STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHEET

Transcription

1 STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHEET STEP 1 VISION 1 American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.

2 LAW FIRM NAME: DATE: If you are a new member, do your best to provide all the information requested. Once completed, please this form along with the Profit & Loss Statement to your PBC to schedule the Strategic Planning call. VISION, WHY & MISSION PERSONAL VISION Why do you get up in the morning? What do you want your life to look like? What is your Owner s Compensation? How many days per week do you work? How much vacation do you take per year? How are your relationships with family and friends, community involvement, etc.? LAW FIRM VISION What will the business look like in 3-4 years time? Revenue, # of employees, attorneys, focus, etc. Does this support your exit strategy? ATTORNEY S WHY Out of all the practice areas, why did you choose estate planning? What about it called to you? What are you trying to accomplish for yourself and your clients? Did a life event occur that shifted your focus to estate planning? If so, please explain. It is about leading a life and creating a practice that is consistent with your core values and beliefs. 2 American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.

3 LAW FIRM WHY / MISSION STATEMENT This primary aim provides a sense of purpose, direction and inspiration for the entire team. It motivates everyone to their highest levels of energy, uses unique abilities, and allows everyone to be the best they can be. What you want potential customers to know about your business and why your firm is different short, succinct and clear. Can be posted in your lobby. CORPORATE VALUES Describe the values and standards that business decisions will be based on and relationships with employees, community, clients, and vendors. What moral code do you operate by or litmus test can you ask yourselves? (i.e. we always take the high road ) STRENGTHS, OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES & THREATS Strengths & Challenges are internal to the business and Opportunities & Threats are external. All points should be in one category, for example, something is either a Strength or a Challenge but cannot be both! Enter up to 6 items under each category. STRENGTHS: CHALLENGES: OPPORTUNITIES: THREATS: 3

4 VISION: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE About My Practice If you are submitting last year s financials, the information below can be submitted on this plan or on your financials. There is no need to provide it in both places. CURRENT YEAR NEXT YEAR STAFFING 1. Number of Owners 2. Number of Attorneys 3. Number of Employees (F/T & P/T) 4. Document Production Person? F/T, P/T or No 5. Marketing Coordinator? F/T, P/T or No 6. Trust Admin Person? F/T, P/T or No 7. Signing Person? F/T, P/T or No 8. Skills and Personality Testing in place? Yes or No 9. Weekly Staff Meeting Yes or No Day of Week 10. Weekly Marketing Meeting Yes or No CONTACTS 11. Number of Prospects in your database 12. Number of Clients in your database 13. Number of Professional Contacts in your database for networking purposes Day of Week 14. Name your Niches for private seminars (i.e. business owners, special needs, farmers, doctors, employers, non-profit groups) 4

5 NUMBERS 15. What percentage of gross is spent on Marketing? (Seminars, mailings, advertising, no marketing coordinator salary) 16. Number of total CASES retained (amendments and restatements are cases, just not new clients, etc.) 17. Cost per Client: Divide the amount spent on marketing by the number of cases retained, what is your average cost per case? 18. What is your Average Transaction Fee? 5

6 VISION: ORGANIZATIONAL CHART Consider staffing based on the Academy s benchmarks for Revenue per Employee and Revenue per Attorney. PRESIDENT OPERATIONS MANAGER MARKETING MANAGER LEGAL SERVICES MANAGER FINANCE MANAGER FINANCIAL PRODUCTS MANAGER RECEPTIONIST SEMINAR PARALEGAL [Lead Conversion] ADV EP ATTORNEY [Lead Generation/ Conversion] ACCOUNTING LICENSING & COMPLIANCE DATABASE ENTRY ATTORNEY [Professional Review] NETWORK ADMIN SEMINAR SPEAKER/ATTORNEY [Lead Conversion] MARKETING COORDINATOR [Lead Generation] PUBLIC OUTREACH ONLINE/ MKTG CLIENT MARKETING MEDICAID MARKETING NETWORKING & COI's CE PROGRAMS ESTATE/TRUST ADMIN ATTORNEY [Lead Conversion] ELDER LAW ATTORNEY MEDICAID PARALEGAL MEDICAID APPLICATION PARALEGAL ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY [Lead Conversion] ASSISTANT PRODUCTION PARALEGAL PROOFING BOOKKEEPER PAYROLL ACCOUNTS PAY/REC VENDOR PURCHASING BANK RELATIONSHIPS MARKETING CONVERSION FOLLOW-UP ENDORSED SEMINARS FUNDING FINAL SIGNING NOTARY SERVICES DEED PROCESSING 6

