How to stay in touch without stalking

Do you feel like you’re being a nuisance to your solicitors? Here are three courteous ways to keep your practice front of mind with those who can instruct you.

1. Look at it from your solicitor’s perspective

First, keep in mind that solicitors are in the business of selling. They have sales targets. If they don’t sell, they don’t make partner. In other words, they understand sales. You’re not going to be any more of a nuisance than they are required to be in their own job.

Next, know that it’s very useful for solicitors to know who in their pool of preferred juniors is available. Keeping track of your movements is not her priority. If something urgent turns up, and the solicitor knows you are available at short notice, you might be able to solve a problem for her.

Also, remember that you are not the most important person in your solicitor’s working life, most of the time. If you email an invitation to coffee or lunch and don’t receive an immediate reply, don’t take this as a sign that they don’t want to meet you. They have other things going on. Try again in a few weeks and then leave it for a while.

2. Create a schedule

If you try to maintain close relationships with everyone you meet at networking events, you won’t have time to deliver any work. You must prioritise your contacts. Work out exactly who your practice is designed to serve and prioritise those who are in a position to instruct you.

I recommend that you identify six clients who match the profile of your ideal client and aim to meet with one every month. If you can maintain this schedule, you will meet each client twice a year at six-month intervals. No-one could call that stalking.

Keeping track of who you have contacted, for what purpose and when is a key skill for someone working in business development (which you are). So you need a system. You can use a simple automated client relationship management system, such as Insightly, or manage your client relationships in a spreadsheet. Choose a system which works most easily for you.

3. Publish content in the places where your clients spend time

Sales is the activity which puts you into contact with your clients in a one-to-one scenario with the aim of a purchase. Marketing is everything else which happens at a distance. In the age of social media, you can bring your practice to the attention of your clients very easily.

By writing high-quality content your clients want to read and publishing it in places where she spends her time, you can remain in contact without being bothersome. If your clients are not able to engage with your content today, they may have time tomorrow. That’s why you need to publish regularly.

There are many easy tools available to you to help bring your content to the attention of your clients. If you are using LinkedIn and Twitter, make sure you are using tags and hashtags to broaden your reach.

The human touch

To win instructions from clients, you need to be proactive. If you approach your clients with courtesy and remain cognisant of their competing priorities, you are unlikely to become an irritation.

In Junior Entrepreneur, Jurilogical’s signature programme for Junior Barristers in the early years of practice you learn how to develop long-term relationships with clients who will always be happy to hear from you.  Check it out here. 

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By Heidi Smith
Creator of Jurilogical.com