NEWS FLASH
The Institute Team Rallied Around the Race for the Cure®
Gathering early on the morning of October 12th, staff members of the Institute joined a huge crowd of 22,000 for the 5K Houston Race for the Cure®. It was an uplifting way to spend our Saturday morning helping to raise money to support our charity of choice: the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
With your commitment and generosity Medical-Legal Consulting Institute proudly donated $11,540.00 to help eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease and the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 40 and 59. Thank you for your generosity.
Supporting the Cure,
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
CLNC® SUCCESS STORY
I Gained by Investing in My Future
by Donna du Bois, MPH, RNC, CLNC
Several of my co-workers took the CLNC® Certification Program and raved about it. All are now CLNC®s and making good money consulting. Two were near retirement and needed additional income to continue their comfortable lifestyles. They are both retired and now earn
more than they ever did in their regular jobs.
The program seemed expensive to me, and I decided I didn't need it. Then out of the blue an attorney's office called to ask if I would
review some cases. His staff had seen my name on a website and realized from my credentials that I had the expertise in long-term
care that they needed. I didn't have a clue what to charge, but the legal nurse consultant hiring me was kind enough to tell me the other
consultants charged $125/hour. I quickly earned $5,000 on two cases — and realized I loved doing it. In order to continue, I needed to know
more.
I am certain those two cases would have been my last cases with this attorney if I hadn't taken Vickie's CLNC® Certification Program.
He simply would have stopped using me, and I never would have known why.
I purchased the Basic CLNC® Certification (Home-Study) and took Vickie's valuable advice. I quickly learned the value of contracts. In my excitement at the attorney's call, I accepted two assignments without a contract. I could have put in hours of hard work and never been paid. Vickie's course provided sample contracts I could easily modify for my needs. Before taking the course, I knew I had expertise in one nursing field, but Vickie
showed me how to apply my expertise to a multitude of different types of cases. I would never have had the confidence to diversify or even thought to attempt it without the course.
The CLNC® Certification Program is so comprehensive, it's worth years of college education. I was never too tired to listen to the
hours of tapes because Vickie's presentation makes the information interesting and relevant to my needs. The CLNC® Certification Program
gave me all the tools I need to succeed as a CLNC®. The sections on dressing for success, marketing, tax records, health insurance and report writing are worth the cost, not to mention the legal background essential for legal nurse consulting. I have never had a course with more useful information. Nothing is left to chance.
I am now confident in my ability to succeed as a full-time, self-employed CLNC®. For now, I prefer to keep my job and consult part-time. I plan to retire from nursing home investigation in 5 years. Thanks to Vickie's course, I know how to market, and I'll have a significant client base established by the time I choose to retire.
Anyone taking the Basic CLNC® Certification can quickly earn back its cost many times over, even working only a few extra hours a
month. I did. I recommend taking the program before you start consulting to avoid making mistakes that could cost you money, clients and your reputation.
As my coworkers tried to tell me, the CLNC® Certification Program is an investment in my future, not an expense. I'm so excited about
my success I simply couldn't wait to share my enthusiasm.
Donna du Bois, MPH, RNC, CLNC is a full-time nursing home investigator. She is building a solid base of practice working part-time with
attorneys in Georgia where she plans to transition into a full-time legal nurse consulting practice.
BEST PRACTICES IN TECHNOLOGY
Don't Lose Track of That Customer –
Maintain Your Attorney-Client List with Care
by Rick Jones
Regardless of the size of your CLNC® practice, you're bound to have a client list. Your client list is a valuable asset to your business,
so you must give high priority to keeping up with address changes and updates. You can't afford to lose track of a single attorney-client because she moved or changed phone numbers.
Update Your List to Retie the Connection
If your customer list is small or you have a VIP list, you could simply phone each client to update your information. Although this process can be time consuming, it offers several advantages.
Contacting the client gives you the opportunity to renew contact either with the client or with the gatekeeper. Remember, out of sight — out of mind, and you don't want to stay out of your client's mind for long.
Phoning the client's office may give you a chance to make new contacts. The firm may have hired a new associate, partner, paralegal, or secretary, and it's to your advantage to get to know these people.
