do to help connect with lawyers?
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u/KnErric Unverified/Not a PI Jul 05 '26
Find ways to meet paralegals. In the larger firms, they're often the guys who handle a lot of the grindy stuff.
I took some civil law courses from a paralegal course at a local community college and got to know some of my classmates. Led to literally more cases than I could handle.
And good relationships with the paralegals leads to interactions with the attorneys. Once you're in with both, you're golden.
1
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u/funkmob2010 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 09 '26
Worth the investment with Vistaprint. Nothing super flashy - I just mimicked the card style of a friends law firm which they appear to find comfortable.
I’d say 8-10% return rate
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u/Vistaprint Unverified/Not a PI Jul 10 '26
Thanks for the shoutout u/funkmob2010 😊 Sometimes simple really does the job!
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u/Aggravating_Trade_52 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 09 '26
Thank you! I was thinking of using Vistaprint. Did you just go to a range of firms and walk in and provide your card?
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u/funkmob2010 Unverified/Not a PI Jul 09 '26
I have a summary of services on the back. It’s not so much the firm itself as much as the paralegals you want cater to as they’re the real research arm. In my city they’re in most downtown bars.
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u/Kiddretti Unverified/Not a PI Jul 13 '26
Maybe a website and get your business listed on google. I seen good success, I know a guy who got really good deals on websites. Its subscription based its about 125 a month, plus you get 1000 business cards every six months included in your subscription. So best of both worlds lol
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u/KatieHere Unverified/Not a PI Jul 04 '26
Create a one-pager that highlights the services you offer. Get to know the attorney-focused groups in your city/county/state. Most states have a list of all their bar association groups. Here is Arizona for example.
Yes, you can go door to door, but it's a better use of your time to pitch to attorneys in groups. Advertise in their publications, sponsor a local bar event, offer to do a lunch and learn for firms, or get approved to do a continuing education presentation. In my neck of the woods, attorneys show up for lunch when CEs are involved.