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workflows

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

The Goldbergs: The Real Trick is to Uncomplicate Your Marketing

A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly-complicated chain reaction program, kind of like the one in the opening sequence of ‘Back to the Future’.

A lot of law firm marketing programs look just like that: half-formed marketing strategies, untested hypotheses, unknown results.  When it comes to marketing their practices, most law firm owners rely almost exclusively on referral marketing, and just hope that it keeps working.  Literally everything else is left up to chance.

Maybe a Rube Goldberg Machine is the kinder, gentler way to describe it.  But, it’s more like they’re throwing shit against the wall, to see what sticks.

And, you can bet your ass that those overly-complicated marketing programs you’ve designed, aren’t particularly inviting to your potential clients, either – who have to wade through the morass.  Legal consumers, like all consumers in the convenience economy, most highly prize engagement and speed above all else.

So, as 2022 draws to a close, and if your law firm marketing program seems less like a program, and more like a mess, you can still take some small steps to launching something better in 2023.  But, it will require you to be thoughtful about what you’re doing, and to get granular about the processes you build, as you try to place yourself in the shoes of your clients.

It’s possible to generate an effective marketing plan that features helpful automations; you just have to put the time in . . . and put away the duct tape.

(As it turns out, everything is not fixable with duct tape.)

Technology, Marketing

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 3: Managing Workflows

Law firm workflows should be automated, to the extent possible.

Softwares for managing workflows are prevalent – so, options abound.  But, lawyers often equate the notion of ‘high-touch’ service (which they also highly value) to in-person communications.  However, the fact of the matter is that you can be ‘high-touch’ without personally engaging a legal consumer – including via the use of followup messages, and by providing quick turnaround on action items.

I mean, think about it: What’s the better customer experience?  Your client waiting for your phone call or a series of email messages to schedule an appointment – or, scheduling via an automated calendar application.  It’s pretty clearly the latter.  Speedy and efficient reactions may not be ‘high-touch’ interactions, as law firms often designate them – but, those interactions are ‘high-value’ transactions.

So, when you’re implementing workflows, determine which interactions actually require a person; but, don’t add people when you don’t have to – because people cost more than software.

In an intake workflow, for example, you may only need an in-person interaction to determine whether a potential conflict exists, or for an initial consultation.  Everything else (initial intake, qualification, signing, payment – as well as followups for same) can (and should) be automated.

The less you (personally) have to do in any given workflow, the more time you have to generate new high-value clients, or work on the high-value work from the clients you already have.

Automations opens you up to opportunities.

Messaging, Marketing, Technology

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 2: Launching Workflows

The most important thing you can do to implement law firm workflows is to get buy-in.

Ideally, you don’t want to just drop a new workflow on your staff, and be like: good luck, y’all.  That would be a terrible idea.  But, one that law firms often engage anyway.

So, in the best-case scenario, you take those steps we went over last time, to manually generate workflows, and you build that out in conjunction with your staff.  That should be a team effort, because everyone has something to contribute, based on the specific interactions they have with your law firm leads, and clients.  If you do that, you remove the element of surprise, which can be devastating for the launch of a new initiative.  That’s why most law firm change management efforts are stillborn.

But, from there, it should remain a team effort.  Implementing the workflows should involve everyone.  Folks need to know what will be automated, and where they need to step in.  Everyone should have an understanding of the tools needed – electronic (software-based), and others.  Everyone should have an intimate idea of their responsibilities, but will also be aware of the entirety of the workflow.

Now, process management does not end there.  Law firms should continue to iterate on workflows, to ensure that they are high-performing – in the same way you would manage your staff.  Because, in the end, workflows just need to work.  So, keep an open line of communication as to suggestions for improvements to workflows that staff can spot.  And, continue to review your workflows on a regular basis, at least annually.  You can also use data analytics, which are more and more prevalent in legal software these days, to test the viability of your workflows in the real world.

Technology, Marketing, Messaging

If You Build It, They Will Convert – Part 1: Workflow Design

Most law firms I talk to want law firm processes in a box.

The devastating news is, that those don’t exist.

While processes and workflows are extremely valuable for all businesses, including law firms – building them can be challenging.  But, the effort is well worth it, if you can maintain those processes as part of your law firm structure.

So, there is a trick here; and, it’s pretty easy.  There’s a two-step method to building effective workflows.  That’s it: just two things.  And, the secret sauce is as follows:

-First, map out the entire workflow – on a piece of paper, in a workflow management tool, wherever.  Just build the map, so it can be followed, by others.

-Second, get super granular.  Be as specific as possible about each item in the workflow, including asking questions about consumer behavior.  What would leads do/require in each case?  For example, how many followups are necessary for the fulfillment of a workflow task, and via which communication method?  And, who should be the task owner, and why?  At which point does the full workflow complete, and why?  And, that may be a different answer for a lead (lost leads) versus a client, where a certain result must happen, eg – the filling of a motion in court.

Ask those picky questions, and build a map, to design really effective workflows.

Technology, Marketing

And, Then: Do Each of Your Cases Have a Next Task?

Law firms are busy managing lots of cases.  And, it’s easy for a handful of them to get lost in the shuffle, to fall through the cracks.

And, that’s when attorneys get into trouble.  And, not just ethics trouble.  A missed deadline or submission is a huge problem, obviously; but, it’s also not great that your cases are just languishing.

Law firms that stagnate are caused by cases that don’t move.  And, there’s a significant penalty for that type of thing = you can’t make money on cases that don’t close.

This is why it’s hyper-important for law firms to make sure that each cases gains forward momentum.

How do you do that?

Well, it’s pretty simple: there just needs to be a next step, or a next task, on each case, at all times.

That’s one of the reasons why law firms that focus on workflows, with tasks attached to specific timekeepers, are so successful.

That process keeps thing moving.

Want to get unstuck?  Do the next thing.