Time to Review

We are officially over halfway through 2022. One thing is for sure, life is far more normal now than it has been in a while, at least here in Chicago. But what about your law firm? Is it business as "usual"? How are you doing on the goals for the year? Take 20 or 30 minutes out of your day and consider how your firm is doing on reaching your 2022 goals. Didn't make any? Well, now is the time.

Review and Refresh

One thing we can all agree on is over the last few years, a changing world changes our goals. Look back at the goals you set for the year. Do they still make sense? If not, it's a great time to adjust. Perhaps your goal was to increase the speed of resolution for your matters. But you had staff changes or laws were updated that made this goal unattainable. Refine the goal and adjust it for the rest of the year. Remember to keep them reasonable. I liken it to the goal of getting in shape. Some people are able to commit the time and resources to working with a trainer on a regular basis, eat healthy, well-balanced meals, and stick to an overall plan to hit some target. But if you are like most people, life gets in the way. Be sure to set your goals so they are possible to attain. Losing 10 pounds in 6 months? Should be good. Competing in a body building contest in 6 months? Not so much. Keep it realistic.

Be Specific

Hopefully, when you created your goals for 2022, you set specific measurements. Increase the number of new clients to the firm by 5% within 12 months is a good example. And it's easy to track. Simply count the number of new clients to the firm for the current 6 month period (January to June 2022) and compare that to the previous period (July to December 2021). Did the number increase by 5%? Maybe your law firm has some seasonality to it. Pick the right comparison point. Spend the time to track the details and be honest with yourself if you have yet found a successful approach. If not, time to adjust.

Review Your Strategies

Strategies are the things you do to reach those goals. What did you do to increase your new client count? Did one particular effort work better than another? Do you know? It's incredibly important to review the strategies and tactics used and know how each of them did. Perhaps you didn't reach the 5% new clients. Look at the process prior to a lead becoming a client. Did your lead numbers go up? If leads went up but conversion to client didn't see a similar increase, consider looking further at the lead to client process. Track the feedback from leads as to why they chose either not to go forward with their matter or if they chose a different firm. 

Start Fresh

Maybe changes in your firm or in your geographic area limited your ability to reach for those original goals. Or maybe you didn't set any. In any case, now is a great time to start looking ahead. What goals can you set going forward? One easy way to identify potential goals is to think about the top things that keep you up at night. New clients? Streamlining processes? Client satisfaction? You get the idea. Then think about setting a specific goal for one, or maybe two, items. Don't bite off more than you can reasonably achieve. Then consider setting the specifics of the goal.

One Step At A Time

You don't need to set the big goal, the grow the firm by 50%, in the next year goal. Instead, think about the steps in the process. A great first step with that goal is to understand your current growth. The next step may be reviewing your practices to gain new clients. That step may cause you to reassess. At this point you may determine that you need to spend more time addressing your current practices. Give that a timeline, say one month. Then give yourself another month to consider the next step like trying new methods. Just within that step you can break it down even further. Maybe you don't really know yet. Maybe you need to consider external resources, like case management software. That may take a few steps, too. You get the idea. The goals should be attainable and specific. Start fresh. Keep the steps simple and achievable.

There is no magic to following the calendar, either. Maybe your firm is busiest this time of year. Set your own schedule, one that fits for your firm. The key here is to not let it fall to the bottom of the list and ultimately, fall off your list of to-dos. Set aside time on a weekly, or maybe twice a week, basis to see how the current step is going. It won't take a lot of time. But these little steps build up to achieving that big goal. Be sure to track and share your plans to ensure success.