RJon Robins

How to recognize bad clients before they make you miserable

December 9, 2009 by RJon Robins

Bear with me because instead of just “telling” you how to recognize bad clients I thought it would be More Effective To DEMONSTRATE It For You In Action. . .

First I sent the following article to all of my ezine subscribers (if you’ve already read it, scroll down to see a response I received shortly thereafter)

From:
RJON ROBINS

Date:
Tue, 8 Dec
2009 21:20:31 -0500 (EST)

To:

Subject:
Office Depot
& Law Firm Marketing: How an expensive marketing idea keeps back-firing.

Dxxxxxxx,

So I thought you might be
able to apply the following lesson to help you get more prospective
clients to make the decision to hire your firm & at premium-profitable
fees.

It’s a pretty simple lesson
really. Unfortunately though, it’s one that our friends at Office Depot
can’t seem to learn. And
so it keeps back-firing on them.

But
you are a subscriber to this ezine so you don’t have to make the same
mistake. Let me explain. . .

30 Seconds of
Context

I’ve been wanting to buy an
extra wireless scanner/printer to keep downstairs in my home. So that
when I emerge from The Cave with laptop in-hand and decide to work downstairs
for a change I can more easily scan/print etc. from wherever I decide to
set-up “Down There Where The Cats Dwell”. (MiniDog comes up here
with me but the cats never do).

So I keep going to Office
Depot to pick up a wireless scanner/printer to set up in an empty cabinet
down there BUT THEY KEEP CONVINCING ME NOT TO MAKE THE PURCHASE!!!

So not only does Office
Depot lose my business, but I lose the convenience of having an extra
scanner/printer downstairs because my soon-to-be-former Preferred Vendor
keeps causing me doubt. Here’s what I mean. . .

Office Depot has a
“Rewards Program”. And like so many other large national
retailers, theirs seems to have been designed by imbiciles. I’ve share
several other examples with you over the years including the CVS video.

The way Office Depot’s
program works, is that you earn reward dollars for every purchase you
make.

So far, so good right? But
the only way to redeem your reward dollars is by bringing-in the coupon they
send to you in the mail each month.

Wait a second!

We already know your
computer system is connected to your cash register or else you wouldn’t be
able to track my credits going in. So why can’t the register speak to
the computer to give me my credits automatically, like a pleasant surprise, going the other-way-around and delight me with an unexpected bonus when
I’m standing there at the cash register?

Of course I never remember
to bring the damn coupons with me. Office Depot is a “Convenience
Vendor” for me. Because if I was really shopping on price I’d buy
online from somewhere else. So I’m willing to pay extra for the convenience
of being able to buy on near-impulse.

However the fact that they
keep shoving it in my face everytime I’m at the register that I could be
saving enough to buy lunch, I keep postponing the new scanner/printer
acquisition thinking to myself that maybe next time I’ll remember to bring
the coupons with me.

And besides maybe between
now & then I’ll find something better.

Or maybe I should re-think
this whole idea of having a scanner/printer in every room of the house
anyway. I mean we are supposed to be in some kind of a recession aren’t
we? 😉

So in Office Depot’s
attempt to be sure that I don’t actually take advantage of their
rewards program (or maybe they’re just lazy, or stupid) what they have really accomplished is putting me
“Off” of a sale. A sale that could have put hundreds
of dollars of extra cash-flow in their hands weeks ago.

OK RJon, So
Where’s The Law Firm Marketing Lesson?

The lesson in this for YOU is to be sure you’re not talking
yourself out of a “sale” in a mis-guided attempt to protect
yourself from any downside.

Just recently I showed a
Member how to DRAMATICALLY increase his revenues in 2010. We’re talking
about adding an “extra” hundred thousand dollars of almost pure
profit to his bottom line.

All by taking a realistic
view of his downside potential and NOT putting that between himself and his
clients.

More specifically, I showed
him how to offer and earn ALOT of extra profit by offering his clients the
same 100% “You
Will Be Happy” money-back guarantee that I do. And
how by offering anything less in a mis-guided attempt to protect himself from
downside, he is actually “costing” himself alot of money and
unecessary aggravation.

