Resources

Red Cave Law Firm Consulting's Technology Blog Series (from CEO Jared D. Correia, Esq.)

2024 Quarter 4

December 23, 2024: The Right Profile: Claiming Directory Profiles Is a Web Presence Win

For referral-heavy businesses like law firms, there needs to be a focus on a very narrow version of a web presence.

Since most potential referrals will trust but verify the recommendations of their referrers (your referral sources), it’s imperative that when a potential referral Googles you, that they like what they see.  What shows up in Google search, when a legal consumer searches your name or your business name, is usually three main things: your website + website pages, your social media profiles and your directory profiles.

Directory profiles are basically business listings, for law firms or individual attorneys.  These are places like Avvo or FindLaw.  And, some attorneys even utilize non-legal specific business listing services, like Thumbtack or Yelp.  Many of these services allow you to claim a free profile – which you should do, because that will allow you to add some further content to your page, like a headshot, business hours, practice concentration, etc.  And, in some cases, you may opt to upgrade to a paid profile, or create a paid profile, for highly-ranking directory profile pages.

So, how do you know where to start?

Well, this one’s pretty simple.  Go into ‘incognito mode’ on your browser (so your prior search history doesn’t effect your current search), and search for your name and your business name, and see which profiles rank the highest.  Start at the top, and go down from there, optimizing each one.

December 18, 2024: Sales Motion: Charging for Initial Consultations Is Easier Than Ever Before

If you’re charging for initial consultations, as many law firms do, and there are still multiple steps (including manual steps) involved in that process, you can potentially tighten things up, significantly.

At this point in time, there are a number of ways for your law firm to allow leads to schedule and pay for consultations, in one motion.  For one thing, case management softwares now often include CRM-style applications or features, making it more likely than ever before that you can allow your leads to schedule a consultation time via the scheduling program, and then make a payment via the proprietary payment system, that lots of law practice management softwares have developed.  Failing that, this may be done via integrations for scheduling, and payments + applied through the case management software’s existing workflow tool.  And, standalone CRM products are beginning to function in exactly the same way, while also featuring additional integrations to case management software.  Meanwhile, popular standalone scheduling tools, like Calendly and Acuity, are affiliated with payment providers, that can allow paid consults to be one-stop shopping for your leads – even if you don’t use a case management software, or a CRM.

So, if you want to get paid for your consulting time (which you should), it’s easier than ever to capture that value.

. . .

If you’re still figuring out your intake posture, let’s talk.

December 15, 2024: If Your Workflows Don't Terminate, You'll be at a Loss

There are at least two types of people who can’t abide loose ends: mob bosses and lawyers.  Focusing on the latter, much of an attorney’s job is the movement toward tying things up, and putting a bow on them. 

Now, over the course of the last few years, especially, there has been a lot of talk about the importance of workflows in law firms.  And, it’s true: process is vital to managing a law firm + it’s still something of a competitive advantage for the lawyers who use it, as against those who don’t.  But, like all good things, every workflow must come to an end.

If it doesn’t, you’ve got a problem: you have a loose end.

Think, for a moment, about all the ways that an incomplete workflow could leave you unfulfilled.

-If you don’t close an intake loop, no one ever becomes a ‘lost lead’ – so, you’re wasting time following up for eternity, without ever placing that person into a drip campaign.

-If you don’t have an additional process for closing a file, you may be leaving data adrift, and missing a marketing opportunity.

-If you can’t close one phase, or are unaware that a phase has completed (eg – document collection), you won’t be able to move onto the next one (eg – drafting).

After all, you need a finish line, to complete the race.

December 14, 2024: Produce Department: 3 Ways to Track Staff Performance

Many law firms default to using subjective methods to define staff performance – which, frankly, isn’t good for anybody.  Your employees have no idea how they’re being judged, since there is no objective criteria in place; and, you’re kind of winging it, too, as an owner or managing partner, which makes it almost impossible to justify anything you do.

There are, however, ways to measure the performance of your staff, and those effectively break down across three categories: (1) Efficiency; (2) Proficiency; (3) Profitability.

In determining efficiency, you basically want to know how quickly your staff get through their work projects, and how much billable time your billers log in any given day.  To track the latter, you can utilize a metric like utilization rate -- which measure the billable time an attorney or staffperson records each day as a percentage of their total work time, eg: a 25% utilization rate works out to 2 billed hours in an 8-hour day.  To track the former, you can measure project completion time and/or ‘phase time’ (which indicates how quickly one moves from one stage of a project or case, to the next).  Both are valuable metrics in their own right.  And, by adding efficiency, your goal is simply to accommodate more work, which will necessarily increase your revenue.

In determining proficiency, you’re looking to measure how effective your staff is at their various jobs.  So, you can grade their work product on recurring basis, and build a metric off of that.  For example, for associate attorneys, you can grade 10 assignments each year on a scale of 1-10, or A-F, and use those results as part of a performance review.

In determining profitability, you’re seeking to judge how much your employee makes versus how much you pay them + how much it costs to retain them.  So, you’re simply calculating revenue generated, and subtracting the carrying costs for the employee, including salary and bonuses.

Congratulations – now, you have three, broad objective methods you can use to track and review employee performance.