Networking for Law Firms
You grab a glass of wine and a few nibbles, head straight for a corner of the room and stand there completely rigid. You smile politely at a few people, but get absolutely nothing in return. Right now, you couldn’t be more out of your comfort zone if you tried. You scan the room, desperately looking for someone to latch onto. You notice a bloke dishing out business cards like raffle tickets, there’s a woman stood in the corner frantically tapping away on her phone (which probably isn’t even switched on) and there’s a whole array of people who look like they desperately want to build a tunnel in the hope of getting out of their most boring conversation in history. “Right, it’s time to enter the fray.” You put down your glass of wine, grab a handful of business cards from your pocket and boldly set off. Two minutes later, you end up stood back in exactly the same place as where you started, still clutching onto the same amount of business cards and feeling like a fish out of water – oh well, at least your wine is still there.
Sound familiar? As someone who not only networks frequently but also runs his own networking group, I see this kind of behaviour all the time. In fact, I’ve ‘walked the room’ on more than one occasion myself (-with mixed results) and so have taken all my learning from first hand experiences.
This course is aimed at everybody from Paralegals through to Partners who want to get the most out of the whole networking experience and beyond. Not only will we help you to raise your confidence levels but we will also introduce you to numerous, tried and tested techniques which will ensure that you get in front of the relevant individuals whilst at the same time getting what you want from your brief encounter.
What will we cover?
- What is networking and why is it so important for Law Firms?
- Preparation – Doing your research & setting tangible goals
- Entering a room full of strangers in a confident, assertive way
- Building rapport – The importance of trust
- Listening and being listened to
- The business card – don’t just put it in your pocket
- Opening the conversation – What to say and what not to say
- Strategies for politely moving on/Identifying your ‘get out of jail’ cards
- Working the room your way
- Following up – why it’s important, even when you don’t necessarily want to
- 21st Century Networking – The power & relevance of Social Media tools
- How to build long-term valuable relationships
Building up a network of diverse and highly valuable business professionals is vital for any Law Firm. Having employees that can confidently promote themselves and more importantly the business is a powerful tool to have in this ever-increasing battle for competitive advantage. So if you fancy learning some new techniques that will help you to ‘work the room’ then why not get in touch now for a chat to see how we can help.
Speakers: Mike Ode