My membership has been a constant source of leads and I can probably count on at least one engagement a week on average, sometimes more.
I joined LegalMatch because I was looking for a source of leads for my firm. I was looking to expand my private clientele and reached out to LegalMatch. I signed up for a membership.
This is actually my second time with LegalMatch. The first time went well, but I stopped. LegalMatch contacted me later on and things have been working well since then.
My membership has been a constant source of leads and I can probably count on at least one engagement a week on average, sometimes more. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed and can't follow up on all the leads. I can count on LegalMatch to provide new clientele every month.
There are a lot of custody parenting time enforcement motions because of the COVID pandemic. Weâ??ve been doing decently well. These motions are required because there are some parents that are unfortunately using the pandemic or the fact that the courts are very slow right now as an opportunity to deny one parent. So there's been a decent amount of activity, with parents looking for lawyers to enforce parenting time provisions or reverse the denial of parenting time.
A lot of people have been unemployed. I think Iâ??ll have to wait for stimulus checks or unemployment checks for clients to be able to pay for services. There's been a decent number of people who have wanted to engage me, but then either they didn't have the money available or didn't get a stimulus check or unemployment. However, the amount of LegalMatch leads has stayed pretty steady in the pandemic. There has been an increased sense of urgency for some of the prospective clients.
I would tell other lawyers that if they're diligent or methodical about responding to the leads and setting appointments for initial consultations, they can count on LegalMatch to increase their business, as far as getting new clients is concerned.
I recommend coming up with a system of how you're going to respond. I have a number of templates set up by my assistant. She does everyday checks of leads, responds to the request for information, and follows up with phone calls to have a brief conversation. Then she kind of vets the people to make sure that they're serious.
There may be clients looking for pro bono assistance. Although, LegalMatch makes clear to most people that that's not what the service is about. My assistant sets appointments up for me everyday for initial consultations as a final step. I find that by keeping the system consistent, I have a pretty steady intake.
I've looked at Google Ads, Avvo, and Iâ??ve also looked at lawyer.com services, but they're kind of clumsy in the sense that they donâ??t give you complete information. They donâ??t give you direct access. LegalMatch is just much more intuitive and streamlined. They're a lawyer-client matching service. The leads come in and then it's really up to you to contact them directly to see about the engagement. You don't have to worry about anything getting in the way of that.
I can set up LegalMatch templates with the assistance of my account manager. I customized the templates that we used and then uploaded them so they can be used to respond by my assistants.
Personalizing templates works pretty well in terms of response. Not all the leads are necessarily qualified and they can waste your time. So my assistant doing the messages does pretty well in vetting them out. It's always much nicer when you make personalized templates.
I like LegalMatchâ??s consistency. There are ebbs and flows to the number of leads, but with LegalMatch, there's always a steady rate of leads. Whatever LegalMatch is doing to generate the traffic, it is working! It creates a steady stream of leads for us.
My LegalMatch membership accounts for about $5,000 a month in new retainers. Maybe one out of 15 leads actually become clients. We probably get anywhere from two to five leads a day. Itâ??s just a steady source of leads. I don't necessarily have to worry about collections, which is always a problem when you're a solo practitioner. I can count on a good percentage of new business and new retainers every month from LegalMatch to help me budget and pay overhead. I'm not really worried about any shortfall.
All in all, Iâ??ve been a LegalMatch member for four years. Itâ??s my second year, going on my third year on the second go-round. The big difference is that the first time, I didn't have an assistant and it was very hard practicing law, doing marketing, and responding to leads all at the same time. In balancing the two, the consistency wasn't there. This second time around, I've got an assistant and she concentrates on going through the leads and setting up appointments. And it works much better that way.
LegalMatch assistance and support is pretty good. I don't want to say we have it down to a science because there's always room for improvement, but things are puttering along pretty well to where I don't require much assistance from my account manager right now.