The law firms we work with fall into two distinct categories:
- Firms rolling out Salesforce for the first time
- Firms already using Salesforce looking to address "pain points" that are preventing them from realizing the application's full potential; for example:
- low user adoption rate
- frustrated users
- unsure how to customize Salesforce to address specific practice management and marketing needs
In either case, some pre-engagement planning is prudent in order to help your firm achieve the best possible results. We refer to the process of documenting the goals of a Salesforce consulting engagement, and preparing a roadmap of the steps we'll take to achieve them, as "Discovery."
Importantly, "Discovery" does not have to take alot of time or cost alot of money.
We want to get you up and running with solutions as fast and as cost-effectively as possible.
But some upfront planning is obviously critical to ensure that we fully understand your needs and expectations, and the timetable for rollout is realistic given the scope of work.
Trust us on this one - any consultant that advises you to take shortcuts with planning is only setting you up for disappointment and increased expense down the road!
As a starting point, we recommend that each client review and complete a pre-engagement workbook (provided at no charge) covering the following:
- Identifying your key players and their roles and responsibilities
- Documenting your "pain points" - i.e., what about the "status quo" is not working or causing frustration
- Defining and prioritizing your project goals - i.e., identifying desired outcomes, and ranking them in terms of "must have soon" versus "nice to have, but can wait"
- Outlining the components of the relevant business processes that need to be addressed to realize project goals. For example:
- The stages of your marketing and business development cycle
- The steps involved in handling website leads
- The steps involved in client intake
- The key tasks and milestones within the lifecycle of a firm's typical litigation or transactional matters
- Identifying desired reports to monitor progress and measure success of the relevant business processes
Upon your completion of the workbook, we'll review your responses, and schedule a conference call to discuss recommended next steps. Depending on the complexity of your needs, these steps might include:
- Scheduling a "remote" or "onsite" session to clarify and refine your workbook responses
- Drafting a requirements document to confirm the scope of work
- Preparing a rollout plan (e.g., what to implement first, and what to save for later phases; timing of training, etc.)
Upon completion of Discovery, your firm is ready to move to the next step: Implementation.