Think of your estate planning or elder law practice as a covered wagon, carrying your practice across the prairie (through all manner of dangers and threats) to the promised land (ah! sweet profitability!).
Sometimes while traveling your route, it seems you are not making any progress. The wagon has slowed down, perhaps to a crawl or even a standstill. While you're sitting there not making any progress, the sun is scalding hot, supplies are running low, and savages are gathering on the hilltop.
This is not the time to shoot the horses!
In business, the team of horses pulling your practice through treacherous territory is called Marketing. When times get tough, trimming your marketing budget is like shooting the horses.
When cash is tight, do this instead:
First, make sure there is nothing wrong with your "horse." Maybe he
threw a shoe a few miles back and you missed it. Maybe you've been
starving him and he just can't pull any harder. Or maybe you've got a
pony hitched to your wagon when you need a draft horse! Evaluate your
marketing and see how you can make it work better -- fix it, feed it,
or beef it up. But by all means, do not shoot it! Marketing drives your practice revenue just as surely as horses pull the wagon.
Rule of thumb: When you're in a tight spot, don't shoot the horse!
Second, if you really need to trim your budget, look at your wagon. Is it overloaded? Maybe you need to throw some things out of it! Cut things that do NOT generate revenue. Evaluate your staffing, your research and software subscriptions, travel expenses, over-priced office supplies, even
your office rent. Do you need to downsize your
office or take in a "room-mate" -- someone to share office expenses -- such as a
non-competitive attorney, an accountant or an insurance professional
who will pay a few hundred dollars a month to use a conference room and
have someone answer the phone?
Chop unnecessary expenses to the bone.
But cutting your marketing budget is like shooting your horse. And, for most attorneys, the money saved by "trimming" the marketing budget is very small. It seldom amounts to thousands of dollars per month. If you intend to maintain any marketing at all, the money you will save by "trimming" your marketing budget amounts to no more than a couple of nights of take-out
pizza! You may save a couple hundred dollars, but this move could cost you literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. In fact -- just like shooting your horse -- it could cost you the whole wagon!
If you are experiencing a cash-crunch, the thing for you to do now is sit down and complete a practice
analysis -- take a snapshot of current expenses and revenue -- and
evaluate everything. Then choose to cut things that will NOT impact
revenue, and re-invest that money in marketing strategies that will drive your practice to the promised land of profitability.
P.S. -- If you are "postponing" implementing a well-conceived marketing strategy until your cash flow improves, think about this. Just how long would you let your wagon bake in the hot sun, while savages gather on the hilltop, before you decided to harness that big draft horse and get moving? The longer you wait, the hotter that sun gets and the closer those savages. Hitch up now and get the heck out of Dodge!