How to Manage Technical People When You’re Not One
The world as we know it has changed. Technology has ushered in a new era of products and services that have altered, not only the way you communicate with your friends and family, but also how you communicate with your clients. Most attorneys can turn on a computer, send an email, and create complex legal documents, but when it comes to configuring computer software and writing code for a website, most law firms will need the help of a professional.
If you’re not a technically inclined person, then keeping up with the changes in technology can be daunting. While most lawyers are analytical in nature, they are rarely technological experts because keeping up with technology is truly a full time job. At some point or another you will either find yourself managing a technical staff member, or you may need to hire an hourly technical person to help set up your computers, build efficient websites, figure out how to send electronic newsletters to clients and more.
Sometimes, technical people and non-technical people have trouble communicating. Instructions get misinterpreted, or changes are made to the original plan without discussion. Assigning work to a technical person can be awkward for both parties. The non-technical person is giving instructions and communicating expectations about an area where they are simply not well equipped. The technical expert has to take direction from and sometimes be managed by, a person who just doesn’t get the new advances in technology.
Realize that technical people and non-technical people tackle problems differently. Technical people tend to thrive when they are solving technical problems. They view technical problems the way that many people view jigsaw puzzles or crossword puzzles, to them problems are interesting and fun. Many non-technical people try to avoid technical problems. Having your computer crash for no reason or getting a virus can keep you from meeting client commitments and can be simply annoying.
So, if you are talking to a technical person and they don’t respond as if the sky is falling when your law firm is having a technical emergency, it is because for them, the interesting part has just begun. They are usually intrigued at the idea of spending the next several hours, days, or even weeks solving your problem for you.
Use clear details when communicating with technical people. When communicating with technical people whether they are in your firm or outside of it, be as specific as you can be. Leave no details for individual interpretation. Be clear about whether or not you are asking for advice or specific answers. Avoid phrases like, “I can’t get on the Internet,” or “My computer is acting funny.” Instead say, “When I try to open my website by going to the start menu and clicking Internet Explorer, nothing comes up. Instead I get an error message that appears on the desktop that says, ‘Error code 515: Action not allowed.’”
Write it down. One of the best ways to make sure that critical details aren’t missed is to write things down. This is especially effective for projects that will take more than a few minutes to complete.
Before speaking with your technical person, let them know what you need, why you need it, and when you would like to see the task completed. For instance if you are having someone set up a unique landing page on your website, be sure to explain to them how this landing page is going to be used and how you expect it impact your business. Your technical expert may have some additional ideas about how the page should be set up and possible other uses.
Essentially, don’t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that you know the best solution for technical problems if technology is not your expertise. Open yourself up for advice and direction.
When speaking with the technical person about the project, make notes about the conversation. Jot down how the two of you have agreed to get to the final goal. Before the project starts, take your original notes on what you want, why and when you need it, add to this the details of what you and the technical person agreed upon. Make a copy for yourself and one for the technical expert. In this way, you are leaving nothing to chance.
Make sure that you’re talking about the same thing. Sometimes it feels like technical people have their own dialect. They often use terms and phrases that seem very out of touch with the way that non-technical people communicate. If you are going to have an ongoing relationship with a technical person or a team of technical people, then you need to make sure that you are all speaking the same language. Some large firms may even consider having their technical specialists develop an in-house dictionary of common terms so that everyone is clear on the meaning of technical jargon.
When talking with technical people, if you change the subject, or if you move on to the next step or the next client, say so. When they are speaking with you, repeat back to them what you think you’ve heard just to be sure that you are on the same page.
Don’t be ashamed to admit your confusion. Even if you really think you will look like an idiot, just be honest when you are confused and be clear about what is confusing you. Say, “What exactly do you mean when you say X,” as opposed to just saying, “I’m lost”. Even though technology is not your expertise, it is important that you have at least a basic understanding of what your technical experts are doing. Most likely, the technical person will be relieved by your desire to understand and will work with you until you do.
