Managing and growing your law firm can be challenging. Brooke Lively, in her recent article for Attorney at Work, identified some common challenges that may halt your firm's growth and solutions to avoid them.
Cash Flow Forecast
A cash flow forecast predicts what to expect will come in and out week by week for the next six through eight weeks. Lively explains that your firm's bookkeeper should prepare a forecast weekly for your review until there is an operating reliable balance of cash.
The S.M.A.R.T Plan
Have you applied the SMART method to your business goals to properly measure them? Reevaluate your goals if you haven’t applied the method already to help accomplish them:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Monitored Marketing
Part of your SMART plan will include marketing goals; however, it’s critical to have a budget and aim for where you are investing your marketing efforts. Do you know how you are tracking the success of your advertisements to know if you receiving a return on investment? Many firms make the mistake of throwing money at random acts without tracking them.
Lively says "Spend on activities that have a specific expected return and measure their actual return on investment to evaluate their effectiveness."
Capacity Planning
As your firm is growing, it becomes more difficult to fully see what is happening in every department and project. It’s easy to lose track and even lose people without a process.
Until you find a solution, your growth will be unstable. Attorney at Work recommends you consider the following:
- You must understand the capacity of each person or team.
- You must know how long each case takes and how much work it requires, in detail.
- And you must know what’s in the pipeline — how much work your marketing will generate — so you can plan for the future.
Advocate Capital may be able to help your firm with its goals. Contact us with any questions you have about our services.
