WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SELF-BOOKED AND PAID-FOR, ONLINE AUDIO/VIDEO LEGAL CONSULTS. LET POTENTIAL NEW CLIENTS SELF-BOOK AUDIO/VIDEO CONSULTATIONS ON YOUR WEBSITE FOR A FEE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
My name is Mark Roy. I am a real estate lawyer who has been in private practice for 33 years in Kansas City, Missouri.
I have always been very empathetic to the challenges everyday people face when needing affordable, competent, timely legal advice. My experience is that many people do not take the time to obtain affordable, competent, timely legal advice because it is perceived that it will cost too much or take too much time to obtain.
The idea is they just want to ask a few questions to find out what the law is on a particular matter or what they should be thinking about or be prepared for, and not necessarily to hire a lawyer at that moment. This keeps many people from getting simple questions answered and being able to make constructive pro-active decisions.
Answering “simple questions” is worth being compensated for. The hard work was done learning the answers to become a Lawyer.
Lawyers do not want to work for free, and this keeps many lawyers from potentially great new clients simply because “there is no money it”. The thought is “I will turn that over to the staff, or to the phone recorder, and call the ones back that sound promising or worth pursuing”. Meanwhile, by the time you return the message, he has already gotten his question answered and “found a lawyer”.
The traditional way of thinking
The traditional way of thinking when it comes to new clients is that the lawyer, or someone from the lawyer’s staff, needs to be prepared to talk to new clients on the telephone to get basic information, qualify the potential new client, provide answers to basic questions, all with the expectation that the new client will somehow be induced into coming into the office for a paid appointment or a free consultation that may lead to a paid new client.
After many years of answering my phone every day to talk to new potential clients and beating my head against the wall when I realized how much free time I was giving away, I reached out to my web developer with the following question:
How can I eliminate all of the wasted time I spend on the telephone each day giving away free legal advice without taking on additional staff and overhead and without answering my phone, while also being able to work from home or remotely?
My web developer suggested taking my phone numbers off my website. I did not feel comfortable doing that so I changed the message on my telephone to say reach out on our contact us button on our homepage (for general e-mail inquiries that I respond to but do not waste time on – my general response is to BOOK an online consultation) or self BOOK an online AUDIO/VIDEO consultation on my homepage.
My web developer set it up and now I receive bookings every day that go on my calendar that I get automatic notifications of.
I didn’t have to hire a staff to qualify new clients or put dates on my calendar.
The information is provided when the appointment is booked, therefore, I do not have the overhead of having a staff person qualifying new clients or putting dates on my calendar. The fee is paid and deposited automatically in advance of the appointment. Several automatic notifications are sent including a description and restrictive disclaimer of the service being delivered (1 consultation). I have found that those who BOOK CONSULTS are generally very surprised by what they didn’t know and what they need to know to overcome whatever obstacle or challenge they are facing. Typically, those who BOOK CONSULTS have very specific questions and their next actions are dependent on knowing what to do next.
Automatic booking notifications that sync with my Google Calendar
Now I get automatic notifications of bookings that go on my Google calendar, all I have to do is make the phone call and talk with the client. I like to do Video consultations but most of the consultations are by audio only.
These are 1/2 hours consultations that do not include any document review or 1-hour consultations that do include document review.
What is nice is the fees are earned when the consultation is concluded. The other exciting thing is I can control my calendar so I pick when consultations are allowed to be booked and that is dynamic so that my available calendar for self-booked and paid Audio/Video bookings can be changed at any time so that appointments can be booked only during predetermined times and days that I set.
But the biggest added value is the clients who self-book online for consultations are motivated for answers and many become VERY GOOD CLIENTS.
Monetize your time with 30-minute – 1hr video consults.
So a 1/2 hour or 1-hour self-booked Audio/Video consult turns into much better long-term new client opportunities. For some reason, the new clients that are willing to commit money and put some skin in the game for an initial consultation, are the same new clients that are motivated to “act” and “pay” and not just expect to get free legal advice.
People who plan ahead make great clients.
That has been the most surprising part of this to me is the quality of new clients generated for the matters called on and the value of getting paid as you consult a client on all their options and what direction to go.
I do not need to sell myself other than to provide the benefit of my experience and expertise for a short period of time for a predetermined fee by self-booked and paid Audio/Video Consultation.
I am not committing myself to long-term representation of the client, and all of the automatic notifications the potential new client receives make it clear that the scope of the representation is for a 1/2 hour 1-hour consultation only.
When I hang up the phone I am either done, or I am sending a separate proposal for more expansive representation by separate agreement, separate and apart from the fees paid for the initial Audio/Video Consultation.
Automatic Calendar appointments, collection, and deposits
Very often, if the client retains me for more substantial legal work I credit the client the fee paid for the initial consultation. You also gain the ability with existing clients who regularly need to speak with you to say BOOK a consultation online and all you really have to do is make the call. All the rest takes place automatically (calendar appointment and collection and deposit of money) giving you more TIME and MONEY to do other things you enjoy or want to commit yourself to.
This system is designed to work on your existing website and can act as a supplement to an existing practice, or can be utilized in semi-retirement to do 5 or 10 or 20 hours a week of self-booked and paid AUDIO/VIDEO consults only from anywhere in the world for a monthly subscription fee.
Self-booked, paid, Audio/Video consults allow you to accept Stripe (What this site uses), PayPal, or Square for Payments
This self-booked and paid AUDIO/VIDEO consult system with Google and Stripe Synchronization has transformed my legal practice since being implemented 2 1/2 years ago and I want every lawyer who is willing to give it a try to give it a try. This has worked wonders for me. Now I get paid for my time when talking with new clients via self-booked and paid AUDIO/VIDEO consultation and can perform my work remotely, and do not have to deal with scheduling, or collecting fees for single consultations.
Best of all, the clients who do hire me are excellent clients who respect my time, are limited in scope, and do not expect anything for free. These same clients have adapted to new technologies and are more knowledgeable on the subject matter being inquired about. They are also not expecting, nor do they desire, to come to my office or meet my staff, or anything for free.
Contact Me to get Booking set up for your WordPress website
Contact me at mark@kcrealestatelawyer.com to discuss the opportunity of installing self-booked and paid AUDIO/VIDEO consulting capabilities on your website with Google Calendar and Stripe synchronization. I will answer your questions and put you in touch with my Partner Sean Wichert, Senior to get this launched on your website and start doing self-booked and paid AUDIO/VIDEO consultations.
Disclaimer. This is not a solicitation for legal clients. This is a blog designed to introduce other lawyers to the idea of AUDIO/VIDEO consultations with Google Calendar and Stripe synchronization paid on a subscription service. Mark Roy has a financial interest in smartlaw.ooo which is the company offering these services.