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443. The NIL Advantage & Building Custom AI w/ Digger Earles, Laborde Earles
[00:00] I heard someone on this podcast or maybe it was even me that told you that on my death [00:05] that I want my kids to know I love them, I want my wife to know I love them and I want [00:08] to know how many cases we saw in that day, right? [00:11] Top line metrics feel great, but many numbers don't pay the bills. [00:16] At the end of the year, when you start looking at projecting revenue, it's a really big number [00:20] you also need to consider and that's closed without fee. [00:24] If you sign up, 100 cases, but only 75 pay, then you need to know that, right? [00:29] Having the right data truly changes everything, and today's guest understands that as well as anybody. [00:34] Today, we're bringing back digger urls. [00:36] He has helped build the Lord urls injury lawyers on one of the largest firms on Louisiana. [00:41] With seven offices, over 30 attorneys, no one billion dollars per covered for their clients. [00:45] Digger knows exactly what it takes to scale. [00:48] And I tell people all the time, you know, watch the kilo meal, where's rebarks, or what [00:52] how Peyton Manning stands there with Papa John or State Form has Aaron Rogers because it works. [00:57] That's why. [01:03] This is Personal and Dream Astro Mind. [01:05] I'm Chris Striar, founder and CEO of rankings.io, the Elite Performance Marketing Agency for Personal and Dream Law firms. [01:11] Today I'm pumped to announce that our guest, Digger Earl, so we're speaking live at PemCon this year. [01:15] October 4th through 6 in Scottsdale, Arizona. [01:18] He'll be diving deep into NIL, [01:21] name image and likeness deals [01:22] to help you dominate your market. [01:24] In this episode, we're talking about building in house AI. [01:27] Why reducing attorney case loads [01:29] to actually maximize his fees [01:30] and the numbers you actually need to be tracking. [01:33] Let's get into it. [01:35] Hey guys, I got one of my favorite humans back [01:37] on the show, Digger Earl's Welcome Back. [01:40] Yeah, thanks Chris, glad to be back. [01:42] And you know, I know we talked just back in November, [01:45] but I always like to start with a win, [01:47] What's something recent, the firm, [01:49] succeeded about your fired up about? [01:51] Yeah, so I guess one thing I'm really excited about is, [01:55] all the AI craze sweeping the world these days. [02:00] A lot of changes in the legal community, [02:02] lots of different AI products come into market. [02:05] We've tested a bunch of products. [02:07] We reached out to some colleges [02:09] and hired our own AI in-house data guru. [02:14] I don't know, he's exact title, but he has his doctorate in artificial intelligence and he's [02:22] helping us do some pretty amazing things with our own in-house data and our own workflows [02:27] and how their systems and processes are moving along. [02:30] So as a huge win for us, we saw the need, we went out and got it and it's already proven [02:36] to be beneficial to us and just a wonderful, wonderful home run for us. [02:41] That's amazing and I know I joked with you before that I creep all the company profus and I I [02:45] Know to sim on the on the team are you guys looking at like where you're gonna date a warehouse [02:51] I'm gonna do a big query. It's no flake like have you got into the weeds there? [02:55] I mean to me that seems like one of the biggest [02:59] hurdle slash opportunities for the law firms [03:03] Yes, so he is into the he's deep into the weeds already [03:07] he hit the ground running, he started with in our mail room, just creating a workflow through [03:13] AI software that automatically populates the files as the mail comes in. [03:17] So that was a huge home run for us. [03:20] And I guess the power of what he does or what his background is, he was pretty flawless [03:26] project, right? [03:27] It would pretty quickly and much more quickly than any other software implementation [03:31] that we've ever done before. [03:33] So he's moved on to the next project and we're looking at how we can streamline those workflows [03:39] and become even more efficient than we already are. [03:42] Let me ask you a question that's kind of taught, I just thought of this. [03:46] Having the AI specialist in the office, is it like, oh shit, this guy's like about to automate [03:54] my role or like how is the team felt with his presence in the office? [03:59] Yeah, that's a great question, Chris, and so far we haven't been met with that feedback. [04:05] It's more people are excited to learn from him and see how he can make them more efficient in their roles or how he can help them in their roles. [04:13] If I would leave him alone, he would be much better off, but I keep pulling him into projects. [04:17] I'm