Note: This is an AI generated article courtesy of Goldcast
In a recent insightful webinar titled "Walk the Walk: Earning Trust with Your Internal and External Clients", experts from the legal industry shared dynamic dialogues filled with perceptive opinions and experiences. The speakers, Raya Blakeley Glover, Global Head of Business Development at Bird & Bird, and Adam Severson from Baker Donelson, unveiled the secrets on how to build trust and credibility in the legal industry. Here, we will highlight five key takeaways from the webinar summarized into actionable steps for business development professionals within the legal industry.
1. Understanding is the First Step to Trust
In any client-advisor relationship in the legal field, trust plays a paramount role. According to Raya, to gain trust, it’s essential for all professionals to grasp a thorough understanding of the legal profession. She argues for a deep understanding of what your firm is selling, underlying that it improves credibility and, eventually, trust. Adam echoes her sentiments, emphasizing how understanding the practice of law and the legal firm's offerings can help build the quintessential trust with both internal and external clients.
2. Value Addition and Intellectual Curiosity
The speakers stress the significance of adding value and intellectual curiosity in their roles. Quotes from the webinar like "Understanding what your firm is selling is really important.” and "Intellectual curiosity and really trying to get under the skin of those areas of business." highlight the importance of continual learning. According to the speakers, being curious, inquiring, and deciphering the commercial context of a target are pivotal to supporting lawyers and offering valuable insights.
3. Importance of Networking and Relationships
Both Raya and Adam emphasize the role of relationships, particularly alumni relationships, for successful business development. They argue that networking and maintaining connections with influencers, former colleagues, and potential clients can result in new leads and opportunities. With platforms like LinkedIn, building, cultivating, and maintaining these relationships has become easier than ever before.
4. Trust and The 'Say Do Gap'
Significantly, our speakers discussed the 'say-do gap', essentially the alignment between what one promises to do and what they actually deliver. According to Adam, a professional's credibility greatly depends on this alignment or gap. Raya adds that effective communication is crucial in managing expectations and closing the 'say-do gap'. Owning up and learning from past mistakes, rather than blaming, also plays a crucial role in sustained trust building.
5. Getting to Know Your Clients and Teams
The final takeaway from the webinar is to be an active listener and ask meaningful questions to understand your clients or team's preferences and expectations better. Both speakers deem it essential to understand what excites the team, how they like to be recognized, and how they envision their development. Such deep connections are quite crucial when starting a new team or firm.
Overall, building trust within the legal profession hinges on understanding and adding value, forging powerful relationships, managing the 'say-do gap', and getting to know your clients better. These impressive professionals offer up a road map for those in the legal profession, providing key advice to build trust with clients and peers alike.
Ultimately 'Walk the Walk: Earning Trust with Your Internal and External Clients' is more than just a webinar title - it is a philosophy every professional should aspire to live by. As Raya beautifully quotes at the end, "BD and MBD having an understanding of that commercial context and being able to show some of that value is another way to really earn that credibility", reminding us all to keep walking the walk.
