As lawyers, we are constantly struggling to squeeze more time out of our days. I’ve found that the best way to accomplish this feat is to implement systems in our daily lives. Anytime you find yourself working on something over and over again, you should systematize the process so that it can be easily replicated.
Here are two systems that I use in my practice. The first “system” is used to effectively follow-up with clients on a regular basis. The second “system” is used to balance all of my personal commitments with my professional, legal responsibilities:
Client Contact System
At the heart of this system is the idea that successful attorneys do a good job of following up with people, whether it be clients, prospects, or referral sources. What follows is a simple, yet powerful system for doing just that.
At the core of this system is the premise that every month, even February, has 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays and 4 Wednesdays. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you have 48 people that you want to keep track of or stay in touch with. Of those 48 people, 18 of them are your top referral sources, and 36 are active clients/cases.
The first step in the system is to create a matrix to organize your follow-up and contact schedule. You can easily create an excel sheet to manage this. The second step is to determine how often you should be following up with people. I recommend that you follow up with clients on at least a monthly basis (You probably speak with most of your active clients many times a week, but I would include them on a monthly schedule anyway. The purpose of the schedule is stay in touch with the inactive clients). You will have to use your own judgment regarding referral sources, but I recommend that you contact them no less than once every quarter – the top 5 much more often than that.
The next step is to add each contact to the matrix. If you have 36 active cases that you want to touch once a month, and twelve days per month to make contact with the client, then you will need to contact 3 clients on each of the four Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. With 18 referral sources that you want to touch at least every quarter, than you should divide them up and call on 6 referral sources a month, or 1 every other contact day.
Finally, you must schedule your follow-up for a specific time each day (think time-blocking) and keep a list of the contacts you must touch. This can be done with Outlook, a handwritten cardfile, or by using your own case-management system. (Personally, I use “OmniFocus” on my Mac – it’s the best task management program I have found). However you do it, be consistent and create a system to make sure that none of your contacts get lost in the cracks. You can follow-up with people using email, a phone call, or letter. The sky is the limit regarding how much or how little time you want to work on this and how creative you want to be.
How to Get Stuff Done System
Like the Client Contact System, this system revolves around the fact that every month of the year has a set number of days. Depending on the year, you will find that there are between 6 and 9 months per year that have 5 Mondays or 5 Fridays. I reserve these days for “personal business”. In other words, if I need to schedule doctor’s appointments, take my car in for service, get a haircut, etc., I schedule it on one of those days.
By doing it this way, I am not interfering with my regular business appointments, and I am able to know, 18 months in advance, which day I need to schedule my next dentist appointment for. I suggest you pull out a small notecard and write these 6-9 dates on it for the next year and a half. Put a card in your purse, wallet, desk drawer, and/or car, and whenever you need to make a “personal” appointment, schedule it for one of those 5 Mondays or Fridays. It’s that simple – you won’t interfere with your work, and you’ll get a lot more done.
You might also give a copy of that list to your spouse – at your own peril.
James Hart operates a consumer law practice in Raleigh, North Carolina handling Workers Compensation matters and Collaborative Divorce cases.
Print
email
PDF
del.icio.us
Facebook
Twitter
