Listen Now

OK, you got the lead. The phone rang. But what happens next? How do you turn that lead into a client (and then retain that client for life)? Guest Philip Fairley is the founder of The Rainmaker Institute, a legal marketing firm dedicated to generating leads, and then turning leads into clients through a data-driven approach. You’re more than an attorney, you’re a business owner. Run that business. Develop repeatable processes for turning each call into a client. It’s not about more leads, it’s about more clients.  Let’s Talk Trends:  It’s about video. Think multiple platforms, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, email embeds. Every environment serves different needs. It’s not about more leads, it’s what you do with the leads. Answer your phone, return messages, be human. Do you have a “Director of First Impressions?” When on the phone, go beyond setting an appointment. Listen.  Automation, specialization, and drilling down into what you do and how you communicate with potential clients builds your business. Tell clients what makes your firm – what makes you – special.

In this episode’s discussion around the Community Table: Why did your quarterly revenue plummet? Before you panic, look for anomalies like production capacity, weird payment timing, and changes in Google search algorithms. Fix what’s broken, but be rational. (What’s “Demand-Based Marketing?”) Stop personally handling every little issue and designate tasks across your team. How to set boundaries and ween staff off your direct involvement in routine matters. Trust and empower your team. How to use daily meetings – “huddles,” “scrums,” and “standups” – to facilitate peer management, teamwork, accountability, and productivity. Mentioned in this episode: Google Business Profile Join the next Community Table live. What’s on your mind?

In this episode’s discussion around the Community Table: How to say no to some cases (without losing clients). It’s great to “niche down” to your expertise, but never say no. Say, “I know someone who can help.” Be both – the lawyer and the referral source. When it’s time to grow into a new market, everything starts with location. Do the research, know the territory, and establish the “look” that meets client expectations. Considering a new location? Clients will come to you, but your team is equally important. Your office location matters as much as your expertise, both for clients and team members. Mentioned in this episode: Author Bob Burg

Let’s talk about marketing (because we know you love to, the numbers don’t lie). But let’s talk about how podcasting fits into your law firm’s marketing mix. Guest Robert Ingalls calls himself a “recovering attorney.” While he had a law degree and his own firm, Ingalls wasn’t happy and wanted to do something else. He landed on creating his own legal-oriented podcast … and something clicked. If he found value in creating a podcasts, so might other attorneys. His company, LawPods, podcasting for lawyers, was born. Ingalls knows you may be a great lawyer but don’t know anything about podcasting. With his experience, both in the field of law and in content production, he helps lawyers sound good, stay focused, and create a podcast people want to listen to again and again. Ingalls polishes and presents the best you. How do you start? Find out on this episode of the Un-Billable Hour. Resources from This Episode: Spotlight Branding Samsung Q2U mic Audio-Technica ATR2100 mic Garageband Audacity

Guest Sandrene “Sandy” Ryan is the senior director of recruiting at Level Legal. She’s built a unique process that focuses on quality and creating “the right match” over putting bodies into slots. Culture fit can be more important than a specific skill. You can teach a skill, but you can’t make the wrong person fit your own culture. Production is the lynchpin of your firm. Acquiring new clients and ensuring profit are the bookends, but we must produce. To do that, we need to recruit. Finding the right people for your firm, whether it’s a contract hire or a full-time position is, at its heart, marketing. What’s your story? Do you know how to make your firm attractive to new hires. Do you understand what candidates are selling. It’s a two-way street. Learn how to create a process that makes candidates sign on with you, and also do their best work for you. A quick match can be more of a time waster than a longer, thoughtful process. You may be surprised at how the COVID pandemic’s shift to remote working created a wider pool of candidates. If someone doesn’t have to be in your office, you’ve got more to choose from. But it comes with new challenges as well. Nothing stays the same.