Remember that working for someone who doesn’t understand what you do is awkward. Managing someone when you don’t understand what they do can be even more difficult. Either way, you still have to make it work between you and your technical experts. Follow the steps provided here to make sure that your communication and your projects stay on course.
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EmailHiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part III: Working Together
Hiring a legal assistant can be one of the smartest decisions your solo practice ever makes. Many attorneys feel that legal assistants are an extravagance reserved only for large law firms. The truth is that attorneys in small law firms can often benefit more from having a legal assistant than the attorneys in those large firms. Attorneys in solo practices and small law firms often have no one to pick up the slack when challenges arise. To learn more about how to hire a legal assistant, read the other two articles in this series called “Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Parts I and II.”
Once you’ve hired your assistant, you will need to do a few things to ensure that your get off to a good start. Remember that your legal assistant is a partner, a critical member of your team.
Spell Things Out
Be crystal clear with your legal assistant about your expectations. Don’t assume that they will understand what you want or why you want it.
Decide together how often you want to be updated on projects. Have a weekly meeting or connect once at the start of each day, depending on what works best for the two of you. Find a communication balance. Checking in with each other too often can lead to a lack of productivity. However, not checking in often enough can lead to projects getting off course. The more that the two of you work together, the easier it will be to find a natural flow of communication.
Remember that no one is perfect
Prioritize. You’re not hiring a best friend or looking for a life companion. While you may not generally like outspoken people, it may just what you need in an assistant. You want a legal assistant who is bold enough to tell you if they see trouble on the horizon and you want them to have the guts to handle it if you’re not around. Many assistants will simply act as if their job was to record the disaster. You want someone head strong enough to make last minute decisions, even if it is an area where they have yet to receive proper training.
Don’t Keep Secrets from You Legal Assistant
If you want your firm to fail, keep your assistant in the dark. Your assistant is your ally, not your enemy. If you can’t trust them with sensitive information then you need to get someone who you can trust. Your assistant will be tasked with making decisions everyday on your behalf. Let your assistant get into your head. Help them to understand not only what you are doing, but why you are doing it. You want to feel that, when you leave the office for meetings and litigation, you have left a small version of yourself behind. Your legal assistant should be someone who can, to some degree, handle things while you’re unavailable.
A competent legal assistant should know you and your style well enough to write your blog, send out your newsletter, and even seek out networking and speaking opportunities for you. They will also need to know where you plan to take your firm and your plan on how to get there.
Maintain Boundaries
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your legal assistant is going to become your best friend. Sharing too much of your personal life will get in the way of work. Maintain a courteous and professional relationship to ensure smooth sailing. Getting too close can lead to problems between the two of you that are not work related. Since you hired an assistant to ease your burden, don’t add to it by letting the relationship get complicated.
Read up on Human Resources Law
Every state has different guidelines for hours, overtime, vacation, communication etc. Be sure to have a general idea of what things are and are not acceptable in your state. Be sure that your work conditions meet OSHA standards. The last thing you need is a lawsuit because of an unnecessary work injury.
Invest in Your Legal Assistan
If there is new software that could make your legal assistant’s job easier, buy it and get your assistant trained. Remember, that these types of investments will almost always pay off in the end. You will find that as your assistant’s skills grow, so will their levels of responsibility. The goal is for you to pass off things that can be done by someone else, so that you can focus on the things that only you can do for your firm.
Making the decision to hire a legal assistant is a big step to take. Be sure to plan before you start your search. When you do search, be thorough as you screen applicants and up front about your own expectations. Additionally, develop a strong relationship with your legal assistant from the start. Realize that a good legal assistant is more of a team member than an employee. Lastly, enjoy having some extra time on your hands. Use it to find new and innovative ways to grow your practice and deepen your expertise.
Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part II: The Hunt
Eventually, the attorneys in almost every solo practice or small law firm will come to the realization that they require the help of a legal assistant. Hiring someone to come into your law firm, communicate with your clients and have access to your firm’s most delicate information should not be taken lightly. There are several key steps attorneys should take before they start the search for a legal assistant. To learn more about them read the first article in this three part series called “Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part I: Have a Plan”.
Once you’ve decided to hire a legal assistant for your solo practice or small law firm, and after you have planned out what tasks you will need them to take over for you and the salary and benefits you can offer, it’s time to begin the hunt. Finding just the right legal assistant is important. If your firm hires someone who just isn’t a good fit, you may have difficulty letting them go from the firm. Then once you do let them go, you’re back to where you started in the first place.
Take the time to perform a proper search, so that you can get the right legal assistant the first time.
Know Where to Look
One of the best ways to find a legal assistant is the old fashioned way, advertise the position. Put an ad in the paper and on Internet job boards like http://www.monster.com. You can also go to sites like Monster and view the resumes of legal assistants who are looking for work. Another great way to look for an assistant is to network. Let friends, family, and even clients know that you’re growing and that you’re in the market for an assistant.
There are staffing agencies that specialize in providing firms with legal assistants. They place a temporary legal assistant with you and the two of you work together for anywhere from 30 – 90 days, during which time you pay the agency a high hourly rate and then they pay the assistant after taking out a percentage. If all is well and you want to hire the assistant, then the staffing company will charge you an additional finder’s fee.
While it may sound tempting to use an agency, they charge a lot of money and almost anyone can register with them because their screening process is not very difficult to get through. The upside of using an agency is that you get a try before you buy. If the assistant isn’t a good fit, you can just call the agency and they will send you a new stack of potential candidates.
If you have the funds, then go ahead and use an agency, but you should still conduct phone and face to face interviews with all potential candidates.
Be specific in your advertisement
Be as clear as you can with potential candidates about what you think their duties will be. If you need someone who will be willing to work the occasional nights and weekends, be upfront about that as well. The more detailed you are, the more likely it is that you will find someone who will be a good fit for you and your firm.
List a salary range. There is definitely a lot of controversy about whether or not salary ranges should be listed in a job advertisement. However, at the end of the day, most people work because they have bills to pay. If the salary that you’re offering is $10,000 less a year than what a potential applicant needs in order to support themselves, then interviewing them is a waste of time for both of you.
Review resumes carefully. If a resume is chock full of misspellings, then you know that the applicant is not detail oriented when it really counts. If you want a legal assistant who will be able to write for you or do research and present it to you in a well organized document, then make sure that their resume reads well. It should have a flow, use logical language, and common yet professional phrases.
Look for gaps in employment and bouncing around from one job to another. However, keep in mind that the era of employees staying with the same company for life has passed. If your applicant changes jobs every 2-3 years, they may only stay with you that long as well. Many people see each job as a stepping stone to the next one.
The Interviews
Plan to do a phone interview. A phone interview is a great way to weed out applicants who just don’t fit with your firm. The phone interview doesn’t have to take more than a few minutes. If they sound unprofessional, easily confused, or hard to understand, you already know that it isn’t worth meeting them. Phone interviews may feel like an unnecessary step, but in reality they can cut down on the number of applicants that you actually end up having to meet with face to face.
For the face to face interview, come prepared with a series of questions. A strong applicant should also have questions for you.
Once you have narrowed it down to a few candidates, check their references. References can often provide useful information about the strengths of the candidate.
The Offer
Be prepared to negotiate the salary. Ideally they won’t try to get a higher salary than what you’re comfortable with because you listed a range in your advertisement. If for some reason you really want this candidate, but they want more than what you’re comfortable paying, be willing to negotiate in other areas.
You can offer an extra week or two of vacation. If you work in a building that has inadequate parking, you can offer to pay for them to park in a spot that is close to the building. You could also offer to increase their salary once they have finished the probation period. You could even offer them a flexible working schedule if it would not cause a problem for the firm.
