I recently read a rather interesting article from CLIO which discussed the legal trends of 2021 and how law firms have evolved during the pandemic.

If anyone has some spare time, I’d recommend reading it too.

Whilst it focuses on the USA/ North America market predominantly, I have noticed the same trends here in the UK and it provided a couple of rather interesting points, where I believe outsourcing is the solution (and not just the accounts element)!

The first item I picked up on was ‘’Assessing change, identifying opportunities and reviewing firm resources.’’

This can be quite a broad subject so I won’t go into too much detail, but if there is one thing that the last few years has taught me, it is that no matter how much time we spend on a certain task, there’s always something that can be improved. ‘’Work smarter not harder’’. I guess that’s where the Cashroom can help – we have a lot of great experience on multiple practice management systems used throughout the UK – we know how to make things work and we can help put processes into place to allow you to get the best out of the system (saving time and allowing you to make more money!)

The other point to note was, of those firms surveyed ‘’23-35% of their finances are spent on office space.’’

Whilst I appreciate that office space is always needed to some capacity, having outsourced functions can reduce the cost, and provide more space for fee earners and other members of staff. Not only will outsourcing reduce the cost on office space, but also on things such as IT equipment and other regular expenses that are needed. It prevents the need for supervision, the worry of sickness and holiday cover, and also simple things such as lunch breaks! In all honesty, the list goes on.

From the conversations that I have had with law firms in the past, they have always been concerned about outsourcing such a fundamental element of their business.

However, since the pandemic, this has been the norm with staff working from home on the daily, and everyone has had to change and deliver new methods and ways of working very quickly. This proves the concept works and we were fortunate enough to be ahead of the game, having worked in this way for many years prior, therefore business as usual for us.

If outsourcing your finance function is something of interest to you, or if you would just like to know more about what we offer, please get in touch.

Danny Jones

It’s early in 2022. Does it feel different to 2021? Well yes, there’s an air of optimism around. Consumers seem to be looking forward, positively, to life moving on to a new phase where we can all enjoy having our freedoms back that we took for granted pre-March 2020.

The business community has a renewed sense of optimism. Law firms dealing with conveyancing in 2021 have already been through a period of hyper-activity with the relaxation of stamp duty. Other departments are seeing growth in activity and should continue to see the impact on the top and bottom line in their businesses.

Taking away the positives from the pandemic and lockdowns is the imperative: retain the good, dispense with the bad, accept and embrace this new-normal.

Digital transformation as a term and activity has been in vogue for some time. The last two years have accelerated many programs and focused on client centricity.

With an ever-increasing demand for remote document signing and customer onboarding processes that can speed up completions and reduce the risk of identity fraud, the use of Electronic Signatures has become the norm for many law firms.

However, the frequent updates to legal guidelines coupled with the availability of an extensive range of products on the market, have created confusion about where, how and when the various types of eSignature can be used.

VirtualSignature.com has compiled a simple table (see below) highlighting typical applications of the three main eSignature standards, which can be used as a guide to prospective buyers looking for the most suitable product.

There may be a requirement within a law firm to use different standards for different areas of its business eg. QES for executing property deeds registered with HMLR, and Simple for the signing of basic contracts. The VirtualSignature platform provides the whole range of eSignature options, which can be introduced into document workflows and tailor made for each department within a firm, offering significant cost savings.

It is also worth noting that VirtualSignature’s tools can be integrated easily into existing document management, case management and CRM systems, such as Visualfiles, iManage, Proclaim, Tikit P4W and MS Dynamics.

If you would like to know more about how VirtualSignature can help, not just with eSignatures, but workflow automation and ID verification, please get in touch with the team on 0333 335 5176. They also provide a free trial evaluation and can be followed on Twitter and Linkedin for company news and updates.

Peter Gill, Director at VirtualSignature

So here goes, not only is this the first blog that I have written for Cashroom, but it is the first time I have attempted one in general. Last week, I started my new journey as Sales and Business Development Manager working alongside experts in the industry who will no doubt provide me with the knowledge, tools, and resources that I need to make this a success.

Since leaving college, my background has always been working in the Legal sector to some capacity. I have worked in both Legal Cashiering and Customer Relationship facing roles with a large legal sector PMS. Each of those had their own individual challenges that I won’t dwell on today, but each have developed me as a person and allowed me to get to this position.

