The rainmakers that we know, the real successful ones, are actively involved in the organizations of their clients and referral sources. Organizational involvement is absolutely one of the most important places to prospect new clients.
The key to being involved in organizations is picking the right ones. Lots of lawyers are involved in organizations, but the organizations are not well targeted, so they spend a lot of time there and end up not getting any rainmaking benefits out of it. You need to really think about which trade or community organizations would be highly heavily populated with prospects, and make sure there’s a high percentage of members—maybe fifty percent—who would be good targets before you consider it worthwhile to join.
What Kinds of Organizations to Join
For solo practitioners, economic development organizations in their community or sometimes chambers of commerce could be well populated with prospects. The Rotary might be a good organization, or the local hospital board of governors. There are many wonderful opportunities to get involved, and there are networking organizations designed to bring people together and introduce them to each other.
For corporate lawyers, there are business trade organizations for every kind of industry. And if you cater to an industry that doesn’t have a trade organization, the smartest thing you can do is form an organization to accommodate the gathering of those people because that would create something very valuable to you.
Of course, the easiest way to find an organization to join is to ask your existing clients what organizations they belong to.
For more tips, check out our “Rainmaking Essentials” webinar.