Business owners always ask what I recommend for managing my personal attorney outsourcing projects and file-sharing/ collaboration with my virtual team.

And while there are a number of programs out there that “centralize” your workspace for everyone on the team, I personally like (and use) Central Desktop.

The main reason I like Central Desktop as a shared workspace  for attorney outsourcing is their turn-key set up process.  You don’t need to be an IT or tech guru to get started and it’s equally brainless for the rest of the team to catch on.

I’ve actually pulled some of the features right off their website so you can scan the benefits of  Central Desktop for yourself:

“Quick Set up—No Learning Curve”

Central Desktop was created for business teams, not the IT department.

• No Technical Knowledge or Programming Experience Required
• Setup Workspaces in Minutes, not Months
•  Choose From Templates To Jumpstart Your Project or Intranet
• Familiar Word Processor Like Toolbar (WYSIWYG Editor)
• Encourage the Entire Team To Contribute
• Achieve High Adoption Rates
• Data At Your Fingertips
• Search A Single Repository for Files & Documents
•  Full Text & Document Search     
• Searchable Conversation Threads
• Search Across Multiple Workspaces Simultaneously
• Access Workspaces From Anywhere (Office, On The Road, Home)
• Real-Time Collaboration
• Web Meetings & Audio Conferencing
• Single Sign-On Access
• Collaborate with Customers, Partners, Vendors – In Real-Time
• Encourage Ad-Hoc Team Collaboration
• Share Screens, Remote Presentations
• Integrated Free Audio Conferencing
• Outlook Calendar Integration
• Online Docs & Spreadsheets
• Track Revision History and Document Versions
• Store online docs & spreadsheets in a secure, password protected workspace environment
• Create, edit and share online spreadsheets in *real-time*
• Import and export online spreadsheets to and from Microsoft Excel
• Create more than 30 types of charts (bar charts, pie charts, etc.)
• Access more than 500 formulas and functions

As you can see by the features listed on their site, Central Desktop really is a great way to keep your team using one workspace for the ultimate in collaboration and productivity.

I encourage you to go to their site and take a free tour if you aren’t convinced of the benefits of using a shared work space with your team.

But if you’re ready to take your virtual team or small business to the next level, click here to be re-directed to Central Desktop’s sign up page.

I can honestly say it’s a necessary tool for any business—especially those that work virtually.

Photo Credit: Blakespot

Online Business Manager and law firm marketing expert, Laura Lee Sparks, is one of the most authoritative and well respected voices on attorney outsourcing, legal marketing and being a virtual assistant for lawyers on the web.  Her advice and legal marketing campaigns have helped lawyers reach and surpass the million-dollar mark in their businesses numerous times thanks to her straight-forward advice and ability to make legal marketing principles easy to understand and implement.  For further information on lawyer outsourcing programs or to contact Laura Lee directly, please email help@legalmarketingmaven.com

What does legal marketing mean to you? 

Is it buying a full-page spread in a glossy, high profile magazine?

Maybe it’s starting a blog and hoping someone, somewhere will come and read your posts?

Whatever “legal marketing” means to you, if your campaign does not include the intentional gathering and centralization your email contact list, you are missing out on one of the cheapest and MOST EFFECTIVE ways to generate referrals and additional revenue sources to your firm.

Think about it.  The contacts on your email list are people you already have a relationship with.  Chances are, they aren’t going to delete your emails as “spam” as though you were a stranger.  Instead, a client or former client will generally open your email to see what you have to say.

So now that you have their full attention, you can use this opportunity to build relationships, educate your clients on changing areas of the law that pertain to them, or send out friendly reminders that you and your team are always willing to help—or will at least refer them to another practicing attorney that CAN help if the problem goes beyond your expertise (again, thinking about income from passive referral sources).’

It’s also a great opportunity to ask for referrals from friends and family if the client has been satisfied with your work as an attorney.

But most importantly, email marketing provides that constant contact that you may not be able to achieve during office hours with your client.   It keeps you involved in their life and in their face, without sacrificing countless hours of your time as a busy attorney.

So hopefully by now you realize why the contact list is an “overlooked goldmine” when it comes to generating referrals and repeat clients.

What you may not know is how to get started, or how to centralize your email list so you aren’t manually adding your contacts one by one in Outlook, etc.

In my experience, one of the best (and low-cost) programs to assist with your email marketing campaign is A-Weber.  Not only does A-Weber allow you to centralize your contacts in one database (as well as individual groups), but it also helps you create an opt-in mailing campaigns to reduce the chance that your emails get marked as spam (and hence face the threat of landing on an email blacklist).

Yet for those that want to go one step further and use the list to promote products, services, etc., I recommend using a fully integrated program such as Infusion that offers shopping cart solutions, individual and group email history, fax and voice broadcasting, sale tracking, web forms, etc. all in this one platform.

But whatever program you chose, I encourage you to make a serious effort to not only collect email addresses for each and every client that walks in the door, but to also centralize your contacts into one of these programs to fully maximize your successes in an email marketing campaign.

Online Business Manager and law firm marketing expert, Laura Lee Sparks, is one of the most authoritative and well respected voices on attorney outsourcing, legal marketing and being a virtual assistant for lawyers on the web.  Her advice and legal marketing campaigns have helped lawyers reach and surpass the million-dollar mark in their businesses numerous times thanks to her straight-forward advice and ability to make legal marketing principles easy to understand and implement.  For further information on lawyer outsourcing programs or to contact Laura Lee directly, please email help@legalmarketingmaven.com

Are you ready to transform your law business into the business of your dreams with legal marketing tools that actually WORK?

Are you tired of the “marketing merry-go-round” and “cash-flow rollercoaster” that comes with the territory?

If so, take a minute and check out the amazing resources at lawbuisnesssecrets.com. 

Here you will find over $22,500 worth of FREE gifts from Alexis Martin Neely, a respected and well-known million dollar law firm owner and business coach that specializes in estate planning for families.

Some of the products she is giving away include:

• Law Business Manifesto “How Every Law Practice Owner Can Get Beyond the Broken Law Firm Business Model and Into Your Dream Law Business”
• Audio Class “How to Get Off the Marketing Merry Go Round and Cash Flow Roller Coaster and Find the Freedom and Money You Deserve”
• Free Subscription to Alexis’s highly acclaimed weekly Law Business Revolution briefing memorandum
• AND, over $22,500 of practice-building gifts… absolutely FREE!

And because I know Alexis personally and have witnessed her in action, I can honestly tell you this is NOT a legal marketing ploy.

Instead, Alexis is offering proven and time-tested resources for engaging clients, earning revenue and creatively marketing your services in the field for which you specialize.

So if you feel burnt out or tired of the daily law grind, check out the resources offered at lawbuisnesecrets.com. 

After all, the stuff is FREE. What do you have to lose?

Online Business Manager and law firm marketing expert, Laura Lee Sparks, is one of the most authoritative and well respected voices on attorney outsourcing, legal marketing and being a virtual assistant for lawyers on the web.  Her advice and legal marketing campaigns have helped lawyers reach and surpass the million-dollar mark in their businesses numerous times thanks to her straight-forward advice and ability to make legal marketing principles easy to understand and implement.  For further information on lawyer outsourcing programs or to contact Laura Lee directly, please email help@legalmarketingmaven.com