Author: Officense

The Stress-Free Contractor

Contractor’s Conundrum

As a contractor, it can be difficult and distracting to answer calls while trying to get work done. You are always on the move travelling to multiple work sites, which can make it difficult to have time to answer the phone. Still, missing calls can mean lost leads and in today’s culture of instant access, customers often move on to another company if they are sent to voicemail. Unfortunately, for many contractors hiring a full-time staff to answer the phone is just not practical.

A Better Way

Officense Executive Assistants can help alleviate some of the stress of booking appointments and handling scheduling for your customers. For over 10 years, our company has been reliable when it comes to providing affordable call answering service for roofers, painters, HVAC pro’s, home improvement companies, and general contractors. Using Officense will allow you to focus on your business without worrying about missing out on potential customers due to lack of support.

With Officense, you can have a receptionist who filters your calls, and will only forward the calls that are important. Our skilled team will screen every call and you will no longer be frustrated answering calls that turn out to be a solicitor. Officense receptionists will not only answer calls from your customers, but we will also schedule estimates and appointments. Our phone answering runs 24/7, 365 days a year, so your customers will never get a busy signal or voice mail. For many of our contractor clients, we simply send text messages with caller information so you can follow up at your convenience.

Why Wait?

The Officense staff is ready to be of assistance and make your job easier! We don’t want your business to get in the way of business; and we also don’t want you to miss great opportunities to improve your company. Let us help to keep track of your leads and provide effective follow-ups! If you’re ready to have a live receptionist greet your customers and provide excellent service, call us at 410-814-7500, or click here for more information.

Starting a solo practice is hard.  It takes persistence, attention to detail, and a realistic, implementable business plan in order to succeed as a solo lawyer. As a sole practitioner, your time is valuable and wasted time adds up to wasted dollars. Through our partnership with LawPay’s payment processing you can have all the conveniences of a traditional office space without the overhead.

Legal administration

Besides the work you are doing in the courtroom, there is always more work to be done in the office when you run your own solo practice. Between answering emails, scheduling consultations, processing billing, and document preparation, a solo attorney may find themselves overwhelmed by paperwork.

The Thomson Reuter’s Solo and Small Law Firms Group recently completed a study asking attorneys about the most challenging aspects of their profession, and not surprisingly, time spent on non-billable, administrative tasks was at the top of the list. These types of tasks can include invoicing, phone answering, client intake paperwork, and payment processing.

Survey results concluded that 45 percent of all solo and small law firm time is spent handling administrative tasks. These results should be a wake-up call to solo practice attorneys. The 45 percent is even more shocking when you break down its impact on a firm’s profitability and bottom line. Take the breakdown below, for example:
– 40-hour work week x 45 percent of admin. time = 18 hours of unbilled work
– 18 non-billable hrs. x $150 hourly rate = $2,700 in potential billing lost weekly
– $2,700 non-billable hrs./week x 48 weeks per year = $129,600 in potential revenue lost yearly

According to the study, when the firm’s own perception of success was accounted for, there was a large gap in reported time spent on administrative work. Of those describing themselves as “unsuccessful” up to the rating of “neither successful nor unsuccessful”, 31 percent reported that time spent on administrative tasks was a major challenge. Conversely, only 10 percent and 14 percent of the firms that view themselves as “successful” to “very successful” reported challenges with administrative time management. The natural conclusion is that less successful attorneys lack time to collect billable hours and practice law due to operational and practice management tasks.

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*2016, State of U.S. Small Law Firms Study, Thomson Reuters

A better way

Obviously, no firm can carry the high costs of inefficient administrative methods without seriously diminishing potential revenue. However, hiring a skilled assistant or paralegal is often out of the question due to the cost. As a solo attorney, finding a better way will be essential to your success. Luckily, there are solutions to make life easier for solo practice law firms and attorneys.

Online payment solutions can streamline your cash flow and make it easier for your clients to pay your bills, letting them pay you instantly—which means no more waiting for checks to arrive in the mail. In fact, studies have shown that law firms get paid 39 percent faster when they accept online credit card payments. To make it even easier, you can also set up recurring payments that will automatically charge your client’s card whenever your bill is due, letting you and your client focus on the case.

While hiring a paralegal may be outside of your budget, The Digital Age has also paved the way for affordable virtual assistance services. You could have a team of experienced assistants handling your calls and scheduling, performing data entry, preparing your documents and more—all without stepping foot in your office. With virtual assistance, you can keep your sights on the bigger picture items while the tedious tasks that eat up your day get taken care of by experienced, trained professionals.

The resources and amenities provided by LawPay and Officense are what every solo practice and small firm needs to beat the competition and reach their potential.

To learn more about how legal tech can help you save time and boost your bottom line, check out LawPay’s e-book, “Getting Paid in 2018: What Lawyers Need to Know.”

About the author

Noah Shumway is the Director of Sales and Marketing at OFFICENSE, in downtown Baltimore, MD.

