Every law firm needs a client relationship management system (CRM), but few law firms take full advantage of the tools their CRM has to offer. A well-maintained CRM does more than store contact information, it provides valuable insights that can accelerate intake, enhance client service, streamline marketing, and drive growth.
Here are a few ways to unlock the full potential of your law firm’s CRM.
1. Clean and Organize Your Data Regularly
Your CRM is only as useful as the data it contains. Outdated, duplicate, or incomplete records can lead to missed opportunities, embarrassing missteps, and even ethics violations. Make a habit of regularly conducting audits to remove duplicates and update contact details. Data entry should be standardized to ensure consistency across records and avoid missing or incomplete details.
2. Segment Contacts
Client communication is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Segmenting your CRM allows you to tailor communications based on client type, industry, case type, practice area, or referral source. Segmentation makes it easy to send personalized emails, relevant legal updates, or event invitations that are particularly relevant to particular client categories.
3. Track Engagement to Identify Opportunities
Modern CRMs offer insights into who’s opening your emails, attending your webinars, or interacting with your website. This behavioral data helps you understand interest and intent. However, having access to the data is only half the equation. High engagement should be a signal to prioritize and follow up with a potential client. Firms can set up lead or scoring alerts when a contact shows high engagement to automate this process.
4. Use CRM Data to Strengthen Client Relationships
Your CRM isn’t limited strictly to information and communication regarding a particular case. Instead, it should tell the story of every client relationship: case history, personal milestones, past interactions, and communication preferences. Firms should record birthdays, referral anniversaries, or notes from past conversations and use this information to send thoughtful, timely check-ins or thank-you notes.
5. Integrate CRM with Marketing Tools
Your marketing tools and CRM go hand-in-hand. When integrated with email platforms, event software, and your website, your CRM can become the hub of your marketing strategy. Connect your CRM with email marketing software, ad platforms, social media accounts, and any other marketing platforms to better assess performance. Insights from marketing data and engagement should also inform future marketing efforts – firms should be spending money on what works and phase out less effective efforts.
6. Ensure Your Team Is Trained and Accountable
Even the best CRM is useless if your team doesn’t use it correctly. Invest in training and set expectations for consistent usage across departments. Every firm should have robust standard operating procedures and best practices for data entry, task tracking, and follow-up timelines. Additionally, training is not a one-time event, it is a continual process that requires keeping up with software changes and fine-tuning processes.
7. Leverage AI
CRMs streamline client communication, but can still require a lot of manual work. AI, ideally integrated with the CRM, can be leveraged for a wide variety of manual tasks such as writing client communications, managing task flows, sending routine communications, keeping track of follow-up and deadlines, and more. AI tools can even make recommendations for improved workflows, task management, and marketing.
The Bottom Line
If you are utilizing your law firm’s CRM merely as a contact database, you are missing out. With a few operational changes and staff training, you can transform your CRM’s raw data into meaningful action. Whether you’re building client loyalty or optimizing your business development efforts, the insights are already at your fingertips, you just have to use them.