One of the single most difficult parts about building my law business was deciding what to charge and how to talk about my fees.

It was so hard! I’d get a lump in my throat and a pit in my stomach everytime I got to the fee part of the meeting.

And, for the first couple of years I did it without a fee schedule.

I would ballpark the fee in my mind and hope against hope the prospects woudln’t ask me how I arrived at it.

It was incredibly uncomfortable and resulted in many clients walking out the door because they weren’t sure, had to think about it, or wanted to shop around.

Ugh! I’m sure you know how I feel.

I finally realized I’d need a fee schedule and spent the next 18 months trying out different versions until I found one that worked.

If you have my Client Engagement System, you’ve seen it and you know it works great.

If you don’t have a fee schedule in place, you must get one in place immediately.

Well, my fee schedule worked great until decided I’d mess with it.

I moved some things around, brought my middle plan level down to the bottom plan level and added on a high-end option for folks who needed advanced planning.

I thought it’d be great because I was starting to get in more and more people who needed advanced planning.

Oops! The next three prospects who came in left without engaging.

Yikes, that was an expensive error … like $15,000 worth of expensive!

Luckily, I recognized the error right away, fixed it and have gone on to engage every prospect since then and have engaged 3 advanced estate tax plans for fees upward of $25,000 even though my advanced plans don’t even show up on my fee schedule!

Next week I’ll tell you how to get confident with your fee schedule … it’s critical - if you aren’t confident, your prospects won’t be either.

© 2007 Alexis Martin Neely

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Alexis’ Law Business Secrets Blog .

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: “Written by Alexis Neely, Personal Family Lawyer and Law Business Expert who is revolutionizing the business model of the traditional lawyer so your law business can be super fun and mega profitable while making a difference in clients’ lives. Get Alexis’ Law Business Secrets delivered weekly to your inbox at www.lawbusinesssecrets.com.