The Best CRM for Lawyers

This is not another resource about the wizardry of the world’s best Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. This is about how to simplify your CRM for marketing and business development. 

CRMs come in different shapes and sizes: Hubspot, Zoho, Salesforce, Interaction, Clio, Lawmatics etc.  

Different law firms will require different tools and that largely comes down to team size and market reach. Emerging law firms generally have little time to set up systems or learn them; more established ones might require tracking of referral sources, relationship owners, past fee quotes, ongoing communications and so on.   

Capital+ applies the same approach regardless of platforms, and here are 3 tips to turn your CRM into a business generation engine: 

1. Have prospects present themselves to you by communicating actively 

The sales cycle within the legal industry can be a long one. It can take months from the first contact with your potential client until you represent them. 

Take control of the sales process by deploying quality and dynamic thought leadership consistently. With each piece of thought leadership that you deploy, you’re earning credibility and opening an opportunity to build relationships around authentic dialogue.  

Legal BD has much to do with timing and relationships as it does with your expertise. Through regular communications via your CRM, you have a much better chance of converting leads into clients and getting return business.  

2. Know why pitches were lost & hedge against them 

Are you able to identify the reasons for lost pitches and reflect on lessons learned for your next one？ 

Better yet, know how to segment those who rejected you to receive different communications i.e. for those who were concerned about pricing, send them case studies and testimonials to demonstrate the value of your work; for those who felt that they trust larger or more well-known firms, how about awards and press releases to demonstrate your expertise relative to that of your competitors? 

Whenever a pitch falls through, ask the organisation why your firm isn’t the right fit, and use that feedback to methodically plan future marketing accordingly. 

3. Automate the follow-up process: know when to do so.  

The longer you’ve been around, the larger your database naturally gets, and the more conversations you’re in. With your list of names growing over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember who (and when) to hit your follow-ups. 

Prospective clients become hand-raisers at different parts of the legal sales cycle. Often, it’s a process of self-discovery where they’ve been dormant, only to return to visit your website, past emails, videos, etc. You need to know when they have raised their hand and are most open to dialogue. 

If your Opportunities/Deals Pipeline is managed with discipline over time, the analytics will present ‘average duration’ that a prospective client sits in each stage of your funnel. Using this other data, you’ll develop a scientific approach in knowing when to follow-up with those who have gone idle.  

Everything can be automated: the notifications, the customised communications to clients, and your own task list. 

The best CRM for legal BD is the CRM that you will use.

Cut through the noise, capture client interest, maintain ongoing relationships. There are very few things more valuable to a marketing process than the effective management of a CRM and marketing communications system.