starting a trial next week, and he's helped me really comb through piles and piles and piles of medical records and data and expert reports. [04:27] And we're utilizing AI for our jury van R. [04:32] Next week, we've done a lot of background work on the panel. [04:36] And just I'm amazed at what he's brought to the table so far. [04:40] Have them a custom AI expert in how it gives a bigger, [04:43] a massive operational advantage in the courtroom and the back office. [04:46] But technology is only as effective as the business strategy driving it. [04:50] A lot of firms fall into the trap of thinking that more volume automatically equals more revenue. [04:55] Up next, we talk about how to dig your build a route around is for using name image and likeness deals. [05:01] I'm also excited. [05:02] You're going to be speaking of PemCon this year. [05:04] So you're talking about NIL, name image likeness, professional athletes, the partnerships and [05:11] kind of some of the things that you've done in that space that's had an impact on your marketing. [05:17] You know, maybe just a little preview of what you're going to talk about. [05:22] Talk to me about some of these deals that you've done, maybe the impact. [05:25] Yeah, so a lot of changes in the world with the NIO world right now. [05:29] We were with professional athletes and celebrity endorsements before NIO became legal and then [05:35] with the NIO sweeping the nation. [05:39] We jumped in the NIO world as well. [05:41] And I tell people all the time, you know, watch the kilo nil, where's rebox or rebox, [05:46] or kilo nil and rebox, or while patentmaning stands there with Papa John or state form [05:51] has Aaron Rogers, because it works. [05:54] That's why. [05:55] And we kind of picked up on that. [05:56] We partnered with Alvin Cameroon, his rookie year, and we saw that really take off and rolled [06:02] into an older Saints legend quarterback, Bobby A. Bear, and then to take some heel and [06:08] Jamal Williams, and we partnered with some NIO deals with LSU athletes and it's proven to be [06:15] very beneficial for our brand. [06:18] And it's wild. [06:19] That someone would choose a lawyer based on who they associate themselves with, but just look [06:24] the business world and it's why it's a library endorsements is such a big deal. [06:28] Hi, Greek, 1,000 percent. [06:29] I mean, there's a reason why Patrick Mellon was a state farm. [06:32] I mean, that there was a reason because people like Patrick Mellon was in the nature of [06:35] their thinking. [06:36] Let me go with state farm on the opposite side. [06:39] It's wild to think that you get credibility just for standing on TV or social media with [06:44] the NFL player. [06:46] But you do. [06:47] I mean, Louisiana, football, Christ, South and people hold these athletes. [06:54] the superhero's and to have them give the public their vote of confidence or kind of [06:59] endorse me in some sort of way just by being on the commercials with me is it's amazing. [07:04] It's really cool. [07:05] We really proud to have kind of pioneered that in the legal world when I started doing it [07:09] without in Comeria years ago. [07:11] No one else was really doing that. [07:13] Now, I mean, imitation is the best form of flattery. [07:16] Right. [07:17] Some other lawyers throughout Louisiana have started to bring athletes on to their, [07:23] they're marketing campaigns, but anyway, it's good stuff. [07:28] Let me ask you this, just touching on it. [07:31] I see a lot of firms will try to do the full team, [07:35] and even with the player route. [07:37] I think we buy from people, [07:39] like there's the emotional, the relationship there, [07:43] a lot of times too, there's fans like me like that. [07:46] When a player moves, I go to that team [07:49] because I'm falling the player, [07:51] have you thought about that strategy of the individual versus the team? [07:55] Because I know these licensing deals are massively expensive for the team stuff. [08:00] The team stuff, the licensing deal is negotiating with the NFL or the NBA or some real [08:07] players there, Chris. [08:09] We felt that it focusing on the individual player was more of a connection to the fan base, right? [08:18] instead of just a team or a brand being able to connect with an athlete and have those athletes [08:24] participate instead of just using the NFL and NBA teams logo or brand and commercials [08:30] or name in the commercials. You have that athlete themselves coming and make appearances and [08:36] make commercials and let's a public kind of see-behind the scenes who they are underneath that [08:40] helmet. I like that. It makes it make it real. It can see them laugh at the [08:45] your association right next to them and I've seen some of the commercials amazing. [08:53] I am the worst design critic. You know, I look