Are you making these seven mistakes in your law practice? Stop it now! To have a successful law practice, one needs to know the ins and outs of the industry so they can decipher what works best and what doesn’t for their practice.
Things you should avoid doing in your law firm.
When it comes to establishing and developing a firm, there are seven common mistakes made by those in control.
Not outsourcing or delegating the “busy work. ”If you think about it, “busy work” is there for one reason: to keep us busy.
It doesn’t mean we are actually doing anything productive with our time and while some administrative tasks need to be done, it may be best that these tasks be accomplished by someone else.
If you have bookkeeping, website maintenance, or even document drafting it will help more to delegate it rather than you not focusing on growing your practice.
Marketing without a clear plan.
When you proceed with something blindly, it means you really don’t have any idea what can be achieved. You might have an end goal but without a plan, it’s delusional to think that end goal is possible. Having a plan in place means you know the avenue to take and grow from it.
Being too broad with your practice areas.
The small firm attorney needs to pay careful attention not only to their area of legal expertise, but also their “vertical market” focus.
This “vertical market” focus allows us to specify who we want to target as our potential clientele.
The more we narrow our focus, the better chance we have in establishing who we want to serve. Having too broad of a focus only goes so far and can be compared to trying a wide array of cheeses when trying to pick your favorite. You can only hope to find a favorite.
Failing to Automate Marketing.
Small firms get busy over time and that is just the reality of it all. Without continuous marketing, one could lose out on potential revenue. By setting up marketing systems that can be executed automatically, the attorney’s marketing message continues to reach prospective clients even when the attorney is too busy to do it on his or her own.
Weak follow-up with leads and referral sources.
Weak follow-ups with leads and referral sources are never a good thing because it ultimately makes you look bad. Looking bad because of weak follow-ups will negatively affect your image over time because it can look like you don’t care about the time invested into the relationship.
Failing to anticipate the small firm income plateau.
It starts with not turning work around fast enough which gradually begins to limit your income potential. For the lawyer trapped in feast-or-famine economics, it’s hard to commit to the steady payroll of a paralegal or associate. Eventually, a small firm will need extra hands, whether it is for administrative tasks or more legal expertise. The question is never going to be “if you’ll need staffers,” it’s going to be “when you’ll need staffers.”
Approaching the business without passion.
Having passion for the profession is ultimately the most important thing when it comes to a career, including law.
You can force yourself to do it, but the energy behind it will fizzle because passion is what truly keeps you going, even when times are tough. Having passion ensures you put everything into what you do and that you do not go about it lazily.
It is always best to check yourself before you wreck yourself, and knowing and understanding these common mistakes will help you to better build a successful firm.
