Law Times

Law Times • augusT 20, 2012 Getting the best from your LinkedIn profile COMMENT BY CARL FRIESEN For Law Times your LinkedIn profile and scrolling through it. You may have an impressive display of credentials and I magine that a potential client or employer is looking for a legal professional with exactly your area of expe- rience and knowledge. They've heard your name, so their first step is to do some due diligence by checking experience, but the client is wondering whether you have what it takes to solve the problem. What evidence is there that you're a thought leader in your field? Have you pub- lished articles and white papers? Do you give speeches, particularly keynote addresses? Are you staying current with publishing technology in order to spread your ideas through new tools such as electronic books, slide shows, videos, and audio podcasts? If your LinkedIn profile doesn't show evidence of your subject-matter expertise, a potential client might just go on to the next name on the prospect list. Maybe you think of LinkedIn as primarily an online resumé. But the site is rapidly emerging as a vehicle for demonstrating expertise and thought leadership through content that a legal professional has developed. These days, the technology is readily available to produce white papers, a regular newsletter or a blog. If you want to develop your reputation in a specific area of knowl- edge, developing content that demonstrates your un- derstanding of your subject and how it affects clients is becoming essential. Why must your LinkedIn profile show you in the best possible light? Your profile is oſten the first result that comes up if someone types your name into Google. So let' LinkedIn profile. Consider a lawyer I'll call Noella. She wants to be s scroll through what should be on a thought leader's known for helping mining companies comply with en- vironmental regulations. Let' that appears right below her name. Any really signifi- cant piece of content she' LinkedIn offers 120 characters, so use them. At the same time, Noella' tributed to, and other evidence of thought leadership in her field. In addition, Noella should frequently renew the up- her accomplishments, including professional papers and articles she' s written, books she's authored or con- date section near the top of her profile. Here, Noella could place a link to the latest entry in her blog, articles she' written, or mentions of speeches she's given. summary box near the top of their profile, they can insert links to up to three web sites. If they click on "other, s Many LinkedIn users might not be aware that in their " they u SPEAKER'S CORNER BY MICHAEL WARREN For Law Times W national arena have on the customer rela- tionship management and business devel- opment strategies of Canadian law firms? In an increasingly competitive and in- hat effects will the recent and proposed changes in legislation and market dy- namics in the global and changes in marketing communications and privacy legislation are already making us re-examine the way we communicate. Offering the recipients of our com- s start with Noella's headline s developed should appear here. s summary should mention can insert custom wording that invites actions such as sub- scribing to their blog or following them on Twitter. Noella can also add a dedicated section on her pro- file for her publications. If she authors a new article, for example, she should mention it in her updates but she should also note it in publications. The reason is that the update will change when Noella shares newer infor- mation, but the publications section will still carry the mention and thereby continue to add evidence of her credibility. The reading list section is another way to show thought leadership. Staying current on developments is important in maintaining professional currency, and embedding Amazon' easy to display the covers of recently read books. Noella can show further thought leadership by writing thought- ful reviews of any relevant books she' s LinkedIn application into your profile makes it tional way to boost your profile. A standalone slide show is an increasingly popular way to provide information on a narrow, focused topic, particularly one that lends itself to graphic representation. SlideShare's integration with LinkedIn offers an addi- s read. LT Carl Friesen is principal of Global Reach Communica- tions Inc., which helps professional services firms show thought leadership by publishing their ideas. He can be reached at showyourexpertise.com or carl@ showyourexpertise.com. Keep eye on business development principles as legal landscape changes in order to help them achieve their goals. Repeated studies in the professional ternationalized global market, only one thing is really certain: change. Only those firms that can respond to change will sur- vive. But as attitudes, laws, and technol- ogy move on, do we need to completely reinvent the wheel or should we be relying more on the principles of good business development and client communication? Just because technology allowed us to bomb our clients with information, does this really give us the right to do so? Sure- ly, it makes much more sense to provide clients with information they ask for in the manner that suits them best. Furthermore, as more international firms look with interest at securing strong foundations in the North American mar- ket by merging with Canadian firms, what impact might this have on existing client relationships? And how will firms rise to the significant cultural and technical chal- lenges of combining mature client lists, business development processes, and cus- tomer relationship management systems? Given the changing landscape, it' ful to examine a few of the global and na- tional developments affecting the Canadi- an legal sector to see if we're embarking on a business development journey in which all bets are off and nothing we previously relied on can help us now. One of the big challenges is the fed- s use- eral anti-spam legislation, something that some believe represents the end of the road for flexible marketing communica- tions. Of course, we live in an era in