A nugget from Trey Ryder’s, Lawyer Marketing Alert:
A READER WRITES In response to last week’s article about collecting receivables, Lisa Derr offers this suggestion:
I have a suggestion for collection. Every month on the bottom of every single bill, the attorney in our firm writes a short note on each bill to the client. This may include a reminder for when we are next meeting, what we’re waiting for, or if the bill has not been paid a reminder to pay. We do not bill for these notes. It is a great way to force each attorney to review each case once a month and see if something was missed so that nothing falls through the cracks. In addition, the client is used to seeing our handwritten comments as positive communication about the case. In difficult cases, we may finally say in that note that if they do not send payment by “X” date that we will be forced to send to collections, etc. but it is rare for us to get to that point and our receivables are overall extremely low.
Lisa Derr Derr, Doyle & Villarreal, LLC
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
llderr@derrlaw.com
July 31, 2006
OUTSTANDING ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE ARE COSTING YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK
A/R can have a devastating effect on the profitability of a small law firm. The average solo has nearly $8,000 of a/r out on the street past 90 days. Not only are you paying interest on this money, but it actually stands in the way of you getting more business from some of the clients who owe it to you.
HOW TO AVOID A/R PROBLEMS
Every solo has at his or her disposal TWO powerful tools to help you make a/r problems into a thing of the past. And at the end of this comment I’ll tell you where you can find a FREE resource to help you get your current a/r problems under control.
1.) Using Your Trust Account As The Management Tool It Was Meant To Be;
Very soon I’ll release a one hour program you can download entitled “A (Simple) Trust Account Management System That Won’t Make You Feel Like A Schmuck.”
It will either be FREE if we can get a sponsor, or else we’ll charge around $40-80. And it will come with the following GUARANTEE: “Your Money Back If You Don’t Get A Better Night’s Rest After Listening To This Program!”
Send me an e-mail if you want me to keep you posted.
2.)Learning How To Conduct A Professional, Ethical & Profitable Client Intake Procedure.
Learning how to conduct an effective client intake procedure will reduce your stress, screen-out potentially bad clients, and get the rest off to a good start.
If you’re still not sure exactly how to conduct an effective client intake procedure, the next time you’re stuck in traffic in your car, you can listen to a recording of very successful live seminar I conducted in which I explain EXACTLY what steps to follow & even provided a sample client intake form that thousands of lawyers have used & whose comments & feeback helped me to improve it even more. The program is called Turning Your Clients Into Gold
FREE RESOURCE
If you already have a/r problems, I would highly recommend you take a look on my website for a free sample client status letter that’s posted and send me an e-mail requesting a set of instructions with the 5 steps we’ve developed for how use it.
Respectfully,
RJON ROBINS
http://www.HowToMakItRain.com
Helping Lawyers In Small Law Firms Make ALOT More Money!