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: Sometimes when it comes to your brand and marketing, doing everything is doing nothing. What is it you want to be known for? On the fence about hiring support staff? Do the math. Would more staff create more business, better reviews, and happier clients? The next step could be more profit. Gamification – cash rewards for individual and team goals (even promotions) – can energize your team. Retain your best players. And what about offshoring some tasks? Mentioned in This Episode: Calendly Accuity

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table:  Is hiring a temp I’ve already worked with previously a mistake? “It’s not personal,” it’s personnel. I need a body, even if s/he won’t stay with me. Is this reasonable? Sometimes, a contractor (even one you already know and know won’t stay with you) is the answer. Mr. Right vs. Mr. Right Now. How do you test the “seriousness” of a job candidate? Are you dealing with a real job candidate or just a person out fishing and wasting your time? Or is this 007 work from a competitor checking you out? Should I be overlapping an exiting employee with their replacement?  Trying to squeeze out a bad employee while simultaneously onboarding a good employee – can this be done? And will keeping a less-than-perfect employee onboard, while offboarding and bringing in a new person, help?

Today's guests, Erik and Elliot, will be joining Christopher on our upcoming Community Table live Q&A on February 16, 2023 to discuss all things marketing. Sign up here (it's free) to join us so you can get your questions answered! ----- Acquisition, from cold lead to paying client, is the important stuff. Marketing is one of three pillars of a successful firm: finding and signing new clients. Guests Erik and Elliot Alicea, co-founders of Empirical360 legal marketing, have a passionate focus on law firm marketing built on ROI, return on investment. Get real bang for your marketing buck. Automation may not be your best bet when it comes to generating cold leads. The process differs from referrals, you need to be personal. People only look for a new lawyer when they are in trouble, so be compassionate, be human. Reach out. And by all means, answer the phone. Learn to measure the return on your marketing dollar. There should be accountability and measurable results. Know what it’s costing you to land every new client. How do you know if you got your money’s worth? And when you get a lead, hey, that’s not the end. Get the contract signed, that’s work. (Plus, if you had only ONE channel for marketing your firm, which would it be? Can you guess the answer?)

Let’s look at your law firm’s culture when it comes to tech. It’s bottom up and top down, a full circle. You can’t delegate this stuff to one department or one level. Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace efficiencies. Be better. It’s not easy, but you can do this. Guests Anthony Seale and Isabel Parker understand today’s tech better than most, and they never stop innovating. They’ve seen law firms that embrace technology and process management to improve not only the bottom line but also client satisfaction. Get better results and happier clients with tech. Listen to younger associates, ask what you don’t know. You are never too successful to get on this train. But where to start? In this episode: Resistance to today’s tech advancements is futile (and it’s costing you money). Listen to younger associates and tech experts. Make more money, make clients happier, and be better by incorporating the best of today’s newest technologies and efficiencies. Mentioned in This Episode: Open AI ChatGPT “Firms of the Future: Overcoming the Barriers to Legaltech Adoption”

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: How to focus your practice. If you’re not known for something, you aren’t known for anything. The one thing all clients in every business want: A better life. How do your services make my life better? The steps you must take after firing an employee. It’s not just about the employee, it’s also about the clients. Mentioned in This Episode: Advertising on Nextdoor MeetUp TrustAndWill.com Helloprenup

In this episode: Law is intense, and you love your business. But are you trying to do everything? Trust the team you’ve hired. You can do too much, and you’re not that special. Make the best use of your time, don’t micromanage. It’s not sustainable and it’s not profitable. Learn about “calendar blocking,” building space for success. The habit you must learn. Guest Corine Rogers, a Clio systems and efficiency master, has a vital message: You can’t do everything, and you aren’t that important. Help your law firm build business operations systems, then trust your team. “Systems” are the repeatable ways you delegate tasks to others you trust. You selected your team, but do you let them do what you hired them to do? Do they believe that you believe in you? Get out of the way. Start with the tasks that you simply don’t like. Baby steps. Don’t fall victim to drowning in the mundane and the things that aren’t the best use of your time. You can’t create more hours in a day. So free yourself to do more of what you are best at and let others inside your business do the other tasks. In this important episode of The Un-Billable Hour, we hold up a mirror to help you see what you are doing to yourself if you can’t let your team shoulder some of the load. Plus, what doing your laundry can teach you about your business.

