When we get that information, we have a lot of information about that client already, so we can shorten the time of consultations by a lot, because we already know the people and their needs.
When you're practicing law, you're a lawyer and you know how to do that well because we've been trained to do it, and that's what we do every day. There are other hats that you wear, especially as a business owner where you have to run a practice, you have to advertise for that practice, you have to bring clients in, and we're not marketing agencies. We don't know how to do SEO and perform other tasks online to bring clients into the front door of our office. With LegalMatch, they're able to take these big tasks and do them for us. So instead of worrying about how to advertise, how to market, and how best to do that, we have LegalMatch and they do it for you.
They then bring the clients to your front doorstep, then it's incumbent upon us to help those clients see that we're the right person or attorney or firm for their needs. LegalMatch has allowed us to focus more on helping our clients, working on our client's cases, and explaining to them how we can help them with their legal issues.
When I call LegalMatch, I can get a hold of a person right away, and that person is able to help us with any of the challenges that we have in a really timely and very compassionate manner. You're not dealing with some corporation where people hide behind closed doors and say, take a hike. You're dealing with real people who understand that we're people too.
I think one of the best things about LegalMatch is the intake. It's a pretty long process for the interested person to fill out, but it helps the law firm. We feel that these people are really committed to hiring an attorney. They're not just throwing in inquiries, because it was a spontaneous thing. They have to actually devote the time to fill out and submit the information.
When we get that information, we have a lot of information about that client already, so we can shorten the time of consultations by a lot, because we already know the people and their needs. A little blurb about what's going on in their case, how many kids they have, how much child support that they're currently paying, etc. So, we know a lot about these people before we even pick up the phone and talk to them. What might be otherwise a 30-minute consultation can be cut down to a 15 minute one. We can identify their issues right away, help them, and then move on to the next thing. We are more effective and efficient at our practice with LegalMatch.
To get the most out of the LegalMatch membership, you need to be active. You need to contact the people right away. I have always noticed that the faster you are able to communicate with a person who is in need of an attorney, the better you're able to help them and the more likely that they will engage with the firm. And so it comes down to speed, honestly. LegalMatch does it so that you are always in quick contact, whether it's on an app, on your phone, on your computer, or through text message. As soon as the lead comes through, we know it and we're able to look at it. It doesn't matter where you are. You could be in the grocery store and respond to a legal matter, and set up a consultation with them before you even hit the checkout line.
If you want to be successful, and to retain more clients, you need to do these two things. One is that you want to be creative and second is to compete with other attorneys on LegalMatch or otherwise. These keep us on our toes, keep us constantly innovating new ways to help our clients, whether by doing more engagement or coming up with better terms of the engagements.
As we continue trying to become better versions of ourselves, we will also do things that really work for our clients. Being creative means being innovative. Try to come up with something that no one else is doing, or if everyone else is doing it, work towards doing it better or producing improved outcomes and results.
If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to do everything I can and focus on just being a good lawyer. You should just do that and should not worry about trying to master things that you are not meant to master. The other hats that you have at your firm, try to outsource them to the people who are experts at it. You're not going to be the expert in every little area at your practice because we're a business like every other business. Ironically, smaller law firms tend towards where the attorney is the HR, the marketing, and the business development, all at the same time. If you can delegate that to other people, it will help your practice because you can focus on what you are best at.