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Keep Your Networks Humming With Repetition and “Pinging”

Let’s face it.

Attorneys have very little time do anything else besides practice what they do best – advocating their clients’ interests.

But when it comes to building and maintaining relationships, a little time is all it takes to keep your NETWORKS HUMMING.

Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz, authors of Never Eat Alone, recommend “pinging”.

Pinging, they say, is a quick casual greeting that can be done in a number of different ways – from a phone call to an e-mail.

The hardest part, however, is not the pinging itself – but rather establishing a relationship. Relationship building takes EFFORT and REPETITION.

According to Ferrazzi and Raz, here’s why:

• People you’re contacting to create a new relationship need to see or hear your name in at least three modes of communication – e-mail, phone call, and a face-to-face encounter – before there is real recognition.
• Once you gain early recognition, you need to nurture the relationship with a phone call or e-mail at least once a month.
• If you want to transform a contact into a friend, you need a minimum of two face-to-face meetings outside the office.
• Maintaining a secondary relationship requires at least two to three pings – or casual greetings – a year.

While the above rules of thumb should help establish a network base, it’s also important to identify who is a CONTACT, COLLEAGE, or FRIEND within that base.

The following ratings system, also developed by Ferrazzi and Raz, will not only help you identify the people in your network, it will dictate how you reach out and stay in touch.

First, divide your network into five categories:

• Personal – good friends and social acquaintances.
• Clients – people who have hired you for representation.
• Prospects – potential clients or business associates.
• Important business associates – people who you are actively involved with professionally.
• Aspirational contacts – people you’d like to get to know, or who you’ve met briefly and would like to establish a better relationship with.

Next, once your network has been segmented and categorized, start pinging – or sending out casual greetings – based on importance.

Obviously, you will contact personal contacts and clients organically. But prospects, important business associates, and aspirational contacts are people you’ll have to SOLIDIFY A RELATIONSHIP with – therefore you’ll want to reach out to them, either by phone or e-mail, at least once a month.

Your pings can be as simple as “Hey, I was in the area and just called to say hi.” Or, you can add something of value, like recognizing in a card when someone has made partner.

These small tokens convey that you are thinking of them.

Adapted from: Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets To Success, One Relationship At A Time