Although we had snow earlier this year, that kind of shenanigans is not typical for Southeast Texas. For the years that I’ve been here Christmas has been chilly at most, and some years downright warmish. That said, the Courts are still closed and people are still more focused on their holiday preparations than getting any real work done. I, on the other hand, feel more productive this Christmas season than I have in a while. I remember thinking last year that the majority of the month of December was a waste of payroll for the company that I left to start my law practice, because of everyone’s preoccupation with the holidays. That said, as a new business owner, I am trying to make the most of the slow time.
Cranking up the marketing for the New Year
Yesterday (Friday the 22nd), I decided at about noon, after getting a message on LinkedIn from the salesbro from Unbundled Attorney about a new Unbundled Attorney podcast featuring someone I’ve corresponded with on LawyerSmack, and listening to that podcast, that I should probably pull the trigger on Unbundled Attorney to start the New Year. So, I sent an email to Unbundled saying that we should do the deal, and an hour later the salesbro called me from whatever beach he was sitting on (I am pretty sure I heard seagulls in the background of the call).
I’ve said it before, I don’t always like salespeople, and some of the sales tactics this guy have used have bothered me in the past, but he offers a solid product and I don’t fault him for doing his job. I’ve got to say, he knows his pitch and he does a good job wrangling difficult attorneys (imagine how much work it must be to convince naturally skeptical attorneys of the benefit of a service like this). That said, once I had decided to just do it, despite my skepticism, a lot of what he said was useful.
You want me to what?
The sales guy told me we were going to role play a script, and I for 30 seconds I thought that he might be mistaken, but he gently convinced me that we needed to practice what I was going to say to prospective clients. We went through it, and at one point he had to stop me and scold me for not following the script, but we got through it. At the end of it, I felt better about the whole thing and I am pretty hopeful that this is going to work.
I committed to a larger geographical area than I originally wanted to, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. Originally, I only wanted to serve Jefferson, Chambers, Hardin and Orange counties, but the sales guy also convinced me to take on Galveston. I objected to the idea at first because Galveston is practically farther than I’d like to go, even though geographically it isn’t that far – it just takes 2 hours to get there no matter how you go. Sales guy suggested that I look into virtual office space and if I get multiple leads in Galveston I would just stay the night there.
What have I got to lose?
My initial hesitation and worry about this service still exists, but I have had a couple of conversations now with an attorney in Mississippi who has done very well using this system – she uses it almost exclusively for new business – and her story sort of inspired me to try.
I’ve also talked to an attorney who recently canceled the Unbundled Attorney services after about a week of trying it. He didn’t have a great conversion rate on the leads, I think he got business from 2 of the 8 leads he paid for, but his ROI was still about 200%. Unbundled Attorney itself, as well as the attorney I know who is happy with the service, both say that the typical conversion rate on leads is much higher than 25%, but even if I only make 200% ROI, I’ll probably be ok with the service.
Unbundled doesn’t require a contract, but they have asked me to try 15-20 leads before I make any decisions about the service. I was hesitant at first about this, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think 15-20 leads is unreasonable. There are a lot of stories on the Unbundled site about successes by new lawyers with their services, so I’m hoping that I’ll have the same results.
New software service lead
One of the things that Unbundled suggested I try out for my practice was Lexicata, an automated intake service. I like the idea of the service, and I hope I can make it work in my business regardless of whether I have a smash success with Unbundled. Lexicata lets me send intakes and retainer agreements to clients on their mobile devices, so no print-sign-scan-email process is necessary. I really like this idea, and for what they charge per month I think the service will pay for itself.