THE QUESTION.

AuthorHirsch, Stewart
PositionASK THE AUTHORITIES

"I'm having difficulty convincing my lawyers to network with accountants and financial advisers who work with executives. The lawyers say they rarely get solid referrals. We know other professionals have referrals to give--what are our lawyers missing?"

Jeff Margolin

Your lawyers are missing the point of the oldest axiom about marketing: "Half of all money spent on marketing is wasted; the problem is, no one knows which half." Your challenge is to get your lawyers to adjust their thinking away from immediate leads and toward developing a diversity of strong personal and professional bonds that lead to long-term relationships. With those relationships comes high-quality opportunities and work that is delivered efficiently and economically.

As environmental consultants, we work with Fortune 100 and 500 clients to address a wide variety of issues. We work closely with company executives, inside counsel, financial advisers and other decision makers, and we grow these relationships while providing expert advice and services. Our clients look to us for referrals within and outside of the environmental arena, and we've found that our relationships with people outside the environmental arena often lead to excellent project opportunities.

Successful relationships are built over time and on multiple levels of interaction. Limiting your networking means limiting your network, and there's no percentage in doing that. Long-term sustainability requires diversity and that extends to the "who's" and what's" of relationships.

Jeff Margolin is the managing principal of ENVIRON's Southeast Region, has more than 25 years of experience in environmental consulting, including risk assessment and management, site remediation and litigation support. Co-authored with Ryan Slakman, senior manager, ENVIRON, Atlanta.

Leonard N. DiCicco

Accountants have clients (usually many) and others in their networks who have matters that require legal assistance. They don't always have counsel to do the job or may even require a specialist. We are eager to get the right lawyers involved, both as a service to our clients and in the hope of receiving referrals in return.

Developing your network is important. Proving your professional competence, personality and fit is the easy part. However, developing trusted relationships takes time, patience and persistence. Unfortunately, it's usually the missing critical piece if you are not getting meaningful referrals from accountants...

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