Be Better Than
Office Depot

Be better than Office Depot
in your small law firm. Look at the “transaction” from the
perspective of your prospective clients. Look at every element of risk
and do whatever you can to move it to the
appropriate side of the ledger. If for example you are supposed to be
some kind of expert who has “been around this block” enough times
to warrant a premium fee, find a way to mitigate or better yet eliminate the
client’s risk altogether.

Focus first on how to make
the offer of your services as irresistible to your clients as possible.
Pump UP the value & Dial DOWN the risk to them. This is possible,
by the way in EVERY practice area, bar-none (yes even criminal defense &
family law).

OK, gotta take MiniDog for
a walk. If you haven’t done so already be sure to sign-up for Thursday’s f&ee teleseminar entitled

“The 12 Things You Have To Do To Predictably Grow Your Law
Firm By AT LEAST 25% in 2010, Not Just Despite The Economy, But Actually
BECAUSE OF IT All While Enjoying More Control, More Time Off, And More
Bottom-Line Net Profits!”

~ RJON

p.s. Next time you’re in
Office Depot tell me if this doesn’t cause you to think twice about spending
as much money there as you were otherwise prepared to give them!

https://howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com/12-10-09freelivetalk.html

THIS IS THE EMAIL I RECEIVED BACK FROM “D”:

From: dxxxxxxxh@yahoo.com [mailto:dxxxxxxxh@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 10:05 PM
To: RJON ROBINS
Subject: Re: Office Depot & Law Firm Marketing: How an expensive
marketing ideakeeps back-firing.

Can
I ask why you don’t ever give one piece of actually useful advise. If you did I
would actually sign up for you service and pay.

Dxx Xxxxh

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

And Here Was My Reply. I should point out that were I not using this as a “teaching exercise” for YOUR BENEFIT I would normally have simply ignored the question and politely declined any future applications from this candidate. Because one of the benefits of knowing how to market a small law practice is the ability to pick & choose who you get to work with and for. And smart-asses who blatantly miss not just one but 14 points in a single article certainly aren’t my idea of a good time.

Hello Dxxx,

You asked “Can I ask why you don’t ever
give one piece of actually useful advise.”
Actually Dxxx, in that
last email I offered no fewer than 14 pieces of useful advice relating to law
firm marketing, management, client service, client selection, career
satisfaction and cash-flow. Here I’ve
itemized them for you:

1. So
not only does Office Depot lose my business, but I lose the convenience of
having an extra scanner/printer downstairs because my soon-to-be-former
Preferred Vendor keeps causing me doubt. In other words, when you give your clients doubts about
hiring you, it’s not just you who loses, but also prospective client whose life
could presumably be improved if they actually hired you.

2. delight me with an unexpected bonus In other words, you should delight your
clients with unexpected bonuses.

3. Office
Depot is a “Convenience Vendor” for me. Because if I was really
shopping on price I’d buy online from somewhere else. So I’m willing to
pay extra for the convenience In other words, there’s a lot of
premium legal fees to be earned by being a “convenience law firm”

4. So
I’m willing to pay extra for the convenience of being able to buy on
near-impulse. In other
words, there are a lot of people like me who have extra disposable income and
we’re willing to pay extra to vendors who make things easy for us so we can
operate on “impulse” for small things in life that aren’t going to make or
break us.

5.
the
fact that they keep shoving it in my face everytime I’m at the register that I
could be saving enough to buy lunch, I keep postponing the new scanner/printer
acquisition In other words, too many lawyers shove all the downside
into prospective clients’ faces right at the moment of truth and then wonder
why they can’t get enough business. Or
wonder why “their” clients go out and hire other lawyers instead. Often less qualified lawyers but who know how
to make the client feel more comfortable about their decision.

6.
what they have really accomplished is putting me
“Off” of a sale.
A sale that could have put hundreds of dollars of extra cash-flow in their
hands weeks ago. In other words, there is a direct connection between
being able to convert prospective clients into paying clients, and a lawyer’s
cash-flow. There is more value in converting
a client today vs. converting the same client for the same fees tomorrow.

