Taking a step back
Solo family law attorney, Bill Farias of Farias Family Law, P.C., always had a vision for what he wanted his firm to look like. He wanted to have a dominantly virtual practice, highly systematized and automated, that would give him the freedom and flexibility to transition to the role of law firm owner instead of being the sole practicing lawyer.
“At the end of 2019, I started to think more deeply about growth, and I set more concrete goals for where I wanted my practice to be years from now. Then, I outlined specific targets for how I would improve my marketing, scale the firm and move towards operating remotely.”
After running into limitations with Clio Grow (formerly Lexicata), Bill knew that if he wanted to take the marketing of his practice to the next level, it would require a more robust platform for email marketing and the automation of tasks. As a first step, he began a research and due diligence process by requesting feedback from other practitioners in online communities. After several discussions and firsthand feedback, it was clear that the Lawmatics feature set was sophisticated and powerful enough to achieve his vision.
Accelerating the action plan
When the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown enforcements made their way across the US, Bill found himself with the additional time necessary to take a step back and define a concrete vision and action plan for the future of his firm. With the elimination of in-person meetings, commute time and conference travel, Bill took full advantage of the opportunity to dig in and build a foundation of systems that would position his firm for massive growth.
“I had been moving toward a virtual practice for a long time, and the additional time was a blessing in disguise. It has accelerated my practice in ways I couldn’t have imagined. It has allowed me to focus on the high-level goal of planning and setting up my transition to the role of CEO for my firm. It’s incredibly exciting — especially now that I’ve acquired a taste for what the position is like.”
By outlining a set of clear and actionable goals for his practice, Bill was able to identify exactly how he wanted to leverage the power of Lawmatics. Before diving in head first and attempting to DIY the project, he wisely reached out1 to his dedicated onboarding contact, Johnny Bissell, to discuss his plan and determine which portions of automation to build out first.
Phase 1 — The marketing and intake unit
Organic marketing efforts and referrals are the source of new clients for Farias Family Law. Bill’s first goal was to build infrastructure, systems and policies to support growth. He began by organizing and tracking his sources. Leads who find the firm via Google, Facebook and Avvo, or who have engaged with a piece of content such as a video, article or blog, are all automatically entered into Lawmatics. Then, based on the source, they are enrolled in an automated lead conversion workflow that immediately engages the contact.
“A lot of what I have done in Lawmatics is to eliminate gaps in the intake funnel in order to ensure that I am following up with leads in a timely manner effectively. Before I invest more money in marketing, I want to make sure the lead conversion process we have is optimized. Furthermore, if I pour gas on the fire, it’s going to result in bad service, which endangers the health and reputation of my firm.”
Despite the marketing budgets larger firms may have, few pay close attention or notice the gaps they have in their intake funnel. A well-managed marketing and intake program gives small firms a competitive edge to win the business of clients in their local market and achieve a higher return on their marketing investments.
Phase 2 — The automation unit
After witnessing the capabilities and impact that Lawmatics had on the marketing, intake and conversion portions of his business, Bill turned his attention to the delivery process. For every new client that is retained based on the type of case they have, they are enrolled in a drip campaign.
“I love the text messaging feature. We include automated messages in our follow-up campaigns for prospective and current clients.”
Bill identified an opportunity to systematize serving clients that is similar to the intake process. By thinking about processes like stages in a pipeline, a firm can identify repeated tasks, messages and information shared. All of the steps can be automated with Lawmatics.