7 STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHEET STEP 2 GOALS 7

8 GOALS: FEES FEES FEE INCREASE: DATE OF LAST: DATE OF NEXT: CURRENT FEES FUTURE FEES SIMPLE WILL COMPLEX WILL RESTATEMENTS AMENDMENTS SINGLE LIVING TRUST (bundled plan or tiered pricing) MARRIED JOINT LIVING TRUST (bundled plan or tiered pricing) MEDICAID TRUST WITH RLT: WITH RLT: STAND ALONE: STAND ALONE: MEDICAID CRISIS QUALIFICATION TRUST ADMIN CLIENT MAINTENANCE PROGRAM HOURLY RATE SEMINAR CREDIT 8

9 GOALS: DAILY NUMBER EXERCISE 1. Always start your goalsetting with your Owner s Compensation (OC) Goal before taxes 2. Confirm the percentage of Gross Revenue your Owner s Compensation will represent (40% is the benchmark) 3. Calculate the Gross Revenue you need to generate in order to hit your Owner s Compensation Goal Example: $1M OC Goal 40% of Gross Revenue = $2.5M Gross Revenue Goal 4. Last, break down your Gross Revenue goal into a Daily Number. # of Weeks: There are 52 weeks in a year, but you don t want to be a slave to your practice, so give yourself 4 weeks of vacation. Things tend to slow down around Christmas, so subtract another 2 weeks, bringing you to 46 working weeks. # of Working Days: If you worked 5 days a week x 46 weeks, that would be 230 working days. Subtract 11 national holidays, and you would be left with about 219 working days. Daily Number: Divide $2.5 million (from above) by 219 days, and your daily revenue number is $11,415. OWNER S COMPENSATION (PAST, CURRENT & FUTURE) Include draw, car, insurance, net income. LAST YEAR CURRENT NEXT YEAR IN 2 YEARS Actual Actual & Goal Goal Goal STEP 1 STEP 2 OWNER S COMPENSATION % OF GROSS REVENUE GROSS REVENUE AND DAILY NUMBER (PAST, CURRENT & FUTURE) Estimate revenue goal(s), then determine number of weeks total you ll work (less vacation and holidays), next determine number of days you will work each week (i.e. 4 or 5 days) and divide the number of days by your revenue goal to determine your true Monthly, Weekly and Daily Number. LAST YEAR Actual CURRENT Actual & Goal NEXT YEAR Goal IN 2 YEARS Goal IN 4 YEARS Goal STEP 3 GROSS REVENUE OC Goal % Gross Rev that is OC STEP 4 STEP 5 NUMBER OF WORKING DAYS IN YEAR DAILY NUMBER WEEKLY NUMBER MONTHLY NUMBER 9

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11 STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHEET STEP 3 EXECUTION 11

12 EXECUTION: MARKETING PLAN Body Count Worksheet (front) *Ask us for the EXCEL version of this file that calculates the math for you Gross Revenue Goal: REVENUE CATEGORY Corporate Work Amend/ Restate (Clients) Restatements (Non-Clients) Living Trusts Wills Advanced Planning Trust Administration Probate Medicaid Pre-Plan Medicaid Crisis Miscellaneous Other Legal 12 ANNUAL REVENUE % OF GROSS TOTALS 100% PROSPECT Body Count: AVERAGE FEE NUMBER OF CASES (Divide Revenue by the Ave. Fee per Category) MONTHLY REVENUE GOAL (Divide Annual Goal per Category by 12) CLIENT Body Count: MONTHLY CASES REQUIRED MONTHLY BODY COUNT (Complete Attached Form)