I initially spent 3 and a half years at Cashroom from 2016 to 2019, working in the operational side of things. My responsibilities varied and my tasks were quite different as I progressed. One minute I was helping a client onboard our services, the next I was completing day to day cashiering services for multiple law firms across the country. My subsequent role was with a large PMS provider. I spent time visiting law firms to provide training on case management systems and reviewed processes to find out what they could do to improve efficiency. As you can imagine, every day was different, and I learned some valuable lessons and met some wonderful people.

When I was offered the position of Sales and Business Development Manager at Cashroom, for me, it was a no brainer.

The perfect opportunity for me to take the skills that I have learnt over the past 6 years and put them into practice, spreading the word so that we can help law firms manage what can be a very difficult aspect of their business, allowing fee earners to record more billable time. A win-win for both parties if you ask me.

I can’t lie, it is quite surreal being back where I first started.

Seeing the changes that have been implemented, and for the better. When I first started at Cashroom, the England office was fairly small with around 15 staff members. Fast forward to today and we have over 100 staff members, all working remotely with the best equipment in place. We service over 250 clients across England, Wales and Scotland. The Cashroom is a great company with ambition, which I love and am very happy to be a part of it again.

It would be great to discuss how we can help moving your business forward this year. If you want to find out more about how Cashroom operates and if it would be something that you would like to explore, give me a call or drop me a message! daniel.jones@thecashroom.co.uk

Danny Jones

Christmas is over and I trust you had a wonderful time. The New Year is now upon us, so what better time than the present to review how you are going to ensure that your firm not only survives but thrives in 2022 and beyond?

The challenge that most law firms have is a lack of confidence in those who negotiate fees because they fear losing the work or the client.

This is a powerful, yet negative motivator as it means that they are not in charge of those fee discussions, right from the start.

Hundreds or even thousands can be won or lost in a phone call, depending on the competence and confidence in having the right conversations with prospects and clients, at the right time.

Lawyers are undoubtedly highly intelligent, skilled individuals who know their stuff and care about what they do, often working long hours to satisfy their clients’ needs.

Like other professionals, they are not immune to the challenges which the business aspect of their work may pose and with the ever-changing legal landscape, this may be even more complicated for lawyers than other professionals.

Ever-increasing competition, much of which is a race to the bottom on price, the perceived threat of AI and the changes in the SRA’s regulations around price transparency may have been enough to unsettle even the most commercially-minded lawyer.

For those who are heart-led working with clients going through particularly tough times, it’s doubly difficult. Having those money conversations and managing clients’ expectations can be immensely challenging.

So even though their charge-out rates may well be set at the correct level, they may not apply them properly and automatically discount and over-service clients because they just don’t have the heart to, as they see it, add insult to injury by billing the full fee.

So what is the impact of this?

Clearly there’s a financial impact on the firm’s bottom line, resulting in a significant loss of revenue year on year. There is also an equally important factor which cannot be overlooked and that is the well-being of lawyers themselves, since not charging and managing clients effectively often leads to them working excessively and quite understandably being very stressed, tired and even overwhelmed.

Consequently, it may well be a contributing factor to the increase in mental health issues in the legal profession.

Lawyers are trained as lawyers, they are not trained in the art of conducting business, so how can they be expected to be experts at it?

It is therefore reasonable to expect that many of them simply have a lack of knowledge of how to talk to clients about the business side of the work.

Secondly, like any other human being, they have patterns of behaviour which are driven by their unconscious beliefs and their emotions, which, depending on their nature, may well lead to discounting and over-servicing of clients.

Academic ability, knowledge and even professional experience are one thing (well three actually); being competent and confident in business is of course a completely different skill-set.

Since most lawyers probably haven’t studied business, it’s hardly surprising or even fair to expect them to be good at it without adequate training; yet it’s vital to the firm’s success and the lawyers’ well-being.

It is important to emphasise that if you haven’t already got the message, that this problem cannot be solved by process and pricing training alone. From discussions with Managing Partners, CEOs and Practice Managers, it is very clear that they are tearing their hair out, frustrated with the amount of revenue which is being unnecessarily lost, as they don’t know how to solve this conundrum.

Yet there is a solution, once the dilemma is genuinely understood.

