If you haven't noticed it seems like zombies are taking over the world.  Video games, commercials, movies (seen that Brad Pitt movie, World War-Z?) - and maybe some law firms!  

Innovate, innovate, innovate. Law firms must innovate. It's said over and over again - and often mimicked by some of the zombies themselves (who seem to mindlessly utter the word as they stumble around). Yet how many law firms are really innovating? And why NOT??  That is what I keep wondering - and the answer is...because those who want to innovate and look for ways to innovate are afraid of or stopped by...yep, you guessed it - the ZOMBIES!

So, with some tongue in cheek of course, let's see how you law firm innovators out there can cure the Zombies and save your law firm!

How to Spot a Law Firm Zombie

Our research has shown that Law Firm Zombies exhibit the following 'tells' when presented with an innovative idea or solution:

1. The first action they take is call other law firms to see what they are doing - to be sure they don't do anything differently.

2. They order that an 'analysis' be undertaken so they can prove to everyone that no one else is doing things like this and therefore their law firm shouldn't do it either. 

3. Finally, to be sure innovation never takes hold, they refuse to show up to meetings or talk to anyone having to do with the innovative thought or idea.  If cornered, they attack the innovators - yelling "troublemakers" as loudly as possible.

How to Cure a Law Firm Zombie

Now that you know how to identify the zombies that are holding back your law firm's ability to innovate, let's look at how you can cure them!

1. Wake them up. Law firm zombies are no different than other walking dead - they have fallen into a bit of a malaise. So first thing we need to do is wake them up. This means we have to throw some 'water' into their faces in the form of reality - and accountability for their ongoing lack of innovation or blocking of innovation. There is plenty in the news DAILY to help here...start educating now and consistently.

2. Perservere. Zombies, being mostly dead, tend to suck energy from the system. They tend to beat out innovators because its hard to combat a 'dead weight'. The trick here is, you have to out perservere them - and you can. Facts and logic prevail when consistently put up against old ways of thinking. Here again, educate, educate, educate.

3. Take Risk, with Incremental Proof. Finally, YOU have to be willing to take some risk up-front, choosing to implement innovative ideas and solutions. Start small - take money from budgets you have allocated for other projects and re-allocate them to key, incremental innovations. But, from the beginning, be prepared to have metrics proving that your innovations had an effect. But don't stop - keep going - incrementally introducing new ways of thinking and doing things - proving over and over again that it works. Careful! If you find you aren't willing to do the 3 things listed above to cure the zombies...you had better perform a self-evaluation to see if the zombies have abducted you along the way!

The bottom line here is that each of you in your law firm is responsible for your firm's ongoing success. Unlike in the past, when RISK in a law firm was seen almost wholly as a bad thing, law firms today have to learn how to take calculated RISKS to be DIFFERENT from their competitors.  

Innovation, quite frankly, can feel scarey and comes with an investment. It means NEW, UNPROVEN, UNTRIED - by definition! It also means DIFFERENTIATED, ADVANTAGE and HIGH VALUE when it is chosen and implemented well. 

Don't let the zombies in your law firm stop your firm from choosing and implementing innovation.  Choose to be different.  Choose to trust yourself to know when you see something innovative.  Be willing to try that innovation over doing the same things law firms have always done (that is - what everyone else is already doing).  Choose differently - and see your law firm succeed in ways not before seen.

I'll give you a hint on a way to start - with protecting your revenue and profitability by innovating your marketing & business development approaches.  Zombie's approach - CRM as the end-all-be-all (20 years of trying the same thing that hasn't worked yet). Innovative approach - click the button below.

Happy Halloween! 

A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with a friend. We were talking about Alfred Hitchcock movies - and she mentioned she had recently seen a silent film he had directed. "I had no idea he directed silent films", I said. "What was the name of the movie?" I asked.  

She said "I can't remember, let me ask..." and picked up her phone. I thought she was going to call someone that knew the answer - but instead she went to her phone's browser and 'asked' Google!  I had never heard anyone say that they were going to 'ask' the internet for information before - search yes, but 'ask'?

