Best Practice: Networking and joining organizations

Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am having problems with effective client development. I believe that I need to do more networking and become involve in professional organizations. Suggestions? A. Definitely. However, here are a few ideas and guidelines.

• Have a real interest in the organization you are joining.
• Attend meetings regularly. Miss three monthly meetings in a year and you might as well have skipped them all. Get on a committee and into a leadership position. This lets you establish credibility with prospects and referral sources.
• Evaluate the culture of the organization and confirm that networking and marketing is acceptable within the group.
• After a few years there will be a point of diminishing returns and that is when you should move on and start the process all over.
• Don’t just join legal organizations – join a trade that your client belongs to and become active in the group.

John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC, (www.olmsteadassoc.com) is a past chair and member of the ISBA Standing Committee on Law Office Management and Economics. For more information on law office management please direct questions to the ISBA listserver, which John and other committee members review, or view archived copies of The Bottom Line Newsletters. Contact John at jolmstead@olmsteadassoc.com.