5 Tips For Setting Up Your Law Firm For Outsourcing Success
The entire Legal Marketing Maven team is traveling this week to Fairfax, VA, to participate at Ben Glass’ Great Legal Marketing Conference. Our good friend Jay Fleischman is our guest author this week. Jay has been outsourcing the tasks in his law practice for many years, and shares below 5 tips for outsourcing success. We’ll be back next week and ready to share many new ideas that I’m positive we will come away from Ben’s event with. Have a great week!~Laura Lee
Are you thinking about outsourcing certain tasks or workflow issues in your law firm? If you are, you’re not alone. Outsourcing is on the minds of many solo and small firm lawyers. The promise of lower overhead, more freedom and the ability to concentrate on core business problems creates a siren song for attorneys.
But as with any other decision in your law office, you’ve got to have a roadmap; without one, you’re doomed to failure from the outset. The notion of outsourcing is not nearly as quick and easy as making a phone call to a stranger and walking away.
Here, then, are the 5 tips I live by when outsourcing any process for my law firm:
Determine: Think about your needs and goals. What do you want to outsource, and why do you want to do so? This may sound simplistic, but the “why” portion of the question gets many lawyers hamstrung. Rather than having a reason do something, they frequently think in terms of what they do NOT want to do. “I don’t want to be bothered with drafting these motions,” rather than, “I recognize that drafting routine motions is best left to someone else, leaving me free to carefully review and revise drafts for a final review.”
Document: When outsourcing, don’t presume that anyone else in the world has your brain or background. You need to be able to provide any professional with a detailed set of instructions on exactly how you want tasks accomplished. Without such documentation, you’re leaving results up to chance. You’re also guaranteeing that an outsourced professional (who likely charges by the hour) will need to spend more time than is necessary merely to get up to speed.
Interview: When it comes to outsourcing for your law firm, there’s nothing more important that ensuring that there is a match of skills and attitude. Office-bound employees are subject to vetting, so why would you not do the same with an outsourcing professional?
Manage: The service you provide is always your responsibility, so you need to manage the work your law firm outsources. Some tools you may decide to work with are Basecamp, Google Wave, or even Google Docs. Wikis and project management solutions abound, and it’s your responsibility to ensure that they are utilized to maximize the efficiency of your law firm.
Hone: Your initial experience with outsourcing will be merely a trial run for the long-term. Mistakes will be made, none of which will be anyone’s fault in particular. Instructions will be misunderstood or poorly communicated, and the ball will be dropped. You will be managing each task closely, but it may be frustrating to both you and the outsourced professional. Take the time to listen to suggestions for improvement, and make some constructive ones of your own. Refine the process regularly and you will minimize the problems later on.
Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.