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August 2007, Issue #15

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In this issue:

Law Firm Advertising – Law Practice Management and Marketing

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Law practice management is marketing. Anthony O. Putman, author of the classic book Marketing Your Services, defines marketing as follows: "Marketing is a set of lenses you use to look at your business – your entire business." Putman also wrote "Marketing is the intentional process of creating and maintaining the relationship of "customer". Thus managing employees well is marketing. This topic has come up this month since some of my coaching clients have been having significant staffing issues. These staffing issues have negatively impacted their ability to market appropriately as well as upset some of their clients (not a good thing of course). Let me review some law practice management principles around staffing issues.

The main principle is to "hire slow and fire fast". By this first part of the saying "hire slow" I mean take your time when hiring. Don’t hire the first person you think is good. Particularly if they came from an advertisement since most people answering ads are not the cream of the crop. In law practice management you will need to learn some recruitment skills. You can get a good start on learning some via my seven part auto responder course on time management/productivity that you will find on my website under the resources tab.

In law practice management these days you need to seriously consider using pre-employment testing since this has been honed to a fine art. You can get what I call "Mr. Science’s" opinion on your best candidate(s). Additionally, interviewing is less an art than a science these days as well. You need to learn some of those law practice management skill sets.

Another related principle is to pay the right person for the job up to 20% over the market rate (especially if you are a solo or small firm) so they are very happy campers with no temptation to be looking elsewhere thus they will be with you for the long haul. Why pay so much? This is not a time to be penny wise and pound foolish. The cost of changeover is incredible. The cost of a wrong hire is even more expensive. The cost to your marketing efforts is also an issue. You want this good employee to be very happy and motivated to do well. Money in law practice management is a good way to do that of course.

Now what do you mean by the "fire fast" issue? Here I am talking about the tendency for most managers to think things will get better and give people too many chances to improve. This seldom works in law practice management. A good manager follows what is known as "progressive discipline". What this entails is four steps. The first step is referred to as "verbal warning". In this step, one basically tells the employee how much they value them. Then tell them specifically what job behavior is not working and exactly what you expect to change moving forward. Also tell them you will be using the law practice management principle of "progressive discipline" if things don’t improve so written warning, probation and then termination are next in that process. Be sure at the end of the conversation to tell them how much you value them (if you can) and/or at least how you know they can make these changes. Then you make a memo to yourself documenting you had the conversation with the employee today and put that in a file somewhere in case you need it later as further documentation of the process but not in the employee’s personnel file.

The second step is referred to as a "written warning". This happens if the desired behavior does not change. You have a similar conversation as the first step except this time you document in writing what you see is not acceptable behavior and exactly what is expected in the future as well as telling them if things do not improve you will be moving on to the next step in this law practice management process. You ask the employee to sign the document at the end of the conversation (you also sign it) and put this document in the employees personnel file giving them a copy of the document. This document should have a date by when you will review with the employee if the needed change has occurred or not. Generally this is 30, 60 or 90 days out but could be even shorter if needed.

The third step is referred to as "probation". Here you have a straight forward conversation with the employee (and document the conversation with a copy to the employee) that now they will be placed on probation for the next 90 days. At the end of this time (or before if you can document continued failure) if the desired behavior is not occurring then they will move to step four in this law practice management process which is immediate termination. None of this should be a surprise to the employee and in essence the employee has fired themselves if step four occurs. You did all you could to help them reach the goal thus it is not your fault.

Let me mention two other things about "fire fast". First, you don’t have to wait through four steps of this law practice management process to fire someone for a serious offense so just know that. Second, when you hire a new person be sure you give them a written document stating that for the first 90 days on the job they are on probation. Say in the document what this means is they could be terminated without cause. This enables you to "fire fast" if the new hire is not working out. Now, I always think it is funny to say to lawyers to document things since I am not a lawyer, however, that is what managers do unless there is a legal reason in your state that indicates it is best to have no written documentation (like maybe in an employment at will state).

One last law practice management principle I need to cover with you. When an employee is not working out it can only be in one of three domains as to why. One is they don’t have the resources for the job (skill sets, personality style, intelligence or not the right, equipment (like software, computer etc.), not enough staff to do the task, etc. You need to get them the right resources if it is in your court. Two is they need training in substantive matters or training in systems (the flow of the work). This can be time with you to train them or external training. So if the training is an issue do get it done. The third is what is called "personal problems impacting job performance" (these can be physical, mental, emotional, attitudes, marital, drugs/alcohol, children/partners with problems, etc.). This third one is where many managers go awry in law practice management of employees. Just because someone has personal problems does not mean they don’t have to perform on the job. Also, you are not qualified to be talking with them about these issues or even rendering an opinion if they have these issues so don’t go there with them. If an employee says something like "do you think I have a drug problem" don’t even render an opinion. Say something like "I don’t know, however, someone who is wondering needs to get to a licensed professional who knows quickly." An important law practice management principle is don’t get involved in your employee’s personal problems. Stay focused on job performance. You are not their therapist or friend although you can be compassionate and accepting of their need for help. You are their manager or employer and stay in that role.

Good law practice management skills with employees will pay off big time in the marketing arena. Implement the "hire slow, fire fast" principle. Pay up to 20% over market rate to your good hires. You will prosper in the long run with less stress and more control. Who does not want that? Comments, ideas, questions or topics you would like to see addressed in future newsletters? I would love to hear from you. Just reply to this newsletter and tell me what you think.

To your success,

Henry Harlow
Founder, www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com

PS: You can find all our website resources with the two complimentary seven part e-courses at www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com/resources.html.