June 2008
You'll Never Walk Alone*
Alvah Parker is a Practice Advisor and a Career Transition Coach who works with successful professionals who want to find work that is both profitable and fulfilling.
*Title of a song from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
The use of song titles is my way of expressing my love of music and musical theater. Each time I come up with a title I rediscover a song I love.
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Now I Have Everything*
Ten Ways to Avoid Collections Issues
Calling clients because they have not paid on time is not a pleasant task. It is also time consuming. Some attorneys use staff members to make these calls. Solo attorneys must do this themselves or give it over to a collection service. Do you wish that all your clients would pay as soon as they receive the bill? Here are some tips to encourage prompt payment.
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Accept Credit Cards By billing your work to a client's credit card you get paid immediately with no wait unless the fee must go into your Trust account. Still you now have some control over the money. You pay a fee to the credit card company but it makes collections a non issue for those clients.
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Explain billing practices at initial meeting with client. Once you explain the practices give the client a document with the practices detailed on it. If the client has questions about billing as you go along, you now have something to refer them to.
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Bill regularly. The more frequently the better. From the client's perspective there is nothing worse than getting a huge bill for the services with no intermediate bills that explains what was done in their behalf at a time when the client remembers it.
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Be clear with client about hourly rate of various people who work on their matter. If you have other lawyers and paralegals work on a case who have different hourly rates, be sure the client understands this as well as the differences in the functions of each.
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The bill should have a written explanation of each item on the bill. The more you can describe what has been done on the bill, the more the client understands that work has been done in his/her behalf that must be paid for.
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Stay ahead of client with retainer fee Maintain a sufficient amount in client's trust account to bill against. Ask yourself if the amount you ask for a retainer is sufficient. Increase it if necessary.
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Show client any waived fees such as short phone calls by writing no charge next to the item on the bill. This helps to build some good will with the client.
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Use action words (phoned, researched, conferred) in describing your work. Clients understand that this is work. These words take the mystery out of legal work especially for those not used to dealing with lawyers.
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Offer a discount if paid in full by a certain date. This may be just the incentive the client needs to pay the bill immediately.
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Describe how the work done furthers the client's goals on the bill. Your goal is to show the client how valuable your service was to his/her successful conclusion of the matter.
* Song from musical Fiddler on the Roof music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Special Offer for June
Coaching with a copy of my E-Book - More Clients in Less Time - 110 Powerful Tips for Attorneys You'll get a half hour coaching session as well as this e-book which includes 11 of my most popular tip lists for attorneys along with additional comments from me. We can use the tip list as a starting place for the coaching or we can focus on any other issue you wish to find some action steps for. People who have read this e-book have commented that the lists are:
- easy to read
- full of "good common sense" tips.
- a great resource for a law practice.
The total cost for both the E-Book along with one half hour of coaching time is $55. Coaching is generally purchased in multiple sessions so a single session option is not usually available. I am offering it this month as a special for my newsletter readers only. Also included is a copy of my E-Book, More Clients in Less Time - 110 Powerful Tips for Attorneys, ($7.50 on my website). Use the coaching time to learn how to apply some of the tips to your practice or bring a specific marketing or time management problem that you would like to work with the coach on. During the coaching session we will create a simple action plan for you to follow that will resolve your issue. To schedule your coaching session please send me an email at asparker@asparker.com with your name and telephone number. I'll call you to arrange the telephone time and answer any questions you may have.
Be sure to look at all my offers for attorneys here: http://www.asparker.com/attorneyoffer.html.
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Parker's Points is written by Alvah Parker who also writes Road to Success. Both publications are fr*e to subscribers who are interested in doing work that is fulfilling and profitable. The subscriber list to these publications is only used by Alvah Parker and is not sold or given to anyone else. If you are receiving this publication, it is because you subscribed to it. I do not send either publication to anyone who did not request it.
About Alvah Parker
Alvah Parker is a Practice Advisor and Career Coach. An award winning Account Executive and Sales Manager for AT&T, Alvah has successfully coached clients to define and achieve their goals. At AT&T, as a SCORE counselor and as a Practice Advisor, Alvah uses her business knowledge to help her clients develop and implement a business and/or career plan. Alvah specializes in working with attorneys who want to build a profitable and fulfilling practice as well as people in transition who are interested in exploring new career options. Her coaching helps her clients to get clear about their personal and work vision. From that they design a plan and strategy for the future based on that vision. Alvah coaches her clients over the telephone. This means she can be reached from anywhere in the world. You can reach Alvah at 781-598-0388 or asparker@asparker.com. Alvah is found on the web at http://www.asparker.com.
Copyright © 2008 all rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce or copy Parker's Points in its entirety including copyright and contact information.
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