Un-Billable Hour: Business Management Strategies for the Busy Lawyer Around the Community Table

Marketing, acquiring new business, and growing your firm are all important. But ultimately, any law firm has to produce results to scale, and that comes down to who you hire and how you manage, develop, and collaborate with your team. Guest Luis Scott is the owner and managing partner of Bader | Scott Injury Lawyers. In addition to running a firm responsible for millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements, Scott devotes time to consulting with other firms to help them grow their own revenue. Based in Atlanta, Scott understands a competitive market for client acquisition, but also for employee acquisition. How do you find, hire, and retain the best team? Hear how Scott and his firm identified and hired employees, then turned the best into leaders, freeing senior partners to focus on strategy. The bigger a firm grows, the more important a strategic, mindful approach becomes. How big do you want to grow? Three million in revenue? Eight million? Bigger? Scott explains how he structures a firm and positions leaders and employees for success. Founders of any firm are only one person. After a threshold, there’s nothing more they can do by themselves. That’s where it’s vital to develop leaders who can oversee individual parts of the business, everything from litigation to HR to marketing. If you lead a law firm of any size, consider this episode your own, personal consulting session that will help you organize and focus your efforts on growing your revenue and expanding your reach. (Plus, you’ll learn “The Five Ps” of law firm management.)Mentioned in this Episode:Un-Billable Hour Community Table Figure Firm ConsultingThe Guts and Glory Show“The King of Growth,” by Luis Scott“It Has to Hurt,” by Luis Scott

In this episode’s discussions around the Community Table:  Interview questions to ask that help you understand an applicant’s true motivations. Questions that dig a little deeper. And how to accept those answers at face value. Ever had a terrible experience hiring someone? There are tools to help you avoid mistakes, but you have to learn how to use them. But there are no silver bullets. Go boldly, but tread lightly.  Dealing with a new hire who won’t complete required training? Can you really require someone to learn, and if they won’t, is that grounds to terminate the relationship? This question quickly drifts into some interesting territory.  And finally, how long can you keep a new attorney at your firm before they need to start returning a profit to the firm? Maybe while they learn the ropes, you can at least have them do something that delivers value. (You can only wait so long).  Mentioned in this Episode:Malcolm Gladwell, Revisionist History pageMalcolm Gladwell, “Hamlet Was Wrong”Using DiSC For HiringKolbeThe Predictive IndexMyers-Briggs personality testJay Henderson, Real Talent HiringReal Talent HiringWizehireJoin the next Community Table live. What’s on your mind?

In this episode, we’ll talk “big picture.” Are you ready to scale up, build your client base, and be more successful?   Guest Sam Mollaei is passionate about creating scalable law firms and helping others understand and implement his blueprint for going big while disrupting the traditional law firm model. He challenges firms to embrace automation, innovation, offshoring, and move beyond the old fashioned face-to-face, brick and mortar route. Mollaei employs the latest tools to beat the high cost of paid search, create efficient client intake processes, overcome SEO snags, find new ways around labor inefficiencies, and accelerate business development. And he’s just getting started as developments in artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT continue to evolve the business of law. Hear how Mollaei teaches firms to ride the wave instead of chasing it. Changes are coming fast, and everything is on the table. There’s a lot to learn, but adapting to this new environment is not an option, it’s the future. Be a part of it or be left behind.Mentioned in this Episode:Google AdsSeamless food delivery “Virtual Law Firm Secrets” ebookUn-Billable Hour Community Table

In this episode’s discussion around the Community Table:  Getting from “yes” to “signing the check.” How to accelerate and bullet-proof your sales cycle. Getting the client to go from agreeing to hire you to actually turning over that retainer. Vaccinating the recruiter. Preparing a third-party recruiter with responses to a prospective employee’s objections. How do you arm a recruiter for a prospect’s “Yeah, but I heard they …”   Stalking a specific type of client? Go where they are. If you’re the best in a niche field, where do you find the clients who need you, and how is that different from asking for referrals? And, Facebook vs. LinkedIn, your marketing dollars. Mentioned in this Episode: Previous appearance of Erik and Elliot Alicea on The Un-Billable Hour, “Marketing is Metrics: The Cost Of New Business Acquisition” Join the next Community Table live. What’s on your mind?

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 BrandingSamsung Q2U micAudio-Technica ATR2100 micGaragebandAudacity 

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:CalendlyAccuity