Since the problem is two-fold, it goes without saying that the solution must equally be two-fold.

1) Address the lack of knowledge.
2) Address the lack of confidence

Remember that a lack of confidence is emotional rather than rational. Human beings (and lawyers are human too of course) are complex, irrational and emotional.

This lack of confidence is usually what causes the all-too-frequent, unnecessary and often automatic discounting and over-servicing of clients.

Just one example is extreme people-pleasing behaviour, even at partner level which is not uncommon. It usually comes down to long-term unconscious limiting beliefs which drive them to consistently do work which is badly paid and work all hours of the day and night.

If not addressed, this may well be the slippery slope to overwhelm and a nervous breakdown.

Another less extreme example and also quite common is that of one of my past clients, a very experienced employment lawyer and part-time judge. During coaching, he said:

“I used to be constantly hunting on the prairie looking for the next kill, regardless of its quality. I never really considered my value. I wish I had learnt what Vanessa espouses when I was 25 and at law school.”

A third familiar problem is that employed lawyers often do not feel comfortable with their charge-out rate, look at it from a very personal perspective, comparing it with their salary and think:

“I wouldn’t want to pay that!

And it’s that very thought which causes the damage; they cannot help themselves and will discount their fees, just to make themselves feel better. That is normal human behaviour; to move away from pain.

Do you recognise yourself or some of your fee-earners in any of the above?

If so, what are you going to do about it?

My unique 9-step True Worth methodology, created as a result of my own inability to get paid my true worth many moons ago, will address the problems highlighted in this article.

Vanessa Ugatti is a keynote speaker, transformational trainer/coach and helps lawyers and others to increase revenue ethically, without having to work harder, by sharing her ground-breaking TRUE WORTH step-by-step methodology, leading to a wealthier firm and healthier and happier lawyers. For her 10-point cheat sheet to Get Paid Your True Worth go here: https://www.thetrueworthexpert.com/cheat-sheet-get-paid-your-true-worth

So, you’ve found a prospective purchaser and presented your business to them in its best possible light. Unfortunately, you’ve now only reached the beginning of the most difficult part! Let’s consider in general some of the hurdles you are going to have to deal with.

The price is right?

One extremely important point to remember at this juncture is that deals are done between two people. It is personal, and while “matchmakers” and professional advisers can present things in the best possible light, ultimately it comes down to two parties sitting down together and reaching an agreement that both are happy with. If as a seller you feel unhappy about the price, don’t sell. There is an argument that as a purchaser if you feel that the seller is unhappy about the price, don’t buy: you are unlikely to acquire much goodwill at the end of it all. Listen to what your advisers tell you, but make your own mind up in an informed manner on the terms on which you are prepared to proceed.

Well then, what’s the value of your business? As I indicated previously, the market for legal firms is limited and this tends to depress the price. Accountants can, of course, justify many different types of valuation both for purchaser and seller, and it is unlikely that these will be the same. As a seller, if the decision has been made to sell then it’s about maximising the price, but principally it’s about obtaining some value for the business and, possibly even more importantly, closing off some of the liabilities that we discussed earlier if you were simply to close the door and walk away.

It would be an article in itself to consider the sales process and maximising values! Circumstances will vary from individual to individual and deal to deal. There are a number of things to bear in mind though. Present your proposition in the best way possible. In the ideal world you want to show any prospective purchaser that your income streams are robust, recurring and not dependent on you as an individual. Be realistic in your pricing. Better to encourage a dialogue rather than have possible purchasers refuse to open discussions because the asking price is too high. Lastly, make the proposition as attractive as possible. Consider agreeing to a part of the price being dependent on future fee or business levels. This takes away many of the fears and risks to the purchaser. Remember though that if you are prepared to agree to this, there should also be a corresponding uplift if the business does better than anticipated.

Advisers at arms length

As far as the practical implications are concerned, each sale will be different. Some will be the sale of a business as a whole, some will be one partner selling to the remaining partners, and there will be a wide range of variations in between. It is therefore hard to give much specific advice regarding the practicalities of a sale, but from my own recent experience there are a number of suggestions I would make that might be useful.

