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This focuser measures how many money meetings the firm has on the books for a given month. It encompasses all the meetings where there is a check being collected for work completed. (Remember, the LWP process trains firms to collect 50 percent of the fee at the Design Meeting and the other 50 percent at the Signing Meeting.)

The Cash Flow Focuser tells you at a glance whether you are on track to meet your monthly revenue goal, and if not, how many more money meetings are necessary to achieve your goal. It also helps you balance your calendar.

Utilizing your LWP cloud-based workflows will help you keep your business on track and hold your team accountable. The more you work with these focusers, the better you will get at reading them and pinpointing the areas that need to be improved to achieve your goals.

Now let’s look at LWP’s Color-Coded Planning System and how using it in conjunction with your reports will help you make the most efficient use of your time.

This focuser reveals an attorney’s hire rate. That is, it measures how many Vision Meetings or Initial Meetings an attorney had during a given week, how many of those meetings resulted in an engagement agreement being signed, and the dollar value of each engagement. It will also measure how many Vision Meetings and Initial Meetings resulted in a follow up call.

In essence, the Pipeline Results Focuser is a synopsis of what is happening in the conference room between an attorney and the prospective client. If the numbers are low, you need to figure out why. For example, let’s say several clients have mentioned during meetings that the firm on the other side of town offers a lower price for a foundational estate plan. If that’s the case, you’ll know your pricing structure needs adjustment.

Or perhaps prospects seem disengaged during meetings, or claim to be in a hurry and rush out without signing an engagement agreement. Then, when you follow up, they fail to respond. If scenarios like this happen frequently, you may need to examine your mindset before the meeting, or your approach during it.

Low numbers in the Pipeline Results Focuser let you, together with your coach and your implementation specialist, know there’s a problem and we must roll up our sleeves and solve it together. This is what makes the Pipeline Reports Focuser so valuable.

This focuser tells you at a glance the number of opportunities you will have to get hired in a particular week. How? By measuring all of the meetings on your weekly calendar that offer the possibility of a prospect signing and an engagement agreement.

If the numbers in the Pipeline Focuser are high, congratulations, you have a good chance of generating new revenue. If the numbers are low, marketing and client services need to do a better job of filling your week with meetings and, consequently, opportunities to convert more prospects to clients.

This focuser measures the outcome of your workshops. It will tell you exactly who attended a particular workshop, which of the attendees scheduled a Vision Meeting, and the outcome of follow up calls to prospects who attended the workshop but did not say yes to a Vision Meeting.

The Workshop Results Focuser allows you to determine the efficacy of your marketing and your workshops. For example, if very few people attend a workshop, your marketing strategy and/or materials must be modified.

Conversely, let’s say you get 31 attendees but only two of them agree to a Vision Meeting. In that case, you’ll know that either the person making the presentation needs to do better job or the presentation materials themselves are in need of improvement.

Finally, if very few of your follow up calls or emails lead to a Vision Meeting, you need to examine the messages being conveyed and your Clients Services Coordinator’s approach.

Given the importance of workshops in building your client roster, you need to make the most of them. The Workshop Results Focuser is an efficient way to do that.

This focuser measures the number of people who contact your firm in any given week. It lets you know how these prospects heard about your firm—was it through wholesale marketing, retail marketing, or some other vehicle? If the number of people contacting your firm seems low, you’ll know you need to take steps to improve your marketing and/or other lead generation strategies.  

The Initial Contact Focuser also tells you the next steps that will be taken to convert these new prospects into clients. Did they register for an upcoming workshop? Did some of them schedule a Vision Meeting? With this information, you can determine whether or not your Clients Services Director and the folks answering your phones are doing a good job taking leads to the next stage in the conversion process. If they are not, you need to find out why and take steps to address it.

How many people contacted your office last week?

How many attended your workshop and scheduled a Vision Meeting?

How many Vision Meetings and Initial Meetings are on your calendar for next week?

Did you close any Vision Meetings or Initial Meetings? If so, how many and for how much?

What is your projected cash flow for next month?

If your answer to any of these questions was “Ummmm, I’m not sure,” “I’d have to check,” or “I really have no idea,” you’re not running your business reports. Which means your firm is probably not managing time efficiently, monitoring cash flow accurately and holding key personnel accountable. Ultimately, your firm is probably not realizing its full profit potential.

In the coming weeks, we’ll discuss in greater detail why you need to run your reports, and more importantly, what you can learn from them to make your firm run at peak efficiency and profitability.

Until next time…