7. The
lesson in this for YOU is to be sure you’re not talking yourself out of
a “sale” in a mis-guided attempt to protect yourself from any
downside. I thought this
one was pretty obvious. Too many lawyers
attempt to protect THEMSELVES from any possible downside. This is misguided and results in fewer
clients hiring those lawyers.

8. Just recently I showed a Member how to
DRAMATICALLY increase his revenues in 2010. We’re talking about adding an
“extra” hundred thousand dollars of almost pure profit to his bottom
line. All by taking a realistic view of his downside potential and NOT
putting that between himself and his clients. In other words, one of my Members is going to earn a lot more
money in 2010 than he did in 2009 as a direct result of putting the above
lessons to practice by taking a more realistic view of his downside potential
in most of his engagements. This is a common mistake I see many lawyers
make. Since the fixed overhead of his
law firm is already covered by existing fees these “extra” projected fees will
be almost all profit which makes them even better than the first couple hundred
thousand he’ll earn which are split between overhead & profit. This is actually a separate point implied
within the first so I’m going to call it 8b.

9. More specifically, I showed him how to
offer and earn ALOT of extra profit by offering his clients the same 100% “You Will Be Happy”
money-back guarantee that I do. In other words, you should offer your clients the same
100% “You Will Be Happy” money-back guarantee that I do.

10. And how by offering anything less in a
mis-guided attempt to protect himself from downside, he is actually
“costing” himself alot of money and unecessary aggravation. In other words, if you are offering your
clients anything less than the same 100% “You Will Be Happy” money-back
guarantee that I do you are probably “costing” yourself a lot of lost revenue
and unnecessary aggravation. Which if
you connect up item # 10 to item # 6 I think is an even more compelling reason
to offer your clients the same 100% “You Will Be Happy” money-back guarantee
that I do.

11. Look at the “transaction”
from the perspective of your prospective clients. Because too many lawyers get stuck in the myopic
habit of only looking at the “transaction” from their own perspective. And I put “transaction” in quotation marks to
draw attention to the fact that too many lawyers consider it to be just that, a
transaction.

12. Look at every element of risk and do
whatever you can to move it to the appropriate
side of the ledger. If for example you are supposed to be some kind of
expert who has “been around this block” enough times to warrant a
premium fee, find a way to mitigate or better yet eliminate the client’s risk
altogether. In other words,
what you should be doing is looking at every element of risk in an engagement
and do whatever you can to move each such element to the appropriate side of
the ledger. So your clients should
undertake the risk flowing from their own decisions. But if you expect to be respected as a “professional”
whose services should warrant a premium fee you should be prepared to undertake
some of the risk too. Ideally, if you
can eliminate all risk from your client’s side of the ledger you can earn the
highest premium fees. Now connect this
point back to Item # 10 above & consider what you could be earning if you
could figure out a way to offer the same kind of 100% “You Will Be Happy”
money-back guarantee that I do.

13. Focus first on how to make the offer
of your services as irresistible to your clients as possible. Pump UP the
value & Dial DOWN the risk to them. The way you achieve item # 12 (being worthy of premium
fees) is by figuring out how to make the offer of your services as irresistible
to your clients as possible. You do this
by pumping up the value and dialing down the risk to them.

14. This is possible, by the way in EVERY
practice area, bar-none (yes even criminal defense & family law). This piece of advice is to encourage
every lawyer who read that article to have confidence that this is possible in
every practice area so that no-one would dismiss it as being impossible in his
or her own area of practice.

Dxxx, you also stated in your email to me
that “If
you did [give one piece of actually useful advise] (sic). I would actually sign up for your service and
pay”.

Now
that I have demonstrated that I DID give you not just one but fourteen pieces
of “actually useful advice” I must now broach the subject of your payment for
my services. When, by what means and in what
amount shall I expect to receive it?

