Between attorney fatigue and successfully securing new clients while ensuring your existing cases are meeting their personal and professional expectations, the top challenges facing small law firms revolve around their everyday operations.
So, how do you create a balance between growth and client satisfaction?
Start by delegating administrative tasks, outsourcing brand awareness, and creating a dedicated client service culture that will enhance your referrals and provide organic marketing opportunities that offset the stress and challenges that stifle your firm’s purpose: Producing results for your clients.
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Identify Time Spent On Administrative Tasks & Delegate Accordingly
Identifying your law firm’s unique challenges is one of the most important aspects of realizing success.
Earlier this month, we talked about law firm business strategies (Link to first October 2019 blog post), and reported findings from recent legal trends that state lawyers spend:
- 29% of each workday on billable time
- 33% of each workday on finding new business
- 38% of each workday on administrative tasks
With not even a third of the workday spent on billable tasks, increasing revenue can become a larger challenge as attorneys continue to focus on the office’s details. In turn, without the fewer hours dedicated to increasing revenue, the firm’s overall success can be in jeopardy.
While there is no easy fix, as relinquishing control of each of the non-lawyer details of your firm can be complicated — and stressful — it is possible to slowly delegate the office duties to an assistant or even a third-party.
Consider hiring an assistant, if you do not have one already. Be sure you have time to train this person to understand your firm’s mission and values, so their communication with clients is handled to meet — or even exceed — your (and your clients’) expectations.
This person can handle day-to-day communications, prioritizing your schedule, billing, and bookkeeping, evaluating incoming mail and electronic correspondences, and even your social media and online presence to add value to your marketing objectives.
When hiring a new staff member is not an option, outsourcing administrative tasks can help free up your time, including:
- Employing a bookkeeper
- Utilizing a professional messaging service, when you are unable to take calls directly
- Research connections with virtual assistants
- Partnering with an experienced marketing company to increase new client contact and conversions
Outsourcing Brand Awareness To Outpace The Competition
The legal landscape is highly competitive, and with increased competition comes difficulty in acquiring new clients.
Potential clients are bouncing from attorney websites and online personas to decide which firm they would like to use for their legal needs. That means it is increasingly important that your law firm stands out from the other attorneys in your area to effectively reach and convert new clients in cases that produce revenue.
Partnering with professionals who specialize in attorney marketing allows your firm to hand off important tasks that will increase your online visibility through:
- Website design and development
- Search engine optimization
- PPC and highly targeted advertising
- Content creation that solves immediate needs, like FAQs and easy access to legal resources
- Focused blogging services to share in newsletters or on social media
- Review and online reputation management
There are many ways to spread brand awareness, and lawyers who dedicate time to each of these necessary marketing tactics are only taking more time away from focusing on their clients’ needs inside and outside the courtroom.
Secure New Business & Maintain Existing Client Relationships
With Dedicated Communication Efforts
Creating a dedicated client service culture is more critical than it has ever been to your law firm’s success.
When clients are unhappy with their legal services, they talk about it online and in public. Social media, review websites, and even word of mouth can place negative attention squarely on your firm’s search engine results when someone is looking for your services.
Why does that matter?
Research reports that:
- 91% of consumers read online reviews before choosing a service provider, which includes attorneys
- 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as, or more than, a personal recommendation
While you cannot directly control what people say about your law firm, you can minimize any potential negative feedback by ensuring there is a dedicated approach to your firm’s communication efforts.
Whether you are a solo practitioner or a partner in a small law firm, there must be a dedicated procedure for receiving and responding to incoming contact from your website forms, phone calls, text messages, and emails, so each person who is seeking legal help feels valued.
Technology can help bridge the gap where client contact and case information formerly fell through, including Customer Relationship Management software that allows you to see each form of contact, and the background of each conversation, so you are always up to speed with your client’s needs.
After all, it impossible to know whether the phone call you are returning is a once-in-a-lifetime case without effectively fielding the initial contact.
Spend More Time On Billable Services:
Partner With Proven Attorney Marketing Professionals
At the Attorney Marketing Network, our staff provides expert advice, resources, and services that allow lawyers around the country to spend more time on billable services and less time on seeking a new business that leads to increased revenue.
If you are ready to establish an ongoing approach to achieving marketing success, contact us to learn more about our personalized attorney-focused services that can boost your ranking and increase traffic that leads to case conversions.