At the earliest opportunities, speak to your professional advisers and make sure you understand fully the implications of what you are considering from the outset. You will need to consider items such as price, goodwill, the tax implications and (possibly) tax mitigation, a best completion date, and the best breakdown of the price between goodwill, work in progress, capital etc. Only the very brave would wish to complete any formal agreements themselves, so speaking to a legal firm specialising in these matters will allow you to understand the legal implications and what specific areas you may require to address for your business.

One word of caution though: I personally believe that the actual negotiation should take place directly between purchaser and seller and not, except on technical issues, through agents. As solicitors we do have a tendency to over complicate the technical matters. So far as possible, try to reach heads of agreement with the other party directly and without the need of agents. If possible, work through a draft agreement with the other party and identify and deal with any potential difficulties on a face to face basis. Thereafter, when hopefully the main points of contention have been resolved, pass matters to your professional agents to finalise. This should allow matters to move far more quickly and minimise any additional expenses.

My own experience was that once all of the foregoing points had been dealt with, the actual practicalities of leaving the profession were relatively simple. There were the usual intimations via the Journal and to the Society, indemnity insurers and the bank. Clients and professional connections need to be notified as appropriate, and staff issues require to be dealt with. Final accounts will obviously require to be completed and a final tax position resolved, but these generally are matters of administration and are relatively straightforward to resolve.

A sight of goal

I suppose the two questions that I’m asked most and, in some ways, the summation of this article are, “What would you have done differently?” and “How are you enjoying retirement?”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and some of my views I’ve already touched on. I think that you have always to start with the end in mind. If the end is a business which is a valuable, easily realisable asset then there are several things I would have changed. If you are in a partnership I think it is essential that there is a partnership agreement in place that fully identifies the exit route for the partners, both at the agreed retirement age and also should they wish to change careers at an earlier time. Few of us like to discuss what happens when it all goes wrong, but as most agreements are only ever examined at exactly that time, it is extremely important that full and frank discussions take place at the outset and all of the possible outcomes discussed and agreed. The difficulties for partners in larger practices without one may be extremely hard to overcome.

Starting with the end in mind, you also have to consider who your purchaser in the future might be and what they might wish to buy. The “who” can be addressed by putting in place the structures today that will create the purchasers of tomorrow. One way is investment in younger solicitors who will be the future partners, and their retention within the practice. While many firms have structures in place for this and, indeed, this was always the traditional route for legal firms, many smaller and medium sized firms, faced with profitability or other issues, seem keener to invest perhaps in paralegals to process work. Graduates and young solicitors also seem less keen to serve their time in smaller firms for perhaps less attractive salaries or, notionally, doing less interesting work, in return for greater profit shares in the future.

The other method is to build a legal practice with real sales value. This might be by specialising in an area, or acquiring a significant market share or work type in an area or number of areas. Certainly businesses which can show recurring income streams, ideally independent of the principals, will always achieve the highest values.

There is no one answer, but, if the question isn’t asked and measures put in place, the answer that you are faced with at the end may not be one that you wish to hear.

Nothing to do?

As to how will one enjoy retirement, again the effort and planning put in beforehand will affect the answer. Finances will be a factor. I was once told “capital will never replace income”, and that is a lesson I am relearning very quickly. It would be sensible for anyone seeking to change their career to spend some time looking at their finances and to be clear that these will meet their reasonable requirements when they no longer have the same income stream.

Likewise, while the thought of long leisurely days with nothing to do seems irresistible when faced with demanding clients, work pressures and partnership issues, the reality is that most of us will become bored very quickly, faced with no new challenges. Some time spent even at the early stages, considering the structuring of one’s time after retirement and the routines that will be put into place to make it both productive (in the widest sense) and enjoyable, will be very well spent. One may also wish to consider, like a runner, a warm-down period. In the high pressure world in which we all operate, it can be extremely difficult to go from busy and stressed days, to doing little, literally overnight, and many say that this can have adverse health issues. Instead consider “warming down”, taking a period of time to gradually reduce work and stress levels. This could be some form of consultancy, some part time or locum work after retirement, or just a reduction of work in the year or so leading up to retirement.

Lastly, there are issues for those leaving the profession before retirement age that few consider. There may be a loss of status, or at least a loss of definition of who they are in society. They are no longer solicitors, professionals, men of business – what then are they? There can be the loss of a social experience: our work has taken up such a large part of our lives that many will miss the interaction with staff, clients or partners. Some may well experience feelings of loneliness without daily contact with their work environment. Routines may have been the bane of your life, but life without routine also has its issues. Again there are no simple answers to any of these questions, but they should at least be considered by those contemplating change.

