As your law firm grows, relying on your client relationships, experience, and ideas is not enough to succeed. To expand your client base and position yourself as a leader in the niche, you need to have a strategic plan to back you up.

The idea behind such a plan is simple- to help you make informed decisions, align your staff members’ goals, hire the right employees, and measure your law company’s performance efficiently.

Here are a few factors you need to consider when creating an easily implementable strategic plan for your business.

Set Clear Goals.

When drafting a strategic plan for your law firm, you first need to do your research and set clear, realistic goals. You could rely on the famous SWOT analysis, focused on identifying your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Pay attention to the marketplace.

Ask yourself who your rivals are, what they do better than you and what they do worse. Is there anything that helps you rise above your competition? Analyze your reputation in your industry and see whether it can be improved. Are there any significant industry changes and how to address them?

Look at your initial organization.

Analyze your corporate culture to see how strong it is. Are your employees satisfied and loyal to you? How clearly have you emphasized your company’s core values? Does the technology you use let you keep pace with your rivals or even outcompete them?

Understand your major clients.

You need to know who they are and what their problems, needs, and expectations are. Pay attention to what marketing practices work for them. Keep in mind that a lawyer’s and a client’s perceptions usually don’t align and, to tailor your services to their needs, you should collect their feedback regularly and try to put yourself in their shoes.

Establish a Solid Financial Plan

Did you know that the majority of companies fail due to the poor cash flow? Precisely because of that, you need to build a solid financial plan. For starters, you need to learn to make financial projections that will help you predict your income and expenditures within a certain timeframe. There are different types of financial projections, such as a consolidated monthly budget, cash flow predictions, sales forecasts, and so on. They give you the opportunity to make smarter money decisions, break down your law firm’s goals into realistic chunks, and prevent and mitigate financial risks on time.

You also need to have a solid billing strategy that will help you get your money on time and yet maintain spotless client relationships. It should include creating a strict payment policy, where you would clearly state when you want to be paid, how you want to be paid, and what payment methods you accept. You should also make sure the invoices are sent to your clients on time and inform them instantly if their money transactions fail.

Most importantly, you shouldn’t let you outstanding invoices hurt your financial health. You need to maintain a positive cash flow and this is where selling invoices may help. Here is the process of debt factoring explained. Namely, your law firm sends invoices to its clients directly and then sells its accounts receivable to the third party (a factor). The factor pays you about 80% of the total sum of your invoices within 24 hours and gives you the rest when the invoice is paid in full. This is a short-term funding option that helps you boost your budget and yet, not risk your law firm’s growth. Unlike risky bank loans, debt factoring addresses the mere source of your financial problem and that is late payments.

Build a Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan is the key aspect of your strategic plan, as it lets you position yourself as an authority in your niche and rise above your competitors. Now, your law firm’s marketing plan should contain the following sections:

• Setting clear marketing goals based on your company’s current positioning. You need to draft a list of your objectives and strategies that will keep you on track and help you make rational decisions. Then, you need to choose the right marketing practices and channels that will help you achieve the desired goal faster.

• Analyzing the target market. Understanding your target audience helps you choose the right channels and create marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

• Setting a clear marketing budget. In other words, you need to determine how much money will go to different aspects of your marketing campaign. This is where some tough decisions, such as the division of responsibilities among your marketing team or choosing the right marketing tools need to be made.

Clarify the Recruiting Process

For law firms, law school is the most significant factor when it comes to hiring new attorneys. However, there is a plethora of additional factors you need to consider before you choose the right candidate. This is exactly why you need to create a solid recruitment strategy that will help you find, recruit, and hire the most qualified applicants.

Your recruiting strategy needs to include an overview of the entire recruitment process and actionable tips and guidelines for your HR team. For example, you need to consider your business’ goals, set a clear recruiting mission statement, choosing between a narrow recruiting strategy and a broader employee management approach, and so forth.

Over to You

Keep in mind that your law firm’s plan depends on your objectives, budget, and clients. Above all, you don’t have to address all of these aspects of your plan at once. Instead, focus on the highest priorities and start implementing them from the very beginning. Then, update your business plan as your company grows and your goals change.