the [non]billable hour

The Value of a Free Consultation is What You Charge For It

Again from Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive:  Don't give away anything for "free" because the "the value of an item declines when it is offered as a gift." 

So, instead of offering in your Yellow Pages ad (you're still doing those?) a "Free Consultation," try offering a "$250.00 case analysis at no cost to you."  Your clients will value your continuing services more highly, and they'll feel like they've already gotten something of value from you to begin with -- making them more likely to reciprocate and hire you to take their case.

Pack a house with nervous clients?

Your clients are worried about their financial futures more than ever.  If you do divorce, estate planning, real estate or corporate work, you should be preparing a seminar NOW on the impact of the current situation on your clients. 

Make it "invitation only" and give each client the ability to bring another person.  Make it two hours or less.  Have a handout with the "Top 7 Things You Need to Know Now" or something similar.  Give each attendee at least three copies.  Encourage them to share it with people like them.

Tell it like it is.  Don't sell.  Your clients (and their hand-picked referrals) will appreciate the information, and look to you as their advisor in times of need.

If Operators are Busy ..

I've just started Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini, and can already give it my highest recommendation.  It offers fifty short lessons (2-4 pages each) on persuasiveness, along with the empirical evidence to back them.

One quick lesson from the first chapter in the book:  Simply by changing an infomercial's call to action from "Operators are waiting, please call now," to, "If operators are busy, please call again," resulted in a huge increase in products purchased. 

Why?  Instead of people imagining a room full of operators waiting by silent telephones, infomercial viewers imagined those same operators going from call to call without a break, and assumed "if the phone lines are busy, then other people like me who are also watching this infomercial are calling, too."

Very interesting stuff.  A highly recommended book!

Looking for the Ugly in Potential Clients

Kevin Kelly writes another insightful essay on The Technium titled "Looking for Ugly."  Using FAA reporting on aircraft maintenance as his main example, he suggests that when we don't penalize minor infractions (the FAA encourages penalty-free reporting of minor safety errors), we reduce major ones.  Put another way, to avoid major catastrophe, it is important to encourage people to look for and report "the ugly:"

Looking for ugly is a great way to describe a precursor-based error detection system. You are not really searching for failure as much as signs failure will begin. These are less like errors and more like deviations. Offcenter in an unhealthy way. 

I think he's right on.  When evaluating new clients, for example, keep track of those things that don't "feel quite right."  It could be something as simple as the fact that they rescheduled three times, showed up late for an appointment, or "forgot" their retainer check.  While many of those prospects will turn into great clients, the handful of them that don't probably have a lot of those little things in common. 

The more you pay attention to those "little things" as they enter your head (as opposed to using your 20/20 hindsight once the relationship has gone sour) the more likely you'll get better at choosing great clients -- and avoiding the "ugly" ones.

The Perfect Law Firm Retreat: Let Your Clients Set the Agenda

So you're working on the agenda for your firm's next retreat?  You've got the standard bases covered:

Message from the Chairperson?  Check.
Firm financials?  Check.
Important legal decisions?  Check.
Practice-group breakouts?  Check.
Rainmaking training?
Golf?  Check.

Client concerns?  Huh?

You've asked your clients what they'd like you to talk about, haven't you?  You should.  And I'm not just talking about mastering their new billing requirements.  I'm suggesting you should poll your most important clients and ask them what they'd like you to cover at your next retreat. 

You might be surprised at what they'd like you to learn -- and they'll be surprised you cared enough to do so.

Want to Buy a Law Firm Brand?

I came across IncSpring yesterday.  It is a marketplace where designers can sell (and companies can buy) "ready-made brands."  If is a pretty neat concept, and you get to deal directly with the designer.  Not a lot of "legal" brands yet, but if you're a Texas Lawyer, you can do a lot worse than Lone Star Law:

The Perfect Law Firm Retreat: Leave the Lawyers at Home

If you are serious about making your firm better, next time you are thinking about a law firm retreat, stop.  Cancel (or postpone) your lawyer's retreat and spend your money on a staff retreat instead. 

Here are seven reasons you should consider a staff retreat this year:

1.  Your staff know how your firm works better than you do.  You know how your firm is supposed to work.  They know how it actually works.  They observe,  notice and understand the little things that you may overlook.  Unlocking their creativity will give you dozens (if not hundreds) of practical ideas to make your firm work better.