which legislation and client expectations are put- ting increasing constraints on marketers' ability to communicate at will with large numbers of people. At the same time, the munications an opportunity to opt out of receiving them will no longer be enough. Instead, we must have a robust and pro- active strategy for soliciting their consent on a regular basis and for implementing systems and processes to ensure that all staff members understand the letter and the spirit of the law. Of course, providing our clients and contacts with the opportunity to manage their own communication preferences is in itself nothing new. The point of the legislation, in addition to harmonizing our laws with places like Australia and the European Union that already have similar directives in place, is to make the point that it' their expectations and what it delivers. Surely, engaging in meaningful dialogue rather than a marketing monologue is just an extension of this concept. But what about the impact of law firm s ability to narrow the gap between services market have found that the No. 1 reason why clients stay with their adviser is the firm' our clients the victims of our success. From a business development per- mergers on client relationship manage- ment? With the recent arrival of the Nor- ton Rose Group in Canada through its merger with Ogilvy Renault LLP, there has been on lot of attention on whether the move is likely to be the start of a trend or a flash in the pan aimed at satisfying the firm' s well-reported global ambitions. My suspicion is that it's more likely to be the trol and not the sender. But has this not always been the case? s the recipient who's now firmly in con- While the recipients may not have had the law on their side to prevent senders from engaging in unsolicited communication with them, they surely already had the power to vote with their feet by simply ig- noring the messages they received. The issue for law firms was that while the capital and operational costs of send- ing unsolicited e-mail communications were just a fraction of those of sending hard-copy messages, the negative impact on the brand was far more immediate and long term. Too many firms adopted the at- titude that clients must want to hear what they have to say without really checking to find out if this was true. For me, the anti-spam act and other legislative efforts like it offer marketers an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the core principles of good client communication. By this, I'm not sim- ply referring to the memoranda, news- letters, and legislative updates sent out by marketing departments. I'm talking about picking up the phone and talking to clients, engaging with them to under- stand their business concerns and chal- lenges, and then matching the services former. If you take a look at the rumours pages of any of the international legal pub- lications, you'll see that firms around the world are jostling for their position as the power shiſts in the global economy. Ru- mours suggest Herbert Smith LLP, for ex- ample, is in talks with Freehills to increase its presence in the pan-Pacific market. But while mergers offer a great oppor- tunity to expand into new markets and territories, there are huge systemic, cul- tural, and process issues to overcome, not to mention the impact new owners might have on client relationships. In a market that thrives on both local client knowledge and international referrals, what effect might merging with a global giant have on a Canadian firm? Will international firms still refer work to the Canadian arm of a major global firm as opposed to an independent Canadian specialist? Will all clients see this as a wonderful opportunity to expand the relationship with their pro- fessional adviser to new jurisdictions or will they view it as further evidence of the relentless wave of global corporatization? Going back to the issue of narrowing the spective, one of the key challenges aris- ing from the merger of firms is bringing together different business development and customer relationship management systems and processes. Having worked on the merger of customer relationship man- agement systems for Hogan Lovells, these challenges are something I understand well. In a nutshell, the issue is that dur- ing the first few months, you have two of everything. As cost savings are oſten a key factor behind the merger, the reality is that two will definitely become one over time. However, as with the proposed anti- spam legislation, uncertain times should actually mean we rely on core client rela- tionship principles more rather than less. When it comes to the customer relationship management system, it really is a question of being really clear about what it is you' trying to achieve and keeping it simple at the same time. I think the critical point when it comes re managing the huge complexities of firm mergers is that the board will have other things to worry about. The last thing the board is going to be thinking about is how the business development department will rise to the challenges of managing client- facing systems and processes. But in many respects, it' portant things to get right. So when it comes to preparation for s actually one of the most im- mergers, is there anything you can do? In times of uncertainty, of one the things you can be sure of is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As a result, picking up the phone and talking to clients remains a key strategy. LT gap between expectations and delivery, all of us have no doubt had first-hand experi- ence as consumers of the inverse relation- ship between customer service and busi- ness size. We need to be careful not to make www.lawtimesnews.com Michael Warren is a customer relationship management, business development, and data strategy professional. His firm, Stanton Allen, specializes in assisting professional ser- vices firms to define, implement, and succeed with practical strategies that support their wider business development and growth ob- jectives. He can be reached at michael.war- ren@stantonallen.co.uk. PAGE 7

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