RJON

Note: I admit I myself was being a smart-ass here too. But that’s another one of the many benefits of knowing how to market a small law firm. You don’t have to take nearly as much shit from people 😉

I’m Proud to Say I Could Be a MUCH Better Lawyer

November 30, 2009 by RJon Robins

I am proud to say I could be a MUCH better lawyer.

If only I spent more of my time practicing law and less of my time unlocking the enormous potential stored up in most small law firms.

Which is surprisingly un-complicated to do, by the way.

It’s sort of like when a client comes into your office with a very challenging problem (to them) but since you’ve seen the exact same problem a hundred times before.

You’re able to easily spot and diagnose the problem, recognize the opportunity and proscribe a course of action that will improve the situation. I mean, after all, isn’t this EXACTLY what you do every day?

This Should Come As A Relief To Every Lawyer

There are actually only a few tools, strategies, skills and techniques as lawyer productivity tips which separate the Top 5% most successful lawyers from the rest of 95% of all lawyers in private practice today.

And they’re all relatively easy to learn and apply. They make a huge difference in every practice area, in every market I’ve implemented them in. If you’re not already doing everything we’re going to discuss during Thursday’s talk then any one of these strategies, tools, tactics or techniques could substantially improve your practice even in the current economic climate.

On Thursday December 3, 2009 at 3pm Eastern I’m hosting a LIVE Talk entitled “What’s GREAT About Most Small Law Firms” during which I’m going to explain exactly how to transform your law practice and transform your life for the better in 2010. Or else you get to press *6 and call “bull shit”. This talk is free to owners of small firms, their significant others’ and law students.

Great, RJon please reserve a spot for me

to participate LIVE in this talk!

Who This Talk Is (and is not) For:

If you are ALREADY doing very well in your law practice and you are improving legal work processes (grossing at least $400,000 per attorney; doing work that energizes you; and have sufficient time to enjoy it all with your friends & family) then I want to especially invite you to register for the LIVE TALK we?re going to have this Thursday.

During this talk I’m going to review 12 Steps Every Lawyer Can Take To Make 2010 EVEN BETTER than 2009. I will be taking your questions and providing real-world, no b.s. substantive answers. The cost is FREE because I want to give you a taste that will pique your interest in a brand new program I’ll be announcing briefly at the end of the call.

I’m already doing very well, thank you very much!

And I know the importance of investing in myself

so I definitely want to participate in this talk!

If you are doing pretty good in your law practice (at least 2 out of 3 of the above) then I want you to feel very much welcome to listen to the 12 Steps I’m going to cover. And then ask me any questions you have about how to apply them to more effectively manage and market your own law firm so you can transform your law firm and your life for the better, in 2010.

The lawyers who are in the category above already know that “Small Hinges Can Swing Big Doors”. I’d like you to join us for FREE too, because I know that our new program (which will be limited to just 25 Members in the first Quarter so I can give everyone plenty of personal attention) has the power to substantively help you in some unexpected ways that I will touch briefly upon during Thursday’s talk.

I’m doing pretty good.

But I know I can do better in 2010.

Please sign me up to participate in your talk.

If you are being eaten alive by your law practice but you are enthusiastically prepared to make some changes because you know you want to have a better practice and a better life, then I’d really like you to make plans now to participate in this talk.

Because I love helping lawyers who are working hard to help themselves. And I love to see the immediate tangible improvements in a lawyer’s personal and professional life when they begin to implement some of the 12 Steps we’re going to cover this Thursday at 3pm Eastern Standard.

The call is scheduled for 90 minutes and will be divided roughly into two parts. The first 60 minutes will be for me to lay-out the “big picture of these 12 Steps. The remaining 30 minutes will be for your questions and my no-b.s., practical, I’ve helped thousands of lawyers so I don’t have time to waste on politically-correct answers that I already know they don’t work in the real world.

If you’ve ever been on anyone else’s so called “free teleseminar” before and been disappointed that it was nothing more than a thinly-veiled infomercial this will be a welcome if surprising breath of fresh air. (Note: I have NEVER offered a teleseminar that didn’t offer at least a dozen substantive pieces of real-world, practical advice)

This could be just what I’ve been telling my spouse I’ve been looking for to be a happier lawyer who makes more money and has more fun. I really need to be on this call!

