If it ain't broke...it might still suck.

A conversation with one of the leading business minds in plaintiff law.

Author

Julien Emery
July 16, 2024

“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

- Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

When building a business, it's easy to lose sight of the forest while focusing on the trees.

You focus on the work in front of you but don’t always look at the system as a whole. You have various ways of doing things that work and may not feel the need to change unless something is woefully broken.

It's easy to see the things that are broken; these are urgent problems that need to be solved. It's harder to see the things that are working but at a mediocre level - they're not completely broken.

This is a scenario many companies face. They accept mediocrity in certain functions of their business because it's technically working and they haven't seen examples of excellence. It's impossible to know what great looks like unless you've seen it firsthand.

This is why people like Mary Ellen Murrah and her team at Vista Consulting are so valuable. They are the business resource top plaintiff law firms go to for help. They understand the inner workings of many plaintiff law firms and can identify what is great, mediocre, and terrible.

As a leader running a plaintiff firm, you can use people like Mary Ellen and her team to help you understand where each function of your business lies on the spectrum between great and terrible.

This is why I wanted to sit down with Mary Ellen: to understand her approach to working with plaintiff firms, to learn about her process, and to discuss the most common challenges and opportunities she and her team encounter.

In our conversation, Mary Ellen delves into several crucial topics, offering her expert insights on:

  • Identifying Business Gaps through Audits: She reveals the most common deficiencies her team uncovers when auditing plaintiff firms.

  • Overcoming Barriers to Growth: Mary Ellen highlights frequent obstacles and easy-to-implement solutions for improving firm growth.

  • Optimizing KPIs in Marketing and Intake: She provides valuable guidance on key performance indicators and benchmarks for marketing and client intake processes.

  • Leveraging Free Marketing Opportunities: Discover effective and often overlooked marketing strategies that can significantly impact a firm's success.

  • Strategic Talent Acquisition: Mary Ellen shares her approach to hiring and building strong teams, ensuring firms attract and retain top talent.

Packed with actionable advice, this conversation is a must-watch for anyone keen on growing their plaintiff law firm.

Want to trade notes on ideas, strategies, and tactics for growth, book a call with me here.