When your bills come in on-time and on-budget, your client is more likely to automatically pay them without thinking twice.
If your client has a business and that business has any type of management “best practices” in effect, there is a good chance that by sitting on a bill you are creating more work for your client. In reality, you want the opposite. You want me, the client, to perceive you as someone who solves problems
for me, not someone who creates more of them.
For example, if we’re working together on a project, I have likely budgeted an estimated amount to pay you during that project. If you don’t bill me timely, it’s going to be difficult for me to accurately plan or budget for when I’m going to need to pay your bill.
You ask: ”Why would you (the lawyer) give two hoots about my (the client’s) internal budgeting practices?” The answer is this: If a business has budgeted to pay something during a specific time period, the bill has a darn good chance of getting paid as a matter of routine if it’s timely received.
Often, once a budget has been prepared and approved, it’s already been mentally “spent” by the person responsible for that budget. When your bill matches (or comes in under) the amount that was budgeted and is delivered in the time period it was budgeted for, you are a very long way toward getting that bill into the dreamy, beautiful “just pay it” pile – the pile where puppies and unicorns frolic.
Take it from a finance guy: That’s the pile you want your bill to find.
Looking for an easy legal billing software solution? Check out Rocket Matter – our new QuickBooks Integration for Law Firms makes life easy for you and your accountant.
This post is an excerpt from the free e-book, Ridiculously Remarkable Legal Billing. Better billing practices improve your law firm and your life.
Related posts:
Legal Billing Rule #1: The Longer You Wait, The Less You’ll Get Paid
Legal Billing Rule #2: Clients Won’t Pay a Bill Unless They Receive One
Legal Billing Rule #3: Not Billing In A Timely Fashion Sends A Message
Legal Billing Rule #4: You’ll Poison Relationships And Scare Away Business
Legal Billing Rule #5: Don’t Cause Problems For Your Client & Screw Up Her Budget
Legal Billing Rule #6: Delaying Billing is Like Giving Away Free Money
Legal Billing Rule #7: Avoid Communication Breakdown
Legal Billing Rule #8: Predicting Your Future Income
Legal Billing Rule #9: Capture Time With Easy, Modern Tools
Legal Billing Rule #10: Beat The Procrastination Monster
Legal Billing Rule #11: Get a Bill Buddy
Legal Billing Rule #12: Standardise the Tools
Legal Billing Rule #13: Make Small Improvements Each Quarter
Legal Billing Rule #14: Rolling Out Changes and Letting Your Clients Know
Contributed by:
By Tim Baran
Rocket Matter – Complete Legal Software
Legal Productivity – Providing creative and useful insights into the business of law
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