Case Study - Practical Networking

A large international law firm was looking to increase the effectiveness of their primary contact with clients....networking events.

It was clear to our client that associates and senior associates were not making the best use of their time at networking events, nor were they leveraging their own social and internal networks to uncover business opportunities for the firm.  

We put together a programme which helped lawyers really think about their networking strategy, and understand how important it was for their success, and that of their firm.  A firm-wide programme of short, two hour sessions for groups of up to 30 lawyers was set up.  The sessions mirrored "real" events in order to create a scenario where lawyers could practice and embed skills in a realistic setting.  We worked on the simple skills that would help develop produce confident people who had powerful initial impact, were good listeners and knew how to develop conversations that were of interest to anyone they spoke to. 

We also broadened the scope of the programme to include social networks, online networking and helped lawyers see networking as "business as usual" and something they should always be doing.  

The results of our input is being widely felt across the firm. Referral work is increasing, and lawyers are feeding back that they are enjoying events much more.  From a client perspective, the firm's more junior lawyers are being viewed as more commercially aware, engaged, and as a result the reputation of the firm is being enhanced.