While I joke with friends that I am retired at age 46, I suspect that there are many busy and productive days ahead of me. I am however extremely lucky in being able to take a little time to consider what I want to do next. The ability, even for a short period, to wake every morning and do (subject to what my wife has planned) exactly what I want to, is a gift and should be treasured.

Stephen Vallance is a former partner in Vallance Kliner & Associates, Glasgow. He is happy to undertake consultancy work. For any queries arising from this article or any issues surrounding practice management, profitability or marketing, contact him at svall45193@aol.com .

Stephen Vallance tells of the issues that arose when he decided to leave the law without having done much forward planning – and his advice with the benefit of hindsight (1 of 2)

I think this is my 3^rd post rambling on about the conversations I’ve had with clients over the last few months.

I try to speak with as many clients as I can, simply to get a feel for how they’re holding up, and what they see happening in the market.

Residential Conveyancing Slows Down

Last time (https://www.thecashroom.co.uk/an-anecdotal-review-of-the-market/) I reported on the conveyancing boom. But over the last few months clients I’ve spoken with have reported that things are starting to calm down. Nobody has seen the dramatic fall some feared, nor any marked increase in mortgage defaults or insolvency (“yet” perhaps!), but there are fewer instructions and fewer completions.

One client opined – “the residential guys are fooling themselves if they think this will continue – we’re keeping our costs low and our heads down”.

PI Problems

Personal injury clients have been hit by a “treble whammy”. First, fewer people were injured during lockdown, second, legislative changes have made it harder (although not impossible) to recover anything like reasonable costs, and thirdly, lockdown induced court delays mean insurers are much slower to settle, making it very difficult to convert WIP into cash.

One client reported they were convinced insurers were delaying payment simply to try and “starve out” smaller firms.

Some clients are moving on from road traffic claims to the “next big thing”. I spoke with one who had some very interesting ideas … thankfully none of them involved GDPR claims!!

Corporate/Commercial is “Steady”

I’ve heard mixed reports on corporate and commercial work. Some clients are incredibly busy, but there’s a worry it’s simply deals delayed from last year coming through.

Commercial Property is quiet, and there’s still a lot of worry about the future.

Private Client work is “where it’s at”

Every client I speak with who does private client work (broadly wills, trust, probate/executries, power of attorney) has had a good year. Nothing like a global pandemic to make one face one’s mortality! In fact, private client work has been an extremely good “hedge” against down turns in other areas – like a good solid bond holding in an equity portfolio!

But what I’ve found very interesting is the success of some clients in this sector, specialising in a couple of very narrow areas, and doing some really innovate things with technology to “leverage” their skills.

Very interesting.

Family Law

And finally, family law continues to outperform. Turns out being locked down with somebody you don’t like makes you want to leave them!

It’s also an area keeping a few litigation practices alive! Indeed, 2 clients I spoke with plan to open a family law practice with lateral hires (if they can find them!), again because of the “hedge” it provides against down turns in other areas.

And that’s it, a quick round up of what my sample’s saying in the last quarter of 2021.

And one more thing.

Take some time over Christmas and New Year. Another, worrying theme of many of my calls is “burn out”. We have gone through a stressful and bruising couple of years. Take time to spend with friends and family over the holidays and remember why you do what you do.

Have a great Christmas and New Year

David

We want to celebrate you this Christmas and show our appreciation by giving you 12 days full of amazing offers from the best law firm suppliers there are.

We won’t annoy you with daily emails (how annoying was Black Friday!) but keep your eyes open on Social Media for our daily offers.

If you just can’t wait then you can take a sneak peek at them all right now (it’s like being able to eat your advent calendar all in one!) These offers will run until the end of December.

Enter any of our partners offers for a chance to win a festive treat from Cashroom!

Follow the links to sign up today. You can also see the offers daily on our Social Media Channels. Check here for full details.

I won’t go on and on about the idyllic time I spent on honeymoon (it was amazing!)…I certainly didn’t spend much time thinking about work…

…but some things just make a real impression on you, don’t they?

