LPM Tip

Market yourself from your desktop

It is now possible to deliver legal services, communicate with clients and even market yourself right from your desktop. Voice recognition software and a good practice management system can take the place of a secretary, a billing clerk/bookkeeper and a marketing assistant (at least to some extent). The problem with technology, however, is that it can become a real time sink. This is particularly true if you are enjoy technology and like being an early adopter.  

Reinventing the wheel certainly make sense sometimes. The key, however, is to balance the opportunity to increase your efficiency against the time it will take to get the new software working properly and the time it will take to get accustomed to the new way of doing things. Undoubtedly, any switch you make will slow you down initially -- until you learn how to use the new software. So try not to incorporate new technology into your practice more than once or twice a year and when you do, try to make the conversion when you are slow. And don't forget to budget in time for ironing out the kinks and learning how to use your new tools.

The tip is courtesy of Stephen Seckler of Seckler Legal Coaching.

Published December 9, 2010

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