Looking for the perfect legal assistant can be challenging. Use the steps provided above to make sure that you don’t miss a beat in your search. To learn how to handle those first few weeks, read the last article in this series entitled “Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part III: Working Together.”
Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part I: Have a Plan
At some point, almost all solo practice attorneys and small law firms will realize that they need to hire a legal assistant. Legal assistants are not just a luxury for attorneys in large law firms. They can be an integral component in your plan to grow your practice. Actually, getting a competent legal assistant may be one of the best decisions an attorney in a solo practice or small law firm can make.
Attorneys who are regularly involved in litigation need a legal assistant who can answer calls and basic questions from important clients while the attorney is out. But even attorneys who spend much of their day in the office can benefit from the help that a qualified legal assistant can provide.
Think about how much time you spend drafting correspondence, responding to basic inquiries, answering the phone, sorting the mail, updating your website and more. A legal assistant can provide you with additional time in your day to cultivate potential clients and to take on additional work.
Furthermore, a legal assistant can perform fact checking and can edit your work. They can research previous cases and legal articles pertaining to your firm’s most critical cases. They can also draft contracts and handle all of your billing for you. In other words, an attorney’s legal assistant can be a partner. The two of you can work together to achieve the goals of your law firm.
Hiring a Legal Assistant Takes Time
If you want to hire an assistant who is competent, quick to learn, and who complements your style, you will need to allow yourself an adequate amount of time to figure out what you need, review resumes, and conduct interviews. This cannot be stressed enough. By the time that most attorneys realize how much they need a legal assistant, they don’t have the time to conduct a proper search.
Do yourself a favor and honestly assess the needs of your firm before you’re in over your head with work. You can do some of the work of hunting for a legal assistant even before you think you will actually need one. In other words, get everything set up so that when you decide that you want to start looking for help, you already know where you will look, how much it will cost, and what skills are important to you.
Know What You Want
Think very specifically about what duties you would like to hand over to your assistant. Imagine what the ideal day would look like if there was someone there to help you. A good legal assistant should work with an attorney like a team member, not a subordinate. Remember, you’re not just looking for someone to answer the phone and make copies, you want a legal assistant who will be smart enough and savvy enough to actually take regular projects off of your to do list. You may need someone polished enough to meet high level clients and other counsel.
Decide whether or not you need someone who has been to school to become a legal assistant. Many attorneys have just as much luck hiring someone with a strong administrative background as they do hiring an assistant straight out of school. If you want someone who already has a strong understanding of what it means to be a legal assistant, then this is the route for you. If you want someone who has proven project management and administrative abilities, then you may be able to cast a wider net as you search for the perfect candidate.
If there are certain areas where you know you’re weak, look for someone who has previous experience in those same areas. For instance, if you know that you have no interest in marketing, consider hiring an assistant with a marketing background. You can teach them about the law and they can help you understand the nuances of marketing your law firm.
Once you’ve decided on what your legal assistant’s job duties will be. Ask yourself what skills and attributes your legal assistant will need in order to complete those tasks. Use this information to create a job description. No assistant wants to have to guess to find out what you want from them. Be as detailed and as clear as you can be.
You Get What You Pay For
If you want quality, you have to pay for it. This may be hard to swallow, but remember that what you pay your assistant will more than be made up for in the additional business you can take on because you’re not tied down doing tasks that could be handled by an assistant.
Conduct some research to find out what the going rates are for legal assistants in your geographic region and in your field of law. Don’t plan to pay the minimum. If you do, then you’ll hire someone, train them, and then throw them a going away party because they’ll use their new skills to go someplace that pays better.
Make a decision about benefits
Find out how much it would cost to offer health insurance benefits to your legal assistant and find out what your state requirements are. Benefits can be costly. Look for associations of small business owners or small law firms that offer medical benefits to their members.
