Why lawyers don't buy practice control software
Dear Colleague:
You are absolutely right if you think that law practice
control software is a tough sale. Sad but true, most attorneys are so
busy working in their practices that they don't have time to work
on their practices.
The normal sale process goes like this: The attorney
contacts us after some episode (crisis) occurs, swearing to never let
that happen again. Typically it's missing a deadline, being conflicted
out of a case (after spending many hours that you can't get paid for),
mixing up one client's matter with another, or simply sick and tired of
the feeling that the practice is not under control and well organized.
We send the requested information. The attorney gets busy with business
as usual. The crisis having passed, now there's neither the time nor urgency
to upgrade the practice systems and prevent a repeat occurrence. We try
to call to be more interactive, to discuss the attorney's needs and how
Abacus Law might help. But most attorneys don't have the time to take
the call. It's like the lumberjack who doesn't have time to sharpen the
ax, so he works harder and harder every day to chop the same amount of
wood.
You might be interested to know what other attorneys
in your position faced in making the decision to implement practice control
software. After the initial interest, they got busy and fell back on these
excuses:
1. "I'm too busy. If I stop what I'm doing now,
it'll be a disaster."
Do you feel like you're too busy putting out fires, and
if you take your attention away even for an instant, disaster will strike?
You're right! You're already heading for disaster. The
problem with practicing law on the edge (not to mention that it's no fun)
is that you're only one client away from being completely overwhelmed,
and only one mistake away from a potential complaint (even malpractice).
If you're busy to the point of feeling out of control, you'd better think
about safety precautions. Quite simply, you're overloaded. And no practice
is unsinkable.
The solution:
Practice control software will do two things for you
right off the bat:
First, it will reduce the amount of time you spend on administrative,
non-billable tasks - immediately. Most users tell us that Abacus was like
adding a spare hour to every day. How would you feel if you gained an
extra hour each day?
Second, it will safeguard you while you get back under control. Working
with all of your information in a database is the best way to make sure
you're covered for every contingency. Linking your calendar to client
notes, documents and billing greatly reduces the risk of costly (potentially
harmful) mistakes.
2. "It's too painful. We don't like having to make
changes"
Your right! Change is painful, and switching to a new
paradigm (from paper to paperless) is particularly painful. You probably
feel like there must be a better way to simplify, organize and control
your practice. But the last thing you want to do is mess with hardware,
networks, and learning some kind of software code. Your first priority
is practicing law.
The solution:
To make the paper to paperless paradigm shift as easy
as possible, the software "paperless" features parallel the
familiar paper based concepts without the paper. For example, instead
of pulling the file to see the status of a matter, you bring it up on
screen, and every note, calendar entry, document, and contact is instantly
available.
The technology is gaining ground. It's change or perish.
The actual time required to install, set up and learn Abacus Law is a
few hours, which you'll more than gain back in efficiency and peace of
mind month after month.
3. "It's too risky. I don't want to make a mistake."
Do you feel like choosing the right software to control
your law practice is a decision you better not mess up?
You're right! Of course you don't want to make a mistake
by buying a product that won't work, or that you don't like, or that you'll
outgrow. And of course you don't want to pay too much, nor do you want
to spend too little and later regret that the software can't handle your
needs or you can't get the support you need.
The solution:
Consider what over 100,001 customers like yourself have
done. Why did they choose Abacus, a company that has been exclusively
in the practice control software business since 1983? In a word, satisfaction.
When it comes right down to it, after a product category
matures, as law practice software has over the past two decades, all of
the major products are going to have the same functionality. You can buy
any law practice software and get features that would be helpful in any
practice. But if that's all you get, you're not going to be satisfied.
You see, we learned a long time ago, "It's what's outside the box
that counts."
What really makes the difference in user satisfaction
is the helpfulness of the company you choose to do business with. Here's
the acid test: Call for help. Whether you call for sales information
or customer support, is your call answered by a real live person who
is courteous and helpful? When you call Abacus, you're never more than
3 rings away from a live response between 6 am and 5 pm Pacific or 9
am to 8 pm Eastern.
Our commitment to you doesn't end at the sale, but continues
to strengthen as your practice grows. Abacus helps you organize,
simplify and control your practice on an ongoing basis.
We work hard to make our contact with you more than just offers
and enticements to buy. We try to inform, educate, and make you think.
We are always striving to do a better job, and I'd welcome your comments
on how we could better communicate and serve you.
When the time is right for you, please accept my invitation
to call our toll-free number and discuss your needs, either directly with
me or with one of our practice control consultants. We've been helping
attorneys since 1983. I'm sure you'll find we are sincerely interested
in helping you assess your requirements and making sure our software will
be a good fit. Otherwise, you'll simply send it back under our 100% unconditional
guarantee and it will have cost us the marketing, manufacturing, order
processing, fulfillment, and support costs, plus the lost opportunity
in mistakenly working on a wrong fit instead of the right one.
Thanks for your interest..
Sincerely,
Judd Kessler, Esq.
President
P.S. If you are interested in reviewing our products we have several
options. You can request a free demo version here.
Have
Abacus call me 
