If you are looking for a way to draw more business to your firm, a satellite office may be the answer. Satellite offices take a little planning and preparation, but they are a good, relatively low-cost, way to attract new clients. Elder law attorneys, in particular, can benefit from a satellite office because their elderly clients often aren't able or don't want to travel long distances to visit an attorney.
Since convenience is very important to clients in choosing an attorney, being available in only a single location can limit the number of clients who will hire any one attorney. Being close to more potential clients through the use of multiple offices can bring in more clients with the same marketing budget.
Most satellite offices at least start as places to meet clients without any support staff, keeping the cost quite low, especially if they are rented in shared attorney space. Doing so also helps solve one of the problems with unstaffed offices -- the need for witnesses for document executions. In a sublet arrangement, it's important to ask whether the law firm is comfortable with its staff acting as witnesses.
New York attorney Michael Ettinger from the Ettinger Law Firm, which has five offices in the southern part of the state, says that advances in technology have made establishing additional offices easier and "allows us to service more people in a way that wasn't available before." Florida attorney Howard Krooks of Elder Law Associates PA, which has three satellite offices, states that "having numerous satellite offices allows us to increase the client base, which in turn means that we can assist a greater number of clients."
Satellite offices are a commitment, however, and not for every law firm. Adding satellite offices can increase costs and administrative responsibilities. Jeffrey Bloom of Margolis & Bloom in Boston, Massachusetts, which has two satellite offices, emphasizes that the satellite office model is only for "the firm that is looking to grow."
Location, Location, Location
One of the first decisions you will need to make is whether to staff the satellite office. The downside of an unstaffed office is that attorneys need to travel to the satellite office, which takes up work time. However, a staffed office may be difficult to supervise and will be more costly. It may make sense to wait until there is enough business in a particular location before hiring staff for a satellite office.
Once you've made up your mind to open an additional office, the first step is to decide where to put it. This may involve some trial and error. Ettinger has had 15 different offices at various times and various locations before he settled on his five current locations. Factors to consider include where clients are located, how far they are willing to drive, whether the office is accessible to major routes, how the area is being served, and what is convenient for the attorneys.
Put a satellite office too close to the head office and you might attract clients who would have gone to the main office anyway, but put the satellite office too far away and your attorneys won't want to travel there. According to Krooks, attorneys "need to determine the local culture on this issue and be guided accordingly." For example, in urban or suburban areas, clients might not drive more than 15 to 20 minutes to meet a lawyer, while in more rural areas, clients might be willing to drive 30 to 45 minutes.
The next step is to find office space in the area where you want to set up the satellite office. If the office is going to be mostly unstaffed, you can rent space in an executive suite or share space with another law firm. Bloom started by using a conference room in a small firm's office until business grew so that he was spending a day a week in the satellite office. He then rented an office within the suite.
The important thing is to find a location that will make your clients feel like they are part of the office. Bloom had to cancel one office-sharing arrangement when the other firm did not make his clients feel welcome. When setting up additional offices, Ettinger believes the firm's attitude toward the office is important. Ettinger does not refer to additional offices as "satellite offices" because he feels that clients do not want to be serviced by a "satellite" office. He believes it is important to consider all offices "main" offices. With that in mind, he makes sure all additional offices are nicely decorated and fully furnished. He wants each office to be a friendly place.
When to Schedule Satellite Appointments
The next question for a mostly unstaffed satellite office is when to schedule appointments there. You can schedule appointments on an as-needed basis or have a dedicated day to spend in the satellite office. Bloom started out by scheduling on an as-needed basis. When he had a critical mass of clients in the area, he then set a dedicated day to be in the satellite office because he knew he could fill the day with appointments. Ettinger conducts seminars in order to bring clients to his offices. He schedules the seminars and then decides based on the seminars where he is going to be on any given day.
With unstaffed satellite offices, all scheduling can be done through one main office. You can get a local phone number for each satellite office and have it forwarded to the head office, where staff can put the appointments in the firm's main calendar. Ettinger highly recommends using PHONEslips (www.phoneslips.com), a software program designed to keep phone messages and office schedules.
Bloom, Ettinger, and Krooks all physically transport files back and forth between offices. In addition, Bloom can access the firm's main server from anywhere using GoToMyPC (www.gotomypc.com), which he says "works seamlessly." At the end of the day, the attorneys bring the client files back to the head office. Billing is also centralized through the head office.
Satellite offices can be marketed the same way head offices are marketed. Attorneys need to network with referral sources in the area where the office is located. In addition, all firm materials, including brochures, Web sites, and newsletters, should list all the offices. When Krooks speaks to a group, he makes a point of mentioning all the firm's offices. Ettinger is a strong believer in seminars as a way to generate work for the law firm. He conducts the seminars at a restaurant and always serves dinner in order to get people to show up.
Satellite offices do have a downside, according to Bloom. He points out that additional offices can be inefficient because attorneys have to spend time traveling instead of doing work. Krooks believes this shortfall can be made up by using the time to return phone calls. Says Krooks, "Sometimes, the time out of the office used in this way can be even more productive without the usual distractions of being in the office." Ettinger, on the other hand, doesn't see a downside at all. He likes having additional offices as a way to "keep life interesting."
Perhaps the only downside of satellite offices is less time in the main office to supervise staff or to do and review legal work. The better your staff is trained and the more your systems are in order, the more time you can be out meeting clients.
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