Analyze. Secure. Grow. Protect.
It might not seem like it at first glance, but these four words form the foundation of a successful growth strategy for your legal practice.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve been helping thousands of personal injury firms strengthen their brands and develop marketing plans to achieve their short and long-term business goals. In all this time, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I’ve also seen how tactics that generate positive results for one firm might not produce the same for another.
The crucial thing is to have a framework to help guide your growth — regardless of your location or ultimate business goals. That’s why I have created a process that allows any firm to accurately assess its situation, within the local market dynamics, and determine the smartest way to generate more cases and revenue.
I call it A.S.G.P.
What is it?
A.S.G.P. stands for: Analyze, Secure, Grow, Protect — and applying it to your firm’s plans for the future can help you avoid the pitfalls like stagnation or being out-classed by your competition. Let’s take a look at each part of this formula so that you can start thinking about how it can help your practice.
Analyze
This is the first step as it ensures that up-to-date information is being utilized to chart a course forward. All too often, I find that firms haven't adequately looked into the recent metrics of their ad campaigns, local rankings, conversion, client experience when they call or write into the firm, i.e., how efficient it really is. The initial analysis step consists of a deep dive into your firm's marketing. This involves finding out where your cases come from, how much they cost, and your business's overall efficiencies and inefficiencies. You also want to look into your firm's overall exposure on and offline — objectively determine how well known it is, how often you keep in touch with previous clients, whether clients refer friends and family, etc. You want to know what's building your brand reputation — and what might be taking away from it.
Once you have all the information necessary, you can move to the next step.
Secure
Now that you know and have all the raw data (the good, the bad, and the ugly), you can start working to secure your market position further. For example, if you get most of your cases through referring prior clients, you should ensure you have a plan to make your referral program even stronger. If your analysis indicates that cases decreased because referring attorneys are retiring – you should start planning how you can supplement new avenues to generate revenue effectively.
Many senior trial attorneys seem to feel that their market position is immutable and a lost cause. There are always opportunities and paths forward, but you need to be open to pursuing them. No matter how successful your practice is, the possibility of entering into a business downturn is very real — especially when you are operating with a status quo mindset in an ever-evolving industry like the digital one. Those with longevity in the legal industry tend to keep themselves open to change and look for new opportunities whenever they present themselves.
Which leads to growth…
Growth
Growth refers to any form of expansion. That includes the pursuit of additional cases, better quality cases, more offices, more attorneys, expanding into new practice areas, etc. Different firms want different things, but all of them have to abide by the rules of business – you need income to survive, and you consistently need more of it than your total expenditure commitments.
To determine an ideal growth rate, you should look at the overall landscape in which you are trying to thrive or expand into. Understand that the environment is constantly changing (think of how much the internet has altered the acquisition of cases in the last two decades). To determine the proper growth plan for you and your firm, you need to look at your goals and what was uncovered in the analysis step.
With your growth plan mapped out, it’s time to look at the final step.
Protect
Once you’ve embarked upon a strategy to get more of what you want, you also need to focus on what you have to do to protect that growth. You must acquire, establish and secure the correct partners to help accomplish your goals. That means the right firm, attorneys, marketing people, financial partners, case managers, and so on. You should consult with the right people to protect your growth and recent changes. As you start securing more cases, you will be on more of your competitors’ radars.
A Summary
Projecting your future through the lens of A.S.G.P. can help your practice navigate the challenges of growth in any competitive and ever-changing business. Familiarize yourself with this concept and start identifying what you can do to improve your firm’s future trajectory.
Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 661.702.0089 or send me an email at Peter@Scorpion.co. I’m always eager to learn about your practice and see how the A.S.G.P. process can help it grow!
