Pulling It All Together With Coaching
After receiving marketing tools, software, document compendia, public relations and personnel systems, new members often don't know where to start with Academy materials.
Pulled together in one place on the members-only website are over 1,000 pages of practice building tools. What to use first, how to use it, what not to use at various times of the year or geographic areas… there are 1001 traps to avoid along the way.
The Member Services Department assigns a Practice Building Consultant to coach members through implementation and planning. These coaches meet by phone on a weekly basis with new members until a certain level of implementation is accomplished, then the phone meetings move to once or twice per month.
The phone meeting agendas vary depending on where the firm is and what goals the firm has. The primary focus on these calls is to review the action items and results. Getting the Academy Systems in place is often a huge task upfront, but keeping those systems in place requires very little maintenance… thecoaching necessary to accomplishing this growth in a member law firm is the main focus of this department.
During and after implementation, the department's focus is tied to planning. Month-end and year-end financials are reviewed in detail so planning for the coming month, quarter or year is on target. These Strategic Planning calls are typically conducted twice annually, the marketing plans that stem from these calls are reviewed monthly or quarterly.
When experienced members hire associate attorneys or marketing coordinators, the Practice Building Consultants also work closely with those key law firm people to ensure they too are familiar with all of the Academy tools and recommendations.
Member Services is referred to as "the gateway to the Academy". Being experts in the products, tools and services offered by the Academy andmeeting with each and every member keeps the success rate of all programs top of mind.
“Dennis Sandoval and Steve Hartnett are very patient when helping me understand complex concepts ... and they hang in there with me until I get it.”
Randy H. — Utah Member