When I started my law firm, Next Law Professional Corporation, I targeted higher volume, lower dollar value cases. It quickly became clear that most clients were not able to pay my fee upfront.
That left me with three options to get paid.
First. Lower my fee and take whatever the client could afford.
Second. Keep my fee “as-is” and risk losing the client.
Or, third. Offer a payment plan.
I went with payment plans and started to close more clients, mostly at my targeted rate.
Collecting payments from a handful of plans was manageable. I used a spreadsheet to keep track of plan changes and reminders.
But the more clients I closed, the more I ran into missed payments, short payments and changing payment dates. There were too many moving parts to keep track of easily.
Getting paid was getting harder.
I was spending too much time and energy chasing the money.
I soon had a serious cash flow problem.
It was frustrating and made me anxious. The situation was not sustainable and needed to be fixed.
The payment plan functionality in my case management software was not effective. The features just skimmed the surface of my cash collection problem. And, my payment processing service and accounting software had even less functionality than the case management software.
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With no solution, I was at square one with a straightforward goal: Build a solution that would easily collect payments without chasing the money.
But technology won’t solve a system or workflow problem. Before writing one line of code, I first set out to create a rock-solid system to manage my client payment plans.
Over many months, I developed a payment plan system. It was an iterative process based on data from thousands of client interactions and payments.
Over time, I slowly saw results. Collection rates were rising while the time invested in getting paid was falling. And those results continued to improve with continuous iterations.
My payment collection rate improved. My cash flow improved.
The system worked.
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Once I proved the system’s effectiveness, I recruited an experienced team to build the technology platform to automate the payment collection workflow.
Our team built this cash flow connection tool in a real environment, my law firm.
This cash flow collection tool and all its functionality were implemented in real-time in my law firm. Every feature and all functionality was tested and proven effective over thousands of payment interactions with my clients.
This cash flow collection tool is a game-changer.
The software drives consistent and predictable cash flow for my law firm. My collection rate improved without chasing my clients to get paid.
Today, the software has become the backbone of my law firm.
The proactive nature of the software’s communication workflow keeps our clients up to date with their payment status. There are no misunderstandings about money owed, which drives better client experiences.
Finally, the software helps me close more clients.
My law firm is a leader in my market because, in part, I’m able to offer payment plans to clients where most of my competitors won’t (or can’t) do it.
And, with the financial impact of COVID-19, more clients will need help with their cash flow. And, with my software, I’m able to meet that need.
Today, we’re growing and thriving in this changing landscape.
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Our software can do the same for you. The results speak for themselves.
Using our cash collection system, Lawyers collect 90%+ of their receivables without chasing clients to get paid.
Please reach out to me to learn more about how our software can help your law firm.
– Dan Joffe
Dan@LawExpand.com or text (226) 457-3023