It’s a simple question. It should have a simple answer, right?
If only.
When I ask lawyers to tell me what they do every time a new client walks through the door of their law firm they stumble and struggle to provide a clear answer.
And I get it. It’s like muscle memory. It’s not something you ever really think about – until you’re pushed to.
But let me tell you – you need to be pushed to think about this.
It’s essential to building a firm that doesn’t rely on you. A law firm that gives you freedom, in every sense of the word – financial freedom and personal life freedom. A firm that can be scaled.
How does understanding what you do with your clients result in a 7-figure firm?
To own a law firm that will earn you 7-figures and give you freedom then you need to build your firm in a way that enables scale.
Imagine if you tried to scale everything you do in a traditional firm. It seems like a logistical nightmare. And it would be.
But if you focus on developing your valuable legal expertise and experience into a product, you’ll be on your way to scaling your law firm.
Understanding your process with clients is a key step towards building that scalable firm because it’ll help you fill the package that is going to be your online legal solution.
So what lawyers have fabulous processes?
When you first start thinking about how you interact and work with clients, it can be helpful to understand what savvy lawyers that are thriving online are doing.
So I want to share five hot principles the savvy lawyers we work follow to help as many clients as possible, as quickly as possible (aka at scale).
1. Savvy lawyers understand their ideal clients
If you’ve heard me talk about scaling your law firm before, chances are you’ve heard me talk about niching in on your ideal client.
So I’ll keep this brief. It’s beyond key. By focusing on one type of client you can focus on establishing the one process you typically follow with this type of client.
All of a sudden scale starts to feel achievable.
And that’s because it is.
When you focus on your ideal client you’ll be in a position to make a model, you’ll be able to design an online signature legal solution and you’ll be able to leverage automation.
2. Savvy lawyers know their moments of truth
By having your ideal client, you can then start to establish your moments of truth. What is a moment of truth? It’s the key points your clients experience when dealing with your law firm – in these interactions, your clients either fall in love with your firm or turn away and leave.
Let’s say your client comes to your law firm for a sales and purchase agreement. They want you to help them purchase their first home. The service is flawless, the messaging on the website was fabulous and the delivery of the legal service was at lightning speed. But the moment of truth comes at the exact moment the client becomes a new homeowner. At this point, the client either enjoys the moment and falls in love with your law firm or decides that your service wasn’t worth it and leaves forever.
Your clients either have moments of pain or moments of glory. You’re aiming to always deliver moments of glory – that’s when your law firm exceeds expectations. And, by identifying potential moments of pain you can set up systems to avoid or lessen the impact of potentially negative interactions.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you look for your moments of truth:
- What do clients value about what you do for them?
- What questions are your clients always asking you to do?
- What do clients thank you for?
- What do clients give negative feedback about?
By knowing these interactions (or touchpoints) that can result in glory or pain you start to build out your clients’ journey which will help you establish your process with clients. Think of their journey as a roadmap detailing how a client becomes aware of your brand, their interactions with your firm – and beyond.
3. Savvy lawyers focus on providing solutions, not explaining the law
Here’s the cold hard truth – your clients don’t give two shits about the law. It can seem shocking to lawyers but it’s true.
What your clients really care about is themselves. They have a problem and they want you to solve it.
Maybe that problem looks like the couple who want to buy their first home but don’t know-how.
They’re definitely not thinking about the law.
They’re thinking about what their life will be like once they’ve navigated the hurdles in front of them and they’re proud homeowners.
If you want to scale then you need to start connecting with your clients and speaking directly to them in their language about how you can help them with a solution to their problems.
When you start doing this not only will your moments of glory increase but you’ll find it far easier to market and sell your service. It’ll start to sell itself.
4. Savvy lawyers understand that what they do every day isn’t unique
We all like to feel special – and lawyers are no different when it comes to how they think about their work.
Maybe you like to think that what you do at your firm is unique – and your IP is. But every single lawyer has repetition in the process surrounding how they work with a client.
Savvy lawyers, use their understanding of their client’s journey to identify their process and find the repetition in their work. Then you can go out and automate these tasks to free up your time to work on the areas that are unique to you.
Sameness is rife in the legal industry. If you take the repetitive tasks off the table you can actually spend time on the work that will allow you to grow your reputation as a provider of unparalleled and unique service.
5. Savvy lawyers know their model
A model is how you create an online legal solution that is truly unique and differentiates you from your competitors. It distils your genius into a system that serves and sells.
A lot of clients actually don’t know what lawyers do, by putting your brilliance into a model (or framework) you’re going to be able to easily explain what it is you do and how you’re going to get results.
It creates clarity for everything you do in your law firm.
If you don’t have this right – it doesn’t matter how amazing your marketing is or how talented your team are – you won’t find scalable success. You need this.
It takes all the gold in your client processes matches it with your ideal clients, focuses on amplifying your moments of glory and leveraging your clients moments of pain to deliver incredible results time and time again. It’s a bulletproof system for building a badass legal empire.
Helping lawyers build their model is my superpower. If you’re an entrepreneurial lawyer and you want to work with me to make your model you can through my programme Scale Up.
Or tell me in the comments about what hot principle is most important for your law firm?
P.S.
Want to work with me to find your strengths and work with them to grow your law firm to 7-figures? Schedule a Strategy Session with my team. We will get on a call for 45 minutes and craft a step-by-step game plan for your firm, including:
- Identify your current situation in regards to the economic uncertainty
- Uncover the #1 thing holding you and your law firm back
- Develop a 3-step Action Plan that will get you results ASAP
P.P.S
If you’re keen to learn more about scaling your law firm with online legal solutions, head over to our new Savvy Lawyers Facebook group. Join me and a community of entrepreneurial lawyers talking about how you can use online legal solutions to make money while you sleep.
