Clienting #33: Justie Nicol on Tech Tools for Client Development - a podcast by Kelly Street & Gyi Tsakalakis
from 2019-04-08T11:00
Gyi Tsakalakis and Kelly Street were joined by Justie Nicol, owner of Nicol Law Offices, a Criminal Defense Attorney in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is a savvier than average solo attorney who used technology tools to make her practice run smoother and create better work/life balance.
Justie has even taught a CLE on tech tools as a solo to boost client experience! When you look at the list of tools below and listen, keep in mind that Justie is a regular lawyer who implemented these tools over time, as she saw a need. She starts with a low-cost or free solution
What Justie uses to streamline her firm and client experience:
- Wisestamp for email signature (appt scheduler, tweets, etc)
- Copper CRM
- Connects with Zapier to her email and more
- Typeform for intake/conflict check
- Prior to client consultations, have them fill this out.
- Send a post-consultation form to see why a potential client didn't choose your law firm
- Send a post-case form to get client feedback for reviews
- Zapier, to connect apps and services
- Acuity for appointments
- Set expectations with clients so they know when and how appointments should go; filling out a conflict check prior, etc.
- Consult with everyone who wants one or send them referral sources; just don't let them feel ignored
- Square for payments
- Easily end to collect payment at the time of engagement
- Justie includes a credit card charge policy in her engagement letter, so clients know how payments work
- Docusign for document signing
- Engagement letters, etc.
- AttorneySync uses PandaDoc for document sharing and signing
- Buffer for social media
- Trello for content management
- Outsourcing marketing efforts
- Content creation
- Schedule posts, draft one month at a time
- Use an attorney or an agency who understands legal ethics
- Posts for referrals and posts for clients
- Digital marketing
- Pay-per-click
- Cost per click, and customer acquisition cost
- SEO
- Monitor ad copy to make sure it complies with your state's ethics rules
- Pay-per-click
- Website updates and buildout
- Make sure to track Return On Investment for all marketing efforts; Justie likes to try one new method at a time
- Content creation
- Smith.ai for after-hours receptionist and chatbots for website communication
- Receptionist service for inbound and outbound calls, filling out the intake form and helping schedule appointments or court reminders for clients.
- Using a chatbot as an option for communication, even if it isn't something you would want to use.
- Non-tech: Engagement Letters to set client expectations
- How you will communicate with them and when it is appropriate to contact you
- Your lawyer-style; aggressive or not?
- Quickbooks for firm accounting methods
- Manually reimbursing credit card charge fees
- Square & Quickbooks connections
- Ethics Issues:
- Engagement letter includes a section about the technology used for information and document security
Contact Justie at justieforjustice@gmail.com or find her on social media: #officedogs
Contact Kelly for more information on Clienting at kelly@attorneysync.com
Further episodes of Clienting: Digital Legal Marketing
Further podcasts by Kelly Street & Gyi Tsakalakis
Website of Kelly Street & Gyi Tsakalakis