Law Firms: Five Ways To Ensure Your Clients Pay On Time
To have a successful law firm, attorneys must ensure their clients pay. However, getting this money is not always as straightforward as many firms hope it to be. Worse yet, following up with clients for these funds can be a complicated undertaking that can lead to poor client relationships and ultimately impact the firm negatively down the road.
Fortunately, with the right mindset and processes, collecting payment from clients on time does not need to be as tedious of an operation as you may expect. And to help you with this task, the following post will go over not only the five ways to ensure your clients pay on time but also the ways Back Office Legal can help you approach law firm billing and collections successfully.
1. Provide Consistent Rates
Establishing consistent billing rates is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your firm to guarantee your clients’ pay. Whether you decide to go with hourly billing rates or a flat fee, you want to make sure you present your rates in a way that clients will be able to understand and can have a transparent conversation with you regarding these payments.
In addition, once you discuss this fee structure in the original consultation, it is also a good idea to return to these rates in the Engagement Letter you send to your clients.
This can help you provide a clear message regarding your billing terms and stay consistent regarding things such as:
- When the payment is due
- Whether interest will be applied to overdue invoices, and
- Any other things you may want to clear up regarding the fees.
While this process may sound simple, it is actually one of the best ways to ensure you are able to get your clients to pay on time.
2. Accept Multiple Forms of Payment
Gone are the days when the only way to make a payment was through cash or check. Today, credit cards and online payments allow consumers to pay quickly for the services and goods they need, and law firms should be no exception.
In fact, if you want to help your clients pay for your services, providing them with numerous payment options can help the process.
3. Send Billing Updates & Reminders
Providing your clients regular updates can help them stay aware of upcoming deadlines or even late payments they need to catch up on. This can help them not only make sure they are timely with their payments but also help your firm keep track of which clients you need to follow up with so you do not lose out on the money you earned.
Better yet, you do not have to tackle this task on your own. When you work with outside professionals or use specific management software, you can set up automated invoice reminders that will send these updates automatically.
4. Offer Payment Plans
Another way to help ensure your firm gets paid is to let clients set up payment plans with their legal bills, which will provide them the flexibility they need to pay their expenses, especially the more extensive legal fees.
Plus, setting up these plans leaves your firm in control, allowing you to create a payment setup that works for you. For instance, you can establish the amounts you want paid, the due dates for these amounts, and even outline how you want your clients to pay, which can help you get your money more quickly.
5. Work with Law Firm Billing & Collections Experts
A final way to secure the compensation you are entitled to is by working with legal process outsourcing experts. At Back Office Legal, our professionals not only support law firms of all sizes with their back office services and client management tasks, but we also make sure we do everything we can to maximize revenue and operational efficiency.
Our firm works with each lawyer to prepare a budget, write out their billing procedures and processes and help them learn how to communicate with their clients to collect outstanding fees.
As a result of these tactics, Back Office Legal is able to collect more than 90% of clients’ revenue before their terms are even due while still ensuring that all billing issues are handled appropriately and professionally and that clients remain happy and well taken care of throughout.
If you are looking for ways to help your clients pay your legal bills on time, then stop waiting and get your questions answered today. Reach out to Back Office Legal for further information and find out how we can help you get the money you need.
