business referrals

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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.

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.

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.

When it comes to strategically building your LinkedIn network. There are four primary ways to do it:

  1. Reach out
  2. Accept connection requests
  3. Connect to people who are suggested by LinkedIn
  4. Use groups – they are among the most powerful networking feature in LinkedIn

If you are starting from scratch or building a profile from a low number of connections, start by adding everyone in your professional life as a connection, current colleagues, former colleagues, clients, referral sources, former classmates and certain friends and family members who make sense from a professional standpoint.

Then incorporate these steps:

25 Ways to Boost Your Business and Brand During Summer Downtime

This is not the year to take a break from social media during the summer. Instead this is the time to focus on your business development and branding efforts.

I don’t know anyone right now especially (or ever) who would say they have enough clients or work. I think everyone is nervous about the economy, the ability to maintain their current volume of work, bring in future clients and support their people.

That being said, it’s incredibly important to ensure your current clients are happy and that you are consistently generating new sources of leads and referrals.

Here are 25 ideas on how to do that, which now involves shifting your strategy from in-person networking and client entertaining to having a strong online presence and thought leadership platform. If you have never used LinkedIn, written an article or blog post or spoken at a webinar, now is the time to pivot to doing all of these. It is never too early or late to start marketing yourself or your firm.