What to do when they want you to STOP calling …

AMP Client Q:
Just FYI I have found that our no show rate goes thru the roof on rainy days. In other parts of the country they are used to rain and snow and weather. We are not, if it rains or gets really cold clients do not show.

Additionally if it is gorgeous Saturday they go to the beach and do not show.

So I always pray for mild overcast days. Any ideas on how we can avoid the bad show rate on bad weather days?

A:
The best way to handle things like this is with a preemptive strike!

It’s your job to know ahead of time what the forecast is for the appointment day. Since you should only be booking 48 hours out that information should be easy to find.

When you know the forecast calls for rain (or a perfectly sunny day) mention this in the appointment confirmation conversation, like this …

“I know we are expected to get rain that day. Don’t let it prevent you from walking through the door and making a change. Nothing changes in your life until you walk through our doors so you need to make that happen even if there’s a monsoon!”

If the weather is expected to be beautiful …

“I know the forecast calls for a beautiful beach day on Tuesday. Don’t let it prevent you from walking through the door and making a change. Just imagine how much more enjoyable a beach day will be without this debt hanging over your head. Nothing changes in your life until you walk through our doors so you need to make that happen no matter what!”

Just preemptively mentioning this to your prospects can go a long way toward warding off no shows. They’ll know that weather isn’t an acceptable excuse for not showing up for their appointment.

How to manage messages like this from Leads

AMP Client Q:

How do we handle it when we get emails or messages like this from our leads?

“Please stop calling and emailing me.  Its everyday!”

A:

Stay the course and keep doing what you’re doing.  You’re doing it right!  In the meantime, you can send your prospect the following message (tweaked to fit your field of law) …

“I apologize if we’ve crossed a line and the frequency of our communication has become an annoyance.  We will stop!

But I do want to explain the reason for it.  It’s not about being hardcore sales people.  What we’ve discovered after working with thousands of people in financial crisis is that they tend to sit with the problem for a long time before finally deciding that enough is enough.  When someone reaches out to us, we’ve found that that’s usually their “moment” when they’ve decided to finally make a change.  That time frame between their request for information and us speaking with that person on the phone is critical.  Any number of things (busy life, emergencies at home, anything at all) can cause the person in crisis to lose momentum and place this issue on the back burner (where its already been for too long). So, we do everything we can to help them keep move in the right direction, toward the life they want to be living.

The sooner they talk to us, the sooner things start to change.  And most of our clients report that they wish they’d gotten in touch sooner.

But, again, we get it and sincerely apologize for trying to reach you so often.  We’ll be here to help you get a fresh start when you’re ready!”

Why Not Filter Leads At the Appointment Setting Stage

This is the exact email I received from a private client inquiring about why his team shouldn’t filter leads before the lead came in for an appointment — and my exact, unedited response — originally sent from my iPhone.

From Client:
Not complaining just asking.

Just saw person where the only debt is 230,000 in back child support. He is 61 and living on SS Disability. Nothing I can do. He says he told Robert what the issue was and was told to come in anyway.

I have seen some notes where my assistant will indicate he took 15 minutes to talk IC in the door but they have 1,500 in total debt. I have seen people who flat out tell me they told him their issue and it was not anything we could deal with and he got them to come in anyway.

So I am paying for him to waste his time and paying him bonus on the appt that shows that I cannot help and filling the attorney calendars with useless IC appointments.

Is there no way for him to just ask about if they have any debt or what kind of debt and say weed out the really easy ones.

With that said I have complete faith in you and if you tell me this is the way to do it and just deal with then I will.

My candid response:
Let me say this is a day ole dilemma or whatever that saying is!

What I’ve found is that yes, annoyance factor is there when your calendar and time is spent with an IC you can not help. And then to pay out a bonus on it and have RDE time spent on it.

BUT….

