By Liz Russell, Performance Coach, Courageous Co.
Autumn brings renewed energy. Conferences return, drinks receptions fill the diary, and there’s a valuable window between now and the end of the year to reconnect with clients and contacts.
And yet, in my sales and BD coaching work with lawyers globally, I see the same pattern repeatedly: talented, technically brilliant people who find it genuinely hard to be confident and consistent when it comes to networking and connecting with people – an important part of generating new business.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And there is a straightforward way through it.
Start with Consistent Client Connection
It’s essential to stay top of mind with existing and target clients if you want to win new work. That means staying visible, networking, reaching out to contacts and showing up on social media. This is BD in its most everyday form.
But it can be hard. Time is scarce, potential rejection is uncomfortable, fee-earning often feels more urgent, and you can do everything right and see nothing happen for weeks, months or sometimes even years.
BD isn’t linear, so the gap between effort and results can be deflating. That’s why good intentions often fade.
So, how do you get there?
Here’s the reframe I give lawyers of all tenures: BD is an essential professional skill. If you want to win new business, you need to build relationships and stay connected – and your competitors are doing it too.
The sooner you accept that and find your own way of being effective, the easier it becomes to take action. And, often, much of the anxiety starts to disappear.
Here’s how to find your own way of being effective in consistent client connection.
My 3 Drivers for Effective Networking
Before the next event lands in your diary, pause and ground yourself in three things that underpin effective networking and connection.
1. Get to know yourself as a networker
Start by understanding yourself.
- Where are your natural BD strengths?
- Where are you most likely to get derailed?
- What situations give you energy, and which ones make you want to retreat?
One common myth is that extroverts make the best networkers. They don’t, necessarily.
Introverts can be highly effective at BD. They often listen closely, build relationships at a slower pace and create space for other people to talk.
Effective networking isn’t about being the loudest person in the room. It’s about making genuine connections.
The key is to understand your own natural style and work with it, rather than trying to become someone you’re not.
2. Develop a toolkit of effective behaviours
Self-awareness is important, but it only gets you so far. You also need the behaviours that turn intention into action.
I ask clients to rate themselves against four effective networking behaviours:
- Proactive – How good are you at getting out there and finding new ways to connect with people?
- Purposeful – How clear are you about why you’re attending this event or reaching out to this contact, and what do you have to offer?
- Methodical – Do you have a list of contacts, an outreach process and a way to consistently track my activity?
- Empathetic – How well do you connect with other people? Are you genuinely interested in them, their priorities and what matters to them?
Then ask: Which of these do you already do well? And which one, if you dialled it up even slightly, would make the biggest difference?
You don’t need to become brilliant at all four. Often, making one small shift in one area can have a significant impact.
3. Manage your mindset
This is the one people often skip – and it can have the greatest impact on your networking and client outreach.
Pay attention to your self-talk.
Is it:
“They are busy and they won’t want to hear from me.”
This kind of self-talk is limiting before you’ve even started.
Now compare it with:
“If I reach out, I can show them that I’m interested and that I care about what matters to them.”
That is a much more enabling place to start.
The point isn’t to replace every negative thought with unrealistic positivity. It’s to challenge the assumptions that stop you taking action.
The better you understand yourself, your behaviours and your mindset, the more effectively you can connect with people – and the more confident you will become.
5 Top Tips for the Events in Your Diary This Autumn
Once the invitation lands in your inbox, it’s time to turn that understanding into action. These five practical habits can make the difference between an event that feels like wasted time and one that genuinely moves things forward.
1. Plan
Set your purpose ahead of time.
Know why you’re attending and what you want to achieve. That might be to meet three new contacts, reconnect with a specific client or get an introduction to someone in a particular sector.
A clear purpose gives you something to focus on and takes some of the uncertainty out of walking into the room.
2. Gamify it
Give yourself a simple, achievable target.
“I’m going to speak to five new people tonight” is a much more energising goal than “I’m going to network well.”
Make the objective about something you can control: the number of people you speak to, the conversations you start or the connections you make.
3. Manage your expectations – and take the pressure off
You’re not there to win work on the night.
Winning work is a downstream consequence of building strong relationships over time.
Your job is to deliver on your networking plan: meet people, have impactful conversations, stay visible and, where appropriate, get the next conversation in the diary.
Take the pressure off yourself to produce an immediate result.
Think relationship, not transaction.
4. Ring-fence enough time
Give yourself enough time to plan and prepare beforehand – and, importantly, enough time afterwards to follow up properly.
Don’t send a generic “great to meet you” message. Make the follow-up relevant to the conversation you had and, where possible, agree when you’ll be in touch again.
The follow-up is often where the real value of networking begins.
5. Review and repeat
After the event, take a few minutes to reflect. What worked? What didn’t? Which conversations were most useful? What would you do differently next time?
Then go again – consistency matters more than having one brilliant networking evening.
Keep It Simple. Don’t Overthink It.
Once you’ve built the habit, the next networking event gets easier, not harder.
Confidence in BD isn’t a personality trait that some lawyers are simply born with. It’s built through behaviours, practice and experience.
The aim isn’t to become a different person. It’s to understand your own strengths, develop the behaviours that work for you and adopt a mindset that makes taking action easier. That may feel like a stretch, but BD is about becoming more comfortable with the uncomfortable – having the courage to take action even when it doesn’t come naturally. What that stretch looks like will be different for everyone.
Do this well and consistent networking stops being a chore squeezed in around fee-earning. It becomes a natural – and potentially enjoyable – part of how you work.
And over time, those consistent connections can turn into stronger relationships, greater visibility and, ultimately, new business.
You don’t need to become a natural networker. You just need to find your own style – and be consistent.
About the Author
Liz Russell is a BD Performance Coach at Courageous Co. She has spent 25 years building BD confidence and capability across the legal sector, leading BD teams in both the UK and Asia.
At Courageous Co., Liz brings real-world BD experience into her coaching, helping Partners and Associates step outside their comfort zones while understanding the barriers that can hold them back. Her approach is practical, jargon-free and focused on building the confident, relationship-led and consultative sales skills that genuinely deliver.
If your firm is looking to build this kind of BD confidence across its Partners and Associates, Courageous Co. designs and delivers coaching and training programmes tailored to legal teams. Get in touch to find out more – I’d love to hear from you.
About the Author
Liz Russell is a BD Performance Coach at Courageous Co. She has spent 25 years building BD confidence and capability across the legal sector, leading BD teams in both the UK and Asia. Get in touch with Liz to find out more at liz.russell@courageous-co.com
