Skip to content
Law Society of Scotland
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
  • For members

    • For members

    • CPD & Training

    • Membership and fees

    • Rules and guidance

    • Regulation and compliance

    • Journal

    • Business support

    • Career growth

    • Member benefits

    • Professional support

    • Lawscot Wellbeing

    • Lawscot Sustainability

  • News and events

    • News and events

    • Law Society news

    • Blogs & opinions

    • CPD & Training

    • Events

  • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying as a Scottish solicitor

    • Career support and advice

    • Our work with schools

    • Lawscot Foundation

    • Funding your education

    • Social mobility

  • Research and policy

    • Research and policy

    • Research

    • Influencing the law and policy

    • Equality and diversity

    • Our international work

    • Legal Services Review

    • Meet the Policy team

  • For the public

    • For the public

    • What solicitors can do for you

    • Making a complaint

    • Client protection

    • Find a Solicitor

    • Frequently asked questions

    • Your Scottish solicitor

  • About us

    • About us

    • Contact us

    • Who we are

    • Our strategy, reports and plans

    • Help and advice

    • Our standards

    • Work with us

    • Our logo and branding

    • Equality and diversity

Journal logo
  • PRACTICE

    PRACTICE

    • Practice

    • Corporate law

    • Criminal law

    • Employment law

    • Environment law

    • Family law

    • Industry updates

    • Intellectual property

    • Property law

    • Technology law

    • Technology and innovation

    • Practice

    • Corporate law

    • Criminal law

    • Employment law

    • Environment law

    • Family law

    • Industry updates

    • Intellectual property

    • Property law

    • Technology law

    • Technology and innovation

  • PEOPLE

    PEOPLE

    • People

    • Equality, diversity & inclusion

    • Ethics & professional responsibility

    • Obituaries

    • Wellbeing & support

    • Noticeboard

    • People

    • Equality, diversity & inclusion

    • Ethics & professional responsibility

    • Obituaries

    • Wellbeing & support

    • Noticeboard

  • CAREERS

    CAREERS

    • Careers

    • Job board

    • Leadership

    • Management

    • Skills

    • Training & education

    • Careers

    • Job board

    • Leadership

    • Management

    • Skills

    • Training & education

  • KNOWLEDGE BANK

    KNOWLEDGE BANK

    • Knowledge Bank

    • Book club

    • Interviews

    • Sponsored content

    • Knowledge Bank

    • Book club

    • Interviews

    • Sponsored content

  • ABOUT THE JOURNAL

    ABOUT THE JOURNAL

    • About the Journal

    • Contact us

    • Journal Editorial Advisory Board

    • Newsletter sign-up

    • About the Journal

    • Contact us

    • Journal Editorial Advisory Board

    • Newsletter sign-up

Are you a networking novice or ninja?

5th February 2024
Let’s reframe the word networking

Reluctant and unconfident – two networking personality types that I meet on a regular basis.

The reluctant networkers typically fall into two camps; they’ve either heard horror stories about boring men in suits, or pushy salespeople shoving business cards at them, or they’ve had a poor personal experience.

The unconfident networkers find walking into a room of strangers intimidating, or they worry about which networking event to attend.

I heard all this feedback through interviews I completed with business owners across the UK, when I asked them about networking for their business.

If you identify as either of these personality types I urge you to take a new look at networking, and that starts with reframing the word. Networking is connecting and building relationships, whether that’s on a one-to-one basis, or in a group environment. There are no rules that say to be an effective networker you must attend a networking meeting every week with at least thirty people in the room all pitching their businesses and vying for your attention. In my opinion, the best relationships are built when you first get to know someone over a coffee, and you find a topic that you can bond over.

