We discuss the must-haves for successful law firm intake processes, and then we talk with master of intake-fu, Tom Ball from Alert Communications.

5 Absolute Musts for Effective Law Firm Intake

Today’s Hot Take is from Consultwebs.com “5 Absolute Musts for Effective Law Firm Intake.” Key takeaways here are:

1 – Real People
2 – Sensitivity/Empathy
3 – Prompt Response Time
4 – Lead Tracking
5 – Follow-Up and Nurturing

Intake often gets overlooked and written off as a lesser part of the business, but intake is serious business. Without effective intake and proper notes, you never know the true return you’re getting. You also miss out on knowing where your opportunities for improvement are. You can learn a lot from each prospective client who calls in, even if it’s a case that isn’t in your practice area. Invest in your intake system and watch your return on investment improve as more cases flow in.

Making The Most of Those Calls and Contact Forms

Tom Ball has been the Marketing & Sales Director for Alert Communications since 2017. Founded in 1965, Alert is an Intake & Retainer agency, currently servicing thousands of lawyers and hundreds of legal marketing agencies across the nation.

Learn more about Tom Ball Here.

Get More Information About Intake Fixes, Mistakes and Strategies and More

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast episode for information and conversation about how to use intake more effectively. If you want more LAWsome subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, and for the latest in legal marketing insights and information be sure to subscribe to the Consultwebs Newsletter here –>SUBSCRIBE<—

We look forward to the new year and talk about trends, topics, we’ve seen in the past, what we see coming in the future, and what we’re hopeful for.

This has been an amazing second year for our show. We have tripled our listenership, are way over 30,000 downloads, we’ve racked up almost 3,000 hours of playtime through Apple podcasts, available in 86 digital destinations across the world – and we’re just getting warmed up!

It is a profound honor to meet the amazing guests that power this show, learn about the legal community, and discover fun ways to entertain and inform lawyers on marketing and law firm development. We have a blast making this show and learning and we hope you have the same experience.

Please, reach out, review the show, send us a message on topics you want to hear, guests you think would be LAWSome – or if you want to be on the show. Tell us what you like, what you hate and we will be here to listen to all of the feedback, like you have been so kind to listen to us.

We will be back here, same day, in the same way, next year – until then – “stay LAWsome”

Why some business books miss the mark, and an on-target discussion with immigration lawyer, advocate, and author, Ruby Powers about her new book, “Build and Manage Your Successful Immigration Law Practice (Without Losing Your Mind)”

Business Books – Useful or Formulaic?

Today’s Hot Take comes to us from the Huffington Post, called “Why Business Books Suck” by Dave Logan. He writes:

“So what’s the problem here? In the form it’s being used, the hero’s journey focuses on personal achievement, not on leading others. The closest the story gets to leadership is being a role model for other heroes. The full problem with the hero’s journey, including a hint of something very important from George Lucas, is explored in a longer piece.

What if you get an entire group of people all trying to be Luke Skywalker (or Neo or Spiderman)? You get a mammoth clashing of egos, all struggling for supremacy and destroying everything around them. In two words, Wall Street. Or management of most major companies.”

Books with advice, how-to, in the business world are hard to get right. It ends up being more about the person writing the book, than about the person reading it. Luck is downplayed – or sidestepped entirely – and it all turns into a feelgood “you-can-do-it” that ends up making people feel empty because the reality is the book is more an autobiography disguised as a business strategy.

Ruby’s book is the exact opposite – she was writing it to the unprepared version of herself, rather than the heroic and complete version….maybe people like stories of personal triumph to make a business book more palatable, but in the end, folks need straight advice.

Running With Ruby

Ruby Powers is the founder and managing attorney of Powers Law Group, which focuses solely on immigration law and just recently celebrated its 10th year.

Her new book “Build and Manage Your Successful Immigration Law Practice (Without Losing Your Mind”) is geared towards immigration attorneys starting out, but as she’s discovered since it’s publishing, many of the concepts in her book relate to established lawyers looking to grow their practice.

Along with all this, Ruby is taking her advocacy to the next level and running for state representative in Texas for District 134 in 2020.  Despite having a dozen different plates spinning at once, Ruby was gracious enough to take a break from her busy schedule to sit down with us today.

Learn more about Ruby HERE

Learn About her Campaign for Texas District 134 HERE

Buy the book “Build and Manage Your Successful Immigration Law Practice (Without Losing Your Mind”)

Get More Information About Management Strategies For Law Firms, Using Public Relations and Local Media Effectively and More

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast episode for information and conversation about how to use PR and marketing, how to make smart business decisions and how to grow your law firm. If you want more LAWsome subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, and for the latest in legal marketing insights and information be sure to subscribe to the Consultwebs Newsletter here –>SUBSCRIBE<—

We hear advice on legal careers, recruiting, when to move, stay, or switch, and how to move in the lawyer marketplace with confidence.

Average Attorney Salary Might Surprise New Lawyers

Today’s Hot Take comes to us from AboveTheLaw.com, “Average Attorney Salary Might Surprise New Lawyers (And Judges’ Average Earnings Are Even Lower)” by Jonathan Wolf. Wolf writes:

“I gave a little presentation to my local bar association a couple weeks ago. Among other things, I talked about attorney salaries and how they differ regionally, and I sifted through a lot of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Turns out the BLS gathers a lot of helpful information about lawyers.

