98% of lawyers just go through the year running around from one court to the next just hoping things work out. At the end of the year, you finally sit down with your accountant to look at the numbers and you hope for the best. Not much strategy and very little thought goes into this.
There’s one common denominator among the best companies in the world: They MEASURE EVERYTHING. You can’t improve something unless it’s being measured…but very few lawyers do this.
Decide upon the numbers that are the most important to your law firm, a/k/a your “Key Performance Indicators”. Focus on just 5-7 of the “smart numbers” for your law firm’s website, marketing, case management, income/revenue and then meet with your team to review your “Key Performance Indicators” every month.
The Rallying Cry for Your Law Firm
On the first Monday of every month (or the first day that you and your team are available), have your secretary complete a form that provides your law firm’s “smart numbers” for the last 30 days. Every member of your team gets a hard copy of the monthly progress report and you meet to review the numbers and find out what areas need improvement—this is your “Monthly Progress Meeting”.
Take baby steps at first. If your website traffic sucks, focus on improving the number of website visitors over the next 30 days or increasing the number of new blogs posted on your website. For maybe the first time, you and your team are analyzing your “smart numbers”, focusing on areas that need improvement and setting goals for your next Monthly Progress Meeting.
Don’t wait until the end of the year—focus on your law firm’s Key Performance Indicators NOW! By way of example, listed below are my law firm’s Key Performance Indicators that we review at our Monthly Progress Meetings.
Our Law Firm’s Key Performance Indicators
Websites
www.ProtectingPatientRights.com
# of Website Visitors: ____
+/- Website Visitors from Previous Month: ____
# of Unique Website Visitors: ____
# of Inbound Links: ____
# of New Website Pages (January 1st to present): ____
# of New Website Pages (last 30 days): ____
# of Email Subscribers: ____
www.UltimateInjuryLaw.com
# of Website Visitors: ____
+/- Website Visitors from Previous Month: ____
# of Unique Website Visitors: ____
# of Inbound Links*: ____
# of New Website Pages (January 1st to present): ____
# of New Website Pages (last 30 days): ____
# of Email Subscribers: ____
Bounce Rate: ____
*Online Resources: OpenSiteExplorer.com gives you the ability to analyze up to 10k links for your website, or use Google Webmaster Tools or Ahrefs.com to get a free backlink check for your website.
Goals for Websites
Goal #1: 15,000 Website Visitors/month (ProtectingPatientRights.com)
Goal #2: 10,000 Email Subscribers (UltimateInjuryLaw.com)
Marketing
`# of Active Lawsuits: ____
`# of Potential Cases: ____
`# of New Intakes (January 1st to present): ____
`# of New Intakes (last 30 days): ____
`# of Trial Dates (scheduled & resolved in 2016)*: ____
`# of Referral Partners: ____
`# of Facebook Followers: ____
*The # of trial dates in 2016 includes cases that have been resolved from January 1st to the present and those cases that are scheduled for trial (or arbitration) before December 31st.
Goal for Marketing
Goal #1: 500 Referral Partners
Case Management
# of Active Lawsuits: ____
# of Potential Cases (“Under Consideration”): ____
# of New Intakes (January 1st to present): ____
# of New Intakes (last 30 days): ____
# of Trial Dates (scheduled and resolved for 2016): ____
Goals for Case Management
Goal #1: 20 Active Lawsuits with a minimum settlement value of $300k
Goal #2: 12 Trial Dates/Year
Goal #3: 12 New Lawsuits Filed/Year
Income/Revenue
Income (January 1st to present): $_________
Projected Income (2016): $_________
Revenue (January 1st to present): $_________
Projected Revenue (2016): $_________
Expenses (January 1st to present): $_________
Projected Expenses (2016): $_________
Goal for Income/Revenue
Goal #1: $1.5 Million/Annual Income
photo credit: Europeana Business Plan 2017 Workshop via photopin (license)
