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Cross-selling is a funny old business. On one hand, every professional service firm knows they need to be doing it but on the other, very few do it well - if at all.

The trouble is (and I need to be careful about making absolute statements as marketing and business development is not an exact science) if you do take the time and trouble to get it right, it is without doubt the easiest and most productive source of new work open to you. Why? Because all of your targets will be people who have already made the decision to work with you and, more importantly, pay for that work.

So how do you get a cross-referral strategy up and running? Here are two practical tips you can implement immediately and at negligible cost.

Education

The American politician, Donald Rumsfeld, once made a very astute observation: "You don't know what you don't know."

Can you say hand on heart that your clients know about all of the services you provide? OK, so you may send them a letter when a matter draws to a close, but are they totally focused on the future at that point? Or are they relieved that that last issue's done and dusted so they can move on to the next thing in their lives?

It is much more effective to diarise a quick phone call for two to three months down the line. During that call, you could double check that everything is OK with the work you've done then make the suggestion (subtly and followed up with a personal email) that there are perhaps other areas the client could be looking at.

Similarly do you have a regular update for your clients in the same way as your colleagues in the commercial practice areas do?

You will notice I use the word 'update' rather than 'newsletter'. This is because newsletter smacks of internally focused content; new offices, partner promotions, the latest stab at corporate social responsibility. If you want to see results, send a short update on your area of expertise. Pick a news story or a current issue receiving press coverage that you can manipulate so that it has direct relevance to your practice and to your clients.

Asking and answering questions is a great way to provide the type of punchy direction that gets your readers' cogs turning towards the decision they may need some help with. If you add a few client testimonials alongside it, that will only strengthen their resolve to get you involved.

Be sure to keep it under 200 words (the average adult male's attention span is around 180 words, a lady's 220) and include a clear call to action at the bottom - not only in terms of a working email link but also the reason to use it.

Communication

When was the last time you sat down with your colleagues over a cup of tea and had a chat about potential cross-selling targets?

And I'm not talking about formal meetings with agendas and action points and all that other good stuff. I'm talking about a get together at the same time every week where you all bring two potential referrals to the table. Why two? Because psychology suggests that if you say 'some' or 'a few' people tend to struggle but if you choose a definite (low, manageable and achievable) number people are more focused and successfully hit the target.

We have a client whose heads of wills and probate, and family and conveyancing sit down every Friday morning for 20 minutes and swap a couple of names, and it is successfully generating work. Each attendee knows the circumstances and requirements of the clients tabled and that they are happy with their firm's work, so there is no awkwardness when their client is introduced as there is recognition that the firm is only trying to do what is best for that client.

Your immediate reaction might be that choosing two clients every week is too hard. If that is the case, you can broaden your definition of 'client' so that it means 'source of work' rather than 'paying punter'.

That could include potential referrers your colleagues have met while marketing, and professionals who may be more relevant to your practice than theirs. Alternatively, it could be the organisers of local networks or the figureheads of local associations or trade bodies.

A senior solicitor once described cross-selling to me as "not so much the change down the back of the sofa as the £20 note you find in a jacket you haven't worn for a while", and I couldn't agree more. Given that the suggestions above would take little time or effort to find a whole load of those £20 notes, what is stopping you from implementing a slightly more systematic approach to cross-selling?

Douglas McPherson is a director at Size 10 1/2 Boots

He writes a regular blog about marketing for Private Client Adviser