Really, it’s not all bad news. The BLS estimated mean annual wage for lawyers is a respectable $144,230.

Of course, like a lot of averages, this one is inflated by the top end of the market. The median annual wage for lawyers, $120,910, is substantially lower than their mean annual wage. On the Cravath Scale, some benchmark for legal salaries – top wage is $182,490 – bottom is $58,220.” That’s a wide gap with wide expectations. A small percentage of lawyers at the top throw off the numbers – so you may end up making $58k a year?

You can’t really fault the industry here, and as you walk the path there is plenty  of room to repeat the mantra, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

We think this idea of introspection and taking stock of oneself is important. If you are searching for greater pay or greater responsibilities or a higher level of satisfaction, start with you.

Honestly though, issues like this aren’t exclusive to lawyers. People talk about the wage gap – and this article illustrates it to a certain extent, but there is also income consolidation, which people look at like a mystical economic theory, but the fact is when there’s less money to go around, people get paid LESS, and they don’t get raises that keep up with the cost of living (which coincidentally goes up because of trade wars, taxes etc)

Being a lawyer ain’t the ticket to easy street it used to be and it takes longer – if you stay in place – to build up that income. Might be time to start thinking about it like those of us in the creative/marketing end of things, where if the fastest way to get better positions and higher wages it to change jobs at regular intervals.

When You Need To Find A Needle In A Haystack

With more than a dozen years of legal recruiting experience, Steven Lynch is the go-to name law firms and companies speak when they need assistance recruiting attorneys whose experiences and abilities match their requirements, culture and objectives.

Keeping the grass green on both sides, Steven also helps high-level legal talent at all ages and stages of their careers, find ideal positions where they can thrive and achieve.

Steven is a frequent writer and media commentator on legal hiring and recruiting issues, has been featured in many industry trade publications, including HR.com, UpJourney, and SmarterCX, and before all that, he served as the Vice President of the American Arbitration Association.

Learn more about Steven Lynch HERE

Get More Information About Recruiting Strategies For Law Firms and Career Satisfaction For Attorneys

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast episode for information and conversation about how to find the right people or BE the right person for your law firm, and how to honestly assess and build on what you personally need to get satisfaction from your next job. If you want more LAWsome subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, and for the latest in legal marketing insights and information be sure to subscribe to the Consultwebs Newsletter here –>SUBSCRIBE<—

On the show today we talk about decision science, behavior and legal marketing & advertising with Nika Kabiri from Kabiri Consulting.

Understanding and Improving Decision Making Will Decidedly Become a Greater and Greater Priority For Everyone

Today’s Hot Take is “The Mechanics of Choice” by Eric Wargo on Psychological Science .org. He writes:

“Hardly a minute goes by in our lives when we don’t make them. Decisions can be as small as our choices of words or what to have for lunch, and they can be as big as how to plan for retirement or what treatment to choose for a disease. They can balance certainties against risks. They can balance short-term gratification against long-term benefits. They can clearly be right or wrong — but often enough, they involve likelihoods and possibilities that are uncertain, even in the light of all available information.”

This is the heart of it all – marketing, business development, legal tech – understanding how decisions are made is key and I wish more marketers dove into this stuff without the desire to brainwash people – understanding this is to use it concert with nature, not against it for crappy products that will fail. People are more averse to loss than gain.

“In a world ever more awash in choices, people become constant deciders. And the stakes of our decisions — and the consequences of errors — are growing.

“Errors induced by biases in judgment lead decision makers to undersave for retirement, engage in needless conflict, marry the wrong partners, accept the wrong jobs, and wrongly invade countries.”

In a knowledge-based economy . . . a knowledge worker’s primary deliverable is a good decision. In addition, more and more people are being tasked with making decisions that are likely to be biased because of the presence of too much information, time pressure, simultaneous choice, or some other constraint. [And] as the economy becomes increasingly global, each biased decision is likely to have implications for a broader swath of society.

In such a world, understanding and improving decision making will decidedly become a greater and greater priority for everyone.”

Helping Businesses Effectively Influence Consumer Behavior and Make Better Decisions

Nika Kabiri has spent over two decades studying how people make decisions in a variety of contexts, including society, business, and politics. She received her PhD and Masters in Sociology at the University of Washington, a JD from the University of Texas School of Law, has led research projects for clients in the non-profit, retail, tech, and legal sectors, including directoral stops at Avvo and “Ipsos” a market research company.

Now, Nika brings her unique combination of market research expertise, consumer behavior insights and rigorous academic training to Kabiri Consulting, which helps businesses effectively influence consumer behavior and make better decisions on their own – we are very grateful she could find the time to join us today.

Learn more about Nika Kabiri HERE

Get More Information About Decision Science, Legal Consumer Behavior, and Data Based Marketing

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast episode for information and conversation about why people make the choices they do, how to use data to understand decisions and how to apply these principles to everything in your life.  If you want more LAWsome subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, and for the latest in legal marketing insights and information be sure to subscribe to the Consultwebs Newsletter here –>SUBSCRIBE<—