Then it struck me just how different our world has become.  

It used to be we asked each other for information, now we ask the data available to us instead! And our expectation is that all data is available to be 'asked' - is your law firm's? 

As a law firm manager, not only do you not have time to go and 'ask people' for the information you need to make decisions or strategy shifts, but the people you would have asked also don't have time to answer - at least not as quickly as you need the answer. It's ironic really - a big part of the reason we all seem so much more overwhelmed these days is because there is so much information coming at us all the time.  That said, unstructured or unrelated information really isn't information at all - it's just a lot of data that we need to rationalize and analyze ourselves - taking even more time - so often we just go without. That, of course, increases the risk that you will make the wrong decision at the wrong time.

I bet if you added up all those spreadsheets you are using to try to keep all those little pieces of information organized and then added on all the emails traveling around the firm from people 'asking' for information that exists 'somewhere', you would discover just how much the lack of effective information flow in your firm makes up a good part of your overwhelmed feeling - not to mention inefficiencies. It's costing you a fortune - don't doubt it.

What if you could ask your most important questions from your firm's information and trust the answer?  Imagine 'asking': "What clients do we have in the food & beverage industry?" and getting a response from your firm's information just like you would if Google could search your enterprise?

You can and it's a lot easier than you think - if you are a law firm manager and you can't, you should "ask" us!

As we watch another AMLAW 100 firm on a spiral-down trajectory, Law Firm Management and partners in other law firms look to quickly glean lessons - hoping to avoid the same type of demise.

When I see the tell-tale partner diaspora begin in the news, three things enter my mind:

1. The Root Cause - Degraded Law Firm Profitability
2. The Likelihood of Survival - Slim to None
3. The Timeframe for Extinction - Brief (Months, Not Years) 

Law Firm Management teams are looking for proactive profitability management solutions so that their firms avoid similar fates.  Many feel they just can't get their arms around it.  The reason for that is - the problem is dynamic, multi-dimensional and nuanced. 

Firms that aggressively move to take advantage of the dynamicity of the market for legal products and services will experience new growth.  Those that react retrospectively, tactically and with unidimensional approaches are likely to suffer the similar fate of extinction with increasing rapidity.

Legal Project Management - 101

Firms seem to be somewhat comfortable beginning to adopt one strategy for profitability protection - Legal Project Management.  By applying basic project management tenets, some firms are achieving higher profitability and increased customer satisfaction.  By employing project management best practices, firms can regain visibility and a new level of control over matter execution, with direct line impacts on profitability when done effectively.

Of course, there is no real news here - other industries have understood the need and value of project management for decades (like the technology industry, for example).  Once law firm customers began demanding accurate cost estimates and budgets, project management was an obvious requirement.

Why Law Firms Can't Survive without BPM

So Legal Project Management helps in some ways, but what doesn't it address?  So much - but let's focus on what I think are the top three:

