Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
—William Penn
Have you ever heard an attorney complain about having too much spare time? (Other than sarcastically, I mean.) The overworked lawyer has become the accepted stereotype of the profession, to the point that if you’re not too busy, people wonder what you’re doing wrong.
Of course, having a good work ethic is necessary to building a strong business. However, most attorneys I work with actually waste a lot of valuable time with processes that could easily be streamlined and that time could be better used elsewhere. In fact, I’ve identified at least three key processes that you can put on autopilot right now, saving you potentially dozens of hours per week of unnecessary “wheel-spinning.”
- Your Office Workflow
A sloppy workflow system is one of the largest time-wasters of any law firm. If you have employees on your payroll, each position should have a clear job description with little to no overlap among them, along with stated consistent (enforced) procedures. Beyond that, any task done the same way every time can usually be automated, to save even more time and brain power. Coordinate your office workflow into a predictable, manageable system, and the office effectively starts running itself.
- Your Sales and Marketing Process
Does it surprise you to know your sales process could go on autopilot? In fact, any lawyer who doesn’t automate her lead generation/conversion process is spending too much time on marketing instead of serving clients. From automated lead capture to drip campaigns, automated reminder calls and so on, once you have a working strategy, your leads can be led all the way to closing with relatively little effort. You should always be testing and tweaking the process to improve results, but the process itself should be self-propelling.
- Your Accounting System
Here’s a bit of advice: If you don’t have a bookkeeper, hire one. Period. Too many attorneys operating small firms either take too much precious time pouring over their spreadsheets or simply ignoring them—and either approach can be disastrous. If a salaried position is out of the question right now budget-wise, at least outsource it—and automate as many processes as you can within the accounting architecture to help your bookkeeper stay on top of things. You’ll save a lot more money in the long run, and you’ll redeem a lot more time.
If the very thought of putting these processes on autopilot intimidates you, we have a set of proven systems that make it remarkably simple to streamline. For more information, give us a call at (888) 207-2869.