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: How to Determine if a New Hire Is a Success in the First 90 Days How To Master the Process of Employee Contract Negotiations How To Improve Your Job Offer to a Potential Candidate

Let’s talk about practice management, tech, and production. How do you find and apply the right tech tools that help you deliver what you’ve promised to your clients? Acquiring new clients, moving cases through the process, reaching successful outputs, and applying the right business metrics that help you understand your business performance all require the right technologies. Did you know, even the simple habit of waiting until the end of the day to enter your billable time can cost you money? There’s a tech solution for virtually every aspect of your legal business. Tech is racing forward. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we work. Maybe you are being left behind. It’s more important than ever to understand what changed. Payments, marketing data, key points, cloud tech, it’s all a new game. Practice management and success today is about data, how you understand your value, your pricing, key performance indicators, and, ultimately, your profitability. From intake to case management to corporate success, tech is what’s driving the legal profession. Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it – Ferris Bueller

How To Decide A Timeline For Firing An Employee How To Craft A Good Job Package to Attract Better Quality Applicants How To Give An Employee An Ultimatum Before Firing Them

Acquisition, getting new clients “from contact to contract,” is vital to your success. So why are so many firms struggling at the most basic levels? Guest Adam Reiman, director of coaching and live events at Lawyer.com, explains. Signing a prospective client starts the instant you pick up the phone. Clients are won or lost in those critical first moments. If you’re waiting to respond to calls or putting people on hold, you may be bleeding contracts. Prospect interest drifts away in minutes, while the average law firm takes more than three days to return an initial call. Is that your firm? It’s not just getting prospects to call, it’s about converting them to clients. Reiman, says, “Treat your leads like Fabergé Eggs.” They are precious and fragile. Reiman, a leader in legal coaching and law firm development, helps firms efficiently manage leads and turn an inquiry into a signed, paying client. In this episode: The art of being “nice.” The caller is in a tough spot. Respond quickly and show empathy. The value of in person appointments and appointment reminders. Explaining why you’re the right lawyer. What makes you special. How much follow up contact is too much, and too little. The right time to explain your fee (and how to ask for the money). Bonus: Reiman urges firms to give him a call (602-828-4415) for a free “secret shopper” experience where he’ll call as a prospective client, then provide tips and areas for improvement.

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: How can a law firm effectively use the non-attorney salesperson in a way that meets client expectations?

Every attorney knows to lock client secrets behind sophisticated cybersecurity. But as guest Rich Hale explains, the data that’s hiding in plain sight, “Dark Data,” is just as important to your client relationships and your reputation. After this important episode, you’ll want to look around your office. What do you see? Passwords taped to keyboards, thumb drives and scribbled notes left on desktops overnight, email exchanges that keep expanding as more people are looped in? Protecting that data both from thieves and ransomware attacks is every bit as crucial as your clients’ secret formula or business plans. As chief technology officer for the data security firm ActiveNav, Hale is surprised how many organizations are swimming in unsecured Dark Data. Just because you aren’t hearing about a security breach at a small law firm doesn’t mean it’s not happening daily. Learn to shine a light on your Dark Data. This may be one of the most eye-opening podcasts you listen to this year.

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: What do I need to consider to bring the firm’s outsource bookkeeping in-house? How can I utilize job boards more effectively to find quality candidates? What is the best way to script internal messaging to my team about a firing?

Feeling overwhelmed, like you’ve lost control of your life and your practice, like your job runs you instead of the other way around? You’re not alone and there are ways to overcome anxiety, doubt, and feeling overwhelmed. You can put you back in charge of you. Guest Monica Levi is a lawyer and former corporate HR executive who channels what she learned into leadership coaching for attorneys. This episode of the Un-Billable Hour is about you. Learn to listen to yourself, understand your worth, and go after what you want in life, whether that’s managing your own law practice, working within a corporate setting, or doing something entirely different. Lawyers especially feel the pressures of time management, productivity, and reacting and responding to everyone else’s needs. No wonder so many attorneys are struggling to find satisfaction. It’s hard to set boundaries and gain control of your time and goals. But you can do it.   And if you’ve got questions and want to be part of the discussion, join us at The Community Table, a live round table Q&A with host Christopher Anderson and guests here!

This episode’s discussion around the Community Table: How can I minimize the damage of an upcoming employee resignation? How do I decide which size cases my firm should pursue? How do I handle two employees that need to be hired/transferred?