More money is lost when we have an RDE level employee (no personal hit on RDE I’m speaking of the position in general) filtering in anyway. Quickly they start filtering out what they should not for 2 reasons:

1 fear of back lash for setting something that was a ” waste of your time”

2 it’s an easy excuse for poor lead conversion. “Why aren’t we converting leads to people waking through the door ( today, this week, etc)?” RDE. : “They are all DNQs, not enough debt, not the right debt, etc”

It IS important that when these ICs do come in we give them some (free) help or direction to better their situation so they feel like they got something and so they refer people we can help and so that when their low or wrong type of debt increases to something we can help they remember us. This will help reduce their annoyance and help us make money down the road.

Why Not Filter Leads At the Appointment Setting Stage

This is the exact email I received from a private client inquiring about why his team shouldn’t filter leads before the lead came in for an appointment — and my exact, unedited response — originally sent from my iPhone.

From Client:
Not complaining just asking.

Just saw person where the only debt is 230,000 in back child support. He is 61 and living on SS Disability. Nothing I can do. He says he told Robert what the issue was and was told to come in anyway.

I have seen some notes where my assistant will indicate he took 15 minutes to talk IC in the door but they have 1,500 in total debt. I have seen people who flat out tell me they told him their issue and it was not anything we could deal with and he got them to come in anyway.

So I am paying for him to waste his time and paying him bonus on the appt that shows that I cannot help and filling the attorney calendars with useless IC appointments.

Is there no way for him to just ask about if they have any debt or what kind of debt and say weed out the really easy ones.

With that said I have complete faith in you and if you tell me this is the way to do it and just deal with then I will.

My candid response:
Let me say this is a day ole dilemma or whatever that saying is!

What I’ve found is that yes, annoyance factor is there when your calendar and time is spent with an IC you can not help. And then to pay out a bonus on it and have RDE time spent on it.

BUT….

More money is lost when we have an RDE level employee (no personal hit on RDE I’m speaking of the position in general) filtering in anyway. Quickly they start filtering out what they should not for 2 reasons:

1 fear of back lash for setting something that was a ” waste of your time”

2 it’s an easy excuse for poor lead conversion. “Why aren’t we converting leads to people waking through the door ( today, this week, etc)?” RDE. : “They are all DNQs, not enough debt, not the right debt, etc”

It IS important that when these ICs do come in we give them some (free) help or direction to better their situation so they feel like they got something and so they refer people we can help and so that when their low or wrong type of debt increases to something we can help they remember us. This will help reduce their annoyance and help us make money down the road.

Why Not Filter Leads At the Appointment Setting Stage

This is the exact email I received from a private client inquiring about why his team shouldn’t filter leads before the lead came in for an appointment — and my exact, unedited response — originally sent from my iPhone.

From Client:
Not complaining just asking.

Just saw person where the only debt is 230,000 in back child support. He is 61 and living on SS Disability. Nothing I can do. He says he told Robert what the issue was and was told to come in anyway.

I have seen some notes where my assistant will indicate he took 15 minutes to talk IC in the door but they have 1,500 in total debt. I have seen people who flat out tell me they told him their issue and it was not anything we could deal with and he got them to come in anyway.

So I am paying for him to waste his time and paying him bonus on the appt that shows that I cannot help and filling the attorney calendars with useless IC appointments.

Is there no way for him to just ask about if they have any debt or what kind of debt and say weed out the really easy ones.

With that said I have complete faith in you and if you tell me this is the way to do it and just deal with then I will.

My candid response:
Let me say this is a day ole dilemma or whatever that saying is!

What I’ve found is that yes, annoyance factor is there when your calendar and time is spent with an IC you can not help. And then to pay out a bonus on it and have RDE time spent on it.

BUT….

More money is lost when we have an RDE level employee (no personal hit on RDE I’m speaking of the position in general) filtering in anyway. Quickly they start filtering out what they should not for 2 reasons:

1 fear of back lash for setting something that was a ” waste of your time”

2 it’s an easy excuse for poor lead conversion. “Why aren’t we converting leads to people waking through the door ( today, this week, etc)?” RDE. : “They are all DNQs, not enough debt, not the right debt, etc”

It IS important that when these ICs do come in we give them some (free) help or direction to better their situation so they feel like they got something and so they refer people we can help and so that when their low or wrong type of debt increases to something we can help they remember us. This will help reduce their annoyance and help us make money down the road.