Why Your Law Firm (And Every Firm) Needs Legal CRM
Competitiveness is a hallmark of the legal profession, especially personal injury law. PI lawyers must compete not only with their legal adversaries, but also with their peers to pursue opportunities to provide justice to those in need.
The problem is that success as an attorney isn’t based solely on your ability in the courtroom. It takes a keen business sense to differentiate one’s practice whether you work for a small firm, a big one, or are a solo practitioner.
Fortunately, there are tech tools available to help you stand out within your market and possibly expand into new ones. One of these that every firm should be aware of (and make use of) is legal Client Relationship Management software (CRM).
What is Legal CRM?
According to the American Bar Association, legal CRM is a tool to help you track information about current, past, and potential clients along with marketing ROI, and can also be used to automate workflows and processes such as intake.
Think of it as a repository for all client interactions you have throughout the entire course of an engagement from intake to disbursal. You can also think of it as a virtual legal assistant, helping you maximize the time you have available for your most important tasks.
How Do Lawyers Benefit From Legal CRM?
There are many ways lawyers can benefit from a legal CRM system for their firm or practice, including:
Increase revenues
Legal CRM systems can help you drive more revenues and make more money by helping you manage leads, automating intake processes, and tracking marketing data to maximize advertising ROI.
Decrease time spent on low-value, low-enthusiasm tasks
With legal CRM’s process automation capabilities, you can reduce or remove a significant amount of time spent on boring, low-value tasks, allowing you and your staff to focus on more valuable tasks.
Decrease wasted time
Along with cutting out low-value activities, legal CRM workflow automations can streamline important tasks, such as populating new files with intake information, saving you time and money.
Convenience of having case information immediately available
One of the most important features of legal CRM is its ability to store and retrieve case information including files, past cases, and other important documentation. This can help you research, plan, and strategize your cases with minimal effort?
Enhance communication
Legal CRM includes tools to automate communications so you can follow up with prospective clients, keep current clients updated about important case developments, and stay in touch with past clients in case they need your services again.
How Does Legal CRM Integrate with Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Given the buzz around artificial intelligence for law firms, you may be wondering how it could play a role in legal CRM. The answer is the AI can enhance the benefits of CRM even further, such as by drafting legal documents for your review and recommending possible case strategies based on research of past cases.
According to an article on JDSupra.com, “The analytical power of AI has enabled law firms’ email marketing campaigns to become more effective and engaging for their readers with exciting new features like timing optimization, dynamic content optimization and subject line augmentation.”
Is Legal CRM Just Another Trend?
It’s understandable that you might be cautious about embracing a technology that may be new to you or your firm, but according to some of the top authorities in the legal industry, legal CRM isn’t just nice to have, it’s a necessity for firm that wish to remain competitive in the legal marketplace.
For example, the American Bar Association, “CRMs offer a better way to utilize lead generation with the data you already have,” and, “CRMs provide a mechanism by which to centralize the gathering of information about your practice depending on the product you choose.”
A Law.com article reported that legal CRM usage is growing among small-to-mid-size law firms, and an article in The National Law Review says, “Legal CRM tools can improve collaboration between clients, attorneys, and law firm staff.”
Why Choose GrowPath Legal CRM for Your Practice?
As the articles above attest, the value you’re able to attain from your legal CRM depends largely on its functionality, features, and benefits. GrowPath Legal CRM focuses on helping personal injury lawyers make more money, more quickly with features that increase efficiencies and reduce waste at every stage of a case’s lifecycle. These include:
- Lead Scoring – Define what a high value case is in your practice, then our AI-based lead scoring tool alerts you to follow up on leads that meet a certain score threshold based on your criteria.
- BuzzwordsTM – Choose a series of words, terms, or phrases that prompt your staff to follow up with questions to reveal more information or potential cases when potential clients use them during intake calls.
- Workflow Automation – Customize workflow-based communications, reminders, and alerts so you can always stay on top of cases as they develop.
- Productivity Tools – Get a high-level view of who your top performers are, who might be available for additional work, and who might need coaching or additional training.
- Strategic Marketing Analytics – Gain an in-depth insight into how your marketing strategy works and where the best places are to put your advertising investment to maximize ROI.
Curious about how your firm or practice could benefit with an advanced legal CRM designed to maximize revenue and minimize waste? Contact us today to schedule a free demo to see how GrowPath Legal CRM can support your practice.