We stayed at two different hotels. One was a tiny, boutique place with only about 30 guests at any time and a small close knit staff. One was a bigger, lovely hotel with loads of staff run in teams depending on the section of the hotel they were covering.

The thing that stood out was the service quality from every single member of staff at both hotels. And while the hotels weren’t in any way connected they shared the exact same mantra- when we thanked them for a lovely meal or for a great cocktail the constant refrain from both sets of staff was “If you are happy, we are happy”.

We made friends with some great people who worked at the hotels and had some really good conversations with them. Mostly about football, I must admit. I asked one of them about the “If you are happy, we are happy” mantra. He said it was simple. If customers are happy then things are easier for all the staff. An unhappy customer experience takes up time and causes stress for both parties. The unhappy person is unlikely to recommend the hotel subsequently and may in fact give bad feedback on review sites.

Sometimes we can forget that service quality and a happy customer is such a valuable thing, not just from a retention and revenue perspective.

It makes for a more harmonious working relationship with the customers, and also sets up the potential for the client to recommend our services to others. It’s not just about things being “ok”. It’s about making the customers truly happy. Going that extra mile brings reward, but it’s fair to say that while making your customers happy is just the right thing to do, it certainly benefits your own staff in more ways than simply client retention.

Empowering your staff to provide excellent service also enables them to create a happier working day for themselves, with fewer issues and complaints. It really is a win/win.

At Cashroom we survey our clients every month to create an NPS rating that we can track. From this we can look to learn. We won’t always get things right. However, we want our clients to tell us what we could do better. We can then seek to make them happy.

Providing good service is not a new or startling concept, but thinking ‘why’ you should do it can in fact lead to a happier workforce, as well as a happy client.

I’m told by my daughters that I am “the most impatient person in the world”. Now, allowing for some teenage hyperbole, I would admit to there being some truth in that!

I get frustrated easily when things don’t work.

As I get older, I find myself shouting at inanimate objects when they don’t cooperate. I have always hated inefficiency. If I’m busy, and there is a process that slows me down, it drives me nuts.

Now of course, all business need processes. There needs to be a way to manage and control complex tasks, making sure they are done safely and correctly.

However, there needs to be a balance. Between making sure complex task are completed accurately, while at the same time allowing those people running the process (or interacting with it), to get on with the job.

What I’ve found in business, and particularly in law firms is that processes, specifically accounting processes, are poorly designed and lead to confusion and frustration.

The problem is that process design is a skill. It takes time and experience. A deep understanding of the rules around which the process is built. You need a knowledge of “best practice” from which one draws inspiration. Very often processes are built in an ad hoc way, bodging them together with duct tape and string.

And it’s easy to understand why. Most business process are built over time, with small incremental changes implemented to “solve” today’s pressing problem, without a full review of the bigger picture, or an understanding of the impact that small change might have. Over time, the process become so complex, with so many exceptions and “work arounds” that it leads to inefficiency and frustration.

Processes are often created for the benefit of only one part of the business. A process designed around the accounts team which makes the fee earners like harder – or (more commonly I’m afraid), a process designed around the fee earners, which makes the cashiers life hell!

The ideal is that business processes are designed (or redesigned) from scratch, with a clear focus on what’s necessary, a full understanding of how the firm works, a desire to balance efficiently (not the same as equitably!) the admin burden on everybody who interacts with that process, and the will to drive the change program necessary to implement the new process.

It takes time, it’s difficult, and often infuriating. However, if it smooths out the process, leads to more efficient workflow and reduces delay and frustration – it’s worth it.

But best of all, it stops old blokes like me shouting at their computers!

Last week during half-term my family and I flew to Paris for a week. Those who know us well won’t be surprised to hear that we spent five of those days in Disneyland.

There is a lot of content around now about taking a break and why it is important and although taking a break with my favourite people really was wonderful, I was also reminded of a few business fundamentals on my trip. One of the many many reasons I love Disney is that, as a business, I find it totally fascinating.

We aren’t all multi-billion pound corporations like Disney but we can all take snippets from their large empires – so what did I learn from Walt Disney this time?

1. The look and feel

Whether you love it or loathe it, you all know Mickey Mouse and can visualise that Disney logo.

Do you know and are you confident in the look and feel of your organisation, is your brand solid? You don’t need to be a brand expert to do some work on your companies’ brand. There are so many free resource available online. And don’t forget to include your internal comms in your branding. It is easy to focus on all your external communications and forget that internally your brand needs to be just as strong.