If you are convinced that it is a lawyer’s lot in life to struggle financially, with under-appreciative clients and to sacrifice your personal life “in service to your firm and its clients” then I would respectfully ask that you NOT reserve a spot for yourself for this talk.

Because what we will be discussing during will likely offend or upset you. And I will not restrain myself from calling it exactly as I have seen it, likely a hundred times before in my ten years experience during which I have helped literally several THOUSAND lawyers and professional legal administrators with virtually every kind of law firm management, law firm marketing, “help my law firm is eating me alive” type of issue you can probably imagine.

By the way, in case you’re wondering if I go out of my way to be politically-incorrect the answer is “no, I do not”. It just so happens that there is a ton of politically-correct-sounding bull shit being shoveled down lawyers’ throats under the guise of “professionalism”.

So let me take this opportunity to assure you that every single thing I will discuss in this talk will meet or more likely exceed the highest standards of professionalism.

In fact, one of the things I take perverse pleasure in is showing how some of the more “p.c.” advice we are told as young lawyers actually leads to some of the most UN-professional conduct by lawyers who end up getting themselves painted into a corner by it.

If you’ve ever struggled to reconcile profit and professionalism and you miss this call, what can I say but remind you of an old joke I’m sure you’ve heard before.

There’s a flood and some poor fool who is hanging on by his fingernails above the rising waters turns-down offers from a helicopter, a boat and a guy on a mattress floating by underneath him. And when the poor fool gets to heaven and asks why he was forsaken the Almightly says “You jerk, what else was I supposed to do I sent you a helicopter, a boat & even floated a mattress under your nose!?!??”

So, no I don’t go out of my way to be politically-incorrect. But neither do I have much patience left to suffer the advice of some of the fools whose unworkable bull shit I read online in some of the blogs & discussion forms for lawyers out there.

Screw you, RJon! Who the “F” do you think you are talking to me this way? Don’t you know I’m an important person and that the stick up my ass smells from roses!

If you are a new lawyer or even still in law school then I REALLY want you to listen and pay attention to what we share during this talk.

Because it’s going to be a unique glimpse for you into the real world, of what it REALLY takes to have a REALLY successful law firm.

And a lot of what we’re going to discuss will very likely CONTRADICT some of the advice you may have heard from your law school professors or even recruitment lawyers from firms that may be courting you.

Yes, I am a law student or a new lawyer and I’d definitely like to be able to participate and ask questions on this call! In fact I’ve already learned a few things just by reading this email that they didn’t bother to teach us in law school. Holy frijole am I ever excited!

Let’s see, who am I missing? Oh yes, if you are the spouse of an attorney who is spending too many hours in his or her law firm without enough financial success, professional self-respect or personal joy to show for it then I’d welcome your input too during this Thursday’s talk.

Even if your own attorney cannot (or will not) make the time to learn these 12 Steps any lawyer can take in 2010 to transform his or her small law firm, or even a solo law practice, into a highly-profitable and reliable generator of predictable income.

RJon, I am the spouse or significant other of an attorney and I am going to do my damndest to be sure he or she participates in your talk. This sounds like just what s/he needs!

Depending of course on how many and how good the questions are on this call you should reasonably expect to learn at least something about each of the following:

How to attract great clients who will happily pay premium fees instead of acquiescing to clients who shop on price.

How to motivate your best clients to return for more business and/or refer more great clients to you so that you can fill your pipeline with better clients and crowd-out the trouble-makers.

How to get other lawyers and even non-lawyers to predictably refer thousands of dollars to your small firm every month so you can gain enough confidence to soon fire all your “D” & “F” clients.

How to logically, rationally and objectively evaluate every advertisement BEFORE you spend money on it to ensure maximum return on your investment.

How to translate ‘Accountingese’ into plain English and learn the Six (6) Key Numbers you MUST watch every week in your small law firm in order to squeeze-out every ounce of profit instead of working twice as hard to earn half as much.

