Build Networking Expertise with Progress to Partner Academy
Our course membership platform is called “Progress to Partner Academy“. We have some great courses to help you to get confident with Business Networking; there are Courses, Guides and Webinar recordings in our content library in our a Business Development Skills hubs, that include Business Development Habit and Referral Networks – just two of 12 areas that are packed full of guidance to support you on the long journey to becoming a partner in your firm.
What is included in Progress to Academy?
There is plenty of free networking advice in our networking pages, available here. But when you join Progress to Partner Academy you will unlock 12-months access to deep, solid advice guidance and resources to help you with your networking skills and your business development skills so that you can build your client portfolio and get noticed by the partners in your firm.
Keep reading to find out which of our 14 Courses will help you with your networking and business development. As well as Courses, you will have access to our content library of webinars, and quick-win videos and guides. You also get access to the other 11 development areas to build the skills you need to be noticed ahead of your peers by your firm. Progress to Partner Academy is a great step to grow and develop your career.
Progress to Partner Academy Premium members will get access to:
- Free 20 minute call with an executive coach to help you get the most out of your membership
- A content library in 12 sections – covering areas including Mindset, Delegation, Referral Networks, Business Development, Business Case and Partner Admissions.
- Over 150 Checklists, Workshop Recordings, Quick Win tips, Templates and Guides are waiting for you in our library pages.
- Game Plan pages to navigate the content according to your needs, including “I need to build a client portfolio”
PLUS!
- Weekly email tips to keep you on track & help you get the most out of your membership
- Access to a private members-only Facebook Group
- Free attendance at our live Workshops AND access to listen again to the recordings in your own time
- Discounted rates for 1:1 coaching with one of our executive coaches.
There’s an art and science to asking (and actually getting) what you want when it comes to networking in professional service firms and it’s not going in guns blazing. Favours require that people know, like and trust you, which takes time.
We are here to help you every step of the way, nobody starts out being good at everything. If you do your networking right, others will sell for you and spread the word about your services, products, or skills.
Included: Networking Self-study courses
Progress to Partner Academy Course: How to go from coffee… to instructions
To progress your career in practice, you need to become someone who can be relied upon to win high-quality work. The easiest way to do that is to generate referrals through your network.
Even if you think you are too junior to spend time growing your network daily, think again. In fact, the earlier you take action in your career to build a network that, in time, will support you in winning business, the easier it will be to win your own work when you get to a manager or senior associate position.
By taking this course, you will be guided through a step-by-step process to generate referrals via your network over time.
Course: How to Create Your Business Development Plan
By taking this course, you will follow a step-by-step process to construct a Business Development Plan that will help you win new business.
Progress to Partner Academy Course: How to Become the Go-To Expert
To progress your career in practice, you need to move from being a great technician into someone who can be relied upon to win good quality work. To do that, you will need to differentiate yourselves from your peers AND the more experienced members of your practice. Not an easy task!
How to Become the Go-To Expert Course gives you a simple jargon-free step-by- step process to be seen as THE expert to call. Work through this course, one module at a time & learn the steps to build your profile, how to grow your reputation, differentiate yourself from the competition and win new business.
How to Become the Go-To Expert Course has 8 modules, with a video (which can be accessed from the workbook) with exercises to complete after each video. By the end of the course you will:
- Have chosen your specialism and know how to market yourself to generate the right type of work for yourself and the firm as a whole
- Have a plan to raise your visibility so you are the first person your network thinks about when they have a good referral for you
- Know exactly what to do to move from coffees to instructions (i.e. how to routinely generate work from your network)
- Have explored the sales process and know what you need to do personally to convert the right leads into sales
- Know how to set your prices so that your profitability increases and your ability to convert clients increases
- Have worked out how you will achieve the demands of your day job and progress your business development plan
Plus: Networking Webinar and Workshop Recordings
Including
How to build a team of introducers who send you a steady stream of work
To be blunt, the relationships in your network are what will be the deciding factor for whether you win work. Referrals are the lifeblood of any senior lawyer, accountant, or consultant who wants to be able to win their own work.
This won’t happen without consistently focusing on keeping your key relationships warm and strong.
How to Become a Rainmaker When You Are Known as a Great Technician
Learn: the crucial mindset shifts you need to make to become known as a rainmaker; how to play to your strengths as a great technician to become a rainmaker; how to grow a strong profile and blow your own trumpet in a way which feels easy and authentic; and how to create a network which will regularly deliver new business.
How to Structure Your Business Development Activity
Plus, a huge library of short Quick Win videos when you want to work on your career but don’t have a huge amount of time, including:
- How to have a good referral network
- How to turn a conversation into business
- How to use LinkedIn to get noticed
- How to earn the right to have a conversation
Included: Networking Guides and Gameplans
- Creating a Networking Plan
- Creating your LinkedIn Profile
- The Reluctant Business Developers Guide to Winning Clients
How to Approach Networking
Depending on the size of your firm and your service line, you will need a strong network across your firm, other offices, and its international network, plus your key client accounts, trade bodies, and sector interests.
Get to know the people working at your level (don’t aim for the Boardroom yet!) because they are likely to be the decision-makers of the future.
Treat everyone as an important client. If you’re seen by your firm’s decision-makers to be making contacts that could lead to business in the future, that will be vital for your reputation.
Progress to Partner Quick Win
Here’s a 4 minute video where I talk about how to start building relationships. It’s part of the Quick Win series Progress to Partner Academy site. Lots of short videos packed with useful information and perfect when you need some help quickly!
