Billing Your Client? Think Branding In The Process

The foundation of marketing is branding. Although branding drives most attorneys crazy because brands resist logical definitions, your firm's brand is an essential element of marketing legal services. In essence, brands are an array of impressions and beliefs that surround your firm, and create expectations about the kind of attorneys the firm has and the work it performs. Since brands create an emotional connection between attorneys and their clients, your brand can be considered your firm's personality.

Think of Harvard. Harvard provides a service ' education. But the mere mention of the name conjures up an extraordinarily powerful set of associations, beliefs and impressions about what Harvard University is, does, and represents. The result? Well, although Harvard has an endowment of $19.3 billion, it can still charge tuition of around $40,000 per year. And applicants have less than a 1 in 10 chance of admission. That kind of pricing power, and demand, come not because of the school's outstanding academics, but because of the Harvard brand. A strong brand is a powerful thing.

Brands are particularly effective when they catch consumers (or clients) by surprise. Given our media saturation, we do not even hear television commercials anymore, because we know they are coming and tune them out. But, we notice the CHW sign behind the batter at Giants games and Apple stickers on the back of trucks when sitting in traffic.

Attorneys are regularly presented with invaluable branding opportunities. We often squander them. For example, we often put a great deal of time, effort and thought into holiday cards, which are similar to often-avoided commercials, we miss the tremendous marketing potential of our own invoices.

Yes ' invoices. Superficially, and conventionally, invoices are simply financial statements of amounts owed. But dig a little deeper. Invoices are probably the most important, closely scrutinized and widely disseminated communication attorneys will have with clients. They are tremendous, easy and often overlooked branding opportunities.

An invoice is, first of all, a very closely scrutinized document. Clients probably read invoices much more carefully than the hundreds of other e-mails, documents and other messages you send them. After all, an invoice is the one place where legal work is clearly, directly connected with a cost. Invoices receive clients' full attention. If you have any doubt about this, take a look at a returned invoice sometime, as an object lesson in how carefully clients review invoices. They always read them very carefully.

Invoices say a lot about how the attorney and the firm view the relationship with clients. For example, I was recently undecided about whether or not to retain a solo trusts and estates attorney for some fairly complex and emotionally difficult estate issues. Although the attorney was an expert in her field, her explanations were confusing. On the other hand, she agreed to bill the introductory meeting at about 25% of her normal rate and seemed to be very generous with her time. So, I was undecided. Then her invoice arrived.

First, she billed for everything. Everything. It seemed as if she timed, and charged for, every conceivable minor activity. It was a substantial bill. And it branded her as someone who was very interested in maximizing every cent that she could get from me.

Second, her invoice included some pretty threatening boilerplate language stating that she would take me to court if I did not immediately pay her bill. Although we both knew that this was an empty threat, it branded her as someone with whom it would be hard to work.

Third, her form follow-up collection letter confirmed my suspicions. The letter, which arrived exactly 30 days after her invoice, told me that she thought about me often and that she hoped things were going well. Then it informed me that she noticed that last month's bill was not paid and that she hoped I would be able to pay it at my earliest convenience. This was absolutely impersonal, boilerplate language that was used to tell me how interested she was in me personally. With that letter, she branded herself as someone I could not trust or rely on. I responded by finding another attorney.

So, how do your invoices brand you? How do they measure up as marketing opportunities? What impression are your invoices creating? What attributes do your invoices have and what do they say about your firm? Are your firm's attorneys careful and meticulous practitioners? Do you have good command of the language? Do you use good grammar? Do you tolerate sloppiness and imprecision? Do your invoices further the relationship between you and your client? In essence, what brand are you establishing through your invoices?

To brand you as someone the client wants to continue to employ or to employ again:

• Your invoices should be organized, clear, and readable. An overly complicated, indecipherable invoice tells the client that you are probably overly complicated and indecipherable to judges, juries and opposing counsel, as well. It also tells your client that you really do not care whether they understand you or not, as long as you get paid.
• Your invoices should be professional in both appearance and content.
• Your invoices should be grammatically correct and ideas should be expressed in complete sentences. Since you would not send a letter containing anything less, this form of communication should be the same.
• Your invoices should not contain inconsistent or nonsensical messages. They should flow chronologically and methodically and look more like a status report than an august attempt to collect money.
• Your invoices should not contain any mistakes, such as misspellings or wrong names, which will alienate or irritate any of your clients.
• Your entries should not be repetitive and monotonous.
• Your invoice should clearly des-cribe the work performed in enough detail to let the client know how your work added value to their legal matter. If your work did not add value, then you do not deserve to be paid for it. If, on the other hand, your work added value, then the client should be able to instantly understand and appreciate that value from the entry on the invoice.
• Your invoices should be sincere statements of the care you have for your client and your client's legal matters.
• Your invoices should be based not just on the legal matter at issue ' they should also reflect your relationship with your client. For example, an article of interest, a personal note, or a satisfaction survey might turn a dreaded invoice into an opportunity to inform the client how much you value their continued use of your services. Remember, an invoice is an opportunity to communicate directly with your client at a time and in a way that receives your client's closest attention.
• Your invoice should only describe billable, rather than clerical, activities. If an entry is for clerical activity, either you should not be billing for it or you have failed to give the client an accurate description of the work performed.
• Your invoice should let the client know when they are receiving pro bono services. Entries on a bill with an “NC” next to them will brand you as an attorney who cares just as much about servicing the client's needs as about getting paid.

Invoices are priceless (no pun intended) opportunities to affect your client's attitude about you and your services. There is no such thing as a neutral client contact. Invoices are at least as important in branding you in the minds of your clients and as any other communications with them. Be careful. Be thoughtful. Advance your brand. And get paid. Not a bad combination, is it?

