How one attorney uses Legal Match as a tool to save time and market his practice more efficiently.
Kelly Bennett, an Aurora Illinois solo practitioner (http://www.bennettlawoffices.net/), uses LegalMatch, a service that immediately matches clients with lawyers based on the clients’ legal needs, as a tool to save time and market his practice more efficiently.
“I am a general practitioner with an emphasis on personal injury and defense of criminal charges. Competition for quality cases and clients is high and, several years ago, my goal was to increase the volume of criminal cases that I handled. Legal Match (http://www.legalmatch.com/) allowed me to meet my goal easily.
“I track all of my referrals, and where clients found me. On average, I am retained by 1 to 2 clients per month that post their cases on Legal Match. I have also been retained by clients who were referred to me through Legal Match clients. I estimate that my investment has netted an approximate 400% return to date.”
Prompt Response Critical
“Responsiveness is key. When a potential client posts an inquiry, that means he or she is seeking legal assistance now, not tomorrow. Do your best to respond to inquiries in a timely manner.
“By reviewing matters posted through LegalMatch on a daily basis, I prioritize building and marketing my law practice within the community. I have set the LegalMatch login page as my default page that opens when my law practice management software opens, which forces me to view new prospective cases, even when I feel like I do not have the time to do so.
“I have a goal to review and respond to cases that have been posted on a daily basis. I don’t always reach this goal, but am working at improving my habits. Often, I will see a case is posted during off hours on the weekend or during the week. By responding to these cases when I see them, I feel that I place myself at a competitive advantage over those attorneys who do not immediately respond.”
Tracking Response
“Any marketing strategy must cost less than the cases you sign up directly from your specific marketing approach. Therefore, an attorney must track from where the cases come. When I open a file, I always indicate whether the case came to my office via referral, LegalMatch, past client, etc. In doing so, I have an accurate accounting as to whether my marketing dollars are being spent cost effectively. If not, I discontinue the particular marketing effort which is not effective.
“Marketing is a fluid and evolving process that is ever changing. Marketing strategies that were prevalent and popular 15 years ago (can you say Yellow Pages?) are no longer cutting edge and no longer as effective as they once were. Therefore, to continue to keep myself and my legal practice relevant as well as known within my target market, I have been forced to try new marketing approaches, sticking with those approaches I have found profitable, and discarding those that are not. There really is no failure, from my perspective, when it comes to marketing, but rather, I would term it as “refining” a marketing approach.”
His Most Successful Marketing Technique
“Legal Match has been most successful, netting the most cases by far compared to other marketing efforts I have employed.
“I suspect the technique is successful because the program puts clients with an immediate need in almost instant contact with an attorney who can fill that need. I think it’s that simple.”
