We have trained many lawyers on how to successfully use LinkedIn to build their personal brands, grow their networks and secure new clients. These are three examples of recent results.
Regional, Midwestern, 1350 person firm
Situation/Need
The CMO was noticing how his lawyers were falling behind other firms in their use of social media for brand building and lead generation. Given the firm’s culture and the lawyers’ low receptivity to new marketing approaches, the most logical tool to start with was LinkedIn.
Approach
We started by developing guidelines on how to write a LinkedIn profile based on the firm’s brand and goals. We then conducted a three-part training class for 40 of their lawyers. The lawyers were instructed on how to write the optimum profile (one that appears high in the search engines), how to import their Outlook contacts, how to build their personal brands, and how to find new potential clients.
Results
- All 40 lawyers ended up with optimized LinkedIn profiles.
- The fast majority imported their Outlook contacts and built substantial networks.
- Many of the lawyers used the techniques we taught them to secure meetings with new prospective clients.
- When several lawyer were pursing larger clients, they were able to quickly determine who they each knew at the prospective client.
- When lawyers wanted to pursue companies in a particular industry, they were able to get a list of all companies, in a particular geographic area, within a certain size range, where they had 1st and 2nd level connections.
Individual Success Stories
Of the hundreds of lawyers we have helped, these few stand out.
Ranking Number One in Google
This lawyer, Elias Hinckley, followed all our suggestions and is active on Twitter. As of this writing, his profile ranked number for the search term “Clean Energy Lawyer” in Google. Clean energy lawyer, regional firm, 160 lawyers.
Securing New M&A Work from LinkedIn — M&A Lawyer
A week after we updated her profile to emphasize her M&A skills, she received an inquiry from a CEO who needed help selling his company. He searched LinkedIn for someone who was local and had the experience he needed. While small, by this lawyer’s standards, she still netted $75,000 in fees for this $5 million deal. M&A lawyer, AMLAW firm, 400 lawyers.
Finding New Prospective Clients
Many of the graduates of our program use this technique to find new prospective clients.
This corporate lawyer, at a regional Midwestern firm, had already contacted all the people he knew who could give or refer him business. He needed to find new prospective clients that he could start building relationships with. So, he searched for CEOs, in the health care industry, in his local area. He found several who were connected to people he knew fairly well. He selected one and asked his connection to arrange lunch. It went quite well. The lawyer followed up, arranged a subsequent meeting with the CEO, and is on his way to cultivating a new client.
Large Account Selling: finding people you know
By definition, large account selling requires a team of people. LinkedIn is an excellent tool to use when a team of lawyers is trying to secure new work from a large account. One of the most critical tasks, is identifying all the players who will influence the sale. If all team members are on LinkedIn and have robust networks, this technique works well.
An M&A team, at an AMLAW firm, identified a large energy company they wanted to secure as a new client. They had several other energy clients and the necessary skills to make a credible offer. Using LinkedIn, they identified the key players: GC, AGC, and the head of business development. They found an influencer (an in-house lawyer) that one of the lawyers knew well. She contacted this woman and determined the company used an AMLAW 20 firm for their big M&A deals, but was open to using smaller firms for smaller deals. They secured a meeting with the influencer, the AGC, and the head of business development. The meeting went well. The company agreed to let them pitch for their next small acquisition.
