With LegalMatch, the money is well invested! The majority of the people that come to me are ready to hire attorneys.
I'm a solo practitioner and I’m very happy with LegalMatch. I’ve been a lawyer for 26 years and I just had a milestone with LegalMatch. It’s my 14th month!
The main thing is that LegalMatch has made a part of my job of bringing in new clients tremendously easier. My life has been less stressful as a lawyer. It gives me the option to know what people want or whether to respond back to them or not. There’s enough of it that you can make a really intelligent decision.
With LegalMatch, the money is well invested! The majority of the people that come to me are ready to hire attorneys. You can't get 100% but prescreening the clients is enough. I’m probably earning 25 to 30% more in terms of new clients. There’s something that LegalMatch is doing differently with what I have observed from other lawyers and referral services. It’s a huge important factor!
The incoming leads are pretty steady. I usually get at least one or two in a day. Sometimes I get a whole bunch over the course of the week. There are a lot of leads. Forty percent of them are worthy of your free time and a return on investment. It depends on every attorney, but to those who would like to take many cases, I will actually recommend it.
I get referrals from my clients, too. I always do some side work for an attorney friend of mine and make some court appearances for him. I have repeat customers. In terms of new clients alone, I think it has increased to probably 30 to 40% due to LegalMatch.
The financial impact of LegalMatch for me is very valuable. I would tell other attorneys that it’s working very well for me. Financially, my return on investment is a little over 7:1 or 6.7:1. Anything better than 1 is great! Before, I earned $400,000 a month. Now I earn around $428,000 a month.
It could be more if I put in a lot more time returning phone calls. I can't tell another attorney that they will get the same results, but this area in Colorado is excellent! Colorado Springs is the 4th largest city. For me to get new cases here is best because I’m closest to the Courthouse. I am financially successful, especially if I’m able to be more consistent in returning phone calls in the responses I get. I would probably get a whole lot more new clients. I must have been very picky because I don’t want to end up with cases that I don't want or to take cases I’m not the right attorney for. On the other hand as a solo practitioner, I can’t do everything myself.
I’ve never subscribed for pay per lead or other lead generation services. It’s kind of hard when you talk about the cost of those services because that’s illegal in Colorado. For years, I have invested in advertising services and it’s kind of a hit and miss.
Half of the people are not in a situation where they’re ready to hire a lawyer. People contact me and oftentimes ask me for legal advice out of my category. Some people are just fishing for free legal advice more than actually looking for a lawyer.
Other attorneys spend a fortune every month a lot more than I do with LegalMatch. It would probably cost around 3 or 5 times more. I could tell for sure that what they will spend for LegalMatch will be better than what they spend right now with those advertising services. LegalMatch is a different kind of service! This is the first time I have subscribed for a service like this. This is really a good return on investment!
For a new attorney, it’s an excellent way to go because it would spare them from spending their money on other ways trying to get new clients.
I’m not really an old school lawyer. I’ve been around for 26 years. If you take care of your clients, then you should really get to know them. Be there for them when they freak out and when they are stressed out or they’re emotional. If they're happy with you, then they give you referrals. Those are the best types of businesses. You treat them the way you wanna be treated.
To get the case that I want, it gives me the time to develop a small rapport with a potential client which increases my chances of getting hired. It’s a personalized service! Being generous with your time is very important yet extremely difficult to do. It’s a difficult balance.
I guess it depends on the kind of person that you are or your personality. Lawyers are just the reflection of their chances. If they are only concerned about their time on their phone, then their chances of getting that client is lower. This is limited only by what the attorney can handle and afford and how fast they quickly want to see their business grow.
My other tip for new LegalMatch members is to follow up right away or send a reply during the client’s requested time. Be relatively quick, but at the same time not too quick because sometimes people get turned off.
If you are a new attorney, then I would say be careful. You haven’t been doing this long enough to know all this stuff and how to deal with it. Don’t waste time and learn the hard way. You need to learn how to balance being too quick and eager. I have been doing this for 26 years and I can immediately know those cases that I don't want to waste my time trying to consider. I can read between the lines.
Oftentimes I'm the last attorney the client talks to and I still get hired. Those people who have hired me are at least 1 out of 4, or sometimes, 2 out of 6 after the consultation. The key is to be able to call the people who have responded to you after you have responded to them before it’s too late.
LegalMatch’s intake forms are also extremely helpful. Once you learn how to use them and read between the lines, this will greatly benefit you. There’s a lot of useful information that you can tell just by the intake forms.
Being a lawyer is all about connections! It requires a lot of attention to be able to take care of your clients. I spend a lot of time with people on the phone and in person. That's a lot of investment. But if they have the cases I would like to take, then it’s a good investment!