The foundation of marketing is branding. Although branding drives most attorneys crazy because brands resist logical definitions, your firm's brand is an essential element of marketing legal services. In essence, brands are an array of impressions and beliefs that surround your firm, and create expectations about the kind of attorneys the firm has and the work it performs. Since brands create an emotional connection between attorneys and their clients, your brand can be considered your firm's personality.

Think of Harvard. Harvard provides a service ' education. But the mere mention of the name conjures up an extraordinarily powerful set of associations, beliefs and impressions about what Harvard University is, does, and represents. The result? Well, although Harvard has an endowment of $19.3 billion, it can still charge tuition of around $40,000 per year. And applicants have less than a 1 in 10 chance of admission. That kind of pricing power, and demand, come not because of the school's outstanding academics, but because of the Harvard brand. A strong brand is a powerful thing.

Brands are particularly effective when they catch consumers (or clients) by surprise. Given our media saturation, we do not even hear television commercials anymore, because we know they are coming and tune them out. But, we notice the CHW sign behind the batter at Giants games and Apple stickers on the back of trucks when sitting in traffic.

Attorneys are regularly presented with invaluable branding opportunities. We often squander them. For example, we often put a great deal of time, effort and thought into holiday cards, which are similar to often-avoided commercials, we miss the tremendous marketing potential of our own invoices.

Yes ' invoices. Superficially, and conventionally, invoices are simply financial statements of amounts owed. But dig a little deeper. Invoices are probably the most important, closely scrutinized and widely disseminated communication attorneys will have with clients. They are tremendous, easy and often overlooked branding opportunities.

An invoice is, first of all, a very closely scrutinized document. Clients probably read invoices much more carefully than the hundreds of other e-mails, documents and other messages you send them. After all, an invoice is the one place where legal work is clearly, directly connected with a cost. Invoices receive clients' full attention. If you have any doubt about this, take a look at a returned invoice sometime, as an object lesson in how carefully clients review invoices. They always read them very carefully.

Invoices say a lot about how the attorney and the firm view the relationship with clients. For example, I was recently undecided about whether or not to retain a solo trusts and estates attorney for some fairly complex and emotionally difficult estate issues. Although the attorney was an expert in her field, her explanations were confusing. On the other hand, she agreed to bill the introductory meeting at about 25% of her normal rate and seemed to be very generous with her time. So, I was undecided. Then her invoice arrived.

First, she billed for everything. Everything. It seemed as if she timed, and charged for, every conceivable minor activity. It was a substantial bill. And it branded her as someone who was very interested in maximizing every cent that she could get from me.

Second, her invoice included some pretty threatening boilerplate language stating that she would take me to court if I did not immediately pay her bill. Although we both knew that this was an empty threat, it branded her as someone with whom it would be hard to work.

Third, her form follow-up collection letter confirmed my suspicions. The letter, which arrived exactly 30 days after her invoice, told me that she thought about me often and that she hoped things were going well. Then it informed me that she noticed that last month's bill was not paid and that she hoped I would be able to pay it at my earliest convenience. This was absolutely impersonal, boilerplate language that was used to tell me how interested she was in me personally. With that letter, she branded herself as someone I could not trust or rely on. I responded by finding another attorney.

So, how do your invoices brand you? How do they measure up as marketing opportunities? What impression are your invoices creating? What attributes do your invoices have and what do they say about your firm? Are your firm's attorneys careful and meticulous practitioners? Do you have good command of the language? Do you use good grammar? Do you tolerate sloppiness and imprecision? Do your invoices further the relationship between you and your client? In essence, what brand are you establishing through your invoices?

To brand you as someone the client wants to continue to employ or to employ again:

• Your invoices should be organized, clear, and readable. An overly complicated, indecipherable invoice tells the client that you are probably overly complicated and indecipherable to judges, juries and opposing counsel, as well. It also tells your client that you really do not care whether they understand you or not, as long as you get paid.
• Your invoices should be professional in both appearance and content.
• Your invoices should be grammatically correct and ideas should be expressed in complete sentences. Since you would not send a letter containing anything less, this form of communication should be the same.
• Your invoices should not contain inconsistent or nonsensical messages. They should flow chronologically and methodically and look more like a status report than an august attempt to collect money.
• Your invoices should not contain any mistakes, such as misspellings or wrong names, which will alienate or irritate any of your clients.
• Your entries should not be repetitive and monotonous.
• Your invoice should clearly des-cribe the work performed in enough detail to let the client know how your work added value to their legal matter. If your work did not add value, then you do not deserve to be paid for it. If, on the other hand, your work added value, then the client should be able to instantly understand and appreciate that value from the entry on the invoice.
• Your invoices should be sincere statements of the care you have for your client and your client's legal matters.
• Your invoices should be based not just on the legal matter at issue ' they should also reflect your relationship with your client. For example, an article of interest, a personal note, or a satisfaction survey might turn a dreaded invoice into an opportunity to inform the client how much you value their continued use of your services. Remember, an invoice is an opportunity to communicate directly with your client at a time and in a way that receives your client's closest attention.
• Your invoice should only describe billable, rather than clerical, activities. If an entry is for clerical activity, either you should not be billing for it or you have failed to give the client an accurate description of the work performed.
• Your invoice should let the client know when they are receiving pro bono services. Entries on a bill with an “NC” next to them will brand you as an attorney who cares just as much about servicing the client's needs as about getting paid.

Invoices are priceless (no pun intended) opportunities to affect your client's attitude about you and your services. There is no such thing as a neutral client contact. Invoices are at least as important in branding you in the minds of your clients and as any other communications with them. Be careful. Be thoughtful. Advance your brand. And get paid. Not a bad combination, is it?