Every lawyer knows that strong and trusting relationships are fundamental to successful business development and career advancement. When you provide a great client experience or added value through outstanding client service, you build strong relationships. When you provide advice, support or service that surpasses the care required in a service relationship, you form strong relationships of trust and friendship. Knowing the “who”, together with using the practical “how’s”, will allow you to build the strong relationships you need to succeed.

Who

Very simply, your target audience as a lawyer are those individuals who provide you with work. Thus your target audience depends upon your career stage and workplace. In the early years of law, regardless of the type of legal organization, your clients are typically the lawyers with whom you work. As an associate in private practice, building and deepening relationships with senior lawyers is equally important, if not more important, than developing relationships with clients. If you work in government or as in-house corporate counsel, your target audience of senior colleagues, department managers, senior vice-presidents, executives or directors may remain the same throughout your career. In private practice, the target audience is more dynamic, and often shifts from senior partners to external clients as you advance.

How

How do you go about building a strong and trusting relationship with others? One that goes past service and evolves into one of trust? Here are some suggestions for having the right mind-set, as well as practical actions that increase the chance of evolving your current and future relationships into trusted relationships.

The important mindset for building strong and trusting relationships is based on: knowing your target audience, understanding their perspective, and helping them to achieve success. This will enable you to be seen as a partner and perhaps friend; definitely more than just a service provider. This mindset is important whether working with clients in private practice, working with executives and directors in corporations, or working with senior managers, lawyers and colleagues in government. Here are some specific suggestions for building solid relationships.

Know Them

• Learn their needs, interests, hobbies, what they like, what they dislike, successes and struggles.
• Use the Platinum Perspective and not just the Golden Rule. The Platinum Perspective is based on what your client wants (do unto others as they want you to) while the Golden Rule is based on what you want (do unto others as you would have them do unto you).
• When doing work for them, know what they want, appreciate when and how they like updates, understand the form of work product desired (draft or final form) and, where possible, get it done before the deadline.
• Remember and acknowledge milestones such as birthdays, births, work anniversaries and promotions. This is a wonderful way to enrich and deepen the relationship.

Make Them Look Good

• Don’t just be responsive to them — anticipate problems and issues.
• Be generous — compliment them, use reciprocity, pay it forward.
• Find ways to help them look good to their superiors.

Provide a Superior Service Experience

• Be responsive.
• Know their expectations.
• Provide outstanding service.
• Remember that it is their perspective that is important.

Get Interested in Your Client’s Business

• Watch for information about your clients in the news. The next time you speak, mention it — it shows you are interested.
• Know what your clients do, and provide topical media articles.
• Regularly review client websites for updates and new directions.
• Purchase and use your clients’ products — and let them know you do and how you enjoy them.
• Ask them about what challenges they face.
• Invite them to present a seminar on their business.
• If you entertain them, do you know what they like? What is their taste? Sports events, opera, theatre, museums? (Also, don’t automatically assume they want you to go with them to events.) Find and create alternatives to sports-related events, such as attending a dinner event, comedy night or networking event, volunteering together (Habitat for Humanity is a great one), or learning something like cooking or arranging flowers. Think creatively and have fun!

Shift from a Money Focus to a Client Focus

• Don’t charge to learn about their business.
• Help train, share forms and answer simple questions without billing time.
• Provide advice without always charging for it.
• Provide memos or newsletters on current legal issues.

Strong and trusting relationships with those providing you with work are fundamental to successful business development and career advancement for lawyers. By providing superior client experiences, understanding their perspective, knowing their needs, and making them look good, you can turn common service relationships into strong and trusting ones. The kind that are solid enough to withstand the test of time. If you would like more details about this topic, please see my book Advance Your Legal Career: Essential Skills for Success.