2. Customer service

We received some questionable customer service on this trip which deserves its own post – coming next! However, we received some really wonderful service too, which has been a constant on numerous trips to Disney. This exceptional service has always been consistent from Florida to Paris to the UK stores.

Do you continuously review customer service? Can you honestly say that all of your team are excellent at this? From answering the phone, writing your content on your materials to client facing communications you must keep customer service a top priority.

3. Make staff feel special

Staff at Disney are known as cast members and that is every single member of staff. I know teams at Apple refer to themselves as being part of the orchard. It’s that feeling of being part of an elusive club and society that others aren’t.

Naming your employees isn’t for everyone but it’s an idea. The cast members are also completely bought into Disney, they live and breathe Disney values. Does everyone in your business know your values, do they know the aim of the company and its mission? If not then it’s not too late, good, and frequent communication is key – bring everyone in your organisation along with you on your journey.

4. Something for everyone

Meeting Princesses and characters might not be your thing but what about exciting rides or Broadway standard performances, good food and dining options, Marvel, Star Wars…there must be few people who can’t find something they like about Disney.

Do you appeal to all? You may provide a niche product however you have to appeal to all of your target market and how one person wants to deal with you and your business might not be the same as others. Keep this in mind in your marketing, sales and service delivery.

5. Value Add – that something that money just can’t buy

The best thing about Disney in my opinion is all of the emotions – how it makes me feel. That feeling doesn’t come cheap but Disney has me wanting to go back for more every single trip.

How do you make people feel? Your staff, your colleagues, your suppliers – do people want to come back and work with you again? I’ll avoid people who make me feel bad and they don’t make me want to do my best work for them. We are all busy, it is easy to get caught up and be abrupt or short or even demanding without even realising. If you make the effort to consider others and make their day that bit better then your customers will come back again and again.

And with that Mr Mickey Mouse – I’ll see you real soon!

Has there ever been a more demanding period for the conveyancing sector? I doubt it.

Aside from the challenge of unprecedented transaction volumes, there was the small matter of a global pandemic to contend with. No matter what other steps were taken,  without a quality approach to teamwork firms would have been simply unable to function and provide the service levels expected by their own customers. Creating a cohesive team when elements were working remotely, and often with sudden absences due to illness, was even more difficult. We have lessons to learn from.

There’s no doubt a firm’s finance function (whether inhouse or outsourced) has been integral to the conveyancing sector’s efforts over the last year. The accounts department is always responsible for the safe, efficient and secure movement of huge sums of money. With the SDLT holidays, huge spikes of activity have been frequent occurrences. The cashier is working remotely now, having often been office based. The paper based and face to face processes which have worked for years inhouse were found to be lacking from a risk and efficiency perspective. The spikes of activity were horrendous for inhouse cashiers to cope with, because of course their resource was finite.

Firms increasingly realised that the cashier is a crucial member of their team.

They need technical expertise, access to the right technology, and clear communication methods to receive instructions from the fee earners. They need to be operating securely and compliantly. If any of those elements are not present, the whole team grinds to a halt, hampered by increased risk, lack of speed and often ending up with dissatisfied conveyancing customers, PI insurers, and regulators.

At The Cashroom we had two team relationships to manage- our own team of around 100 staff, and our interactions with all of our 230 client firms and their staff. It went incredibly smoothly, mainly because we had a plan.

We were already remote from our clients, but now were remote from each other. So how did our teams cope?

We had-

• Strong relationship building with our ‘external team’ -our clients
• Clear processes for everyone both within the firm and at Cashroom
• Supportive supervision and wellbeing methods
• Flexible scaleable resource so that individuals weren’t swamped during the huge spikes of completions.
• Market leading technology for secure, swift communication

We made sure the cashiering function wasn’t isolated. They were not a single point of failure. They received support, and firms flourished as a result.

Recent times have shown us all we don’t want to feel alone. Being part of a great team is more important than ever. Look after each-other!

So at last I’ll be heading off to the sunshine with my lovely wife for our long awaited honeymoon. We got married nearly a year ago, so I’m really spreading out the celebrations- even more so because our big party is now July 2022!

You may be wondering why I’m telling you this.

