AI Responsibly with ndMAX
You’ve got big goals for growing your business—in fact, most small firms report that it’s a top priority. While there are a variety of strategies you can apply to support those goals, many of them require you to do more if you want to achieve more.
For smaller firms, this can be especially challenging, as Thomson Reuters has repeatedly found that small law firms struggle with internal efficiency and spending too much time on administrative tasks.
As we’ve reviewed the 2020 State of Small Law Firms report, we’ve noticed some interesting patterns between the challenges small firms report and the business development goals they hope to achieve.
Check out our full whitepaper, Find Time for Success: How Law Firms Can Reclaim Time to Focus on Growth
Client relationships and satisfaction are foundational to business development in the legal industry. Attorneys rely heavily on referrals and reviews from existing clients to drive new business—but there are many other effective ways for small firms to enhance their reputation and differentiate themselves from the competition.
That’s right, we’re talking about marketing.
While referrals and reviews are great ways to connect with people who are actively looking for legal services, firms also have the opportunity to distinguish themselves as a trusted name for those who don’t need an attorney … yet.
The power of marketing is to establish your firm as a trusted resource to solve client problems before they ever arise. Then, when they’re finally ready to pursue legal help, they already know exactly where to turn.
But they won’t know any of that unless you tell them… repeatedly.
Unfortunately, a “surprising number” of respondents to Thomson Reuters’ recent survey say their small firm doesn’t have any marketing strategy—even though it’s directly tied to their goal of business development.
And based on the stats, we’re willing to bet that lack of time is a huge factor.
Thomson Reuters found the average attorney in a small firm spends 60% of their time or less practicing law. That means almost half their time is spent on things that aren’t the law, including mundane administrative tasks.
It’s no wonder marketing efforts get neglected—most small firms simply don’t have the bandwidth!
With the right tools and strategies, however, law firms can increase efficiency, reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks, and actually create time to focus on developing the business and attracting new clients.
It’s not that administrative tasks aren’t important—they’re vital to business operations, security, governance, and knowledge management.
But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one doing them. Your time is incredibly valuable, and it should be preserved for the work that only you can do.
Fortunately, there are a number of legal technology solutions that can help you automate low-value tasks and streamline workflows so that you can get more done in less time, and give more of your focus to profitable projects like law firm marketing and business development.
For example, NetDocuments offers tools to help you manage documents and email, leverage previous work, communicate and collaborate effectively with colleagues, and move projects forward faster.
When it comes to implementing new tech, small and mid-sized firms typically have the agility to achieve faster, easier transitions than large firms—which means you can start reaping the benefits even sooner.
In our recent white paper, Find Time for Success: How Law Firms Can Reclaim Time to Focus on Growth, we discuss technology’s role in increasing legal efficiency (and revenue) in depth to help law firms like yours find better solutions and strategies to reach critical goals—and explore new opportunities for business growth. Get your copy today.