If you simply can’t offer benefits because of the cost, know in advance that you may have to pay a little more to get someone who will be willing to go out into the open market to get their own health benefits. Although, you may be able to find someone who gets their benefits through a spouse’s job and does not need them anyway. Lastly, decide how much paid vacation and sick time you would like to offer.
A legal assistant can free up your schedule to allow you to focus on growing your firm. To learn how to interview and then how to manage your legal assistant, read the other two articles in this series: “Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part II: The Hunt” and “Hiring and Managing Legal Assistants Part III: Working Together”.
Does Your Law Firm Measure the ROI of Marketing?
If your answer was “no” you should give it some serious thought.
More and more law firms are harnessing the power of return on investment (ROI) measurements. In years past, when a law firm chose to advertise, whether on the radio, on television or in print, they didn’t have any scientific measurement to determine how well their advertising campaign performed. If new clients started rolling in by the bunch, then firms would know that their advertising was working for them. The only problem was in trying to determine which form of advertising was most effective? Were clients coming in because of the television advertising, the radio spots, or the printed mailers?
In the past, one of the most common techniques used by law firms to try to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns was to include a “how did you hear about us” question in the client’s initial paperwork. For a variety of reasons, some clients simply didn’t fill this portion out, or they checked any box because they didn’t think that it would really matter. This method of measurement was unreliable to say the least.
A set of new technologies is allowing law firms to measure which advertising elements produce the largest pool of potential clients. This process is called “measuring ROI” or “measuring return on investment”.
There are a variety of ways for small law firms and solo practices to measure their return on marketing investment dollars, in this article I’ll explain the most common, the easiest to use, and the least expensive measurement tools.
Landing Pages
One of the most cost effective ways for law firms to measures their advertising ROIs is to use a unique landing page. There are two basic ways to do this. You can create a unique page on your law firm’s website or you can use a separate domain that is routed to a landing page on your website. Then you use advertising to drive potential clients there. You do this by including the web address for that page in your marketing materials. Every time that someone goes to one of those pages, you’ll know that they got there from the advertisement you sent out.
For example, if the web address for your law firm is http://www.harrisonandjones.com, then a unique landing page could be http://www.harrisonandjones/now.com or rerouted domain would be http://www.hireharrisonandjones.com. You can and should use a different address for each marketing campaign and for each advertising outlet. For example, you might do two different mailings at the same time, but they each might focus on different aspects of your law firm. If you use different web pages for each mailing, then you’ll know which one was the most successful.
Similarly, if your law firm is doing a multi-faceted advertising campaign that utilizes print, radio, and even television, then you can use a different landing page in each advertising outlet to determine which one was the most effective. Surely your law firm can’t sustain advertising in all of these different venues forever. Knowing which advertising outlet works the best will allow you to focus your law firm’s dollars on the most effective advertising strategy. The bottom line is that unique landing pages save both time and money.
Web Analytics
Once you get potential clients to your law firm’s website, you need to know what they’re doing when they get there. This information will help you to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your law firm’s website and the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
For example, if you get a high number of people coming to your landing page, but very few go to the contact us page, and you don’t see an increase in clients, then you’ve gained some valuable information. A few things might be going on. One option is that the marketing piece is spot on, but your law firm’s website is not strong enough. It may not be designed in a way that makes it easy to navigate or it may simply not look professional enough for the clients you’d like to land.
This leads to another possibility. If a lot of people are coming to your law firm’s site, but no one is trying to figure out how to contact you or where your office is located, then your original advertisement may have targeted the wrong demographic.
Web analytics programs allow you to dissect and to better understand exactly what potential clients are doing when they visit your website. More than just learning about which pages they visited, you’ll be shown patterns that will help you to make strategic decisions about your law firm’s website and its marketing campaign. Google offers a comprehensive web analytics software that is free, it’s called Google Analytics.
