How I Use Technology To Get New Clients While I Sleep

In this week’s edition of Things I Wish I Knew, solo lawyer Joleena Louis shares how one simple change to her website has helped her rake in new clients while she sleeps!

As a busy solo attorney, I’m always looking for ways to get more done in less time. It’s a constant struggle and something that I have to work on every single day. One of the ways I increase my firm’s efficiency is by automating as many different tasks as possible.

Specifically, I try to find clever, effective and unique ways to automate my firm’s marketing efforts and ability to attract new clients. There is nothing like waking up in the morning to a notification that a consultation has been scheduled overnight.

Getting Clients While I Sleep

One way I use technology to get clients in my sleep is to let prospective clients book consultations online.

In the past, prospective clients used to either call or fill out a contact form and I would call them back to schedule an appointment. This often resulted in an annoying game of phone tag and made the process of scheduling an appointment a little bumpy.

Now consultations can be booked directly on my website. They can schedule a phone call, skype/Facetime meeting, or an in-person consultation. The consult fee can also be paid right away and they can fill out the intake form when scheduling. An automatic email will be sent to me and the potential client, with detailed instructions depending on the type of consultation that is scheduled.

My calendar is automatically synced with the appointment software so I never worry about overbooking. It’s also super easy to share the appointment scheduling page so I can just send the link when I get a referral.

Pairing up my calendar with a scheduling software was extremely important when setting this process up. To do this I use a service called Acuity, but I also looked at Squareup, Time Trade, and 10to8. It was important to me that the software is able to sync with my Google Calendar and that the consult fee could be paid online.

I’ve noticed several benefits since allowing my potential clients to schedule meetings online, including:

• No more phone tag to make an appointment.
• A prospect can book an appointment the night before and see me the next day without having to call.
• Current clients have raved about the ability to easily schedule a meeting without having to call or email.
• I have less last minute cancellations.
• 78% of the clicks to my booking page result in an appointment being scheduled. That is much higher than when I only had the contact form.

Allowing prospective clients to book meetings online has made my life much easier and is well worth the minimal cost. Look at it this way, it’s much cheaper than hiring a receptionist and it’s available 24/7.

How do you schedule consultations? Let me know in the comments below!