Welcome And Guest Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:13

And welcome to the sales and marketing playbook unleashed. I'm Craig Andrews and Evan Evan Poland, my partner in crime. I keep getting that wrong, Evan, but I'm not worried about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Another four or five years, and you'll have it down pat.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

You know what? I don't even think about it. I'll just go like this from now on. We'll be good. I'll always get it right. How

Marketing Leads Sales Closes Intake Keeps

SPEAKER_00 0:33

about that? Okay, so today's episode is Marketing gets the lead, sales closes, and intake keeps the client. I love it. I love it. So, Evan, why don't you give an introduction to our guests and we'll go from there?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Sure. So I'm really excited for today's guests. Uh and we actually have not one, but two guests for today's program. First, we have Andres Palma, and Andres is a lawyer and entrepreneur from Venezuela. He co-founded in Inim iNimble, helping U.S. law firms build 100-plus person teams across Latin America. And he founded MODIS Legal AI, a platform that automates the day-to-day workflows behind the legal work. Our other guest today is Emily Rowell. Emily grew up in Atlanta and has been part of her family business, Peach Tree Offices, since she was 15 years old. She started as a receptionist and is now a partner in the business. And Peachtree Offices for over 15 years has helped their clients grow their businesses through connecting them with strategic referral partners, fostering meaningful professional relationships, and building a thriving business community that creates creates opportunity, minimizes costs for attorneys and other professionals. So, Emily and Andres, welcome to the show. Welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

So I'm excited about this show, okay? Because A, marketing is always great and sales is okay. I know I'm a little biased, but this kind of this conversation is really nice, primarily because it kind of we all kind of work with lawyers, which is awesome. But what it does is it takes us through the whole gambit of kind of end-to-end service that's very, very important. Uh and I want to kind of jump, because again, I said marketing is better than sales, but uh I want to jump into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Again, market for show, sell for dough. That that that's the overall overrating message we want people coming away from today's episode with.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

All right, fine, fine. I'll let you get away with that thinker. That's fine. Anyway, intake is incredibly important. So from a marketing perspective, I get clients all the time who are getting leads, but they never have a good intake to take it uh forward, right? So a lot of times that process gets lost a little bit. And I know when sales and marketing are having an issue in terms of getting on the same page, you know, intake can be something. So the question I have for you guys is marketing can generate all the leads in the world, but if intake process isn't effective, firms won't grow. What should many firms overlook? Or what do many firms overlook? The

Intake As Relationship Building

SPEAKER_00 3:10

importance, why do they overlook the importance of intake? Man, I can't get that right.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yeah. Um, well, I think what uh what the best thing to uh to have to your team uh development is the relationship that the the intake team develops with the with the prospect. Uh most of the time, attorneys what um what we do is we interview the client and that's it. Uh or we have our um our assistants just to get that information, determine if we have a case or not, and that's it, we move forward. Uh but every client, we we always have this in our team, is every client can represent 10 clients. That's true. And if we help someone that is reaching for uh legal advice or is reaching to just to see if there is a case, um, and then we they they feel that they can trust us, they feel that they can trust the the attorney, um that will lead into either a case, stay with us, or they will lead into referrals with more more prospect clients. So um, so it's based the the intake process is based on building their relationship uh with the client, with the prospect, or with their family members. So whenever uh they need uh an attorney, whenever they need uh to hire someone, they have someone that comes to mind because of the relationship that would that you built previous.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

One

First Impressions And Phone Personality

SPEAKER_02 4:48

of my favorite things is you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. So a and if the intake person is callous and doesn't really isn't really empathetic to someone coming in, if someone doesn't have a positive impression in that first 30 seconds, what can happen?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, yeah, and and also I mean when you when you when you see that um you need to you need to see who are answering your phone calls. Is the personality we have is it the right personality? Does that probably like to talk to people and help and serve? Or does that person have that service mentality mentality that you are looking forward to help without asking anything in return?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah, yeah, and then technically, you know, from the marketing perspective, one of the things that we're always cautious of is that we're basically making a promise to the consumer or the the client or whoever it might be. And so if the intake isn't right, we're technically breaking that promise that we got them to the place in the first place. So it's very the intake is very important because you want to continue the promise that was built to help grow that relationship. That's how I see it. Uh, Emily, so for yourself, what operational challenges do you see solo

Flexible Offices For Small Firms

SPEAKER_00 6:12

and small firms facing as they grow? And how can flexible support services help?