But ‘just’ bringing in more business isn’t going to do you any good in your personal life, even if it is better business for which you earn more money if the law firm can’t handle the extra work. So were ALSO going to talk about:

How to find and fix the biggest time wasters in your small law firm so you can focus more of your attention on the highest & best use of your time and stop doing the work of an over-qualified secretary.

How to understand and make practical use of your understanding the difference between a law office management ‘policy’ vs. a law office management ‘procedure’ and which policies and which procedures must be fixed first if you’re ever going to get a good night’s sleep.

How to know when, which and how to confidently delegate responsibilities in a small law firm so that you don’t get into trouble with your clients, the bar or cash-flow. (Hint: This has nothing to do with having ‘faith’ in ‘good people’ ?!)

And I know from too many years of experience with too many lawyers that none of this practical, real-world, money-making, marriage-saving information is going to do any lawyer any good unless we ALSO help you get your head straight about having an appropriate relationship with your law firm, your family and your self-image as a lawyer too.

Because there are a TON of really screwed-up ‘politically correct’ admonitions being foisted upon us as a profession about what it REALLY means to be a ‘professional’.

So ESPECIALLY for all the spouses of attorneys who will be participating in this talk, I’m going to expose The Most Dangerous Thing they try and brainwash us all with in law school and during most of the mandatory CLE programs we have to pay to attend.

This little ditty is the root cause of more lawyer-divorces than anything else.

Once you and your spouse can speak openly & honestly about this ‘Head Trip’ they put us all through, almost like magic you’ll probably find yourselves getting along better AND you’ll begin making more money. Because happy lawyers really do make more money. But it’s the ‘happy’ that has to come first. After this talk you’ll understand exactly why it is so important and liberating when you get this right and so dangerous to waste years of your life trying to work this formula backwards.

[Hint: If you’re NOT hearing enough of what you’re most interested in, press *6 to ‘raise your hand’ & ASK!]

Yes, Yes, Yes I want to register to be on this call!

That’s all for now. I look forward to either your hate mail or speaking with you during Thursday’s talk.

– RJon

p.s. If you’re not getting any ‘hate mail’ you’re not trying hard enough. Seriously, if there aren’t at least a couple of other lawyers who ‘hate’ you for your success you’re probably falling short of your potential. The only opinions that matter are those of your clients who pay your bills, come back again & again and pay you the highest compliment of referring others to you for help.

Unlocking the Power of Your Brain & Ego in Your Legal Career

September 30, 2009 by RJon Robins

I love my brain & my healthy Ego too. I treat my brain well feeding it lots of stimulating information, protecting it from too much negativity. And exercising it with plenty of interesting challenges. In turn my brain produces lots of success and happiness in my life which-in-turn cultivates a healthy and realistic ego.

Am I perfect? Of course not.

But together these two friends treat me well enabling me to take an “I’m O.K.; You’re O.K.” approach to life. This is how I enjoy the internal fortitude to recognize when a set of instructions were written by a FUCKING MORON who clearly has never assembled the chair depicted in the diagram below.
Or else if you want to be more charitable, I suppose we could say s/he is just a COMPLETE ASSHOLE. I don’t know, let’s just go with whichever you consider to be the more appropriate characterization after you study the diagram a little more closely. There, you see an “I’m OK; You’re not O.K.” person wouldn’t give you that choice 😉

(HINT: Consider the fact that once you have installed the foot bar (J) in Step # 2 it becomes physicallyIMPOSSIBLE to reach the screws (N) as called for in Step #4 which follows).

So which is it, are we dealing with a fucking moron who is too stupid to write an accurate set of instructions or a complete asshole who simply couldn’t be bothered to actually test what they are instructing us to do?

“What’s this got to do with law firm marketing or law practice management?” you may say? Actually, ALOT if you think about it for a minute. . .

Consider the fact that we graduate from law school with a set of instructions for how we’re supposed to be lawyers. But those instructions are lacking critical pieces of information required to assemble a successful, prosperous and happy law firm and legal career and life in this industry.