1. Efficiency Gains By Changing the 'How':  Project management coordinates what work gets done, by whom, with some adjustments in terms of overall approach and timing.  The work itself might still continue on as before, just with better planning and coordinated execution.  Those are some elements of process optimization - but nowhere near what is required.  Law firms must fundamentally shift HOW work is done.  This requires a holistic approach to optimizing work delivery processes, and the effective utilization of supporting business systems or applications.  This is business process optimization, not project management.  BPM provides the optimization of use of both human and technology resources.  The result?  More with Less = Same or Increased Revenue with Less Staff or Overhead = Higher Profitability.  Faster Delivery = Accelerated Cash Flow.
2. Commoditization:  Law firm management must stay ahead of the curve in recognizing legal services that are destined for commodization (practice areas or customer types). 
1. Once recognized, process optimization techniques must be applied that empower law firm management and marketing teams to accelerate near-term revenue generation opportunities to capture as much of 'what is left' of the service offering while the commoditization process is occurring in the market.  The result?  Awareness + Focus = Exploited Revenue Opportunities = Working Capital to Fund Your Transformation
2. At the same time, while the practice area is in 'glide down' with full exploitation of remaining revenue opportunities, law firm management must use the working capital provided to accomplish required transformation.  This is done through the application of process optimization techniques.  The objective is to determine whether the firm can win at the commoditization game. 
1. If the answer is YES, the practice must be transformed to the newly defined process optimized delivery model, with the law firm marketing department out in front with the appropriate market penetration campaigns.  The result?  Exploit Commoditization = New Market Opportunities and Stable or Enhanced Revenue Generation and Profitability
2. If the answer is NO (the firm can't win at the commoditization game) then operational processes should be implemented to provide visibility and control over pursuit of new opportunities in this area - and redirection of these efforts to identified practice areas that might be able to releverage similar delivery approaches, skills and expertise.  The result?  Dump After Commoditized = Protected Profitability by Applying Resources to Higher Profit-producing work before degradation of profitability can occur
3. Market Differentiation: Legal product and services customers are self-educating and have new options (outsourcing; insourcing; online services).  These savvy buyers are looking for law firms who bring new perspectives, better ways of doing things, predictable high-value service offerings and innovative thinkers.  And to capture their business - law firm marketing techniques must transform with BPM techniques.  The results?  Deeper Customer Penetration + Increased Market Share = Increased Revenue + Increased Financial Risk Mitigation = Protected and Higher Profitability

If you discern anything from the above limited discussion, I hope it is this: the strategies I am discussing are evolutionary, not static.  Business Process Management is by definition meant to be applied to areas of dynamicity, and this is why law firms can't survive without it.   

Dowload our free whitepaper to learn more about why BPM is required to transform law firm operations and delivery models to ensure protected law firm profitability.

Last week we were speaking with a well-respected member of a law firm management team about innovations and shifts in law firm marketing.  During the discussion, he said:  "We know 50% of the monies we spend on marketing are wasted, but the problem is, we just can't figure out what 50%."  Great quote...not so great a problem to be facing when law firm profitability is under attack - and law firm marketing is such a key component of success in the new world of legal services.

Break down the meaning of the statement, and a couple of points pop-out:

1. Law Firm Marketers (and Management) are having trouble tying efforts to results - they lack the business intelligence they need to evaluate return-on-investment of marketing activities.

2. Without meaningful information to show true value of marketing investments, law firm management has two options: Option A: Cut the marketing budget by 50% or Option B: Keep the marketing budget as-is, and continue the known waste for fear that the wrong 50% might get cut! 

What if law firm management had different choices?  Spend less, get the same return OR spend the same and get full value of that investment?  Either option adds to law firm profitability.  The first hits the bottom line, and the second hits the top and bottom line...which choice does your law firm want to make?

Regardless of which option your law firm chooses, you will need to innovate how you view, execute and report on marketing efforts.  But this really isn't a big deal - because the fact is, you have to do that anyway!  Competition in the legal industry has already transformed - with outsourcing, insourcing, pricing pressures, alternative fee arrangements - its an onslaught.  Your firm HAS to transform its marketing or you will be obsolete before you know it.

Here's the rub for law firms...new age marketing is based on collaboration.  Collaboration within your law firm (cross-attorney) and collaboration with your prospects and customers.  This is where law firm management faces the biggest challenge - culture and behavioral change. 

Elegrity helps law firms navigate the labyrinth of these changes by employing proven business process transformation approaches and supporting technologies. We help law firm management embed marketing into daily operations, with auditable and reportable connections between efforts and returns.  See our earlier posts for information on ways to overcome those challenges...and look for more posts on law firm marketing in the coming weeks.

With the ever-accelerating commoditization of products and services in the legal industry, it is clear that the new key intellectual property of law firms is the HOW legal products and services get delivered as much as or more so than the WHAT. 

Success today and in the future relies on a law firm's ability to market, sell and then execute delivery of legal services and/or products more efficiently, with predictable cost structures and with better corporate governance than their competitors (other law firms; on-line legal sites; outsourcing organizations).

