1. Review your current suppliers

This includes your search and software providers. Comfort often comes at a cost. If you have been using a supplier for a while, it’s likely that your costs have gradually grown year-on-year. Even if that isn’t the case, it’s likely there will be a lower cost alternative that’s entered the market.

Take some time to review your current deal and explore the market for a cheaper alternative.

By switching to a low-cost search provider, you can pass the cost saving on to your clients without sacrificing your professional fees. Cost saving isn’t the only benefit either, improve your business efficiency through quicker troubleshooting when using suppliers with better customer service.

Overall, with a few simple changes you can make your operations leaner and your business more profitable.

2. Utilise technology to reduce mundane and time-consuming tasks 

By embracing and investing in technology that automates and digitises tasks and processes, practitioners have more time in the day to complete other billable work. For example, taking advantage of the latest electronic conveyancing technologies such as verification of identity (VOI), electronic contracts and digital signing can help eliminate the need to organise meetings with clients or chase clients for one more signature.

VIEW ALL

The less time you spend on mundane tasks that can be digitised, the more time you can spend focusing on other billable work, client satisfaction and business development.

3. Win new business through marketing

Advertising and marketing is like putting your service in a shop window – it needs to be seen to be purchased! Instead of waiting for your clients to come to you, you need to get out there and show them why they need your services.

According to the Macquarie 2017 Legal Benchmarking report, law firms in Australia spent on average 5 per cent of their revenue on marketing. In the same year firms identified marketing and business development activities as making up 24 percent of their services that had the most impact on profit.

Successful marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. Here’s a few simple, but successful, marketing activities:

• Publish blogs and articles (like this one!) that are relevant to your clients and encourage them to share this with their networks. e.g. firms specialising in property law should share industry information relating to property and conveyancing that demonstrates they’re experts in their client’s industry.
• Make the most of social media – a great cost-effective marketing tool that facilitates two-way communication between your brand and your clients. e.g. profile cases that are relevant to your areas of practice and provide your insights to demonstrate your knowledge.
• Streamline your website to create a user-friendly experience – make the customer’s journey simple. What do they need to know from your website and what’s the quickest way to answer their question?