2.  Your staff doesn't know what your lawyers know, but they know what your lawyers should know.  If you wanted to improve the efficiency of your firms lawyers by training them to do one thing better, what would it be? You might think a seminar on "rainmaking" will improve your firm's bottom line.  The staff might suggest "copier training" instead -- and they'd probably be right.

3.  Your staff knows how to save you money.  Every single person on your staff has at least three ways to save you $100 each month.  Whether you want to reduce your overhead or prioritize your technology spending, your staff will give you better ideas than your attorneys will.

4.  Your clients don't act like clients around your staff.  When "on the clock," your clients act like clients.  When talking to your receptionist, secretary or paralegal, your clients act like people.  Your staff know better than you what your clients hate about your firm.  Ask them nicely and they'll tell you.

5.  Your staff are your best source for competitive intelligence.  Want to know what your competitors are up to?  Ask your staff.  They talk with their peers at other firms, and they know what's happening in your slice of the legal market.  They also know (probably before you) when and why your clients won't pay their bills.

6.  Your staff can help you say no.  Your staff know which clients don't deserve your firm's work, and which ones you should fire.  They also know the least talented and productive members of your firm, but we'll leave that topic for another day.

7.  Your staff is cheap.  Well, not really "cheap," but compared to the hourly billing rates for a day of the firm's attorneys' time, a day-long staff retreat is a bargain. The staff probably doesn't expect four days in Maui, either.

The most important reason to do a staff retreat, however, is that your staff will feel great knowing you value their ideas.  The single most effective way to engage your employees and make them feel good about working for you is to listen to them -- and asking them to help your firm solve its most pressing challenges is a tremendous way to do it.

One important key:  whether you hire LexThink or someone else, you absolutely should not facilitate this one by yourself.  Keep lawyers out of the room if you want your staff to speak freely.  You'll be rewarded with their candor.

And when they get back to the office, make sure they each have their own set of business cards.  If you value them, there's no better way to show it, than by allowing them to be ambassadors for your firm.

Amazon Prime Time

I'm not sure how many people I've told about Amazon Prime, Amazon's $79.00 per year "Membership" that gets you free second-day shipping on everything Amazon sells (as opposed to stuff Amazon sells for other people), and $3.99 an item next-day shipping when you absolutely, positively have to have it overnight.

The shipping deal is pretty sweet, but the best part is the amount of time I DON'T spend in Target, Barnes and Noble, OfficeMax, etc.  I keep a list of things I use again and again on a shopping list at Amazon, and when I need to replenish my supplies I click "order" and a package arrives at my door in two days.

Here's the thing:  If you like the idea of Amazon Prime AND want to help me make a little dough, sign up with this link.  I get $12.00 through the end of October for each referral.  If you'd rather not send me some grocery money (who am I kidding, I'll probably spend it on books and gadgets), go straight to the non-referral link (here) and sign up anyway.  I like Prime that much.

Mediation 2.0 The Wisdom of Crowds?

Mediators and family lawyers out there, check out where your practice area may be headed: 

Crowd-sourced dispute resolution (without the resolution part, yet).  It is called  SideTaker, and promises to "let the world decide who's at fault."  Here's how it works (according to the site):

Step One:  Add your side and tell lover.
Step Two:  Lover adds their side.
Step Three:  People vote and comment.

Everything is anonymous.  Questions, responses and comments range from funny to sad.  If you want to see a way Web 2.0 can impact your practice, check it out.

The Perfect Law Firm Retreat: Introduction

Over at LexThink, I offer creative law firm retreat design and facilitation.  It is something I really love to do, and it is tremendously rewarding to work with a firm's lawyers as they collaborate and develop amazing ideas -- along with a plan to implement those ideas -- that will make their business better.
 
However, not every firm can afford to hire someone to design and facilitate their retreat or practice group meeting.  Starting this week, I'm going to be posting some of my thoughts on building the "Perfect Law Firm Retreat."  I'll include ideas, sample agendas and descriptions of exercises I've used to get people working (and thinking) together. 

I'll also include fun/crazy ideas for holding an "on-site" retreat (or even eliminating retreats all together) that will he help firms get most of the benefits of holding an off-site retreat without the costs.

I'd love your input, via comment, email or twitter (@mhomann).  Thanks!