networking

Subscribe to networking via RSS

Clients come to law firms because they need help finding and implementing solutions – each employee is in essence a legal solution provider and a problem solver. And in a crowded and the unpredictable business climate of today, it is more important than ever to embrace and anticipate changes to meet the shifting needs of clients. Most importantly, we always need to put our clients first and ensure that every employee embraces a client-centric mindset.

Being a great lawyer doesn’t guarantee you a solid book of business anymore. Neither does having a law degree from one of the top schools in the country. None of these fancy credentials matter if you don’t have the right people skills (or emotional intelligence) to connect with clients on a personal level, especially now. 

Because clients regularly hire outside counsel who they’ve known for many years – from law school, a prior firm, a friend of a friend or a past matter – cultivating relationships should be at the heart of everything you do – especially now. It’s important to treat everyone with whom you come into contact as if they could be a future client or referral source, which is a helpful guiding principle in how to interact with your professional network.

Here’s how to develop a more client-centric mindset and build stronger relationships despite the barriers we are facing today during this worldwide pandemic.

A great benefit about marketing is that sometimes the lowest hanging fruit can yield major benefits with little effort.

First thing’s first, what does “low-hanging fruit” mean? It is “a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort.” Since we spend so much time and effort on most of our marketing and business development strategies, it’s nice when we don’t have to work so hard on everything all the time. Sometimes all it takes is picking up the phone, crafting a thoughtful email, using LinkedIn more strategically or just letting Google do the work for you.

Use the summer and this time working remotely to make enhancements to your LinkedIn profile and your LinkedIn branding and marketing plan.

LinkedIn is the most important social media channel

…

LinkedIn has never been more important than it is right now – not only because it has nearly 700 million users globally, but because during this time of social distancing, and this pause in in-person networking –social media is the most effective (and efficient) way to build your brand and business.

LinkedIn is a great place to network with other professionals who could become business partners, referral sources, clients and employees or employers.

While quality is always better than quantity when it comes to the number of LinkedIn connections you have, most business professionals who use LinkedIn can greatly increase their connections with a strategic plan.

Join me in spending the month of August strategically building your LinkedIn network. Aim to get to at least 501 connections (which will add the coveted 500+ connections mark right on your profile instead of your actual number of connections – some believe those LinkedIn users with 500+ connections are somehow more accomplished). I know all of you know more than 500 business professionals out of the millions who are using LinkedIn. If you’re already at the 500+ mark, aim to increase your connections by 10 percent this month. Here’s a plan for how to do this for business professionals of all levels and in all industries.