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Absolutely, because we do the flexible office spaces here in Atlanta. So we do the locations. Um, and it's super hard for attorneys to get started and actually have a full-time office, you know, finding their own place and all that. Um, it's very costly to get an office or even a commercial office and takes a lot, especially when you're starting out, you have to have a really good credit, or you have to, you know, you have to have been in business for a long time, or you pay a lot up front. Um, and so with the virtual office, um, a lot of my attorneys start just with an address, and we support them as far as showing that this is their office space, whether they have an an actual address or they're just getting their phones answered, or they're meeting their clients in one of our conference rooms or one of our private offices, like slightly good example from behind me, but not really. Um, so you can actually start with a very low price with just the address just to get yourself on the map. And so that's super important for them because they don't have to fork over a whole bunch of money to find a place to work. Um, and so there's all kinds of different ways and different plans that we can customize for them to help them start small and grow slowly as needed as they grow into their, you know, success.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

So, and are there other administrative things that you can help solo and small firms with as we're getting up and running?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Absolutely. So we'll answer your phones professionally. Um, it's not much of an intake, which is why we're starting to add the intake as well to our plans. Um, but we tell our girls up front or staff up front, I should say, that you know,

Phone Answering As A Service

SPEAKER_03 8:05

you work for each one of these people, and you have to just greeting when you answer the phone, that's the first impression. And so you really need to answer as if you work for them and them alone, and then you know, move forward from there. But um, as far as other services, I bet Andres could help too.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Um, well, what one of the uh the main uh aspects that a lot a law office needs to pay attention to is data. What the all the data that uh that meet that comes from the first conversation, when are the clients calling? At what time? Uh are you available at that time? How long does the client need to wait until someone answers the phone call?

Use Intake Data To Staff Right

SPEAKER_01 8:52

And are they getting uh are they getting someone who's just getting out of them like the the name, the phone number, and the email, and then I will send you the rest? Or I are are they trying to really connect with the prospect and see, hey, how can I help you? Is this are you okay? Is are you out of their emergency? Uh is is something else that we can help you at the end of the call. So those aspects, how the client uh because because I mean, correct, you know this. I mean, the the market speaks by itself. So if you pay attention to what the market is telling you, then you're able to organize your teams, organize your strategy to serve that. So if you are getting calls after hours at 6 p.m. or uh 8 p.m., and then you don't have anybody answering your phone calls, uh, you're losing

What Prospects Do After Voicemail

SPEAKER_01 9:46

you're losing business there, but you're also not serving your clients. Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And and I just I think along these lines, I think this is uh an important question and an important answer for our attorneys listening, maybe our accountants listening. Um what does a prospect do when they call and just get somebody's voicemail or somebody answers or they're not thrilled with the receptors just asking for the name and the phone number and not asking any other questions? What does that prospect do after they have that experience?

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Hang up. Yeah, they hang up. They hang up right away.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

And and and what do they do next?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

They call somebody Google search and they put the other one.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

And they're going to that next name on the list. So if we're either not having somebody answer the phones, not being really responsive, or the person didn't have a great experience, didn't think that the person cared, didn't feel like they were being taken care of, it takes about five seconds to get the next name, the next phone number, the next email address. So we can very quickly screw up a good client opportunity. And by the way, Craig, you could speak to the fact that oftentimes firms are investing a good amount of money to make sure their website looks good, investing in their marketing. So you are already investing all of that money to then not be able to um get those leads over the finish line because of a bad first 15 seconds is a major waste.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And that happens more often than not, right? Ultimately, there's so many, there's so many signals prior to the actual business conversation that that people let fly at the wayside. I think that Andres, you talked about something that kind of hit both Evan and I, you know, rung both of our bells here a little bit, right? Data will always be a winner for me, right? But before I jump into that, Evan, part of what he talked about, and tell me if I'm wrong here, but part of what he talked about from the sales process is understanding the clients you're talking to and how they want to be spoken to. You have your line, and I don't know. I'm gonna butcher it here, but correct me.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

People do business with people do business with people that they like, they like, and people do business with people like themselves. So if you've got somebody answering the phone who's likable, who's relatable, it's gonna drop the person's guard, make them a lot more comfortable. If you've got somebody who doesn't have much of a personality who isn't engaging, you're going to immediately turn off about 95% of the people who are reaching out.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

They are going to go somewhere else, they're going to walk away going, this firm doesn't care, this attorney doesn't care, they don't know what they're talking about, and they're just going to go to the next one. So building that rapport right from the very beginning. And by the way, if we build good rapport, it's going to have that potential client be more open with us, be more honest with us, be more forthcoming. But if we're really closed off and we're not being open and engaging, the prospect is going to read those signals and you're going to get a lot of one and two word answers during your intake that aren't going to help you or the client.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

We tell our team, sorry, we tell our team that the calls are bread and butter. Um, they have to be answered before nine seconds, which is typically two rings, um, going on the third ring. Um, and you have to answer with a smile. Um, they can tell when you're talking and you don't have a smile. Um, so those are the biggest things, first three things that we talk to our staff that attorneys should train their staffs with those things, the very first part of

Rapport Improves Truthful Consults

SPEAKER_03 13:38

the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

So, Emily, let's speak to how all of this stuff plays into the office space for a lawyer, right? What are some of the things that they have to consider? We've obviously talked about intake, but what other things would they have to consider when when looking to get started as a business, as a law firm?