Proxy Phone Number
Proxy phone numbers work a lot like landing pages and they can be integrated into any existing web analytics program. Basically, you get a proxy phone number from a phone company and then you list it in your law firm’s marketing materials. Whenever someone calls that number, the phone company places a browser visit on your firm’s landing web page. In this case, the landing page is “hidden”. It is used only for this purpose.
The great thing about using proxy phone numbers and unique landing pages or domains, is that one free web analytics package can analyze and break down all of the information for your firm. You can do one or several different types of tracking and then have all the information integrated into a single reporting system. Two companies offering these innovative solutions are Who’s Calling and Mongoose Metrics.
Before the development of return on investment measurement tools, law firms were in the dark about how effective their advertising campaigns really were. With simply solutions like landing pages and proxy phone numbers, law firms can know with certainty if their advertising is adding to their bottom line or just taking away from it.
A Legal Assistant: A Key Part of the Success of a Small Law Firm
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how certain law firms operate like finely-tuned Swiss watches?
What I’m talking about is a law practice where the information necessary to carry out effective legal work is on hand for each and every attorney and paralegal; a practice with a level of operational confidence and efficiency that precedes it in the marketplace; a firm that simply ‘gets it’ and as a product of getting it, gets the results they seek more often than not.
What makes operations such as these so efficient and effective?
Is it the Managing Partner or senior attorney at the firm?
Perhaps.
But as a firm grows and prospers the main partner(s) or share holders are usually overly involved in bringing in business and strategizing the most important cases. They don’t spend a great deal of time on handling the details of the office. Peak operational efficiency often develops as a result in someone who has taken his/her place well before a finely tuned legal machine is ever noticed.
I’m talking about a good administrative assistant.
We’ve all seen the Hollywood scenario. A successful executive breezes in and out of the office while his business seems to always be at the right place at the right time. He signs the contracts and drives the fancy car. But it isn’t the boss pulling the strings and pushing the buttons. It’s usually an otherwise unassuming individual who is behind the scenes like a symphonic conductor making sure everything goes just so. Such individuals are almost always worth five times or more than the salary they earn because without them the business goes from exemplary to average.
My good friend Marvin is the senior partner in a family practice law firm and has the ideal administrative assistant running things. Her name is Claire. And she is worth her weight in gold. Let’s take a look at how Marvin began working with Claire and how he nurtured and developed her skills and abilities.
Hiring the Right Person
Most folks who have found that special person would probably say that hiring them involved more intuition than analytical skill. In other words, hiring the right ‘office maestro’ is more an art than science. Of course you’ll still be looking for the best person with the best set of relevant technical, hands-on skills. But what are the intangible assets this person is likely to have? We’re going to look at the skills and personality traits that make the most effective administrative assistants. The way they process information and approach a task is critical.
Organizational Approach
Most people are either right-brain dominant or left-brain dominant in their orientation to their environment. Someone who is predominantly right-brain oriented will easily see the big picture and be useful in planning the concept part of a project. They are good at constructing the framework and letting others fill in the particulars. Someone who is predominantly left-brain oriented will be happiest working on the particular details of a project. Of course, no one is always completely right or left-brain orientated. We all switch on and off according to the situation but most people have a preference for one over the other.
So, which orientation would be more effective as an administrative assistant for a law firm?
Many would say the detail orientated individual. But that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The ideal administrative assistant would be a close blend with their orientation slightly toward the overall concept or big picture. Then they’d be good at delegating the fine details out to people who have proven to be efficient at individual points. Without having the knack to see the overall big picture it’s almost impossible for anyone to foresee the dozens of little items that need to happen to make a law practice shine.
Ability to Motivate Others
Some people are quite skilled at aggravating subordinates while some excel at motivating them. We’re obviously looking for the motivator. But how can you tell where your potential prospect weighs in on this important ability? One of the absolute best indicators available to determine motivational skills can be found in a person’s leadership style.
