Relationships to Infinity: The Art and Science of Keeping in Touch (Regional Conference Recap)
By Alice H. Simons
Marketing Manager, DLA Piper
At the final session before lunch, Kendra Perkins Norwood, a partner at Wiley, and Jason Levin from Ready Set Launch LLC, asked us to rev up our creative juices to learn:
- How weak & dormant ties are critical to business development;
- How to set intentional goals for developing an authentic approach to keeping in touch; and
- How to support attorneys to consistently and authentically keep in touch.
The presentation was unique, in that the ideas applied equally to both legal marketers for our own relationships, and to the attorneys we advise. We had a special opportunity to hear directly from a partner who benefitted from Jason’s business development coaching; Kendra provided case studies from her own experiences. In addition, the audience was invited to share our own successful tips and tricks. Collaboration at its best!
Jason shared a network matrix communicating the intersection of strong and weak ties on the Y axis with current and dormant ties on the Y axis. Once you identify where your contacts fall on the matrix, you are able to build the right strategy for each group.
For example, you may hesitate to reconnect with dormant ties out of guilt, fear, or worry – all authentic feelings when thinking about the daunting task of reaching back out after a long hiatus. The pandemic caused even the best networkers to lose touch, but we shouldn’t feel bad or worry about how our contacts might react. We should remember all the people who have helped us along the way in our careers (“gratitude”) and recall the positive memories with our contacts (science says that nostalgia makes us feel better). Reaching back out with a positive memory you share can immediately evoke nostalgia and good feelings.
As marketers helping our attorneys, we must:
- Understand what our attorneys do in a particular practice and understand the terminology. The more we know about the practice, the easier it will be when we see something of interest and then make the connection.
- Anticipate events, conferences, etc. that happen at the same time every year, and remind the attorneys that the events are coming up. They will always appreciate the value we present in saving them those precious billable hours!
- Bring ideas to the attorneys that you have seen be successful elsewhere. Show your creativity - it doesn’t always have to be the attorney’s idea!
A great example came in from the audience. An attorney at the firm keeps his own spreadsheet with the contact name, when he last made contact, when he is going to contact the person again, and how he will make the contact. Not all firms have the budget to use relationship management software, but even a simple Excel spreadsheet can work.
Our takeaway assignment: Who will you reach out to? How will you bring these ideas back to your firm, the practices, and the individual attorneys?