If you prefer not to use the telephone, send a pre-printed change of address form for the client to fill out and mail back to you. If you send out informational newsletters or other promotional mailings, you could enclose a postage-paid change of address card. Another way to update address information is through the postal service or private correction services.
Use Post Office and Private Resources to Keep Your List Current
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Pub. 28 — Postal Addressing Standards is available FREE in pdf or text (html) format at www.usps.com/publications.
This publication's valuable information includes the abbreviations that USPS optical scanners accept. Using the correct standards helps speed delivery of your mail. If you download Pub. 28 from the USPS website you need Adobe Reader software, available free at the USPS website or at www.adobe.com. Or simply select the text version and view it online.
When you send out a large mailing, have your envelopes pre-printed with approved USPS "service" endorsements. If there is no endorsement on a large mailing, mail is not forwarded and is not returned to you.
These endorsements, usually printed on the front top left corner of the envelope just below the return address, instruct the post office how to handle undeliverable mail:
Address Service Requested — forwards your mail piece and charges an address correction fee to provide separate notice of the new address.
Forwarding Service Requested — forwards your mail piece at no charge. (You are not advised of change of address.)
Return Service Requested — returns your mail piece with the new address or the reason it was not deliverable. Fee charged.
Change Service Requested — disposes of your mail piece and provides separate notice of new address or reason for nondelivery. Fee charged.
Check with the USPS for the most current and appropriate endorsement for your needs. Be aware that this service costs about as much as the original mailing.
When you receive address corrections from the post office, use them to update your list as soon as possible. This will reduce future return costs and wasted postage. Returned mail with no new address should be "coded" or "deleted" to avoid re-mailing until you obtain a correct address.
These additional special address correction programs will also correct your mailing list:
National Change of Address (NCOA) — This program is sponsored by private correction services, such as Lorton Data Services, and supported by the USPS database. When individuals submit change of address forms to the post office, the USPS keeps track of these changes for approximately three years. The USPS supplies private correction services with information from this database. You submit your list to the correction service before sending your mailing, and the correction service updates your list from the NCOA database. I recommend doing this once a year.
Accumail — This service is provided by private correction services, usually on a subscription basis. The correction service provides you with the software and a number of updates during the year. You may check your new address entries using the software anytime. Accumail only confirms or corrects the address fields to USPS standards. It does not confirm that the individual or company name on the mail piece is correct or that the individual or company is located at the specified address. Accumail will also add the "+ 4" digits to the zip code to help speed delivery. You can also browse the database for corrections if the automatic correction feature is unable to confirm a correct address. Accumail is useful for checking and correcting new clients' addresses before putting them on your mailing list. If you do many mailings each year, the USPS may require you to use this service before submitting a large mailing.
All these programs are well worth the cost if you do large mailings. They can easily pay for themselves with the corrections they provide your company.
List Management Software Can Support Your Growing Practice
As your business grows and your list gets larger, additional software can decrease your workload by organizing your list. A good mailing list management program will include at least the following:
Complete contact information
Order entry and invoicing (if necessary)
Address correction function
Search for a program that lets you sort information from various fields in your list. You want to be able to sort by the following fields and export the information in each field as needed to generate reports, mailings, letters, labels, etc.:
Client name (or business name and contact person)
Address line 1
Address line 2 (for long or complex addresses)
City
State
Zip code
Source code (internal tracking code to show how or when the contact heard about you)
Phone 1 (primary)
Phone 2 (secondary or fax number)
First date (date the client was entered into your list)
Last update (date the record was last modified)
Expiration date (date the contact will be taken off your list or informational newsletter subscription expires)
Profile codes (for internal categorizing)
Notes (notes or special information about the customer)
Email address
Website URL
As your CLNC® business expands, you may want to investigate sophisticated contact management software that can do all of the above and more. Regardless of the size of your list, regular maintenance is vital to your success, but it doesn't have to be a burdensome chore with the techniques above. Large or small, your client list IS your business — don't neglect it.
Rick Jones is an independent consultant with KM Jones & Associates in California.
