Track Outbound Referrals

If referring prospective clients to other firm constitutes a meaningful portion of your business, you can monitor the status of your referrals in your leads and personal injury matters. You can also use reports to generate a high-level overview of your referrals. This article will explain how to set up outbound referrals and generate relevant reports. 

Enable Outbound Referral Details 

1. Open the settings of your lead/personal injury matter.
2. Select the Outbound Referral Details checkbox.
3. Select Save.

Enter Outbound Referral Details

Click on the plus sign to open the Outbound Referral Details layout.

Complete as many fields in the layout as you can. You should also choose a referral status from the dropdown menu and update this status as the referral moves through different stages to ensure the best possible reporting accuracy. Each field in the layout is explained in the bullet points below.

• Prospect/Client: You can choose all prospects entered on the lead or all clients entered on the matter.
• Referred To: Enter the attorney/firm you are referring the matter to.
• Referral Status (select one of the following): Select one of the following:
  • Not Sent: The default option when you enable the outbound referral details layout and indicates that you intend to refer the lead/matter out but have yet to reach out to an outside attorney.
  • Pending: You have reached out to an outside attorney but are waiting to hear if they will accept the referral.
  • Accepted: The outside attorney has decided to accept the lead/matter.
  • Rejected: The outside attorney has declined to accept the lead/matter.
  • Waiting Payment: The outside attorney notifies your firm that the lead/matter is closed and you are now awaiting the agreed-upon referral payment.
  • Paid: Your firm has received the agreed-upon referral payment.
• Date Accepted/Date Rejected: The Date Accepted field appears when you set the status to Accepted, Waiting Payment, or Paid. The Date Rejected field appears when you set the status to Rejected.
• Referral Type: Use this dropdown menu to select the type of fee arrangement"
• Percentage: The default option is to receive a percentage of the Settlement Amount. You can also opt for a Flat Fee arrangement. 
• Referral Fee: This field will change based on the type of Referral Type you selected. If you select Percentage, you will see a smaller decimal field with a percent sign displayed to the right. When you select Flat Fee, you will see a larger decimal field with a dollar sign displayed to the right.
• Date Paid: The date you received the agreed-upon referral fee.

Settlement & Payment Details

• Settlement Date: The date the matter was settled by an outside firm.
• Settlement Amount: This is the settlement amount the outside counsel obtained. This must be entered to to calculate the Total Fee if the Referral Type is designated as a percentage.
• Total Fee: Total gross you can expect to receive for the referral. If the Referral Type is designated as a percentage, this is calculated as the Settlement Amount x Referral Fee Percent. If the Referral Type is designated as a Flat Fee, then this will display the amount entered in the Referral Fee.  
• Total Expenses: Expenses incurred by your firm before you referred the lead/matter to an outside attorney.
• Net to Firm: Net gross you earn from the matter by subtracting the Total Expenses from the Total Fee.
• Notes: General field for entering notes. This field will not affect any related reports.

Access Outbound Referral Reports

There are two reports linked to this layout: the Outbound Referral Analysis Report or Outbound Referral Status Report. The Outbound Referral Analysis Report displays high-level aggregate data to evaluate the outside attorneys who handle your referrals. The Outbound Referral Status Report is an overview of all outbound referrals entered on your Smokeball account.

To access either report:

1. Select the Reports button.
2. Select Outbound Referral Analysis Report or Outbound Referral Status Report from the dropdown menu.
3. Select View Report.

Learn more about Smokeball Reports. 

Did You Know

If necessary, you can right-click on the Outbound Referral Details to duplicate or remove them. You can also add a fresh Outbound Referral Details layout by selecting add. 

On both Outbound Referral reports, you can click on the plus sign to the left of the firm's name to view a list of all the parties who comprise the totals provided on the initial report. This view will also include the current status of the party's referral, acceptance/rejection, total income received, time for the lead/matter to close, and the monthly rate of return.