If you are ready to start building relationships and flexing your networking muscle, I would recommend starting with these five steps.
  1. Identify which business categories are connected to your ideal clients. These are the people and businesses to build strong relationships with over time and, when you’re ready, to refer clients to each other. Yes, refer to each other – it should be a two-way exchange for the relationship to work. Your ideal client in a networking situation might be a potential or prospective client, but it might also be others in the profession who work in different areas to you, or in complimentary areas.
  2. Create a shortlist of businesses that you’d like to find out more about and start to build a relationship with, including the name of the people that you’d like to connect with. If you are looking for two personal or business connections, I’d start with a list of six, and scale up from there. You won’t resonate with every person/business you meet. Remember it is about building a relationship for the long term.
  3. Start by asking connections in your phone book if they are connected to your shortlist. Getting a warm introduction from a friend, family member or personal connection is an easy way to secure a first meet-up. Ask colleagues and those you have met at other events if they have useful connections as well. A cold outreach is likely to remain unread or deleted in a busy email inbox or LinkedIn page.
  4. Identify if and where the connections are networking. Are you able to see from their business or personal profiles the networking events that they are attending on a regular basis? Could you go along to the meeting, introduce yourself, and let the person know that you’ve come along to meet them specifically? Just think how special that would make the person feel.
  5. If you can’t find any reference to them currently networking, it is time for you to find networking groups to visit. At these groups, go armed with the connections you are looking to be introduced to. Depending on the style of the meeting, you may get an opportunity to pitch your business for 30-60 seconds and ask if anyone is connected to the name on your list. Don’t forget though that seminars, webinars, social events and conferences are all great places to network as well. Maybe they’re attended by people who work in similar areas of law to you, or completely different ones. Maybe they aren’t legal professionals at all, but people who might need legal services. You can network anywhere; it does not have to be a ‘formal’ networking event.

These five steps work whether you are a regular networker or just getting started. If you’d like to find out what networking personality type you are then take this quiz https://networkingpersonality.scoreapp.com.

You’ll then get tips and ideas on how to harness the power of networking for your business.

Finding and connecting with a business is one step in building your networking muscle. Planning your approach and setting some clear objectives from the meeting is key. You won’t be passing business from just one meeting, but sharing information and securing a follow-up meeting that you’re both happy to progress with is a great start.

So, are you ready to start building relationships?

Written by Vicky Labinger

 

 

About the author
Add To Favorites

Additional

https://www.clio.com/uk/?utm_medium=bar_partner&utm_source=law-society-scotland&utm_campaign=law-society-scotland-q2
https://www.evelyn.com/people/keith-burdon/
https://lawware.co.uk
https://www.findersinternational.co.uk/our-services/private-client/?utm_campaign=Scotland-Law-society-Journal-online&utm_medium=MPU&utm_source=The-Journal
https://yourcashier.co.uk/
https://www.lawscotjobs.co.uk/client/frasia-wright-associates-92.htm

Related Articles

Behind the scenes at Legal Taskmaster and the schooling of future Scottish solicitors

19th May 2025
Primary children from Edinburgh and Dundee were put to the test by legal taskmasters in the fun-filled Scottish final of...

Meet Ben Kemp — new Law Society of Scotland CEO appointed at 'pivotal moment'

14th May 2025
The newly-appointed chief executive officer of the Law Society of Scotland says the legal profession has reached a "pivotal moment"...

Why you need to organise your law firm's data more effectively — and how to do it

12th May 2025
Why does it help to classify your legal work, experience, knowledge and other information in a law firm, asks Graeme...

Journal issues archive

Find all previous editions of the Journal here.

Issues about Journal issues archive
Law Society of Scotland
Atria One, 144 Morrison Street
Edinburgh
EH3 8EX
If you’re looking for a solicitor, visit FindaSolicitor.scot
T: +44(0) 131 226 7411
E: lawscot@lawscot.org.uk
About us
  • Contact us
  • Who we are
  • Strategy reports plans
  • Help and advice
  • Our standards
  • Work with us
Useful links
  • Find a Solicitor
  • Sign in
  • CPD & Training
  • Rules and guidance
  • Website terms and conditions
Law Society of Scotland | © 2025
Made by Gecko Agency Limited