Working as a consultant

ronb

I have only used notaris, not lawyer. But they do not have the Aussie style of charging for every conversation and phone call. They charge for completed contracts. So they must have techniques of limiting how much useful info they give away in preliminary talks. But I'm not sure how you get an insight into their strategies.

spicyayam

My wife has been working as a lawyer for over 2 years now. She gets a steady stream of inquiries through her website and work from word of mouth. One of the hard things I think she finds is turning an inquiry into a paying client. Some people email a list of questions. Sometimes she answers them, but that can just lead to more questions. If she suggests doing a paid consultation online or in person, she often doesn't hear from the person again. Many people want to meet up and again if she meets them they have so many questions they want answered and then you never hear from the person again. It seems strange to me that many people don't seem to value her time. I am sure if you met with a lawyer in Australia/US they would charge you as soon as you step in the door. Has anyone who worked as a consultant had this trouble and any suggestions for improving her business?

Mark

Having done work as a consultant, my observation is that the general tendency in Asia is for people to very much value material things, which they are happy to pay for and give them 'face' (e.g., cars, jewelry, branded handbags, designer clothes, smart phones, big tvs, etc etc), but to under value services and intellectual property. Probably there is some innate inability to intellectually quantify the value of a service, an idea, or a knowledge, and therefore a sense that these things don't have much value, or that they are somehow being cheated by paying for something that is 'only' in another person's head and that they cannot hold in their hands. I have seen this time and again in my 20 years here in every Asian country I've done business in, not just Indonesia. Many (but not all) bules also adopt this attitude when in Asia. So, one suggestion for your wife is to provide some answers to faq's in her areas of expertise on her website to establish credibility and to not entertain any further discussions without the meter running. Another suggestion is to put together package prices for discrete services (e.g., property purchase / sale / lease, divorce, prenup agreement etc.) as one concern people have when using lawyers is a huge bill. For example, as ronb notes above, it is nice to know that a notary charges x% for a transaction regardless of the amount of work they need to do, so expenses are capped. A final suggestion is to provide potential clients with enough information to know that they need a lawyer's services but not enough for them to diy. I imagine your wife is trying to do this already. It's a tricky balance - one approach is to convince the potential client that using a lawyer will actually save them money/trouble in the long run. Anyway, there are no easy answers and good luck to her.

mugwump

Mark wroteHaving done work as a consultant, my observation is that the general tendency in Asia is for people to very much value material things, which they are happy to pay for and give them 'face' (e.g., cars, jewelry, branded handbags, designer clothes, smart phones, big tvs, etc etc), but to under value services and intellectual property. Probably there is some innate inability to intellectually quantify the value of a service, an idea, or a knowledge, and therefore a sense that these things don't have much value, or that they are somehow being cheated by paying for something that is 'only' in another person's head and that they cannot hold in their hands. I have seen this time and again in my 20 years here in every Asian country I've done business in, not just Indonesia. Many (but not all) bules also adopt this attitude when in Asia. So, one suggestion for your wife is to provide some answers to faq's in her areas of expertise on her website to establish credibility and to not entertain any further discussions without the meter running. Another suggestion is to put together package prices for discrete services (e.g., property purchase / sale / lease, divorce, prenup agreement etc.) as one concern people have when using lawyers is a huge bill. For example, as ronb notes above, it is nice to know that a notary charges x% for a transaction regardless of the amount of work they need to do, so expenses are capped. A final suggestion is to provide potential clients with enough information to know that they need a lawyer's services but not enough for them to diy. I imagine your wife is trying to do this already. It's a tricky balance - one approach is to convince the potential client that using a lawyer will actually save them money/trouble in the long run. Anyway, there are no easy answers and good luck to her.

I found this an excellent answer and concur with your incisive findings. Funny how one good submission can erase previous made assumptions.

mugwump

spicyayam wroteMy wife has been working as a lawyer for over 2 years now. She gets a steady stream of inquiries through her website and work from word of mouth. One of the hard things I think she finds is turning an inquiry into a paying client. Some people email a list of questions. Sometimes she answers them, but that can just lead to more questions. If she suggests doing a paid consultation online or in person, she often doesn't hear from the person again. Many people want to meet up and again if she meets them they have so many questions they want answered and then you never hear from the person again. It seems strange to me that many people don't seem to value her time. I am sure if you met with a lawyer in Australia/US they would charge you as soon as you step in the door. Has anyone who worked as a consultant had this trouble and any suggestions for improving her business?

I have sought consultation, translation and legal interpretation after a brief explanation of what would be provided and costs, where upon orally agreeing subsequently signed a contract. The conditions were satisfactorily met with written documentation in my language and I happily paid. The kicker is that I am a Westerner familiar with this situation and Asians aren't, but following this procedure in a cordial businesslike fashion feel that it could work in many cases providing documentation for the answers (not necessarily guarantees). It would most assuredly work with Westerners, but without free answers up front. It is important to all that no service without payment.