The thought of branching out from the law firm you’re currently employed by and starting your own can be overwhelming and quite scary. In many ways, it is the unknown. You could see incredible success or life-altering failure, but if you are already afraid how could you expect to be successful?
Starting your own law firm can be the perfect way to achieve the success as a lawyer that you’ve always dreamt of. No matter what your reason is for starting your own law firm, there are a few things you should do to ensure that the new law firm business is successful. Below are some tips for starting your own law company.
Don’t Forget the Essentials
It’s vital to remember the essentials of opening a law firm. Like any business, putting a plan into place is necessary for any new company, but it is even more specialized than the average business. The way that you run your law firm will make or break you in the first year.
For example, one of the first things you need to do is open a bank account for your business. It’s a good idea to keep any money you make separate from your personal accounts. Remember, you need supplies, furniture, legal software, and more before you can even open the doors of your law firm or you’ll be starting at a disadvantage already. Having an idea of how much you will need to remain in operation without money coming in is perhaps the most important step in opening a new business.
Choose a Niche
While it can be tempting to take on every client who walks in your door or calls your phone, taking on too many clients won’t be good in the end. Focusing on too many niches can cause some serious problems in your business. You will spread your resources, finances, and employee hours on cases that may come up empty. It’s not a guarantee that you will get paid for the time and effort you put in at first. You need to build from the ground up.
You should focus on what you do best. Working in areas of law you’re not familiar with makes it difficult to concentrate on the clients you have. You should choose a niche and target demographic that you’re familiar with and good at so that you can concentrate more on your clients and less on learning the ropes of opening a business. The more you understand about a certain area of the law, the faster you’ll grow and the easier it’ll be to find the right clients.
Market Properly
One of the biggest mistakes lawyers make is not marketing their firm properly before and after they open their doors. You can’t just sit and wait on clients to find you; you have to advertise and make sure that your message is being received by the people you want to hear it.
Your best bet is to get your law firm where everyone can see it. Nowadays, this is the area of digital marketing, which makes up most of the advertising you see today. It’s a great idea to hire an in-house marketing staff that focuses on search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, business-to-business marketing (B2B), and more. Keep in mind that SEO (and other forms of marketing) should be industry-specific, as general advice can cause subpar results. This law firm SEO guide will help you guide your SEO marketing strategy from the word “go.”
However, if you’re unsure about the best marketing strategies for your new law firm, plenty of marketing agencies out there will do your marketing for you for a fee. You can outsource your SEO and blogging. One thing’s for sure, every business needs to properly market on the internet. Using one of the best CRM for law firms can make this process easier for you.
Put Your Focus on Your Clients
Once you’ve taken advantage of the digital marketing strategies available to you, it will be time to put all your focus on the clients. For example, it’s very easy to talk about your law firm and why people should choose it over other law businesses today. However, that’s not the way to gain the trust of potential clients and partners. The best way to determine what your clients need is to develop a customer service team and get ideas from them. Putting the focus on your clients will build trust in you and what you do and help to secure your future. Focusing on your clients is the way to go in any business, but if you help them succeed you will also succeed.
Always Communicate With Your Clients
No matter what liche of the law you decide on, you’re destined to fail if you don’t communicate properly with your clients. You shouldn’t promise a client something that you don’t know you can deliver on. Instead, create a process that includes prompt, frequent, concise, and accurate communication with your clients for the best results.
These are just a few things you need to know when you’re branching out and starting your own law firm. Remember, the client is your primary focus after marketing and opening your doors, as you can’t be successful with one without the others. Following these tips will help you move into the future as a successful attorney with your own firm.