Leadership often boils down to how willing an individual is to stop what they’re doing and lend a hand to the line staff. In other words, will your potential administrative assistant occasionally jump into the trenches and shovel muck just like her subordinates? This is one point that subordinates look for in a leader and are often willing to go far beyond the call of duty to produce for a supervisor who will occasionally pitch in. Of course, I should emphasize the word ‘occasionally’ as no supervisor should be constantly doing the work of their subordinates. How can you determine if your prospect has this trait? Ask. Look for comments from previous employers where the individual has been cited for team spirit and leadership.
Overall Personality
Chances are, you’ve seen some highly efficient people who were easygoing and others who were a force to be reckoned with. I think most would agree that an easygoing person is desired for continuous day to day contact. However, some managers find a supervisor that employees are just a tad afraid of to get more done. Personally, I’d prefer the lighthearted approach but that’s just me. Both personalities can get the job done and run the practice impeccably; it’s simply a matter of preference for the person doing the hiring which personality will fit in better.
Since it’s often difficult to judge an individual’s personality in a single interview, it might be necessary to call your candidates in for two or more subsequent interviews to determine whether they’d be a good fit for your firm.
Assuming that your candidate is qualified with regard to computer, time management, organizational and office skills and has the education and other basic abilities to run your practice, the above items are where you really need to look to determine whether this person has what it takes to tie it all together and make your practice sing. And here’s a tip, chances are, there’s an individual already working in your midst who has it all.
How $39 Per Day Can Change Your Business
Is running your office killing your business?
Most attorneys say they spend too much time focusing on the details of office management. Taking phone messages, confirming appointments and keeping in contact with prospective clients can overwhelm even the most organized lawyer. Many don’t want or need a full-time administrative assistant, yet administrative tasks are keeping these attorneys from growing their business.
There is a solution.
A virtual assistant (VA) can help you organize your practice and spend time focusing on the things that really matter – like finding new clients. Your VA will you manage day-to-day office operations – just like an assistant or office manager – for a fee that is about 1/10 the cost of hiring full time office help.
How much time do you spend on the following tasks?
- Answering phone calls
- Scheduling meetings
- Booking travel
- Making restaurant reservations
- Coordinating meetings
- Tracking down packages
- Typing and editing documents
- Bookeeping
- Transcribing tapes into typed notes
If you’re like most solo or small practice attorneys, you’re probably spending at least two to three hours per day on these tasks. That’s time you should be billing to clients – or more importantly, spending on marketing programs.
The process of outsourcing your administrative tasks is quick and easy. Here’s how it works:
An attorney will contact us to help manage and complete the administrative tasks that are bogging him/her down. We examine their practice over the course of a couple of weeks and we will propose a virtual administrative solution. This usually consists of a monthly retainer for a set of “core” services and it will include some add on administrative work.
Here’s an example:
One of our clients is a Probate Attorney. When she leaves her office she forwards her phone to a dedicated phone line we set up for her. We take messages from her callers and forward them to her email address. We also manage her calendar – setting up as many appointments as she books during the course of the month. In addition, we keep all of her business books, balance her business checkbook and communicate with her accountant on a monthly basis.
These are the “core” services we provide for this client. She also has us type and format some documents and presentations on a monthly basis. Ten hours of this type of work are included in the monthly fee she pays us.
So what does all this time-saving work cost the Probate Attorney? $775 per month. That works out to about $39 per day.
It would be impossible to hire someone – even a high school or college student – at this rate. For one low price all of your administrative tasks are handled and you have about 40 additional hours that you can use for other purposes. If you bill just $100 per hour you are making over $39,000 by working with a VA.
In my company, we call this service our B.O.S.S. package. B.O.S.S. stands for Business Outsourcing Solutions and Systems and attorneys are signing up for it like crazy.
When it comes to your business, you need to be in control. That means letting go of the day-to-day tasks and focusing on the strategic opportunities that lie ahead. A virtual assistant is the best (and most cost effective) way to get started down that path
To find out about the hundreds of ways B.O.S.S. can help you; call Kary Cheda at 305-692-1823
