Lack of knowledge about things can hurt us in many ways. Suppose you need to open a bank account but you are unaware of the fact that you actually need a minimum amount to open the account. To use a less common example, flying in an aircraft and not being aware of the safety hazards and exit signs can be quite harmful indeed. In case of an emergency, it is simply not advisable to search for the safety handbook, read instructions and then follow them. You have to be armed with the right information from the start.
The bottom line is that accurate, contextual information always comes in handy. In every situation that you find yourself in, it is imperative that you are aware of the what, who, where, why and when of things. Your employment opportunities are no different. Most jobs offer training periods and workshops to provide information and resources to help employees. However, as an independent court reporter or as someone who runs a court reporting business, there may be a lot of information that you would not be able to find on your own without assistance from experts in the industry. CRC can help you with back office support and carry out the administrative tasks letting you focus on the court reporting itself. However, these agencies also offer conference rooms for court reporters to conduct conference calls and depositions. They save the expense of hiring and paying a secretary by handling a phone line on your behalf and providing secretarial services. They provide online calendars for court reporters to stay up to date and provide billing support. Court reporters can also access production services and get transcripts, exhibits etc.
Myth: Support services are mainly for individual court reporters
Fact: Although many individual court reporters access these support services, court reporting firms and their attorney clients also find them helpful. Court reporting firms can actually save time, money and effort by hiring a court reporting support service to carry out the administrative jobs. This means that the firm will not need a full-fledged administrative staff. All these needs will be taken care of. Attorney clients of court reporters are also valued customers of court reporter support services. They are provided with conference rooms for calls and depositions, internet access, an effective online calendar, a web repository for file backup and nationwide coverage. CRC can help attorney clients with OCR scanned exhibits, too.
Myth: Support services do not help with marketing
Fact: Along with all the other services they offer, court reporting support services also provide marketing help for individual court reporters. In today’s competitive world, it is foolish to sit back and assume that business will come to you. Court reporters need to put themselves out there. With the help of support services, court reporters can develop their own personal brand. They will help reporters to design a personal logo, start a personalized website with details about the offered services and testimonials, letterhead for official purposes and business cards, the ultimate weapon of networking. If you are a court reporter looking for success, look beyond standard marketing strategies and utilize something unique and industry-specific that will cater to your target audience.
Myth: Duties of the support service agency ends when the decision to sell the court reporting firm is made.
Fact: Suppose you decide to downsize or sell your court reporting firm. There might be various reasons why you could be doing it. Maybe you have decided to expand into a bigger target area or decided to invest in something else. Maybe business hasn’t been going well for you. This could be a hard decision to make. Court reporter support service companies understand this and will help you during this period of transition. Your firm will need all the administrative support it can get, in terms of consolidation of data, financial records and letting clients know about the decision. Support services can help you with these tasks.
These myths about support services arise from the lack of knowledge about court reporting business and what goes with it. In the field of legal careers, it is important to be precise and efficient. With the daunting task of court reporting, reporters have enough to do without worrying about marketing, office support and secretarial tasks. By providing such services to court reporters, support agencies play a huge role in the success of the legal system itself and the efficiency of hundreds of thousands of legal proceedings. As a court reporter, if you want to make the most out of such agencies and access valuable support while you continue to do what you do best, call 877 – 732 – 1805 today!