Business relationships: do you work on building and nurturing them?
If you’re the CEO of your LNC business, you already encounter numerous relationships on a daily basis.
For Example: You interact with
- Business vendors or partners
- Your team
- Attorney clients and their staff (receptionist, paralegal, associates, case managers
- Prospective clients
- Your local community
In fact, it’s nearly impossible to run any kind of profitable LNC business without forming a variety of relationships.
Here are 3 attributes of a successful LNC.
1. Always Be Authentic
Have you heard the phrase, “Fake it till you make it”? Some believe that you need to replicate a certain style or mindset before you actually reach that level of success, but can you do that and still show your authentic self?
People want to connect with you. They want to know what your life is like. They want and need to relate to you on a personal level so that you become more real to them. If you are authentic with your image and what you post on social media, they in turn will give you their trust and, likely their money.
If you fake it too much or are caught in a lie on social media, your image can come crashing down. Instead, you’ll have a reputation as being a fake or not walking the walk. If you want to be trustworthy, earn that trust by building your relationships based on integrity and honesty.
Attorneys in particular are quite conscious of ethical issues. They know how their colleagues have been disciplined for unethical or illegal practices: bouncing trust fund checks, stealing from the company or client, not telling their clients a case settled, or missing critical deadlines. They need for you to be above aboard on all things you do.
2. Listen Carefully
When building these relationships, remember that you are not the center of the universe. Even though you ultimately want people to hire you, new attorney prospects will be leery of you until they get to know you. So preparing a sales pitch for any kind of live or virtual networking event is a fruitless effort that will likely make people run from you.
Instead, show an interest in THEIR business or THEIR life. Once you ask one question, people naturally want to keep talking, especially if they are passionate about their industry and mission.
Listen to them speak, tuck away interesting nuggets for a later time, and remember to send a follow-up email the next business day, simply commenting how nice it was to meet them. At the next event, make a point of acknowledging them and start a new conversation.
3. Share, Share, Share
Be careful…this does NOT mean to share too much information of a personal sort on social media. This simply means keep sharing your knowledge, resources, free articles, and ebook chapters. Basically, anything that will be of value to your attorney audience.
By sharing information, you are building yourself up as an authority in that area of expertise and also showing what a kind and generous person you are. This evokes good emotions of happiness and kindness which, hopefully, meld with your online image and will endear you to many more prospects.
Want more tips on building strong relationships with your clients? Get our new Client Relationships: Create Raving Clients course.
- Create strong relationships with your clients so that they would never dream of working with another LNC.
- Discover the secrets of a client reward system.
- Create unforgettable client experiences.
Pat Iyer is president of The Pat Iyer Group, which develops resources to assist LNCs obtain more clients, make more money and achieve their business goals and dreams.
Pat’s related websites include the continuing education provided on LNCEU.com, the podcasts broadcast at podcast.legalnursebusiness.com, and writing tips supplied at patiyer.com.