13 Body Count Worksheet (back) *Ask us for the EXCEL version of this file that calculates the math for you AMENDMENT RESTATEMENTS WILLS LIVING TRUSTS MEDICAID PRE-PLANNING Total Cases Needed Ex: 50 cases Current Percentage of Retention in the Firm Ex: 85% Meetings Needed in Order to Retain the Cases You Need Ex: 60 (x 85% retention gives you 50 cases) What Percentage of Cancellation Does Your Office Experience? Ex: 15% Add Above Percentage to the Number of Cases You Require (Appts Scheduled) Ex: % = 69 Total Monthly Body Count Requirement Take above number multiply by 3 to determine how many bodies you need to be in front of Ex: 69 x 3 = 207 PROSPECT Body Count: CLIENT Body Count: 13

14 EXECUTION: MARKETING ACTIVITIES CHECKLIST Identify each activity you what to do and by when. Law Firm Name... Year... Activity Implement Y / N PUBLIC OUTREACH MARKETING CHANNEL Public Seminar Direct Mail Seminar invitations & follow-up postcards to cold list of prospects. When did you last update your invitation? When did you last update your mailing list? Do you offer meals? Mail first class? Public Seminar Newspaper Ads and/or Inserts ½ Page Vertical Ads & zoned inserts Radio and/or Television Ads Fee Increase Letter Calendar 2 follow-up Postcards Summer/Holiday Letters Revise for New Year, Valentine s Day, Mother s Day or Father s Day Calendar 2 follow-up postcards Prospect Postcards Send them to prospects in your database for upcoming public seminars, broken down by zip code COI REFERRALS MARKETING CHANNEL Create Private/Niche Seminar Hit List Professionals, organizations, non-profits, membership groups, employers, banks, churches, etc., includes niches in client database, private groups, and other contacts (Farmers, LGBT, Pet Owners, etc) Donut Drops Schedule Lunch Networking Meetings with Hit Lists At least 2 per week (1 professional and 1 niche/private contact). Be prepared with agenda with clear next steps. Call 5-10 groups each week (whatever you need to meet your private seminar goal) then calendar the meetings When (mo or date) Done Repeat?* Private and Endorsed Seminars With niche groups or endorsed by professionals for their clients CPA Client Seminar Plan at least 1 per year in May/June or Nov/Dec Plan 6 months out *Repeat: Do you want to repeat this activity next year? 14

15 Activity Implement Y / N When (mo or date) Done Repeat?* Brownie Point Letters Send them once a month to organizations named in clients trusts. Keep track of total charitable giving dollars by clients in their plans. Send ealerts At least monthly with educational alerts, invitations to CE Programs, and other FYIs. Tuesdays are the best day for delivery Client in Common Letters Send out monthly and follow up with a lunch & learn invitation. Use the Medicaid Client in Common letter for MIDGT clients you retain. CE/CLE Courses for Advisors, Attorneys, Social Workers Plan at least 4 months out 60 days needed to get CE approvals Topics: Medicaid, Real Estate Agents, 12-Part CE, Trust Admin, etc. Mini-Educational Lunches For small groups in your conference room. Often times they don t need the CE Credit, but want the education Invite to Upcoming Seminars Regularly invite professionals to your seminars as guests to open the door for private seminars Nursing Home Tours With Evaluation, Brochures, Medicaid Hotline, FUP system, etc. Nursing Home Lunch & Learns In-house presentation for all Nursing Home Staff Referral Thank You Gifts Chocolate, Wine, Fruit Baskets, Restaurant Gift Cards, etc. Check State Bar Rules CLIENT MARKETING CHANNEL Client Seminars Schedule them monthly or quarterly on various topics, such as Trust Administration, Medicaid, Law Changes, etc. Newsletters Sent Monthly or Quarterly in the Mail With Cover Letter/Insert w/ updates, service offers, review reminders Client Review Meeting Mailings Sent monthly or weekly with follow-up phone calls one week later. Consider using the Medicaid Planning version of the letter Client Advisory Board With monthly or quarterly lunch meeting in-office or at upscale restaurant *Repeat: Do you want to repeat this activity next year? 15

