1 minsWant to fail at networking? No?
Most lawyers make a lotta mistakes networking. I know I used to.
In fact, many times I thought I was doing the right thing ... only to find that I wasn't actually being effective. At all. I had left tons of money at the table by not using a strategy.
Below are some of the biggie mistakes. Make sure you aren't doing any of them.
1. Not having an outcome in mind *before* you have the meeting
2. Failing to give the person you meet with a reason to refer clients, and a process for doing so
3. Not reinforcing an exact Target Client Profile that you're looking for
4. Taking meetings that come to you instead of targeting high-likelihood-of-referral partners to set meetings
5. Providing VIA (value in advance) to the partner in the meeting
There are a lot more, of course.
The point is to have a defined process for how you interact with all your marketing prospects - whether other professionals, clients, anybody.
In our programs we use a "Pre-Meeting Checklist". A way to take 60 seconds before a networking meeting to make sure they get the outcome they want. Just like pilots use a "pre-flight checklist" to make sure the flight goes off without a hitch, we do the same with for networking meetings.
If you don't have a Pre-Meeting Checklist, make one. Now. And use it. And profit.
(or, shameless self-promotion, join our program and get one that works without re-inventing the wheel.)