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Location, obviously. You know, location, location, location is always very important. Um, that would be the first thing. So you want to consider, you know, what size office. If you're wanting to go ahead and move into an office, you know, how many people are you gonna have in that office? What do you want with the office? How often are you gonna be there? Sometimes they don't want to be there 24-7.

Office Location And Google Visibility

SPEAKER_03 14:20

So they don't have to have an office that they can come to 24-7. They can have one that they could schedule and use for a day or use for an hour. So it's um it's kind of hard to actually answer that question because it's so uh customizable to what their needs are at the current time.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

So let me jump on top of that and and kind of say how from a marketing perspective, your location is important. So one of the big things that's coming out from a marketing perspective is your Google business profile. And and if you don't have that optimized for generally a location, a city, wherever the prospects could be, you can help or hurt your opportunities to market to get more. So if you think about from a lawyer perspective who was just starting out, who might choose, depending on where the area is that you guys help them in, get into that area, they're gonna slowly expand from a marketing perspective into an area that they can get a lot of work or a little. The advantage of your side, Emily, is that they can almost choose their location, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:21

Absolutely they can, yeah. So, and they can do that too, because all of the address plans are month to month. So they can actually use the address. The address actually comes with one hour of private office use per month. And that actually gives them the opportunity to um set up the video for the Google. And once they do that, the video with the full-time office with their key, we give them a key for the hour, they return the key when they're done. Um, that actually helps them test it. And so if for some reason it doesn't go through, they can choose a different location, or we'll help them, you know, see why it didn't go through and try to help them further with that. But that's number one. That's being on Google is number one. I didn't know if I should say Google on this podcast, so that's why.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Google, Google, Google.

Testing Addresses Month To Month

SPEAKER_02 16:12

And by the way, Google, if you're looking for a place to put your sponsorship money, we are taking sponsorship, so please reach out. Uh hit us up at the sales marketing playbook unleashed, and and we can talk.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Absolutely. Absolutely. So the question I would have is tell us, tell the R audience here in terms of how you two work together.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

I'll let you start, Andres.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

All right. So uh basically we uh we found out from uh doing networking and Emily and I we have been um collaborating with each other in different different aspects of of our businesses. And and um, you know, I saw in Emily someone that uh master connectors, uh she likes to provide value. So I started, you know, sending people her way. Uh but we find out that hey, we are both narrowing ourselves into bringing value to the same audience, which are attorneys uh and law firms. So we we thought, hey, it would be good if we can take out of the normal

How Andres And Emily Partner

SPEAKER_01 17:19

protocol of uh getting a service or getting getting um an office space or getting uh getting your firm set up, uh like all the setup. Um and we thought, what if we just connect with them and then let's ask them what they need. And then whatever, whatever they need, then what we can do is we find ourselves into we either help them with our solutions or we find people who can help them. But at the end of the day, we get the job done based on what what is what is it that they need. So um we came up with that idea of hey, let's just go out there and meet with as much as uh people in the community, in the law firm community that we can we can be in front of, and then let's go back and we iterate into all right, so we can help this attorney, or we can help help this law firm, or we can help this community of lawyers doing accomplish this exact result. And in order to do that, we're going to connect with people with like Eva, like Craig, like people in the in the industry that can actually help them and get the job done. Uh, so that's how we started and is working well uh so far.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

That's sales 101. I mean, ask them what they want, you know, two ears and one mouth, and that's kind of what we do. And I've been connecting attorneys to each other forever and ever. And um, it happens naturally a lot at my centers because 80% of my clients are attorneys, but we do it on purpose because they love to hide in their offices, so we try to get them out and introduce the work workers comp to the personal injury attorney. You know, I've got so many success stories about people, about attorneys growing within the space, it's because of the community that we've provided here for them.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

And it was great with Andre's all the help that they can get.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Oh, yeah, and it was great with Andres because I was more on the front of the house when we met, you know, doing the office space and the front desk receptionists and meeting rooms and stuff like that. And he was the back end that could really help me help my attorneys with the full law firm. So I was I was so excited.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Yeah, yeah, I think that that relationship works well, similar to Evan and I. Uh, is that right, Mal? Yeah, yeah, yes. Right this time, yeah, good. Similar to the relationship Evan and I from a sales and marketing perspective, uh, where we we help draw the leads and we help set up the client's brand and make sure that whatever

