3 Critical Tips for Your Legal Nurse Consulting Business

In this post I share 3 critical tips for your legal nurse consulting business. CSI may mean Crime Scene Investigation to you, but to me it stands for principles of customer care – principles that help you grow your legal nurse consulting business. Think Community, Simplicity and Integrity.

Nurture your community

Community – In this context, community means being aware that you serve a group of attorneys. Their business keeps you in business. How do you nurture your community?

• Use a customer management system in the form of a database. Keep track of every case you have done for your legal nurse consulting clients. When you are talking to a client about a new case, open up your database and ask about other cases. “How is the Forman versus Wilson case going? Do you need anything additional on that one?”
• Keep track of details about their lives – birthdays, children, trips, or interests and bring the information up as appropriate – “How did your daughter’s wedding go?”
• You also might track the date of the first case you ever did for them, which becomes the anniversary date you can celebrate by sending the attorney a happy anniversary card.
• Update them about your community – new services, new employees, or new subcontractors.

Also keep in mind that attorneys have their own community in the form of list servs, conferences, and friendships. It is incredibly easy for them to share both good and bad reviews about legal nurse consultants. When you do a great job for your clients, you will get phone calls that start with, “I was looking for an expert witness and several people on the list serv recommended I contact your company.” Those referrals are golden.

Keep your legal nurse consulting business simple

Simplicity – Set up your office systems to keep track of key details so you don’t get lost in the progress of the case. Simplicity applied to your filing system looks like this: I used three names for every case and identified every file folder or electronic folder with these names. Here is an example:

The law firm is Rogers, Gilbert and Henry. Attorney Bill Henry sent us the Fred Freeman case.

The paper file folder was marked with three names: Rogers/Henry/Freeman. The computer had a file called Rogers, Gilbert and Henry. In that file folder, there was a file called Henry, Bill. Inside that file folder there was a file called Freeman, Fred. My employees and I could find any paper or electronic file in seconds.

Use a color coding system. I set up this color coding system at the time I bought my first box of colored files and had to assign colors to types of cases. Establish colors for types of cases. For example:

• Red files are for plaintiff attorneys.
• Pink files are cases that we sent to an expert working on behalf of the plaintiff.
• Blue files are for defense attorneys.
• Grey files are for cases that we sent to an expert working on behalf of the defense.

When you have a stack of files in your invoicing pile, it is easy to find a specific file because you know it is blue.

Run your legal nurse consulting business with integrity

Integrity – Be trustworthy. Recognize the responsibility you have to carefully handle someone else’s money. Here are examples of integrity in action:

• Track your time using billing sheets or a timer. Don’t estimate how much time you spent on a case.
• Return unused portions of retainers.
• Don’t accept a case if you know you cannot handle it or help the attorney.
• Tell the truth. Don’t misrepresent your skills or credentials.
• When you make a mistake, admit it and tell the attorney how you will change your system and do things differently the next time.

Attorneys gravitate to people they can trust. Practicing with integrity is good for business. You will get repeat business and a great reputation.

Nurture your community, keep your systems simple, and practice with integrity. Your business will soar.

Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC developed a highly successful legal nurse consulting business which she ran for 28 years before selling it early in 2015. She coaches legal nurse consultants who want to skyrocket their businesses: get more cases, make more money and avoid costly mistakes. See www.LNCAcademy.com.