Every law firm owner wants success for their team and their business. There’s no doubt that the driving force behind success is a foolproof plan to get there.
But what does success look like to you and your organization? What direction are you headed? How do you get there?
Measuring success can be tricky. You must differentiate the qualitative outcome you want from the quantitative goals it will take to get you there.
That’s where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in.
Key performance indicators are strategic data used to measure success within an organization. According to KPI.org, this critical data indicates progress toward an intended result.
To put it simply, a KPI is a measurement of progress toward a particular goal. Tracking KPIs within your firm is an essential piece of the puzzle for success to guide your team in the right direction, create specific short- and long-term targets, and display consistent progress (or lack thereof).
- Why Track KPIs for Your Law Firm?
- How to Determine the Most Important KPIs for Your Firm
- Need Ideas? Start Here.
- Final Thoughts
Why Track KPIs for Your Law Firm?
The more developed your systems for achieving success are, the more likely it is to secure success as an outcome. Creating a dashboard to track KPIs that is visible to your entire team is one of our top recommendations for success.
What’s the big deal with KPIs? Ultimately, you must know where your firm is going and how you’re going to get there if you want to achieve your big goals.
Take it from Reza Torkzadeh, Founder and Senior Partner at TorkLaw. When he joined Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill on an episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, he said the following:
KPIs are the “how” behind reaching those big goals, because the most surefire way to ensure success is with a data-driven approach.
Start by setting a long-term vision. What do you want your firm to look like in the future? If we were having this conversation in five years, what would need to have happened at your firm for you to be ecstatic?
Take a look at Crisp’s vision for the next five years.
Imagine your long-term vision is the final destination on a map for a road trip. The route you take to get there — each street, highway, and interstate — is essential to reaching that final destination. It’s important to decide on a route that will get you to the destination efficiently.
What the route is to your final destination, your KPIs are to your long term vision.
How to Determine the Most Important KPIs for Your Firm
Selecting the right route — or the right KPIs — is a key part of creating a successful long-term plan. KPIs will vary by department, by firm, and by practice area. What’s important is that you track the ones that fit your vision.
With a vision in mind — a next-level type of vision that propels you into action, sets your soul on fire, and inspires you to move in the direction of transformational growth every day — you can then set smaller goals to get you there.
Stick to SMART goals to ensure positive results and create milestones your entire team can contribute to:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Then, create your firm’s KPIs catered to each team and each individual on the team. Base each KPI on these long-term goals and the responsibility each team member has to achieve those goals.
The KPIs you choose have to make sense. Ideally, they lead directly to an outcome that benefits overall goals and vision.
Every department within your firm should have team KPIs to hit, and every member of the team should have individual KPIs to hit.
KPIs are your measurement of success. Any role can (and should) have at least one KPI, and it’s essential to ensure the success of the firm that the progress toward that KPI is measured accurately and consistently.
Need Ideas? Start Here.
Our expert team of Program Advisors within the Crisp Coach program has input for you on some KPI ideas to start you off.
This is only an introduction to the layers of KPIs that can be implemented within your firm to improve overall performance.
There is no position that exists in your firm that does not have the potential to create KPIs for — but it’s up to you to determine what fits best, what will be the most effective, and what your firm’s unique needs are.
Be sure to create an accurate system for tracking these metrics and put them on display for your entire team to understand where everyone stands on goals at all times.
Intake
Your intake team is one of the most essential teams of all within the firm. They interact directly with clients and are often the front lines when clients first reach out to your office. There are many metrics you can use to measure the success of your intake team, so here are a few to start with:
- Number of intakes per month
- Number of positive Google reviews posted per month
- Average response time
Marketing
The marketing team is the backbone of your brand, responsible for growing your audience and nurturing your clients. Consistency is key on this team, so here are some metrics to start them off:
- Social media engagement rate per platform
- Number of new leads generated per month
- Number of content pieces published per month
Attorneys
Without attorneys, there is no law firm. While the attorneys may be the leaders of the organization, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have their own KPIs as well. In fact, KPIs for attorneys can be the most important to track, as they tend to be the driving force behind one of the biggest goals — revenue. Track for:
- Average case value
- Net new revenue
- Client referrals generated
Hiring
As your team continues to hit goals and your firm begins to grow in size, you’ll need to hire more staff to keep up with the influx of business. Hiring goals are nothing short of essential to the growth and success of your firm, so start with these:
- Hiring leads per source
- Average time to fill each role
Legal Staff
Underneath the stacks of files and behind the scenes of every case, your tireless legal staff supports every facet of the business. Make sure they’re staying on target and supporting the team with metrics like:
- No overdue case management tasks
- Client onboarding time frame
- Average case resolution time
Operations/General
Don’t leave anything out! Every important aspect of your firm may not be covered by a single KPI. This means it’s essential to clean up the miscellaneous tasks with goals to keep all loose ends tied up. Important subjects you don’t want to miss are:
- Budget adherence
- Project completion by deadline
- Data accuracy
Final Thoughts
These are meant to give you an idea of the types of KPIs you can start implementing today. While they may only cover a few examples of many, you have to start somewhere.
If you would like help creating more custom KPIs for your law firm, visit CrispCoach.com or speak to your program advisor for further guidance.
