My Shingle talks today about who answers your phone, person or machine.
In the past, I have always opted/advised that a human should answer your phone. It’s important to have the human touch. Even the phone companies realized this, … (more…)
Larry Bodine in his excellent Blog on marketing, highlights a comment I made in our new Special Report concerning business competencies needed to be successful lawyers.
He cites a personal experience with a law firm that charged him $102 to listen to a voice mail message and, rather than credit this amount when Larry complained, told Larry to find another law firm to do his work.
Larry’s story is an excellent example of lawyers’ lack of sensitivity to the wishes/needs of clients. Can you imagine losing a 5 year client with more business in the future over $100? … I’m sorry, $102! … They would gladly have discounted the billed rate if asked, but got all hung up over a request not to be charged for emails.
In today’s world, with major corporations dictating what they will and won’t pay for, I can’t imagine this happening. But, I’m sure it still does somewhere.
When responding to emails (and even voice mail messages to a lesser extent) about litigation and transactional matters, this is legitimate work that frequently gets forgotten by lawyers for billing purposes because of the speed of response … and the failure of lawyers to note their effort in their time logs.
Bottom line lesson: Lawyers lose revenue when they don’t bill; speed of response frequently causes lawyers to overlook the need to note their time. When on a billable hour system, this oversight can be very costly to the lawyer.
Law is still both a profession and a business. The words of Ben Johnson, of Atlanta, are worth reading. (more…)
Are you worried about your job being outsourced? To India? According to a new regulation in India, if you’re not licensed by the age of 45, you cannot become an advocate!
The other day, I made a tentative appointment with someone. The next thing I know there is a link in my Outlook with the date, etc. I didn’t insert it. The other person did and it was emailed to me and automatically inserted into my system. (more…)
Paraphrasing the commercial, (for those of you liviing on the West Coast, “Larry, you’re killing me!”), “… voice mail is killing your practice.” (more…)
Student loans often reach near $200,000 in today’s world. This is a far cry from only two decades ago (or when I graduated law school even earlier!). The consequences of this factoid are significant. (more…)
Venice, CA
March 20, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Business Competency for Lawyers: A LawBiz Special Report
Edward Poll, principal of LawBiz Management Co., announced the publication of Business Competency for Lawyers: A LawBiz Special Report. (more…)
The “Streamlined Sales Tax Project” is moving its way through Congress. The objective is to charge the prevailing sales tax rate of the cusotmer’s home-state jurisdiction and pass the tax money along to the appropriate statehouse.
There is much opposition, especially from e-Bay users. The issue is: Should internet buyers/sellers be treated differently from brick & mortar sellers? And there is much pressure from the states wanting more revenue.
Before getting to the mechanics of the process, it seems this basic question must be answered first.
In my recent article for ABA’s Law Practice Today, I spoke about blogs as a tool of marketing, not an end unto itself.
Joel Shoenmeyer takes issue with me, suggesting that I said others should write your blog … and that, if that is the case, “… prospective clients aren’t learning anything about your legal knowledge or your personality. And if you use a ghostblogger and don’t disclose this fact to your blog’s visitors, then you are also a liar.” (more…)