What is a CRM for lawyers ?

As a lawyer, you need to be able to work efficiently and be highly professional. Your reputation depends largely on your ability to successfully earn your clients’ trust and assure them of your professional work ethic. Many lawyers have yet to implement a CRM (customer relationship management system) in their practice. Using a CRM for lawyers not only lets you build customer loyalty all while growing your client portfolio; it also helps you implement many processes to improve your work day after day.

What is a CRM and what are the advantages of using this software? This article will first address these questions and then explain the features of CRM for lawyers.

What’s a CRM ?

Every business, corporation or organization now appreciates the key role that the customer relationship holds in the development of professional activities. While it’s crucial to have productive teams, the use of digital solutions is also recommended for numerous reasons.

A CRM (acronym for Customer Relationship Management) addresses numerous issues related to this invaluable customer relationship.

What are the main functionalities to look for?

CRM software comes with many useful tools. Regardless of the nature of your business, corporation or organization, some functionalities are more helpful than others for properly managing your customer relationship.

Marketing

CRM software allows you to create online campaigns to maximize your return on investment by:

• Identifying the best textual content while analyzing the ideal periods for sending messages
• Integrating sales and analyses to target and convert every prospect
• Assisting in the creation and sending of messages based on specific channels that track target customers

Sales-related functionalities

The centralization of data naturally allows crucial information to be shared. Sales team members can then benefit from a comprehensive overview of the performance of a business, corporation or organization. Additionally, CRM software makes it easier to identify “good buyers” (customer relationship development). Lastly, the integration of artificial intelligence within CRM software allows professionals to identify ideal strategies and to implement them during the sales process.

Optimizing customer service

CRM software also serves to optimize customer service. This is evident in the following characteristics:

• Establishment of contact via your clients’ preferred equipment and channel
• Presentation of detailed analyses where cost reduction and service optimization are visible
• Decisive visibility of the clientele to guide your staff during proposals (personalization of proposals)

Optimal project management

To maximize the results of a business, corporation or organization, it’s essential to choose a CRM that includes project management functionalities. This way, you’ll be able to:

• Efficiently plan your projects and allocate resources
• Determine how time will be managed for each task
• Track billing and spending
• Generate reports
• Access a portal for collaborative purposes

Other equally essential functionalities

Besides the above-mentioned functionalities, CRMs offer other digital tools that are useful for professionals.

The automation of manual and repetitive tasks is a perfect example. This functionality offers convenience while also limiting entry errors and improving the reliability of analyses for each department (this is especially true for the sales team).

Intelligent management of sensitive data is another functionality offered by some CRM software. The identification of critical information allows customized strategies to be reviewed and applied.

Depending on their profile, a business, corporation or organization may prioritize other functionalities. Again, choosing CRM software is a crucial step towards guaranteeing optimal results.

How can I benefit from using a CRM?

What can a CRM bring to my business, corporation or organization? This most pertinent question has many answers. The following is a non-exhaustive list of benefits linked to digital solutions that are now considered essential.

Better client management with CRM software

Your relationships with your prospects and clients are optimized thanks to information provided every time a client is contacted. By displaying complementary data, a CRM allows you to personalize your clientele and gain their trust, all while giving them greater responsibility during buying decisions.

A CRM centralizes your data and makes it easier to access information

The centralization of pertinent data naturally makes it easier to access this information. With a few clicks, each department can quickly find accurate data that’s updated in real-time.

Optimized overall management

Functionalities related to marketing, customer insight, field service and sales, as well as other essential elements for every business, corporation or organization improve your sales and your brand image.

An ideal solution for increasing productivity and agility

Besides the many functionalities previously discussed in this article, you could also ask yourself the following relevant question: What are the concrete benefits of a CRM for my business, corporation or organization? Again, several answers may be noted:

• Better communication between each department and your prospects/clients
• Significant amount of time saved thanks to the automation of repetitive tasks
• More efficient employees

Maximize your sales figures and benefits

As you can see, the many features of CRM software offer significant benefits. Deploying Customer Relationship Management software will quickly boost sales while ensuring that costs are properly managed.

