It’s so easy to forget to be client-centric all the time especially during this extraordinary past 7 months filled with new stressors and pressures.
It’s also easy to be forgotten during a time when we aren’t seeing others regularly in person and we aren’t front and center with our professional network.
But there are a lot of great lawyers in the industry, so you must find ways to stand out and stay top of mind with your network (thank god for LinkedIn!).
One way to do that is by going out of your way to help individuals in your network without expecting anything in return.
These are actions such as helping someone find a job, sending a newsworthy article, or congratulating someone on a professional or personal milestone. Cultivating relationships and helping people are the keys to professional success today.
You can still build relationships despite the pandemic – use LinkedIn, Zoom and other online networking tools and stay top of mind through producing a steady stream of value-added content.
In terms of Linkedin, having a strong LinkedIn profile is the first step but regularly liking, sharing and posting value-added content is how to effectively use social media for brand building and lead generation.
Use LinkedIn to reconnect with contacts from the past and to keep abreast of job moves and professional milestones of important contacts (through the notifications section – the little bell icon on the upper right hand side of your page). I have seen the conversations that stem from the notifications lead to new business over and over. Checking the notifications section and then sending out congratulatory messages is an easy daily marketing action to build into your schedule.
Regularly ask clients about their business goals, be attuned to their needs and then develop solutions to meet those needs.
Law is first and foremost a relationship and referral business, and this is why it’s so important for lawyers of all levels to cultivate and nurture connections throughout their careers – especially right now.
The bottom line is that you should treat everyone with whom you come into contact as if they could be a future client, employee or referral source – because you never know.