16 Activity Implement Y / N When (mo or date) Done Repeat?* Send Out Cards Schedule monthly for birthdays, anniversaries, thank you s, etc. Annual Client Appreciation Events Such as local plays, wine tasting, ice cream social, sporting events, BBQs, museum tours, guest speakers Client Referral System Incorporate into seminars, consultations, and signings Client Membership Program Membership program offering annual schedule of workshops on special topics and other benefits for program members Dinner s On Us Seminars Plan on at least 3-4 for the year. Target key clients and other contacts for endorsement ONLINE & MARKETING CHANNEL Download Estate Planning Articles (EPAs)s and Educational Alerts Set a reminder to download the newest article on the last business day of the month and post on your law firm website Update Website Monthly With estate planning articles (EPAs), law firm announcements, or etc. Send Alerts or enewsletters At least monthly to clients, prospects, and professionals. Tuesdays are the best day for delivery Marketing Automation for Website Leads Every online lead gets an automated response with specific follow up resources Update Social Media Accounts ( 3x Week & for events) Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Avvo -- Share seminar invitations, law firm news, blog posts & other educational, inspirational, entertaining info on your social media accounts. Calendar additional time to connect with other local companies & organizations to grow your online community. Write and/or Post Blogs at Least Weekly Schedule your blog approvals and postings. Look for guest blogging opportunities ass well to gain name recognition. *Repeat: Do you want to repeat this activity next year? 16

17 Activity Implement Y / N When (mo or date) Done Repeat? * Facebook Ads Targeting professionals and consumers in your community with call to action such as attend a seminar, download a lead magnet, request a report, etc. Avvo Ads and Questions Webinars Using targeted online ads, lead magnets and landing pages Google Analytics Review your website traffic reports every month Yelp, Google Business, Avvo Pages updated with Client Reviews Run Blind Ads in Local Bar Journal To local press, online, and on your website Purchase List of Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorneys Send interest letter to attorneys nearing retirement age Press Releases To local press, online, and on your website Radio Show Guest Make arrangements to be a guest 4-6 times per year BUYING A PRACTICE MARKETING CHANNEL MISCELLANEOUS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS Co-Author a Book To enhance your credibility as an expert in the field with consumers and referral sources *Repeat: Do you want to repeat this activity next year? 17

18 DASHBOARD SUMMARY After completing each section of the worksheet, summarize your goals here. CURRENT NEXT YEAR REVENUE GOAL DAILY NUMBER REVENUE PER ATTORNEY REVENUE PER EMPLOYEE MONTHLY BODY COUNT MARKETING BUDGET MARKETING CALENDAR DEADLINE AVERAGE FEE RETENTION RATE COST PER CLIENT 6 INTERNAL SYSTEMS TO IMPLEMENT Include deadlines MARKETING SYSTEMS TO IMPLEMENT Include deadlines

19 ACADEMY BENCHMARKS FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS Revenue Per Attorney $500,000 Revenue Per Employee $160,000 Overhead per Attorney Marketing Costs Owner s Compensation Staff Salaries Rent Seminar Attendees 60% of Revenue Per Attorney 10-15% of Gross Revenue 40% of Gross Revenue 25-30% of Gross Revenue 6-7% of Gross Revenue SEMINAR AND CONSULTATION BENCHMARKS 85% of Reservations Seminar Appointments Scheduled 33% of Bodies or 50% of Buying Units Appointment Cancellations Less than 20% Retention Rate 80% of Consultations 19