Have you ever heard of Cosmolex or Clio?
I hadn’t either until I had the privilege of sitting in with a client to decide which product was best for their business. Cosmolex and Clio are an all inclusive software packages used by lawyers to manage their practices. They deal with client matters, retainers, billing, accepting payments and a lot of other legalese that pertains to the legal industry.
This post is more about how a virtual assistant can help you with small things in your business that have a big impact on your bottom line.
- Save Time
- Save Energy
- Make Money
Let’s face it, small business is small business and you have to invest in your business.You also have to watch the bottom line and utilize all of the tools at your disposal in order to run your business.
The Question: Why would I need a virtual assistant so early in the game?
I’ll explain…
As I said earlier, I had the privilege of sitting in with this client on the sales calls for both companies. Because I am not a legal secretary, a lot of the terminology was over my head. But, what I did understand was the workflow process that both pieces of software provided. Get a customer, retain them, do your thing, bill them, and follow up excessively. Plus a lot of scheduling, reminders, track payments, apply retainers and more legalese in the middle.
So then the question becomes which one? Right?
Having a Virtual Assistant at the beginning of your processes pays dividends.
While a VA cannot guarantee you’ll pick the best option or even take their input into consideration, your virtual assistant will have some experience with other software packages as well as processes that can be implemented in your business, sometimes for less than the options you were considering.
The answer for my client was none of the above. While they were looking to start off on the right foot with a software package that came as a one-stop-shop, the bottom line is all-in-one software also comes with a price tag.
Based upon where your are in the business cycle, it pays to be frugal and use some of the many free and low cost web-based options until you can support an all-inclusive software package. So that’s what we did. I was able to give them a process that mimics what they would have gotten from Cosmolex and Clio with out the price tag.
Then you say: I can easily find free and low cost web-based solutions on my own.
I say: At what cost?
It takes time to find the right program for what you need. Then it will take more time to figure out how to use the program so that it makes sense to you and your business. If your VA can help you find a program that fits you and what you need it for then that is a small win. The big win is when you also don’t have to spend more time setting it up yourself. Your VA can also teach you what you don’t know much faster than you learning it yourself.
Now, instead of being able to acquire new clients next month because you are putting your processes in place, you can get them now. Your VA just accelerated your acquisitions too!
