Creating a lifelong relationship with your alumni is important for law firms of all sizes.
Alumni have unique and tremendous value to your organization from a business development, recruiting and marketing perspective. Departing employees can become boomerang employees in the future.
Here are steps you can take to make sure your alumni remain connected to your firm.
- Communication is the foundation for engaging your alumni network. Plan for consistent communication to engage alumni and expand your organization’s access to information as well as support your brand. Alumni engage when they feel like they are valued, so invest in them by personalizing communication to fit their needs.
- Engage your alumni association through events. Offer a combination of educational and social networking events. Offer online events as well so your long-distance employees can stay connected with your program offerings if they can’t attend live events, especially in today’s environment. CLE credit is harder to get when you aren’t at a law firm, so offer your alumni access to your online CLE library or resources for CLEs that you have for your current lawyers.
- Regularly email your alumni network with information that is helpful and beneficial to them. Consider creating a newsletter with a “class notes” section – where you report on alumni job moves, promotions and other professional achievements. Encourage them to send in information about themselves – which will help you capture updated contact information. Allowing them to share their successes will enhance your relationship with them.
- Alumni programs often have discount programs for members or offer special services for their alumni. Housing these programs within your portal is another way to encourage members to return to the alumni platform and stay connected to your organization.
- As your network grows, your ability to track, update and analyze alumni data can be challenging. To carry out all the components of an alumni program, you need accurate and up-to-date alumni data. Utilize outside resources to help you manage your contact data. Tracking the contact information of your alumni and their career progression should be at the core of your alumni relations program. However, once a lawyer leaves your firm, you may lose touch with them, even if you have a full-time CRM steward or an alumni relations point person. There are tools out there that can help.
Creating a law firm alumni relations program is a win-win for everyone involved – you will build a community that supports your firm as long as you support them too.