Apr 22, 2019
Gyi and Kelly were joined by Aastha Madaan, owner of Madaan Law
Firm and Concierge Wills & Trusts, both located in Southern
California.
Aastha runs a traditional law firm and a secondary, 100% virtual
law firm. She came up with the idea for a completely virtual
practice after realizing that the traditional model was
inconvenient for a large portion of her clients and that going
virtual would make them happier, leading to more referrals and
reviews.
She used design-centered thinking to build out and iterate the
process of going virtual. Aastha started small with virtual
consultations and built her secondary practice from there.
Education is the key with this new type of practice-- her clients
understand what makes this process and firm different, based on the
video on their website homepage.
- Empathize - explore and find the pain points for your clients.
Aastha surveyed clients to see what they would have liked to be
different in the process.
- Define - Outline the pain points; Aastha's client's pain points
were pricing, meeting in person, and where to meet.
- Ideate - Come up with options that you could try.
- Prototype - Implementing the options you can try.
- Test - testing out your model. This is where you start and go
back to step 3 or 4 as you try out additional options and
ideas.
How is Aastha finding clients:
- Facebook ads
- Aastha started by wasting money iterating and learning the
process but has developed a working process.
- Email list didn't create interest, website visit and courses
didn't engage, but a short video leading to a webinar created
engagement and interest.
- Referrals from all over California
- Referrals from clients in the traditional practice; and their
established SEO, Google, Yelp, and online presence.
Setting her firm apart from DIY:
- Lawyers are hesitant about DIY, Legal Zoom, and other
services,
- Aastha doesn't feel that she is competing with those services
but has to educate clients about her process,
- The more lawyers are practicing virtually, the easier her sales
and intake process will become,
- The available tools are replacing menial tasks- not lawyers.
"Our value [as lawyers] lies in our knowledge, in our ability to
emphasize, and our innate ability to adapt because we are
human."
- AI tools will only enhance our practice and our lives.
Cryptocurrency & Estate Planning - a new addition that lawyers
in this practice area need to be aware of for their
clients.
Their intake process:
- Online form fill leads to a questionnaire. This helps their
firm understand what the client needs before they get on the
phone.
- The results of the questionnaire either lead to a consultation
or emails containing the documents they need, rather than a
consultation.
A few other notes:
- Concierge Wills & Trusts use ZenDesk for website chat and find
that both potential clients and current clients engage with
it.
- The model uses technology to support the law firm and lawyers,
and firms should begin to automate what can be automated.
- Aastha on Imposter Syndrome: This comes up as hesitation,
nervousness, and a lack of confidence. It takes a lot of work to
climb out of the feeling and hearing the stories of others who have
felt the same way can help break those feelings down. Validating
others good ideas will help bring more good ideas.
Find Aastha on Twitter & Instagram at @madaanlaw, or Facebook as
Aastha Madaan.