How To Manage A Small Law Firm – Table of Contents Rethink your pricing and payment models Hire the right people in the right roles to improve productivity Focus on continuously improving the customer experience Learn how to better manage a company small law by handling your company’s finances Cloud-based law Practice management software Grow your client base with cloud-based customer acquisition tools Grow your personal brand and strong law firm Manage your small law firm effectively Are you ready to effectively manage your small law firm Helpful resources for law firms
If you are wondering how to effectively manage a small law firm, you are not alone. Managing a small firm poses unique challenges for legal professionals compared with large law firms, where much of the day-to-day work is performed by administrative staff. In many small firms, these administrative tasks fall into the roles of attorneys and assistants. Take time from customer work paying bills and going straight to “executives, chefs and bottle washers.”
How To Manage A Small Law Firm
Managing a small law firm looks very different after the events of 2020 than it did in previous years. There are unique challenges in managing almost every aspect of a company, from employee authorization and oversight to changing law firm processes and client relationships. Your company must be extremely agile and adaptable to implement changes and keep up with the latest trends and developments in the industry – to ensure that your legal practice does not fall behind.
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In this blog post, we’ll cover how to effectively manage a small law firm by focusing on the key aspects of your company: HR, customer experience, finance, technology and brand. We’ll also have tips on how to manage your team to set yourself and your team up for success.
When considering managing a small law firm, it’s important to go back to the basics and reevaluate your pricing and payment models. According to the Legal Trends Report 2020, clients are concerned about affordability. Specifically, 78% of consumers say lawyers should adopt pricing and/or payment models that make legal services more affordable. But lawyers need to look at the issue of affordability from many different angles. “Affordable” means full value. It’s about the value your customers feel they get for the price they paid. How many times have you happily paid knowing you’re getting stellar customer service? Also, how many times have you been underpaid and satisfied with the results?
For example, for many years, my eye doctor was also my contact lens supplier. While I know I can get them cheaper at big box stores, I also know that I always have great service and value my relationship with my eye doctor. Over the years, he has helped me in various invaluable ways. When my ophthalmologist retired and I went to a new appointment at a larger company, the customer service was second to none – I couldn’t get anyone to call back to place my order! I lost motivation to continue with a new supplier, I went to a big box store.
Lowering the price or lowering the price is a short-term solution. It’s often a tough race to the bottom, especially with larger law firms working against larger resources and profit margins. This could be a condition that your customers always expect or ask for a discount. Just think: Do you ever go to Bed Bath & Beyond without a 20% off coupon? This strategy can easily devalue your work – in the eyes of your customers.
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To quote Seth Godin, a renowned author, speaker, pricing and marketing expert, and recent keynote speaker at the 2020 conference: “Because your customers care about price, you wouldn’t give them anything else to care about. Also, his talk about the tyranny of low prices. The blog article clearly talks about the cost of rebates. Worse, you could be second.
Payment plans, flat fee payment structures, subscription-based services, and non-team legal services apply not only to your small law firm but also to your clients:
Learn more about best practices for invoicing a law firm, valuing your law firm, running a membership-based law practice, and providing a full suite of legal services .
In a small law firm, one employee can have a huge impact on your company. Surprisingly, small businesses often make the mistake of hiring poorly trained receptionists and staff. In my 20 years of consulting law firms, it’s not uncommon for an employee to answer the phone unfriendly and ask someone to call back instead of texting. These are not just office keepers but should be called the “Directors of First Impressions”. Having employees who not only share your business vision but also make it a reality on a daily basis is crucial to the success of your business.
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Delegating administrative and non-invoicing tasks is also essential to making the most of your most limited resource — time. When attorneys and solicitors can focus on their clients’ work with less distractions and interruptions, they can be more efficient, productive, and profitable.
Another way to improve productivity is to ask your employees to specialize in specific tasks and areas of work. In small law firms, it is common for an employee to have an office manager, payments coordinator, attorney, and sometimes a receptionist. This is understandable with small numbers of people. However, external receptionists, front desk (or virtual front desk) and staff who specialize in specific tasks can often do their jobs more efficiently and sometimes at a lower cost.
As the Legal Trends 2020 Report shows, clients want to be able to interact with their attorneys online. With rapid changes in the legal, economic, and healthcare landscape in 2020, the entire customer experience is moving to a cloud-based online environment. 68% of legal professionals say technology has helped their companies deliver a better customer experience during the pandemic.
Clients interact with law firms and attorneys online through multiple touchpoints – through a clear and engaging initial website review, easy client onboarding process, digital signatures of financial documents, and more. data or go online to a customer portal with key information relevant to their case. When customers can access the information they need easily and with less friction, they have a more positive experience.
The Small Firm Billing Problem
According to the same report, 65% of consumers prefer to pay by electronic payment method. Giving your clients more digital ways to pay for legal services reduces friction by making it easier for them to pay. When your business sends an invoice, is there a clear and easy way to pay? Both small and large businesses have inadvertently added friction to their checkout processes, and then wondered why their cash flow was inconsistent.
Company A sends an invoice, including a paper credit card authorization form that must be filled out and returned (or called back). This results in delays of days (if not weeks) in payments.
Business B offers to pay by credit card in person or by phone. However, they do not provide a link to their credit card processor on their email bill or how to pay through their website. At the time of checkout, they created a “flag to impact” for a flurry of calls from people wanting to pay their bills by credit card. Sure, there are delays because customers can’t call after business hours or on weekends (if the bill is sent on a Friday night). Employees must take time off from work with customers so that administrative work can be handled without interruption and at the convenience of the customer.
For those two businesses, automating this process will have a direct and immediate positive impact on their cash flow.
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Ideally, customers shouldn’t be surprised by the payment process or the amount on their bill. Failure to pay attention to these issues can lead to failed jobs and unhappy customers – both of which can be disastrous for a small business.
Typically, law firms will charge a custodial fee and do not provide an invoice until the custodian is in use. The results shock their clients as they are unaware of the cost of the legal services provided up to now. While working with an attorney recently, they said that the client was disappointed with the amount of the bill. Whether it’s due to the length of time since their last invoice or the amount of work completed, if you think a customer will be surprised with the bill, be sure to let them know to improve the experience. of cutomer.
When managing a small law firm, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your firm’s finances. Law schools are known for training lawyers who only know the law on how to manage their firms – especially the finances of their law firm. In spite of
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