If you want to grow your law firm, you need more than sharp legal skills and knowledge of your practice area – you need to know things like firm development, digital and off-line marketing, band law firm accounting, Unfortunately, most attorneys areas are too busy practicing law to even attempt to do any of these things, so that’s where a law firm development consultant can make all the difference.
A law firm development consultant can not only relieve you of these time-draining tasks, but help you be more efficient, better organized, and more client focused. Law firm development consultants will help fine tune your firm’s brand identity, simplify your day-to-day tasks, and help you increase your bottom line .
If you are looking to bring your law firm management skills up to speed, but are too busy or need some information on how to improve your basic skills, the experienced and highly sought after law firm consultants at Lawyers Marketing Associates, Inc. (LMA) will help. We will examine the individual needs of your firm and come up with specific and personalized recommendations to help take it to the next level – or, we can do the heavy lifting for you. We can implement all of the recommended firm development tools alongside your legal team, while you do what you do best, practice law.
Contact us today at (919) 637-9144 and we’ll start creating a custom plan to grow your law firm that is designed just for you and focused on your bottom line.
Five Ways a Consultant Can Help Grow Your Law Firm
Do you ever feel like you are weak or not up to par in a particular area of your law firm’s management or development? Do you feel like you don’t have a clue where to turn for help? The most important thing to understand is that you are not alone. All you have to do is ask for help – a law firm development consultant is the answer. You may not like the word “consultant”, most of us lawyers don’t. But if you quickly realize that just like lawyers are “Counselors at Law”, “Consultants – Consult” – they give advice and make recommendations based upon experience and knowledge. In our case at LMA, that is years of experience as a lawyer, working as an in-house marketing director for a medium sized law firm and then ultimately owning my own law firm development firm for the past 12 years.
If you’re having trouble seeing, you go see an ophthalmologist, if you’re experiencing migraines you go see a neurologist, so if you’re having trouble growing your law firm, you go see a law firm development consultant who can analyze your firm (and usually you). Look for your strengths and weaknesses and help you hire the person(s), purchase the software, make the marketing decisions, help develop your budget, help set-up a strategic plan (which would include a prioritization and timeline for implementation of projects set out to achieve the goals) and maybe even assist in implementing some or all of these things for a period of time.
Law firm development consultants can be a huge asset to any firm at any time during its lifetime. The key to a successful relationship between a law firm development consultant and a law firm is knowing why you need them and using them specifically for that reason. Here are some possible reasons law firms hire law firm development consultants
1. Shaping up your online presence
Like it or not, this is the digital age, and if you are one of the many law firms that have been slow to have an aggressive and strategic online presence, you are losing out to the competition. Fortunately, even if you have little time to develop an online marketing campaign, a consultant can do it for you. Consultants can help by:
- Shaping up your website to make a great first impression. Whether potential clients have come to your site through a referral or by searching your specialty, you want them to be impressed enough to keep reading and make that initial contact call. Your website needs to be easy to read, and it should show your firm in a positive, welcoming, informative, and professional light.
- Increasing the chances your website will be found. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices are changing but are still the way many potential clients will find you. You need to have lots of relevant topics and information on your site that will be picked up in a search. In addition, since so many people are conducting searches on mobile devices, your site must be mobile-optimized.
- Helping you create quality content with prominent calls to action. Your content should be informative and simple enough for the average person to read and understand. Develop calls to action – making a call, clicking on a link, filling out an online form, or signing up for an event – and make it easy to do.
- Developing a social media strategy. Use of social media among law firms is growing, so you need to have a social media strategy that reflects your business goals and helps you stand out from the crowd.
2. Shaping up your client retention ability
It’s great to get new clients, but you want to have them return to you in the future and recommend you to others. A consultant can increase your client retention by developing essential business practices that include:
- Making sure you are easy to reach. You must be available when clients need you, and there are technologies that can help. Make sure there are multiple ways to get hold of you by using cell phones, email, social media, contact forms on your website, and online booking systems.
- Staying in touch with clients, even after their case concludes. Send emails and improve your social media skills to post relevant and original content so you are on their mind should a need or question arise.
3. Developing a business plan and policies
A consultant can help you develop:
- A business plan that allows for growth, taking into account things like your personal style and how big you’d like to be, and your mission for your firm and how to accomplish it
- Office policies that work for all levels of employees
- Organizational procedures and systems, including time management
- Scheduling systems for appointments, workflow, client management, and court filings and appearances.
4. Developing accounting and money-management systems
How are you collecting your money and keeping track of expenditures? Consultants can help with:
- Acquiring and setting up the correct legal software for billing and accounting with payment history and invoice-sending capabilities
- Developing systems for payments, collecting accounts receivable, and fiscal management
- Developing a budget
- Finding the right accountant and financial planner.
5. Learning self-improvement skills
A consultant can steer you toward areas for personal growth and improvement that benefit you, your staff, your clients, and your business. Do you need to take continuing education classes, read books on business or your legal field, or join professional groups? Perhaps you need to introduce meditation, yoga or other relaxation techniques to keep stressors from becoming overwhelming. Self-improvement should be ongoing and consistent.
Get Help Growing Your Successful Law Firm
While growing your law firm takes time, effort, and money, hiring a law firm development consultant to get you on the right track can pay off exponentially. The experienced legal consultants at Lawyers Marketing Associates, Inc. (LMA) are available to discuss your firm’s business situation, listen to your needs, answer your questions, and show you how we can help you grow your law firm. We take the burden off you by providing customized solutions to your law firm’s business problems and focusing in on the areas of greatest need.
Once you have the proper organizational structure in place, you will find that your law firm will run more smoothly and efficiently so you can concentrate on developing the crucial client relationships and intricate case arguments that will ultimately help your firm grow.
It may seem like adding more work to your already busy schedule. And it may feel like just one too many things to do. However, if you’re not actively working to grow, you’re falling behind your competitors. While it’s important to understand the steps you can take to increase your revenue, it’s even more important to understand that you don’t have to do all of the work. Our experienced law firm consultants are available to help you. Call your experienced team at Lawyers Marketing Associates today and we’ll help get you moving in the right direction. (919) 637-9144. Remember – there’s no time like today to start growing your firm!