By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach If you’re running your own estate planning practice, chances are, you’re stressed. Running your own law practice is no easy thing to do. Meeting with clients. Dealing with difficult cases and situations. Getting documents out the door. On top of the actual lawyering stuff, dealing with the normal day-to-day business activities. Hiring the right people. Making sure they’re working efficiently. Making sure that your employees are getting along and managing any conflicts that may arise. Dealing with toxic employees. Figuring out how to get new clients through the door. Making sure you meet payroll….
Should You Be “Tweaking”?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Most estate planning professionals would love to make more money, while reducing their work time and stress. Unfortunately, many believe that in order to achieve these lofty goals, you have to do a complete “makeover” of your practice – – and that degree of change is scary! However, this is more myth than truth. In fact, there’s a universal business principle sometimes called “the law of incremental change”, which I call “the law of tweaking” (shame on you if…
Are You Spending Too Much Time (and Money!) to Bring In New Clients?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law I recently conducted not one, not two, but three different coaching consultations in a single week with fellow colleagues who all expressed to me the same major challenge in their practice. If three firms, in such a short period of time, happened to share this same issue with me, then I thought there must be others out there who must be grappling with it too! Hence, this article. All of these firms complained about spending far too much time…
Reduce Your Number of No-Shows and Cancellations with a Proper Confirmation Process
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Having worked with numerous estate planning professionals over the years, one of the issues that a lot of people have struggled with are appointment and seminar no-shows and cancellations. One of my first questions is always, “What does your confirmation process look like?” For some, they don’t have any process in place at all. For others, they have a mixture of an e-mail that is sent or a phone call the day before. While something is better than nothing, there is always room for improvement to help reduce the number of no-shows and cancellations….
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To… (Some of My Craziest Seminar Stories from Over the Years)
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law If you have ever attended one of my presentations, you already know that one of my favorite things in life and throughout my career has been presenting educational seminars on estate planning. What you may not know, however, are some of the unusual stories and occurrences I have experienced in doing over 3,000 seminars over the past 35 plus years. I’ve had so many funny, odd and not-so-funny events happen on the way to, during and after seminars that…
When the Prospective Client Says, “How Much Does It Cost?”
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The cost of the legal work will at some point become part of the up-front discussion with a prospective client. Many such prospective clients hear how much the legal fees are and roll their eyes as though they are being suckered. I’ve had many conversations go something like this: Prospective Client: How much does it cost? Attorney: We charge $30,000. Prospective Client: That much? I was quoted $5,000 by another attorney. Attorney: That was to prepare a Revocable Trust. I’m trying to do advanced estate planning for you which should save your family…
The 10 Biggest Mistakes Estate Planning Attorneys Make – – Running Their Business!
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Over the past 40+ years, I have been blessed with a successful and fulfilling estate planning law practice. But, it was not always successful and it was not always fulfilling. It was through my own set of expensive, costly and stressful sets of trial and error that I was able to see what worked and what does not. Based on my real-world experience, I have compiled what I believe to be the 10 most common mistakes that I’ve seen most…
Generate More Revenue This Year with More Referrals from Clients
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law If you’ve read any of my previous newsletter articles or purchased any of my presentations (or attended our Ultimate Level event), you know that I am a huge systems nut. Systems for EVERYTHING – – from marketing to receptionist scripts, to conducting initial client meetings, to generating trust documents, to signing meetings, and regular client follow-ups. Utilizing time-tested systems for everything involved in operating an estate planning practice is how you develop a successful practice. Yet, even those who…
Clearing the Bubble—The Transition To Fixed Fees
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law In the past, I have emphasized and reemphasized the advantages of utilizing a fixed fee structure rather than an hourly billing system. Here’s just a few of the main advantages for a fixed fee structure: Fixed fees avoid the need to maintain hourly records and keep track of every moment of your time. Fixed fees avoid having to go through the effort of preparing, reviewing and sending out billings. Fixed fees avoid you having to be a bill collector,…
Successful Seminar Marketing 101: Tips for Getting Started
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law It’s no secret that I am a big proponent of seminar marketing. That’s because I have regularly used seminars to successfully build and grow my practice over the past 40 years. Benefits of Doing Seminars Before we get into how to start up the seminar marketing process, it’s important for you to understand the benefits of doing seminars. Some people believe that seminars are about educating people on estate planning or building your image and firm name in the…