Now, some lawyers spend their whole lives trying to insert the screw (N) into the pre-drilled hole that’s covered by foot rest (J).

And they suffer for it.

But others of us have the internal fortitude to take our lives and careers into our own hands and we make a point of giving our brains the information required to be happy lawyers. Because after all, happy lawyers really do make more money (and we live longer with happier clients and families too.)

Question: What have you fed your brain and your ego about how to manage your law firm today? This week? This month?

Get some FREE law practice management & law firm marketing SAMPLES today and give your brain & your ego some goodies by going to www.HowToManageaSmallLawFirm.com right now!

Where’s My Muthafukin Money?!?!

September 24, 2009 by RJon Robins

QUESTION

from: sxxxxxrxxxlaw

to: rjon robins

date: Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 5:35 PM

subject: Attorneys/Law Firms that owe you money

Rjon: I signed up for the most recent offering related to converting prospects into fees and I’m in your gold coaching program…

A large part of my practice is coverage for other attorneys. I realize there are other ways to structure payments and using the leverage of refusing to cover future cases – but under the scenario of doing the work, sending the disposition with bill and expecting payment – what is the best way to handle attorneys that are ducking you for payment. The same attorneys who receive great results, promptly mailed and not sat on for weeks and far better results than if they came up personally as many non-local attorneys get ‘home-towned’.

I accept credit cards and have cornered some for payment by that method. It is just a couple of attorneys and once I clear these balances I will pass on future cases, but my time is well worth what I charge. Have you seen bar complaints over fellow attorneys not paying?

I have been doing this long enough to not think that it is not out of the realm of possibility that colleagues will do this or that it is surprising or shocking the conscious – but it just makes me sick as most of the matters I cover are pre-paid type cases where the originating attorney is flat fee’d up front weeks or even months before the hearing (ticket or criminal matter) but then fails to budget for the coverage. I am not expecting a back and forth just a quick comment if possible – I should have brought this up on the last call.

Thanks – you continue to produce a great product.

Jxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx

ANSWER:

Hi Jxxxxx, OK, a few observations before we get to the meat of your question & I tell you exactly what I think you should do:

1. “refusing to cover future cases” I don’t like this approach at all. Reason why not is because all you’re going to accomplish by telling the debtor attorney that unless they pay you, you will not cover future cases. . . is you’ll just be drumming up business for other lawyers and giving the debtor an emotional excuse not to pay you at all since obviously once you lay that down they’ll write you off.

2. On the other hand if you are really as much of a bad-ass as you claim to be below (ok allude to be) then what you do is wait for the debtor to hire you again, wait until the morning-of and then extract a credit card payment for the past-due balance plus your fee for the hearing you may or may not be attending for them that day.

One of my favorite clients (because I learn so much from him) offers his criminal defense clients who owe him money two options. One is free (notice of withdrawl) the other is your bill that you can use your credit card to take care of today. Your choice. Seriously I want you to get as PISSED OFF as I am about these irresponsible (better than calling them dishonest, don’t you think) lawyers who are ROYALLY FUCKING YOU OVER.

Paradoxically I expect what you’ll find if you take this matter-of-fact approach is that unlike the “no problem I’ll just write this wimp off & keep his money” reaction you’ll likely get from #1 above, this matter of fact pay me or you’re the one who will be fucked approach will probably earn you some well-deserved (if you do it) street cred. and telegraph that you’re the bad-ass I want to have covering my hearings for me just in case there’s a throw-down (it happens, right?)

3. “but my time is well worth what I charge.” I believe this is at the root of your problem. You’re still thinking about it in terms of the value of your time. In point of fact your time is worth nothing. Sorry. However the problems you help me solve (saving me time, helping me make money, protecting my reputation) DOES have value. Focus on that and not the time because I don’t give a shit if you get my hearing or depo covered in 5 minutes or an hour & 5 minutes.

