Comments on: How Cutting Off Deadbeats Will Increase Your Revenues http://divorcediscourse.com/2009/12/04/cutting-deadbeats-increase-revenues/ Lee Rosen on Family Law Marketing, Management and Technology Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jim Hart http://divorcediscourse.com/2009/12/04/cutting-deadbeats-increase-revenues/#comment-1842 Jim Hart Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:20:15 +0000 http://divorcediscourse.com/?p=899#comment-1842 Great post Lee. I know several attorneys who wait until the trust account is depleted to ask for more money - and usually it is a big chunk (thousands of dollars). I would always bill my clients monthly - even when I had money in trust - and told my clients that if their trust account falls below a certain amount that all work on their case would stop. I found it easier for the clients to make smaller payments once a month than to wait for when the trust account was gone to ask them for a huge chunk. Lee - Do you or anyone alse out there keep a credit card on file in lieu of a trust balance? Is that even ethically permissible? Jim Hart Great post Lee. I know several attorneys who wait until the trust account is depleted to ask for more money – and usually it is a big chunk (thousands of dollars). I would always bill my clients monthly – even when I had money in trust – and told my clients that if their trust account falls below a certain amount that all work on their case would stop. I found it easier for the clients to make smaller payments once a month than to wait for when the trust account was gone to ask them for a huge chunk.

Lee – Do you or anyone alse out there keep a credit card on file in lieu of a trust balance? Is that even ethically permissible?

Jim Hart

]]> By: kathleen staley http://divorcediscourse.com/2009/12/04/cutting-deadbeats-increase-revenues/#comment-1824 kathleen staley Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:03:32 +0000 http://divorcediscourse.com/?p=899#comment-1824 we have gone to a fixed fee basis. But, we're still having a hard time explaining the benefits. It seems though that clients have the mistaken belief that the retainer is the whole fee. They also seem to have a tough time when they get bills were sometimes thousands of dollars and they are not prepared for it. When you do have a conversation about what the cost might actually be, they sometimes go down the street thinking"no that could never be"until they find another lawyer to tell them what they want to hear . Bottom line it is tough to make money we have gone to a fixed fee basis. But, we’re still having a hard time explaining the benefits.
It seems though that clients have the mistaken belief that the retainer is the whole fee. They also seem to have a tough time when they get bills were sometimes thousands of dollars and they are not prepared for it. When you do have a conversation about what the cost might actually be, they sometimes go down the street thinking”no that could never be”until they find another lawyer to tell them what they want to hear . Bottom line it is tough to make money

]]> By: Lee Rosen http://divorcediscourse.com/2009/12/04/cutting-deadbeats-increase-revenues/#comment-1822 Lee Rosen Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:56:04 +0000 http://divorcediscourse.com/?p=899#comment-1822 Andrew, I couldn't agree with you more. Your point about appearing interested in the case from the start is also critical. We send a couple of workbooks out right away to get the client busy and schedule a couple of meetings to gather info and evaluate the situation. We try to make a bunch of things happen in the first few days. Thanks for contributing. Lee Andrew,

I couldn’t agree with you more.

Your point about appearing interested in the case from the start is also critical. We send a couple of workbooks out right away to get the client busy and schedule a couple of meetings to gather info and evaluate the situation. We try to make a bunch of things happen in the first few days.

Thanks for contributing.

Lee

]]> By: Andrew http://divorcediscourse.com/2009/12/04/cutting-deadbeats-increase-revenues/#comment-1821 Andrew Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:53:43 +0000 http://divorcediscourse.com/?p=899#comment-1821 The trick is right at the engagement, especially for non-in person engagements as those become increasingly more common- the longer you wait to collect the fee and don't jump right into handling the client's situation, some potential clients see that as lack of interest in the case, rather than a failure on their part to send in the fee. One solution is to take a credit card payment by phone, which can speed up work on the case. The trick is right at the engagement, especially for non-in person engagements as those become increasingly more common- the longer you wait to collect the fee and don’t jump right into handling the client’s situation, some potential clients see that as lack of interest in the case, rather than a failure on their part to send in the fee. One solution is to take a credit card payment by phone, which can speed up work on the case.

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