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User Guide - Sales - Working with a Lead
User Guide - Sales - Working with a Lead

Learn how to navigate and interact with the sales section of Outlaw Practice

Updated over 3 months ago

Introduction

This article breaks down the Lead page for an individual lead.

Let's start with the top section. This section keeps track of the basic settings for the Lead.

Client Names (Required)

Put the names of your clients here. This will present a drop-down list of existing contacts that you can select from. If the client is not in the list, you may type the name here and a contact will be created for you. You may entry the name as First Middle Last, or Last, First Middle.

Once you have added client names and selected a Case Type for the Lead, a new section will be created below for each client. There you will be able to edit the contact details just as you would in the Contacts page. Here is an example:

This is shown directly in the Lead page so that you can enter the information as you are on the call with the potential new client.

Case Type(s)

Select the Case Type(s) that apply to this lead.

Note that a single Lead can lead to multiple Cases. It is your choice to create one Lead with multiple potential Case Types, or a separate Lead per potential Case Type. If there are multiple Case Types when the Lead is converted to a Case, Outlaw will ask you if you would like to create multiple Cases, one for each Case Type (as a Case can only have one Case Type).

Short Name

Give a short name for the Lead. This will be the name shown on the Leads page, as well as other places in Outlaw that reference the Lead.

This will be included on invoices for initial consults (if you are using paid consults). You can set up Initial Consults in Configuration / General:

Estimated Close

This is your best guess as to when the potential new client will sign the retainer agreement.

This helps you understand when your pipeline is expected to convert to sales (client signing the retainer agreement and funding their retainer).

Initial Close Date

This is your best guess as to when the potential new client will sign the retainer agreement.

This helps you understand when your pipeline is expected to convert to sales (client signing the retainer agreement and funding their retainer).

(Go to Case Types button)

(Go to Configuration button)

Retainer Requested

How much do you require to get started on this case?

This value will be based on the Retainer field from the case type configuration, but it can be modified based on your assessment of the case during the sales process.

(Go to Configuration button)

Referred By

List any person or company that influenced the potential new client(s) to contact you.

This must be a person or a business!

If you enter freeform text here, like "A Friend", Outlaw will assume that you meant a person with the name "Friend, A.", and it will add a new contact to the system with that name. This is clearly not what you intended!

If you encounter a lead that was referred by an anonymous or unknown person, just leave this field blank.

When to Use Referred By vs Campaigns

Use Referred By when the referral came from an actual person or business.

Campaigns can be used with, or instead of Referred By.

Examples of Campaigns with no Referred By:

  • Google or Facebook Ads

  • A lead generation company

  • A directory, e.g. AVVO or Justia

Examples of Campaigns with a Referred By:

  • Another law firm. Referred By would be the name of the person at the firm that did the referral, or the name of the firm if unknown. The Campaign would be something like "ABC Law Firm". Make sure you have a campaign for the law firm doing the referrals!

  • A networking group, like BNI or a Chamber of Commerce. The Referred By field would be the name of the person within the group that made the actual referral.

  • A Former Client. Use the name of the client in the Referred By field, and have a campaign called Former Clients.

The point of having these separate is to provide proper data for analytics, so that the firm owner knows where their referrals are coming from (so that they can thank them), and which marketing campaigns are producing good leads (so they can invest in them if they are good, or divest from them if they are bad).

Which campaign(s) influenced the potential new client to reach out to you?

You can choose campaigns in addition to a referrer (see Referred By help for more info).

We keep track of campaigns so that the firm owner knows whether to invest (if the campaign is bringing good leads that pay their bills), or divest (if the campaign is bringing in the wrong type of client, or the campaign is bringing in clients that are not paying their bills.

Additional campaigns can be set in the Marketing page's Campaigns section.

Estimated Value

The estimated total value of cases resulting from this lead.

The estimated value is initially based on the case type(s), as set in their Average Price, but updated based on your conversations with the potential new client(s).

If this looks like a difficult case, raise the estimated value. If it looks like a simple case, lower the value.

(Go to Case Types button)

Who is Paying

If one of the clients is paying, this field should be empty.

If there is a benefactor outside of the clients, then put that person's name here.

More than one beneficiary can be listed here, and any beneficiaries will be added to cases created from this lead.

When taking a payment, beneficiaries will be listed first in the payor dropdown with a special icon.

Retainer Received

How much of the requested retainer was the client able to provide?

This is a reminder that starting work before the full retainer is provided is heavily associated with non-payment later in the case.

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