Tag Archives: Ruby Receptionist

10 Products, Platforms, and Services for Lawyers

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I am always on the lookout for new ideas, tools, or products that are helpful to lawyers. If you have 2 minutes to spare, watch the video at the end of this post compiled by Streaming.Lawyer blogger Mitch Jackson. It highlights how Mitch uses the following every day in his law practice:

bombbomb – an online service that records, sends, and tracks simple email videos to stand out in your client’s crowded inbox.

Zoom video conferencing – Modern video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars. (I use Zoom for online CLEs and recommend it highly.)

eCamm – live video streaming for Mac platforms. Compatible with Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Periscope, and Twitch.

AgoraPulse – social media management. Should you have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube? Yes, but who has the time. This product allows you to schedule content, get reports, and engage followers with one simple tool.

GoogleKeep – Keep is simple way to capture notes, lists, and reminders on the go. Record voice memos and Keep will automatically transcribe them! Check off completed tasks; add a collaborator to notes and lists; add photos and drawings, or draw on photos; search notes by automagically created topics; group notes together with #labels; color notes; access your notes on any device; syncs automatically to your phone, tablet, watch, and laptop via the Google Keep website, or Chrome app.
Use “Ok Google” voice commands to “take a note” or “add to to-do list.”

Canva – use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and layouts to design, share, and print business cards, logos, presentations and more. Accounts are free.

Calendly – online scheduling is the most efficient way to set depositions, mediations, and meetings. Free and integrates with Google, Outlook, Office 365 or iCloud calendar so you’re never double booked.

Smartline – a second phone number app from GoDaddy. Unlimited texts and minutes for $9.99 per month (free 30-day trial available). Install the app on your current smartphone. Save your private number for friends and family and use Smartline for business calls.

Ruby Receptionists – a virtual reception service for your law firm based right here in Oregon. A favorite of mine and available at a discount for members of the Multnomah Bar Association.

Nimble – relationship-building software. Log on to your Nimble dashboard to manage client relationships and contacts.

Here’s Mitch’s video:

via 10 “Non-Legal” Products, Platforms, and Services I Use in My Law Practice and Highly Recommend! — Streaming.Lawyer

The Importance of Following Up

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Today’s post is inspired by Ben Schorr, technologist and senior content developer with Microsoft, who has “been in this business long enough to remember when Al Gore invented the Internet.”

Being the all-around smart guy that he is, Ben recently posted:

Follow-up is one of the most important skills you can have in business.

Ben couldn’t be more right, and let me tell you why.

Clients

When is the last time you checked in with your clients? Asked how they are faring? Provided them with a status update?

Nothing is more aggravating to clients (and more damaging to client relations) than failing to follow-up. Avoid this trap by establishing an office system that reminds you to reach out and make contact.  It can be as simple as a tickler system or reminder app. Consider the advantages of interactive web portals that offer clients 24/7 access and apps like Zipwhip that let you send scheduled texts and auto-replies to clients.  Are phones overwhelming you? Worried about missing client calls? Start using Call Ruby. (Discounts are available to Multnomah Bar Association members.)

Tasks and Deadlines

Always create follow-up reminders for all outstanding to-dos and deadlines – particularly those that require action from someone else.

  • Include everything to ensure you get what you need to complete tasks on time and avoid a potential malpractice claim.
  • Include everyone who owes you information, documents, or an undertaking. Clients, co-counsel, opposing counsel, associates, staff, medical providers, investigators, and process servers are the tip of the iceberg.

Staff

Staff also deserve follow-up. Brief weekly meetings can cover a lot of ground: staff workloads, pending projects, your schedule, and responding to staff questions. For tips on working with and delegating to staff, see Revisiting Smart Delegation.

Finances

It’s been almost 7 years since I penned Accounts Receivable Do Not Improve Like Fine Wine, but the advice has not changed. You simply must follow-up on your finances:

Marketing and Business Goals

Follow-up is key when it comes to goal setting. Start by quantifying what you want to achieve, then be accountable (that’s the follow-up part). Whether it’s a business plan or a marketing plan, you are only cheating yourself if you don’t take the time to measure your results.

I’ve written extensively about marketing this year and prior years, both incidentally and deliberately.  If you’re looking for social media tips, resources for market research, how to calculate your marketing costs per case – you’ll find those posts here.  Use the Search feature at the top of my blog or under Categories choose “Marketing.” Whatever you do: follow-up!

All Rights Reserved 2017 Beverly Michaelis

Using Google Voice in Your Law Practice

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The February issue of Multnomah Lawyer, the official publication of the Multnomah Bar Association, has an excellent article by Charley Gee about using Google Voice.

As Charley describes:

Google Voice is a service from Google that provides a user with a telephone number, voicemail, conference calling, and text messaging service. It is accessible from any computer with access to the Internet, or from a cellphone or tablet.

The best feature of Google Voice is its price: free. Using your Google account, just sign up, select the number you want from a list of available numbers, and verify and connect your cell phone to the account.

Google Voice supports call routing, text message archiving, and voicemail to e-mail transcription.  (But not emergency service calls.)  If traveling, you can access voicemails and make calls without cell service:

Google Voice users can make and receive calls and text messages, as well as fetch their voicemail, over the internet instead of a cell tower signal. I’ve accessed my voicemail and text messages from remote locations around the state just by finding a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Great tip Charley!  My only caveat is to keep security risks in mind when using Wi-Fi.

If you are evaluating Google Voice vs. Skype, read this post.  For more thoughts on the benefits of using Google Voice in your law practice, check out what Go Matters has to say.

If you’ve committed to Google Voice and want to know about using it on your Android Phone or iPad, see:

How to Use Google Voice for Your Primary Android Phone Number and Messages or App Review: Google Voice for iPad.

Final Thoughts

I blogged earlier this month about how to cope with Gmail outages.  Google Voice is tied to your Gmail account.  If Gmail goes down, Google Voice may also experience an outage.  Without a doubt, you will lose WiFi functionality, voicemail to e-mail transcription, and perhaps other features.  A cursory search did not return an answer to the question: How many times has Google Voice experienced an outage?  However, searching for “Google Voice outage” returns numerous results dating back the last few years.  Whether Google’s uptime stats are better or worse than the competition is hard to gauge.

Finally, I can’t write a post about Google Voice without expressing how much I like Ruby Receptionists, our very own home-grown virtual reception service based in Oregon.  Ruby Receptionists goes far above and beyond Google Voice, with the advantage of personalized, live reception services.  Read about this awesome service for lawyers here.  For another take, see this post.

All Rights Reserved [2014] Beverly Michaelis