Building your Professional Profile: How to Enhance your Career and Win Business

By Rebecca Harding

This Special Report will show you how to build a stronger public, professional profile in order to attract opportunities, enhance career progression and win new business. At the end of the report, you will have put together your own practical, personal profile plan and will be able put it into action.

With so much information available about professionals online, it is essential to actively manage your own profile and not leave it to chance. Most lawyers do not manage their professional reputations and so there is clear opportunity, for those who do, to become much better known, enhance their career progression and win business through strong reputation and new opportunities. However, with all the information clutter out there, how do you stand out in the market place?

This report will address:
•Why it helps to have a strong professional profile;
•Why people choose to work with you and what influences their decisions;
•How you present yourself and build your personal brand;
•What psychological tools you can use to build your network;
•How to enhance your public credibility;
•Practical activities to raise your profile; and
•How to avoid damaging mistakes.

Building your Professional Profile will help any lawyer seeking to build a professional profile to win work and open up more business opportunities. It will also be of value to lawyers wishing to progress their career, whether by becoming a partner, gaining promotion or moving firms. Those wanting to build credibility in the marketplace, or with clients and colleagues, will also find it beneficial.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Globe Law and Business
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781787423558

Rebecca Harding

Rebecca Harding is the CEO of Equant Analytics. She was formerly chief economist at the British Bankers‘ Association and a senior fellow at London Business School.

Book preview

Building Your Professional Profile

How to Enhance Your Career and Win Business

Author

Rebecca Harding

Managing director

Sian O’Neill

Building Your Professional Profile: How to Enhance Your Career and Win Business is published by

Globe Law and Business Ltd

3 Mylor Close

Horsell

Woking

Surrey GU21 4DD

United Kingdom

Tel: [phone]

www.globelawandbusiness.com

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd.

Building Your Professional Profile: How to Enhance Your Career and Win Business

ISBN 9781787423541

EPUB ISBN 9781787423558

Adobe PDF ISBN 9781787423565

Mobi ISBN 9781787423572

© 2021 Globe Law and Business Ltd except where otherwise indicated.

The right of Rebecca Harding to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 5th Floor, Shackleton House, 4 Battle Bridge Lane, London SE1 2HX, United Kingdom (www.cla.co.uk, email: [e-mail]). Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

DISCLAIMER

This publication is intended as a general guide only. The information and opinions which it contains are not intended to be a comprehensive study, or to provide legal or financial advice, and should not be treated as a substitute for legal advice concerning particular situations. Legal advice should always be sought before taking any action based on the information provided. The publishers bear no responsibility for any errors or omissions contained herein.

Table of contents

I. Introduction

1. Why do we need to take control of our professional profile?

2. How will this Special Report help me?

II. Your personal brand

1. Getting started

2. What does this mean for us?

III. How do people choose their professionals?

1. The power of digital developments

2. You cannot afford not to engage online

IV. You are the business

1. Seeing yourself as a brand

2. Promoting your profile

3. Consolidating your thoughts

V. What do you want to achieve?

1. Identify your objectives

2. Case studies: Alice and Matt

VI. Who do you want to reach?

1. Identify your audience

2. Think about your area of focus

VII. Who are you?

1. Your USP

2. Tone

3. Key messages

VIII. Your approach

1. How do you interact with others?

2. Friends first, business second

3. Tapping into the emotional decision-making process

IX. On the couch: some useful psychology

1. Association

2. Reciprocity

X. Where to be seen

1. Choosing your channels

2. Getting the most impact from your channels

XI. Tactics

1. Social media

2. Your own profile

3. Titles

4. Testimonials

5. Awards

6. Building up followers

7. Putting a post together

8. Social media policy

XII. Seize the day

1. If you don’t ask, you don’t get

2. Make the most of your personal and professional networks

XIII. Ensuring that you are at the forefront

1. Think like a leader

2. Tactics for developing your ideas

3. How can you ensure that your ideas stand out?

XIV. Pick up your pen

1. The power of the written word

2. Avoiding common pitfalls

XV. Time to speak up

1. Face your fears

2. Maximising opportunities

XVI. Productise yourself

1. Turning your ideas into products

2. Your internal profile

3. Be committed

XVII. Put together your plan

1. Choose your layout

2. How to make it work for you

3. Establish a routine

XVIII. And finally…

1. So, what have we discovered?

2. Get going!

Notes

About the author

About Globe Law and Business

I. Introduction

1. Why do we need to take control of our professional profile?

Every day, we receive information about professionals, companies and organisations and what they can do for us. This information helps us to understand them and form an opinion about their work. We can also easily find out what sort of reputation they have.

With so much information available, it is essential to know what is out there about you. People will no longer engage you simply on the strength of a referral alone; they will look elsewhere to see whether you have a good reputation and whether you seem like the type of person they want to work with.

Taking control of the information that is available about you is an important first step. However, this also presents you with an opportunity to take the next step and actively manage your reputation. Most lawyers are not doing this; so there is a clear opportunity for those who do to become much better known.

However, as we know, there is a huge amount of information clutter out there; so how do we stand out in the marketplace? This is exactly why top businesspeople proactively manage their personal brands. They control messages about themselves clearly, as well as promoting themselves regularly through various media. This works for them, so it can work for you. Building your professional profile can dramatically enhance your career, help you to win work and ensure that you are presented with more career and business opportunities. It opens doors.

The other aspect to bear in mind is that in recent years, opportunities for lunches, events and traditional networking have significantly decreased. The number of clients attending events, for example, had diminished drastically even prior to COVID-19. We therefore need to look at other ways to initiate contact with new people. Fortunately, digital can give us a helping hand here: promoting yourself online can allow you to meet new people and show them who you are. As all professionals know, people buy people. At the end of the day, we are expected to have the technical expertise and know what we are doing as a baseline. Potential clients want to choose a lawyer who they have something in common with and who they feel they can work with. Building your profile and showing them your characteristics will allow you to attract potential clients who can identify with you.

"Potential clients want to choose a lawyer who they