If you’ve thought about switching vendors you’re not alone. Up to 80% of frequent buyers switch suppliers in a 24-month period. With such openness to alternatives and a legal support service provider market crowded with competition, embracing change is easier now than ever. It’s little wonder that when a provider-side issue pops up the first instinct for some firms is, “Let’s try someone else.”
If that instinct has taken hold of you, here are five ways to reconcile your gut with what’s actually happening. Use these indicators to determine whether your firm is overdue for a new legal support service provider, and what to look for in the process.
Let’s take the first step toward making that change by examining the “why.”
One and Done?
A single bad experience may be all that’s needed for some buyers to walk away from a vendor. That may sound harsh but imagine if a court sanctions your firm because of something your legal support service provider did or did not do. Once can be enough.
Today’s legal professionals at a minimum expect their legal support service providers to be client-centered and deliver work on time, correctly. Not all providers are up to the task, however. And, when a legal support service provider underperforms, it can give a legal professional plenty of reasons to consider the options. Among those reasons, five are most likely to trigger a provider switch:
- Degraded Service Performance
- Subpar Customer Support
- Lack of Future-Ready Technology and Software Capability
- Lack of Partnering Ethos
- No Pricing Transparency
Let’s examine these more closely and find out what each sign may say about your situation.
1. Degraded Service Performance
Court document filing and service of process are cornerstones of civil litigation. When either is performed incorrectly it can jeopardize an entire legal matter. If your current vendor shows signs of weakness in managing these services—dropping orders or missing deadlines—it’s time to look for an alternative.
Before you jump ship, however, there are two benchmarks you can use to gauge whether the performance you should be getting matches the performance your vendor is actually delivering:
- eFiling Acceptance: 90%
- Service of Process Success Rate: 90%
If a vendor is scoring below 90% on eFiling acceptance and service of process success rates, it’s time to think differently about the relationship.
In the Dark?
But what if your law firm has no idea what your rejection rates are? The fact that no one is giving you those numbers tells you right away something is wrong. If you don’t have a way to track this performance data yourself and your vendor is unable to provide it, you need to find a provider that can.
One of the ways to qualify that new provider is to make sure they 1) provide you with monthly performance reports and 2) the reports they give you are easy to understand.
That’s because legal assistants, paralegals, and even lawyers may not always have a great deal of business training before stepping into their roles at a law firm. Instead, much of what legal professionals learn about business come from one-the-job training.
Therefore, a customer-centered vendor will find ways to make it easier for the legal professional to conduct the “business side” of her or his job.
The reports should transparently share performance metrics by the vendor, so you know how well (or not well) they are performing and offer insights into your firm’s users and order behavior. They should also demonstrate the value relative to what the law firm is spending.
Find Weak Spots, Solve Mysteries
Despite the gut feeling you may have about where your firm’s trouble spots lie, you may be in for some surprises.
For example, those reports may show that 20% of your service of process orders aren’t being served. Seems bad like bad news, right? But that same report may tell you the cause of those incomplete orders is bad addresses.
You can now course correct without relying on guesswork.
It’s also important for your vendor to provide real-time status updates about your file and serve orders as well as return Proofs and court-stamped documents to you in a timely manner. When a legal support service provider underperforms in these areas, change could be due.
Wondering what makes an electronic filing service provider great?
Read 6 Things to Look For in an Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP).
2. Subpar Customer Support
Customer support can be a powerful differentiator, and from your own experiences you probably know a great customer support experience when you have one. Companies such as Disney, Starbucks, and Ritz-Carlton built global empires by looking through their customers’ eyes to examine their businesses. Your legal support service provider should do the same.
Surprisingly, many service providers don’t invest in this area.
Because legal professionals work in a time-sensitive, high-pressure environment, a good legal support service provider will understand how crucial it is to be reachable to their clients and understand all the state and local court rules to ensure your file or service is fulfilled accurately, among other things. Which is why best-in-class providers will provide you with:
- An account manager whose direct line or email address you can access.
- A team of document specialists with deep domain expertise and experience.
- A specific document specialist is assigned to your order from start to finish.
- Multiple communication channels, such as live chat, email, and phone, to reach customer support.
- A customer support team that is ready to serve you with alacrity.
Feel like a number?
Legal support service vendors may fall short on customer service for various reasons, but a common cause is mismatched priorities. This can happen when a provider becomes too big over time or is swallowed up suddenly in an acquisition.
Either course can shift your vendor’s attention.
You know your vendor has lost focus if you’ve recently been directed to dial into a call center’s 800 number where you languish on hold while the court filing deadline ticks away.
Another giveaway is when the vendor’s representative finally picks up the phone and is argumentative, dismissive, or just plain unhelpful.
When you’re looking for clues about whether a prospective provider can deliver the goods for customer support be sure to read through their testimonials (assuming they have them). Look for comments such as:
- “They provide court information about closures and filing hours.”
- “They provide immediate filing status.”
- “My motion was accepted because they reached out to me proactively.”
- “I rely on them for time-critical electronic filings.”
If a vendor doesn’t proudly display its customer testimonials, keep on scrolling.
3. Lack of Future-Ready Technology & Software Capability
Does it seem like your service provider’s technology isn’t keeping up with the industry? An aging tech stack will hinder a law firm’s success, which is particularly concerning if growth is key to your firm’s financial outlook.
To keep their expansions on track, growing law firms need legal support service providers who have adopted technology. A recent report demonstrates why that is true:
- Growing firms use reporting tools twice as much as shrinking firms.
- Technology helps firms deliver better client experiences.
- Technology-enabled conveniences such as e-signatures mean scanning and mailing a wet signature are no longer the barriers they once were.
- Online payment technology makes fee-for-service transactions nearly instantaneous and decreases administrative tasks.
The future is here and it came in a portal
“We had no future, so I left.”
That remark sums why most relationships end regardless of whether you’re talking about The Bachelor, Real Housewives, or law firms in the 21st century. It also sums why a legal support service provider’s technology must offer an online customer portal or forget having a future with you.
Not only does a customer portal mean 24/7 access to do work, but it also means work will be done with greater accuracy and efficiency.
Here are a few of the ways a portal makes that happen:
- Each law firm staff user has a particular login and change permission.
Takeaway: This convenience means attorneys have their own logins. If they want to get an update on a service of process order, they can use their own login to have visibility into the complete file.
- Staff members at different offices can work on the same case and have the same information in real time.
Takeaway: Law firm users are no longer boxed in by their individual office’s systems. They may log into the same portal 24/7 to conduct a variety of tasks such as pulling information about conformed copies, proofs of service, or updates.
Takeaway: Because staff can access information from anywhere in real time, they also minimize time spent on internal dialogue.
- The portal is directly integrated with the maximum number of courts that allow eFiling.
Takeaway: The number of eFiling courts is only going to grow, so the portal is a must-have for law firms that have expansion in their plans.
- Allows file-and-serve in one order flow.
Takeaway: Mad hot efficiency for law office staff.
- Ability to customize notifications and notify different attorneys or parties about orders that are being placed.
Takeaway: No need to deal with CC’ing or forwarding emails.
A future-ready vendor will have a tech stack that continues to support your growth with no additional capital outlay. This kind of vendor will be eager to discuss new ways for you to use its technology and consult about integrations with your office’s own software.
This superior class of vendor will also be interested in improving its own system’s ease of use and offer your law firm strategic guidance to help operate more efficiently.
If your current vendor hasn’t taken any of these actions lately, you need a fresh start.
