the [non]billable hour

Want cooperation? Think reciprocation.

If you struggle to get prospects to fill out a lengthy form before meeting with you, perhaps some new research will change your mind.

In a study summarized here in the Nuromarketing blog, rearchers compared the effectiveness of two strategies often employed by websites to collect personal data from visitors: requiring the visitor's info before allowing them to access specific content (a reward strategy), or requesting it after they've already seen the content (a reciprocity strategy).  The result:

It turns out that a reciprocity strategy works better – give them the info they want, and then ask for their information. In the impressively titled Embedded Persuasive Strategies to Obtain Visitors’ Data: Comparing Reward and Reciprocity in an Amateur, Knowledge-Based Website, Gamberini et al found that twice as many visitors gave up their information if they were able to access the information first. It’s counterintuitive, perhaps, but even though these visitors were under no obligation to complete the form, they converted at double the rate of visitors seeing the “mandatory” form.

What does this mean?  Whenever you ask prospects to do something, work with reciprocity in mind.  Instead of demanding their cooperation before meeting you, ask for it after they do.  You'll likely get more cooperation and better information from them, while starting the representation off on the right foot.

Focus Wins

From Seth Godin:

When you have someone who is willing to accomplish A without worrying about B and C, they will almost always defeat you in accomplishing A.

Clients Care About Price, Not Cost

Last week, I posted a Q & A on Flat Fee Pricing.  Just as I've finally found the time to respond to the comments, Jay Shepherd does me one better in this thoughtful piece titled Hourly Billing: The End of the Beginning.  Please read the entire piece, but I'll share here Jay's response to lawyers who argue that time determines price (even in flat-fee models) and should be tracked:

The price depends on only one thing: the amount the customer will pay at that time. You can prattle on all you want about costs and budgets and efficiencies and inefficiencies, but it doesn't matter a whit. It's up to you to set a price that is less than or equal to the value the client places on your service. If you do, you'll be hired for the job. If the value to the client is high enough, you should be able to charge enough so that your revenue exceeds your costs, giving you a profit. But don't expect your client to care about your costs or your profits — that's not their job.

Introduce Your Staff to Your Clients

Here's a great idea from the London Underground (subway) via the U.K.'s Creative Review.  The Underground hired photographer Maria Cox to visit each of the London Underground's 264 stations and take a picture of someone who worked there. 

The photographs are combined with some information about each person, and then displayed at the station where he or she works.  Here's the profile of John Osborne, a customer services assistant at the Shepherd's Bush Line station:



It makes me wonder how many businesses here in the states could benefit from a similar approach.  I think many clients would be more apt to hire a firm that cared enough about their employees to feature them in this way.  What do you think?

Free Photos for Great Presentations

I use my own photos in almost all of my presentations.  If you're not up to taking your own pics, but still want to avoid cheesy clip art, check out this resource: 37 Places to Get Free Stock Images.  I really like (and use) Every Stock Photo and Stock Exchange.

Q and A on Flat Fee Pricing

I was recently interviewed by the Minnesota Lawyer newspaper for an article on flat fees that grew out of my Twelve Truths of Time presentation in Duluth, MN.  We did the interview as a series of questions, which I'm reproducing below.  Once I get a link to the actual article (if it isn't behind a subscription firewall), I'll post that here, too.

In what types of cases does flat fee billing work best?

There's no one type of case where it works best, but there are certainly cases where it works easiest: ones with a certain beginning and ending that fall squarely within the lawyer's expertise.  However, any case can be priced on a flat fee basis provided the attorney has the experience to properly evaluate the matter and has the systems in place to handle it economically.

The key thing to remember is that a lawyer doesn't need to make the same money on each case as they'd have made by billing hourly.  Instead, so long as lawyers price right on average, they'll win in the aggregate.

Is it possible to do flat fee billing in litigation matters? If so, how does that work?

Litigation is really no different than other complex transactions -- such as building a sky scraper -- that are handled on a fixed-price basis every day.  The key is to enter into a mutual understanding with the client that accounts for the unexpected.  Much like "change orders" are used by contractors, lawyers, too can utilize them to account for a case that takes an unexpected turn.  The key is to define ahead of time the kinds of things that are truly out of the ordinary and make certain the client understands that when circumstances change dramatically, so too can the price.

Another simpler way to begin down the road of fixed-fee pricing is to assign a price to each discrete service (such as depositions, interrogatories, days in court, etc.) that the client agrees to before the representation begins.  Then, in partnership with the client, a lawyer can map out a strategy for litigating the case and give the client a pretty accurate picture of the costs before they are incurred.

Can/are large law firms also using flat fee billing? If so, in what kinds of cases?

Large firms should have an advantage in flat fee pricing, because they're not only able to absorb better the "one bad guess" on price, but should have a far greater amount of date from which to accurately estimate what their costs are in each matter.  The irony is that while large firms have a significant advantage in doing flat fee work, they are the least likely to adopt it as a primary method of pricing their services.

What are the advantages of flat fee billing?

There are so many, but the principal one -- and the one clients embrace, too -- is that the lawyer's and client's interests are now aligned.  Both now desire to handle the case in the most expeditious way, and law firms are now driven to embrace client-friendly innovative practices instead of eschewing them.

What are the disadvantages?

The key challenge in implementing flat fee pricing is that because so many lawyers don't have accurate records of their cost per case or client, they often guess wrong on price.

Are clients demanding other options to “billing by the hour”?

Not all clients are demanding options, because many don't know options exist.  I do know from personal experience that my lawyer clients who are introducing flat fees to their customers are receiving an enthusiastic response.

Any final thoughts/tips for practitioners when it comes to flat fees?

Don't be afraid of flat fees or other alternative pricing methods.  So long as you know your business and know your clients, you can implement alternative ways of pricing your services that can make you more money and satisfy your clients.  And if you're not sure about how to go about developing a flat fee pricing model, ask your clients.  They'll love to give you some advice for a change.

Ten Rules for Presentations Slides

Here's are the slides for my "Ten Rules for Presentations" posted to Slideshare.  Enjoy!

Ten Rules For Presentations

View more presentations from Matthew Homann.

Ten Rules of Client Service Slides

I'd like to share the presentation of my Ten Rules of Client Service with you.  Here are the slides (posted using Slideshare).  I hope you like it.

Ten Rules Of Client Service

View more presentations from mhomann.

Some Tips for the Suddenly Solo

The fellas at Lawyerist caught up with me in Duluth after one of my presentations at Minnesota CLE's "Strategic Solutions for Solo and Small Firms" conference. Sam Glover asked me to share some tips for the "Suddenly Solo" lawyers out there.  Here's the video:

Interview with Matt Homann from Lawyerist Media on Vimeo.

Because You Can Do It Doesn't Mean You Should

A quick tip that popped into my head while speaking in Minnesota earlier this week:

Tape the telephone number of your IT/Tech professional under your desk near the tangle of cords coming from your PC (and on your server, router, etc.) so you see it when you're most likely to try to work on your tech stuff yourself.

Still tempted?  Next to the number, write your billable rate and write theirs.