What are the features of a CRM for lawyers?

A CRM for lawyers allows you to gather all your client contacts in one place

Above all, a CRM is a tool for improving how you manage your client relations. All your client data is centralized in one place. You will no longer lose contact information for every client. Better yet, with a CRM for lawyers, you can track and understand all interactions between you and your clients. Is it your first time contacting them? Is it an existing client who your office is familiar with? What is the business potential of this other client? You can access all this information, and therefore the degree of interaction you have with your client, from anywhere, at any time. Furthermore, since a CRM provides you with a centralized management platform, you can also share your contacts with your colleagues and associates.

Simpler and more efficient work relationships

Beyond your client relations, a CRM for lawyers makes it easier to communicate with your business partners, such as notaries, bailiffs or courts. This new IT tool secures your shared data, improving confidentiality thanks to encrypted data transmission. In addition to the security offered by such software, CRM for lawyers becomes a collaborative platform where everyone can work more efficiently with task and file sharing.

Invoices are automatically generated by your CRM for lawyers

With a CRM for lawyers, you can generate and submit invoices. You can automatically send customized invoices and follow up with your clients. This way, you can optimize your invoice generation without worrying about duplicating invoices or forgetting to send them.

Everything comes down to improving your client relations: when you send them the final invoice, you can list every service for the sake of transparency.

A CRM for lawyers can improve your document traceability, sharing and management while ensuring confidentiality

A CRM ensures that all your documents remain confidential while letting you view history saved in the system. You are therefore able to control everything your employees do in the CRM. Since it’s encrypted with an SSL certificate, the software is fully secured and your data are safely stored. If your employees are mobile, they nonetheless have access to the data they need.

Your employees will love your new CRM and you will love their newfound efficiency

With a CRM for lawyers, the efficiency and effectiveness of your team will increase exponentially. Employees can use a multitude of tools to track workflow; these will also ensure that your objectives are met.

Neither you nor your employees will forget tasks with a system for notifications and reminders that indicate periods of limitation or delays in cases that you are following. Depending on how each case unfolds, you can use a scenario-based system to decide when to send documents to your clients. Your team can then manage contracts more effectively and maintain the sense of trust you have instilled in your clients.

How can I choose the best CRM for my business, corporation or organization?

Without any specific knowledge, selecting CRM software that’s customized for a business, corporation or organization can turn into a complex process. Therefore, it’s worth highlighting several characteristics that will help you decide.

Personalization

To achieve the best results, you should have the option of personalizing every “detail” and feature of CRM software. While some solutions come with restrictive limitations, others properly fulfill this requirement (the Microsoft solution offered on our (Gestisoft’s) website is a perfect example).

Choose extensible CRM software

Dealing with deployments via the cloud or on-site can satisfy certain needs that are particular to a given business, corporation or organization. Additionally, a CRM must be compatible with other platforms and software, such as your architecture software, your ERP software, etc.

Set security levels for each user

An effective CRM system allows you to set security levels for each user. By assigning them a specific “role”, you are authorizing the user to access, integrate or modify centralized information, or denying them these permissions.

Choose a scalable solution

Expanding a business, corporation or organization is obviously a major priority for professionals. Your current needs may therefore change. Effective CRM software will assist you as you scale up your professional activities while also allowing you to streamline every process on a daily basis.

The CRM ecosystem

The CRM ecosystem (or stack) consists of the set of tools that are directly (or indirectly) connected. For optimal results, this set-up should evidently be constructed gradually. Safeguarding client data (and prospects’ data) is essential to fully benefit from a CRM stack. Again, a CRM ecosystem will be shaped by your choice of software.

Entrust Gestisoft with implementing your CRM for lawyers

When you are ready to choose a CRM for lawyers, keep in mind that you are making a long‑term investment for your office. Therefore, your choice of software needs to be a well‑informed decision. At Gestisoft, we make this easy with our team of CRM and ERP experts who will guide you in making your purchase and support you in implementing your software. Contact us today to discuss your needs—we’ll work together to find the solution that’s most suitable for your professional situation.