Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Time Recording Workshop
My Background
Magic Triangle
My Background
- Fee earner, head of department, owner – 20 years
- Trained staff and increased chargeable hours
- Detailed assessments
- How do you work? Move to fixed fees?
- Self-worth, value; pride in pricing, work and service – not afraid to talk about costs
- Dealing with objections – “Which bit do you want me to leave out?”; 1 unit is not 6 minutes, it is 6 minutes plus x number of years’ experience
- Do not shave
- Everything I am going to tell you is inter-linked and impacts time recording and money in some way
- Raising fees
- Each piece of work is profitable
- Record all time
- How to differentiate yourself – impact on charging well
- HOW TO FIX PRICE – cushions and factors etc
General
Magic Triangle
My Background
- BCDE – losing money / making money
- Utilisation
- 5 ch = £30,000 per month!
- 1 hour = £72,000 per annum!
- No extra work
- Ideal fee-earner
- Focus on TR, not billing
- Prices
- Push and tell
- “this is how we work” – first interaction
- VALUE
- Magic triangle
- Self-worth, pride in pricing, value
- MOA
- Can’t change if under-record
- FFBV
Magic Triangle
Magic Triangle
Magic Triangle
- Value and client care
- Service
- Charge your worth
- ALL PHASES of estimates
- Why the triangle works to reduce debt, etc
- Differentiators and pricing
Organisation
Family Law Example
Magic Triangle
- Manage expectations
- Daily tasks
- Delegation – push and tell – very important
- Pillar to post
- Structure of fee earners
- Push and tell = service = charge worth, value, not price
- Prioritisation
- Outsourcing
- Workloads – not busy enough / too busy?
- Team meetings to discuss
- CRM and processes
Day & Tasks
Family Law Example
Family Law Example
- Meetings and chats
- Daily tasks
- When ch work?
- When TR?
- Wasting time?
- Important – review of day – diary
- Ch and NC time – record and review
- Fees = NO non-chargeable time
- What are NC tasks? Take away
- Spread work and staff – vessels full with right type of work
- Wasted time – efficiencies, etc
- Reset expectations
- Delegation, pillar to post
- Scourge of emails!
- Blocks of time
- How to maximise efficiency and reduce interruptions
Family Law Example
Family Law Example
Family Law Example
- Emotion & Intelligence
Mechanics of Time Recording
Mechanics of Time Recording
Mechanics of Time Recording
- Start at 30k (5 hours) – what doing rest of the time? 8 hours – any NC time is not fair on business or yourself
- Rules and Protocols (internal)
- Take view
- Definition of ch time
- System – know how to use?
- When to TR?
- Notepad v manual v timers
- Narratives
- Rounding-down, break down units, units v mins
- Capture all time
- 1 unit in and out etc
- Prep / drafting etc
- Case notes
- Misnomers – give Linkedin example (under-egging pudding) – break down the work – what are you actually doing? Record and properly treat all the elements (don’t miss)
- Questions on misnomers and what is ch?
- HOW TO TR and examples
- Block, individual
- WHAT TO TR – not individual
- MUST record all time you spend
- Psychology – “can’t put that down; what will client say?”
- Nice client / demanding client – shaving
- Time in-between tasks
- Estimates – revise – 1) updates; 2) new estimates; 3) 20% rule
- “In your hands”
Client Management
Mechanics of Time Recording
Mechanics of Time Recording
- Move towards ffs?
- Value – discounting / over-service / under-charging
- Difficult clients and nice clients
- Favours
- Objections
- Poor TR as an indicator / red flag?
Billing & Related
Mechanics of Time Recording
Pricing and Charging
- LOOK AT FE DEBT and MOA - indicator
- Twice monthly
- FFs better?
- Hourly rates analysis
- Mission creep
- WIP etc
- Debt collection
- Bill on milestones
- TR as indicator
- Urgency
- FFs – horizontal and vertical scope and charge extra
- Estimate properly
- Horizontal and vertical scope
- Assumptions
- Charge extra outside scope
- Pay more if waiting for money
Pricing and Charging
Close & Further Questions
Pricing and Charging
- Choice vis fees – hourly rates and ffs
- Scope creep
- Charge your worth
- Fixed fees, low value, scope, delegation
- Shaving
- Marketing tool
- Right level, define retainers, p&t, record, bill, paid, rescope, tell
Miscellaneous
Close & Further Questions
Close & Further Questions
- Hourly rates
- Phones away
- Recruitment
- How much to take on account?
- Charge well
- Great value
- Related to MOA
- Free consultations
- Charging for supervision
- Don’t assume time taken
- Client affordability
- Sack bad clients
- Take stock of stored files
- Record NC?
- Proportionality
- Record ffs
- Busy fools
- Fear
- Choice of pricing models
- Always ask for money upfront
- Conversion process: tell factors and elements, CSM
- Delegation
- Value elements in all quotes
Close & Further Questions
Close & Further Questions
Close & Further Questions
- Any further questions