It’s just that I’ve had lots of conversations over recent weeks about the importance of giving yourself something to aim at. A light at the end of the tunnel.

The conveyancing sector has been focused on getting past the huge volumes of work caused in part by the stamp duty holidays. Speaking with clients and friends operating in that world, the pressure has clearly been almost unbearable at times. At The Cashroom we processed unprecedented volumes of payments during March, June and September. It will be interesting to see what happens to activity levels now, but one thing I hear a lot is that the end of September was a symbolic end point.

It has been viewed as the essential finish line.

That’s not to say that these teams will stop working, it’s just that psychologically the worst is over. And that’s an important thing to be able to tell yourself when things are overwhelming.

The stress of the pandemic has been unrelenting for over 18 months. Even when things ease, there are challenges to cope with such as safely having staff returning to offices. There are issues of staff in key positions suddenly being off and isolating, with the commensurate challenges for client service and business continuity. There is the whole question of whether to continue with remote working. Resourcing decisions now that the furlough scheme has ended. Repayment of deferred VAT.

It seems insurmountable at times, but I think a key element in surviving and thriving is to realise that we operate best when we don’t feel that things are hopeless and endless.

We made a video recently which was shared on social media, and linked here. The theme was not our usual ‘information’ video. It was unashamedly emotional, and aimed very much at celebrating the end of the conveyancing sector’s mountain of activity. It’s worth a watch I think- a reminder of what the sector as a whole has achieved over the months.

Stupidly, I spent most of the last twelve months working without any real breaks. I realise now that it’s not doing anyone any favours taking that approach. It’s impossible to operate at a high level without any breaks. You lose focus and energy. Next year I am going to space my holidays out and recharge more regularly. I will try not to think of any of you when I’m away in the sun next week, but fear not, as Arnie says “I’ll be back!”

In the first article of this series, I reflected on the fact that typically new clients approach Cashroom when they’re rethinking their finance function. There are many reasons why they do so, and I gave 8 examples in the article.

I wanted to pick up on one of them in this article – when the client is setting up a new firm from scratch.

As I mentioned in the first article, I did this in 2005, when with 3 others I set up MBM Commercial LLP, creating a law firm from a blank piece of paper.

The great privilege of starting a new firm, is that you are not constrained by the past – there is nobody saying to you “but that’s the way we’ve always done it”. You can approach everything from a fresh perspective, with no historical baggage.

And this applies to your finance function. When I set up MBM in 2005, I was not “financially sophisticated” (embarrassingly I had to have the difference between profit and cashflow explained to me … more than once!). But I knew I had to get it right and did not want to be kept awake by worrying about compliance, and the accuracy of our numbers.

Happily I had the freedom to ask the crucial question “is what we did in the past, the right choice for where we are now?”.

At that time, there were no outsourced provider of cashiering services to lawyers. Given our size at the time, my only real option was to employ somebody to be our cashier. But that was far from optimal – I worried about

• How could I recruit somebody for a role that I knew nothing about? How would I know what “good” was?
• Even if I did recruit a competent cashier – how would I supervise them? How would I know whether what they did was right, or efficient, or compliant?
• Our size didn’t really justify a full-time cashier … but what happened when it was the cashier’s day off?
• What happened when they were on holiday, of off sick?
• Employing 2 cashier’s to provide cover, hardly seemed optimal – but how could I be sure?
• And what happened if they made a mistake? As an employee their mistake was my mistake, and any liability would be picked up by my PI Policy.
• And finally, where was I going to find the time to do all this stuff, when as a start-up business I needed to spend all my time with my clients.

The traditional solution really wasn’t optimal!

It didn’t happen straight away, but over time I worked toward a better solution, which had the following features

• The right cover, at the right cost. Somebody to deal with my cashiering 9-5, five days a week, but without the need for a full-time employee.
• A service that didn’t take a holiday and was never sick.
• A cashier that looked after themselves and was managed by people who knew way more about accounting than I did.
• And finally, the peace of mind that if something did go wrong, somebody knew how to sort it, and carried PI insurance if the “worst came to the worst”.

And that was the Genesis of Cashroom.

I tell this story because it’s an example from my own experience of stopping and pausing and asking the question. “is what we did in the past the right choice for where we are now?”.

Often it’s not.

David Calder