6 Ways to Optimize Law Firm Billing & Collections Efforts
When it comes to owning and operating a law firm, there is nothing more important than making it convenient and easy for your clients to pay you. Yet, even though most firms know this and billing remains essential to the overall success of a law firm, issues with chasing down payments and billing clients remain a headache for many firms.
That is why, to help you with these problems, in this blog post, we will discuss ways how your firm can optimize law firm billing and collection efforts, ultimately helping you to secure the money you need.
1. Create Guidelines About the Law Firm’s Billing Process
The best thing you can do for your firm when it comes to billing is to create clear communications with your clients regarding your billing processes. Why? Because by setting up these expectations early on, your client will be better prepared when invoices come since they already know what to expect and can pay you more quickly.
However, to ensure this process works, if anything changes with these billing procedures, make sure you communicate these changes to your clients immediately so they can prepare accordingly to handle any new bills sent from your firm.
2. Try to Bill Frequently and Consistently
Sending out billing reminders to your clients is not only the best way to ensure your clients are up to date on the billing cycle, but these reminders can also help prevent them from receiving large and unexpected bills, which can cause major billing issues for your firm when they do not pay the invoice.
If you are looking to take this billing one step further, you may even want to consider invoicing clients at times when it is easier for them to pay you, such as right before they get paid, instead of on the same date each month.
3. Make Sure the Invoice is Clear and Understandable
Another great way to help collect legal bills faster is to create descriptions on the invoices that are easy to understand. This is because if your clients are able to better comprehend what they are getting charged for, they are more likely to find the work you have done acceptable and pay their invoice faster.
4. Address Past Due Balances in a Timely Manner
Your clients should clearly understand what happens if they are past due on paying their legal fees, and this explanation should be spelled out in the fee agreement so they know the consequences from the start.
This can help them realize that just because they do not pay you when they receive an invoice, it does not mean they are off the hook. Instead, they should recognize they can still face legal consequences and fines for failing to pay.
5. Offer Incentives for Early Payments
If you can do so, you may want to consider offering discounts to clients who pay their invoices early. This can help ensure you collect the most money possible and as early as possible, even if you have to give some type of discount.
6. Work with Law Firm Billing and Collections Professionals
Although the billing and collections process can be a stressful and time-consuming task, it does not have to be the reason why you are not growing your business or spending the time you need on practicing law.
For instance, when you work with law firm billing experts, like those at Back Office Legal, you can get the help you need to focus on your firm’s overall success while these professionals work on maintaining efficient accounts receivables and ensuring your law firm gets paid on time.
In fact, working with Back Office Legal can help not only make sure that 90% of your revenue is collected before your clients’ terms are even due. But our experts can also make sure that we:
- Invoice and bill your clients efficiently
- Increase client satisfaction and happiness
- Gain accurate insight into your billing cycle
Contact Back Office Legal Today and Get the Billing Help You Need
If you need assistance optimizing your billing and collections cycle, do not wait any longer to reach out to the experts. Instead, contact Back Office Legal today and find out how our team can support your law firm and provide you with the assistance you require.