To do this requires 3 Core Capabilities:

1. The ability to strategically define optimized business processes (governance, core and supporting) focused on enhancing efficiency while simultaneously mitigating risk. 
2. The ability to codify defined processes using technology that automates where feasible, and coordinates and informs work (with meaningful information needed to complete work) for individuals and teams of workers where automation is not feasible or worthwhile.  And of course, the discernment to know the difference.
3. The ability to define and effectively coalesce and manage new types of teams (permanent and transient) made up of cross-functional; cross-corporate; free-lance and globally dispersed and mobile resources made quickly and safely productive by plugging them into the codified processes you have implemented.

Moving your firm towards this new way of working requires a step-by-step, not an all-at-once approach.  The way to start is to find one key business process and positively effect it with application of all three of the above described capabilities. 

This is your 'building and flexing' of your firm's new muscles.  And just like getting in shape, it takes time and persistence, but the results become noticeable pretty quickly if you just stick with it a little while. 

See our other blogs and free whitepapers for more information on how to get your firm on the road to getting in shape in 2012.  Happy New Year!

Often I find myself 'nagging' law firm executives and business users about why the marketing department is underrepresented in process improvement meetings.

Law Firms are faced with increasing and rapidly expanding competitive forces (in-house legal teams; legal outsourcing; other firms).  These forces are threatening both top-line revenue and bottom-line profitability.   

Law Firm success relies on the firm's ability to differentiate itself from these competitive forces.  As a result, the need for marketing teams to be integrated into high-level strategy and every-day business processes is a requirement.  And, the need for the marketing team to be proactively marketing firm differentiators almost in real-time is also key.  The window of differentiation in certain areas of law or key challenges faced by corporations is becoming increasingly short.  Therefore, advantages (such as expertise and key case wins) have to be pushed and highlighted almost immediately.

It has become one of my personal passions to help law firms innovate their marketing approaches.  To remain profitable and viable, law firms have to transform almost every aspect of how they run their business.  Marketing is a core component of that transformation.  In fact, I believe it needs to be the key driver of it.

3 Innovations for Law Firm Marketing

New Insight

First, law firm marketing departments have to be empowered with new insight into their firm and it's ecosystem in the context of the larger global market.  The speed of global market changes, and the potential risk / rewards of those changes is more than apparent to anyone whose been aware of the global economic changes since 2008.  It is no longer enough to look at your internal information in a vacuum - you must have the ability to tie it back to the larger picture of your global corporate clients. 

This is why we have built products specifically targeted at providing vast amounts of intelligence regarding law firm clients (global corporations) from a corporate make-up, financial metrics and industry and market comparisons that tie directly back to the law firm's internal client information.  This way, if any change is detected (internal or external), we can immediately prompt marketing assessments of the potential opportunity.

New Involvement

Marketing needs to be at the table for any process improvement or strategic discussions regarding overall positioning of the firm.  And once there, they need to be expected and allowed to provide meaningful input into those decisions.

Process improvement needs to be inclusive of information gathering and feeding for marketing purposes.  Take a look at the example below of how marketing integration into the new business intake process at your firm can substantially increase the marketing's team ability to target marketing efforts and spend (and adapt almost immediately based on real-time information as the business operates).

New Approaches

Last, but certainly not least, law firms need to match marketing approaches to the changed buying habits of their clients and allow the firm to highlight its differentiators in ways that pull new clients to the firm.

As I alluded to above - content must be timely, on-point and distributed to targets meaningfully and consistently.  The firm's thought leadership in industries and areas of law have to be highlighted (along with the value difference potential prospects can expect to gain).  Done right, inbound marketing techniques provide more and better-qualified leads for less overall spend than more traditional marketing techniques!

Successful firms will provide the marketing department with what it needs to be successful, primarily:

1. Involvement in key strategic decisions and every day processes

2. Insight into the firm's business (with accessible business intelligence tools) and it's tie to the business of it's clients and targeted prospects.

3. Adaptability through real-time information feeds and intelligence to empower the marketing team to implement and monitor new inbound marketing approaches.

If you are in the marketing department of a law firm and you read this blog and think (that would be nice, but there is no way my firm would go for this)...give me a call or write me an email...I am always up for a good challenge and I'm willing to help be your advocate for your firm's success!