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

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

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?)