The Benefits of Using an Email Marketing Tool

Through email marketing, small businesses are acquiring the necessary resources and tools to improve their performance and grow their business. For some small businesses hiring a team to handle marketing is simply not affordable. As a result, companies are searching for other ways to go about reaching new customers, through automated marketing technics like mass emailing.

 

Email Marketing is a strategy used for sending emails to prospective clients and current customers. This can be more useful than traditional advertising since a majority of consumers check their email on a daily basis. It is a challenge attempting to stay on top of everything including customers and emails but using this software will allow you to stay in control of the content, keep track of emails, and staying up to date with trends.

 

Advantages of using email marketing are pricing, design, time-saving automation, and an increase in sales:

  • Pricing:

Some marketing tools are paid, while some provide you with a free version for up to a certain number of subscribers and emails per month.

  • Design:

Being able to control design allows you to provide more branding and creativity to your business.

  • Time – Saving:

With automation and bulk lists, you will not need to spend time sending emails with scheduling tools, instead, you can schedule a time that the email is sent so that it will easily reach and be opened by all of your clients.

  • Increased in Sales:

You can promote your new ideas or products with a click of a button to encourage customers to try out your products or visit your website.

 

Likewise, the disadvantages of using this tool are the risk of being detected as spam, size issues, and undeliverable emails:

  • Spam:

Some email providers may label your email as spam which ruins the purpose of using an email marketing tool.

  • Size Issues:

If a file is too large, then it may take longer to download or it may not download at all. This can cause you to lose out on reaching members of your target audience.

  • Undelivered Emails:

One challenge of sending an email is making sure you have the correct email address for your customer. If you do not have a high quality and accurate email list many of the messages will bounce.

 

Furthermore, if you are new to email marketing there is an easy way to get started and learn the basics.  At Officense, we can assist you with developing your marketing campaign or setting up an email marketing account to add more customers to your business.  We’ve been providing administrative support for small businesses for over 10 years and allowing companies to focus more on clients.  If you are interested in someone managing your email marketing efforts or setting up a bulk email campaign, then give us a call at 410-814-7500 or check out our virtual assistant page.

Partnership with LawPay for Legal Service Solutions

LawPay and Officense

We are proud to announce our company is now industry partners with LawPay. LawPay is a leader in customizable payment solutions for the legal industry. Legal Professionals with LawPay accounts can seamlessly connect with Officense’s customizable business services.

Services through LawPay

Officense provides office space, executive assistants, conference rooms, phones, and other custom services for law firms of all sizes. Working with LawPay and Officense will provide you with top-rated professional services in a pay-as-needed and infinitely scalable structure.

Please visit our partner page for more information.

The idea of starting your own business may frighten you and leave you wondering if this is a good idea. The longer you sit around and doubt yourself, the sooner someone else can jump in to take your idea. Here is a list of 4 simple, yet helpful tips to answer the most common questions that may be delaying you from becoming an entrepreneur.

Question 1: Is My Business Idea Any Good?

Tip 1:

If your idea can solve a problem or address any issues that can affect individuals, then the answer is Yes. More than likely, if you are experiencing this problem then others have experienced the same problem. You should test out your theory on a couple of friends or family members to test your ideas before you try your product on potential customers. This will allow you to determine the pros and cons of your product before you put yourself out there. Another factor that will play a key role in your business is the price of your product. Is your product for a upscale or more economical customer? You should make the cost of your product lean more towards your target audience.

Question 2: Should I Write a Formal Business Plan?

Tip 2:

This question can go either way. You can write a business plan if you think this will help you visualize your goals, or at the very least write an informal plan that outlines your ideas for your business. If you are struggling to write a plan, then the best way to come up with a plan is using the Elevator Pitch. An elevator ride usually lasts less than a minute or two which leaves you with 60 to 120 seconds to explain to a potential customer about your goals and what your company does. Some banks, angels, or venture capitalists will want a formal business plan that should include a financial overview of expenses and marketing strategy.

Question 3: I Have a Unique Product or Business Method. Should I Get a Patent?

Tip 3:

You should only get a patent if you do not want your competition to take your ideas. Tesla founder Elon Musk decided he would not sue anyone who used Tesla’s patents. He said, “Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly evolving technology platform.” However, if you need an investment, investors tend to favor companies that hold patents.

Question 4: Do I Have What It Takes to Be a Founder?

Tip 4:

Being a risk taker plays a key role in becoming a founder and if you lack this characteristic, then you may not be cut out to be a founder.  At Inc. 500, 85 percent of CEOs are risk takers. Another key factor in becoming a founder is having what it takes to identify and solve problems. Once you acquire these skills and characteristics, then you should have what it takes to be a founder.

Here at Officense, we provide custom business solutions for start-up entrepreneurs such as legal professionals, realtors, contractors, and more. We can assist you with adding an address to your business, answering your calls, and handling your mail. Give us a call at 410-814-7500 for further details.

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