All I care about is my time, my money & my reputation. Make sense? Seriously, this can be a tough mindset shift. But I PROMISE once you get here you’ll make alot more money & have alot more fun too doing coverage work. By the way the next time you’re on one of the open office hours calls be sure to ask me how to double your revenues & I’ll tell you exactly how to do it. It will be so easy for you that it may actually scare you how close to it you’ve been all this time.

OK so the answer to your question. . . forget about getting the bar to collect your fees for you. Instead, either

a.) swallow your pride and either go to the debtor-attorney’s office to get your money if you are close enough, or else

b.) call their assistant and schedule a telephone appointment for the next month so it will be harder for them to say there are no openings or else

c.) wait & implement real world collection strategy #2 above.

If you go with b.) and when you get on the phone you follow this script EXACTLY: “Hi First Name when we scheduled this appointment it was set for 20 minutes, is that still good for you? (if yes, then proceed to) “Listen I need to get a credit card from you so we can settle up your bill right now.” and then you shut up. Seriously, don’t say a single word. Don’t make a sound. Just sit there and wait for the debtor attorney to give you his or her credit card or an excuse.

The most likely excuse will be that they need to review the bill. “OK, look at your fax machine it’s sitting there waiting for you let’s go over it together right now.” (remember they just said they have 20 minutes)

If they say that 20 minutes is NOT good then you abort the mission and shift gears to “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. What’s the best time for us to reschedule?”

If they ask what this is about. . . you just stick to your agenda “Oh I can explain the whole thing to you very easily when we reschedule, what’s the best day for you? I’m available on Day at Time or on Day at Time. Do either of those work for you for about 20 minutes?” (Well, if you can tell me what this is about maybe we can just get it out of the way now) jason, this is a “tell”. What they’re telling you is that they’re curious. Well let them stay curious. The objective of this call is to get your kids their money, not to satisfy the curiosity of the person who is witholding it from them.

Print out this script & follow it to your money! RJON

p.s. Watch this for a little inspiration;-)

p.p.s. Visit www.HowToManageaSmallLawFirm.com to get some great free law practice management samples that will teach you how to avoid needing this advice in the first place.

How to know if what you’re doing is Rainmaking or just a waste of time.

September 23, 2009 by RJon Robins

One of the best Rainmakers I know, a man who has sold
literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth of legal services in his career
calls this philosophy for selling legal services “Problem Solving Selling”.

He
even carries around a baseball glove to remind himself that “. . . when I’m
sitting with a prospective client, my job is to focus on what they are saying
so that I can catch the problems that person is struggling with, and help them
find relief.”

What could possibly be more professional and ethical than helping
people with important problems, to find solutions to those problems? This is just one way for attracting legal business.

The Test

So here’s a test you can use to apply and see
if anything you’re doing or considering doing (and paying for) qualifies as
Rainmaking strategies for lawyers:

1. Does it seek to help your prospective client solve their
problem or maximize their opportunity?

2. Is there a call to action, or is it just “image building”
?

3. Is there a logical “next step”?

A MUST READ article posted at the Techology Liberation Front

September 21, 2009 by RJon Robins

Well add this to my list of reasons why Twitter is worthwhile. . .

So I was just getting ready to post a comment on Twitter to all my “friends”. . . or are they only my friends on facebook? No matter I came across a post that caught my attention and disovered a group called the Techology Liberation Front which describes itself as being “. . . the tech policy blog dedicated to
keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to
technology.”

Now insert whatever disclaimers you want here about how I have only read one article from them so far, but I think I may be in love! Not that I'm very well informed about technology per-se. But I do recognize a rational and objective mind when I read an article from it and what a rare treat that is to discover.

So you can imagine how excited I was/am to have discovered this MUST READ article!

I don't care if you care about technology. Read the article anyway. It should be a reminder to all of us that there really are a whole bunch of do-gooders who honestly believe they know better than we do about how we should run our businesses and conduct our lives. And they are not dissuaded from their beliefs by reality. That's part of what makes them so dangerous!

Subscribe now

Turn your phone
into a classroom!

Connect with our

Community

Read This

Manifesto

to Discover How to
Create REAL Profits