Total Attorneys started out as a lead generation company, but every time I have talked to Ed or Kevin, it’s been obvious that what they are really working on is building a turnkey law practice. In other words, you sign up, and Total Attorneys generates leads, answers the phone, helps you manage your files — maybe even helps you do the work. It’s a law practice platform, not just services and software.
Whether you approve of this or not, I think it’s a pretty lofty goal. And Total Attorneys’ aggressive pace of development keeps it rocketing towards that goal.
Google Sync is more or less a must-have, as more and more businesses are using Google Apps for contacts and calendars. Ed Scanlan calls the new-to-Total-Attorneys feature the “most elegant” contact and calendar sync he’s ever seen, saying changes are synced within a minute. I haven’t seen it, yet, so I can’t say whether that’s true. Elegant or not, if it syncs everything up quickly and accurately, it’s awesome.
Another vital feature for practice management software is trust accounting, and now you can do it in Total Attorneys.
Email marketing is usually not something that gets included in practice management software. But as I said, Total Attorneys is doing its own thing. “Drip email marketing” refers to the practice of sending a series of automated messages over time, usually according to the classification of a contact. The idea is to nurture leads into clients over time. I used a version of this with my free form giveaways. People who wanted the form had to leave an email address, and I sent a series of helpful emails on using the form, which converted some of those “leads” into clients over time. The new Conversion Engine from Total Attorneys apparently works similarly. If you understand the value of email marketing, this is a good tool to have integrated into your practice management software.
Finally, Total Attorneys will help you set appointments according to rules you specify. Nice to have if you are using the virtual receptionist service, or want to.
Keep in mind that the Total Attorneys practice management software is only $1/month. There is no catch; if you just want to use the software, you can, although you will see some (fairly-unintrusive, actually) promotions, I understand. That’s because Total Attorneys hopes you will sign up for its apps, which is where it makes its money, either from fees or affiliate arrangements with the vendors in its app store.
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Total Attorneys Updates Include Google Sync, Email Marketing, Trust Accounting, and Appointment Scheduling is a post from Lawyerist.com