The Five Levels Of The Law Firm Growth Ladder

The Law Firm Growth LadderThis is a ‘work in progress’ article which you can watch as it grows. For some time now I have been analysing the different stages of law firm growth. I have noticed certain commonalities with different stages of the law firm growth process. There are similar challenges, opportunities and threats, which if not overcome, lead to a solicitor working there way back to their previous level on the Law Firm Growth Ladder. However, if a solicitor takes the time to put in place the required systems and processes, they can very quickly move up several rungs of the Law Firm Growth Ladder.

I have tried to summarise the different stages of the Law Firm Growth Ladder and, perhaps more importantly, what you need to do to shortcut your progress to the next level and beyond.

Please feel free to send me your thoughts or questions so that I can keep growing the ladder! Please email info@samsonconsulting.co.uk.

Level 1 – The Start Up Law Firm

Overview of Level 1

  • Feelings of excitement, of breaking free and doing what you have always wanted to do.
  • Turnover £0 to £250,000.

Team

  • You.
  • None or one assistant.

Marketing

  • Hammering old contacts and colleagues to gain some new business.
  • A small brochure website.
  • No automated marketing systems.

Challenges

Opportunities to fast track your progress to Level 2 of The Law Firm Growth Ladder

  • Delegate menial tasks as quickly as possible (even before you can afford it) to free up your time to work on growing the business.
  • Spend time every day working on the growth of your law firm.
  • Put in place some automated marketing systems that bring you clients with the marketing effort outsourced (Google Adwords, Email Marketing).

Level 2 – The Growing Pains Level

Overview of Level 2

  • You are excited at the prospects of growth.
  • Turnover bracket £100,000 to £5000,000

Team

  • You recruit your first fee earner (often a former colleague).

Marketing

  • What got you here from a marketing perspective won’t get you to stage 3.
  • You now need to start using some automated marketing systems to generate sufficient work for yourself and your fee earner.

Challenges

  • Time poor – now time spent managing, doing own work and trying to run your law firm.
  • Stressed – now responsible not only for your own income but that of your new recruit.
  • Income can go backwards before going up if you don’t improve your marketing and systems.
  • Some solicitors can’t get past this stage and quickly let their fee earner go, going back to Level 1 and vowing to never employ anyone again. With some planning and automated marketing this does not have to happen.

Opportunities to fast track your progress to Level 3 of The Law Firm Growth Ladder

  • Recruit your next fee earner as soon as possible to take your case load away from you. Then you can focus on growing your law firm..
  • Most people spend far too long in this stage. This could/should be a period of only 12 to 24 months but in most cases it becomes many, many years.

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Case Study

Now I’ve got eight staff and two offices, and we’ve never been busier.

I’ve been working with Nick for the last six years, and in that time he’s had a significant impact on my business.

We first start working together when I worked at an employment law practice, and when I left there to set up on my own, Nick was one of the first people I called.

I knew that one of the key pieces to get right was the website – in this day and age it’s impossible to run a successful firm without one – and with Nick’s advice, help and guidance, we created our own marketing-focused site that has proven to be the backbone of all the sales and marketing that has followed.

But a good website means nothing unless people see it, and that’s why we turned to Nick to run our Google Adwords, which quickly became a primary source of leads.

In addition to running the traffic, Nick held our hand through every element of the client attraction process, from how to communicate with leads, to how to close sales, and the impact that had on our business cannot be understated.

And that’s why I will always recommend Nick to anyone who needs help with marketing – particularly legal firms: his breadth of knowledge about everything to do with sales and marketing means that he can (and does) help with every part of the picture, resulting in a stronger business than you could have imagined.

Since we’ve been working with Nick, we’ve grown quickly – back in 2013 it was just myself and my wife, and she was part-time.

Now I’ve got eight staff and two offices, and we’ve never been busier.

And if our lead numbers are anything to go by, it’s only going to get better – 2015-2016 saw us get 800 good quality leads in employment law, and that figure more than doubled last year. I can only look forward to more exciting times, working hand-in-hand with Nick to grow my practice and enjoy the fruits that come with that growth.