Build An Advisor Bench For Growth

SPEAKER_00 19:55

promises they're making out into the public. But the closing piece and the consultation piece that Evan provides really hits home because he's seen all these scenarios. Evan, you want to speak to those scenarios you might have seen in the in a type of all this environment together?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Uh yeah, I I absolutely a lot of times uh attorneys more than most are really good at what they do, but they're not very good business people. Um, so that there's very few classes on the business of running a law firm and those kinds of things. So again, it's really important to work with outside advisors who can provide the expertise, know when to pull in someone else. You know, I as I'm talking with clients and they're complaining that nobody can find them and they don't know what to do and the phone's not ringing, that I've got someone like Craig. Again, if somebody needs help with automation, that I can reach out to somebody like Andres and again bring in the right kind of resources based on what the firm needs. And again, when we're able to do that, one in one equals three or four, and we're able to provide so much more value. I and I I I really think that that's why someone would reach out to any of the four of us, is oftentimes the initial thing is okay, well, I need to close a higher percentage or I I need space, I'm starting my own firm, I need to limit my expenses. You know, how can I do that? But then over time, it's us being really good business people, identifying where else we can provide value and then bringing in those right resources.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Absolutely. Absolutely. So Evan and I are gonna

Where To Find Us Online

SPEAKER_00 21:35

do some some bantering here now, but I want you both to think about individually three different takeaways that the audience can take. So you Andres for your end, Emily on your side, three three takeaways that the audience should take from this episode. Uh and while you guys think about it, Evan, why don't you explain to everybody in terms of where they can find us and who we are and all that fun stuff that you do so well?

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Sure. So for the podcast, again, it's the sales and marketing playbook unleashed, and the end is with the amper sign. You can find us if you want to see our pretty faces. You can go on to YouTube, uh, subscribe to our YouTube channel and see all of our episodes there. You're now also able to go on to my website, pollenpg.com, and there is a section on my site that's got all of our podcasts there. On LinkedIn, please follow us at you know sales and marketing playbook unleashed. You can also find us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you find your favorite podcasts. We would also strongly encourage all of you on LinkedIn, drop a comment. You know, you know, please interact with us. What's helpful? What's not helpful? What additional questions do you have? What other episodes would you like to see us focus on? And we will take your feedback and incorporate that into future episodes. Um, and Craig, how can people find you and uh find Beholder Agency?

SPEAKER_00 22:59

So we're on all the major social platforms uh at Beholder Agency. You can visit our website at www.beholderagency.com. Uh and we we really do pride ourselves on finding the right clients uh in finding the clients who have needs and ask us those questions that Andres brought up, which is I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help? We'll find an answer for you. Uh and so if any of this information that you find is helpful, by all means, please subscribe to the playbook. Uh we have a lot of answers. We've been doing it for a couple years now, right, Evan? Uh people keep listening. So I want you guys to keep listening. Uh, and you guys can see now why I like Evan closing because he's very good at it. That's what he does. He's a closer. That's what he does.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

He's a closer.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

All right, Emily, ladies first, you are up.

Three Takeaways From Each Guest

SPEAKER_00 23:46

What are your three tips you want the audience to have?

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Um, so I would say obviously we already talked about it, but the Google address is number one. Um, there are independent companies like me all over the country. Avoid the Reguses. Um, they are they just nickel and dime you, and they are spaces as well. So they're kind of in disguise sometimes. Just go to a local firm, and I've got some resources that I can mention maybe later, uh, where you can find a local firm in your area. Um, always go to Flex Space first. It's the easiest thing to do. Um, and then the third would be just stay in communication with whoever you're officing with so that you can let them know where you are, what stage you're at, and how they can help you grow and continue to grow. And you can find me at pechtreoffices.com. And I'm on LinkedIn and we're we're on all the major uh socials as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Awesome. All right, Andres. You have the you have the burden of following that act. You're up.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Right. All right. So uh I think for those three takeaways, uh, first of all, I think building relationships with your clients. Uh have your team build relationships. Second, pay attention to the data that will tell you what the market is asking you to do. And third, surround yourself with people that bring value to the table. You want people that can get the job done and bring you value into your business too.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Awesome. Awesome. So, as we all said in the show, marketing is

Final Reminders And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 25:18

best, sales is not so bad. Um, and keep listening to the playbook. We have answers for you, we have questions. If you guys have any questions in terms of office space or intake, valuable information that was delivered here, and it's very, very important. The things that we covered today was really very simple things. They really were. The problem with it is as business owners, we tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. But they really are simple things, it's just a matter of getting in the right order. Evan, before we take off, anything you want to add to the table?

SPEAKER_02 25:48

So just make sure that you're listening, that you're putting strategies in place, you're tracking what's working, what's not working. Um, and Craig's three favorite words data, data, data.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

And you know what we say at the playbook before we head out. Keep winning. Keep winning, everyone. We'll talk to you guys next time. Thanks, guys, for being on the show. Thank you. Bye bye now.