at my website today. I like it. [08:57] Look at the next day that I hate it. And I look at your guys' website. I think your website [09:01] is phenomenal. But one of the things that genuinely need that one of the things is I like [09:07] It's not stuffy, right? [09:10] It's like you guys are in jeans, you're doing the flex, right? [09:14] You're smiling, you got the, like everybody's in the pool, [09:17] you know, like your professional tire, [09:19] but it's not like the suits, like with, you know, [09:22] the one guy standing with the frown on his face. [09:24] You're like, you look approachable. [09:25] One of the reasons we partnered with athletes [09:28] in our marketing campaign is how do you be different? [09:30] How do you stand out? [09:31] You know, years ago, every lower commercial on TV [09:34] was the lawyer and a stuffy law library talking about how he's the greatest lawyer and he's going [09:40] to fight for you and after 20 lawyer commercials like that, how do you differentiate yourself [09:45] and how do you stand out? So we came up with the NFL athlete, lawyer websites, how every [09:50] lawyer website, we've recovered billions for you and we fight for you and we're the best for you [09:55] and we can do this for you. Well, our website's more, this is who we're [10:00] We are. Yes, we're lawyers and you'll see that side of our website. Yes, we've won billions. You'll see that side of our website [10:05] But this is who we are as people too. And you'll see, you know, it's kind of a fun lighthearted [10:10] Part of it as well and comments have been pretty overwhelming [10:14] favorable [10:15] Since the launch so it's good stuff. Everybody in the team. They just seem approachable, right? I feel I feel like comfortable. I think people get me [10:22] Yeah, that was the idea that was that was really the idea is that the user experience when you come to that website [10:28] if you went to, you know, if you're searching or trying to choose between lawyers in our markets and [10:33] then you come up every law firm website kind of looks similar and you come across ours and it's like, [10:39] hey, this guy's looked like they're serious at what they do, but they also are very relatable and [10:44] that was the whole idea behind the user experience of the website. Well, it's working so I love it. [10:50] on my side.com. You'll check it out. [11:20] revenue. Diggers build a culture that completely devised industry norms, even if it wasn't [11:25] necessarily up to him. His hyper-focused approach to client care is exactly how he turned his [11:30] firm into a 70% referral machine and why he realized that pushing his attorneys to handle [11:35] hundreds of files is actually leaving money on the table. I want to talk a little bit about team. [11:41] The more I start to learn about this industry, I see the different staffing models, and it kind of [11:46] it tells a story about the type of firm you are and a lot of these firms that process a lot [11:51] of volume very heavy on the case managers. I've heard some comments of anywhere from, [11:55] you know, 150 and I got tech enabled and the one thing that stood out for your firm is different, [12:01] I didn't see any case managers. I saw pre-lit pair of Legels, and that's not to say that you [12:07] don't care about client experience clearly you do even from the website. I mean you got a thousand [12:11] reviews your main office 4.9 and 5 star or like glowing reviews you have a client experience [12:16] manager. Yeah. Is it Louisiana in their direct action statue, the modified comparative, [12:22] the one-year statue, is it like like talk to me about this decision and like how you're staffing [12:28] versus like other firms. You've maybe walked for some of your listeners to here, but in Louisiana [12:33] you cannot have case managers. It has to be a lawyer that said, well, you're your case or [12:38] negotiate here. Yeah, so we have a lot of pre-litigation. [12:43] Parallel Eagles that helps us build the files and gets them in order. [12:47] But the pre-lit lawyers are model is separated in between pre-litigation lawyers and litigation [12:52] lawyers. And the pre-lit cost command pre-lits get them, get them set up, get them treating, [12:58] figure out insurance coverage, and then ultimately, try to get that case set up for policy [13:03] limits. And if it can, then it gets pushed to the litigation guys. And they follow the [13:07] lawsuits and litigate the case. [13:09] But we have a customer experience manager here. [13:13] We've mapped out our customer journey from the time the phone rings to the time the settlement [13:17] check is placed into their hands. [13:20] And we take it extremely serious that that customer journey from start to finish because we [13:26] want to create fans. [13:28] We want to create not only happy customers or happy clients, but we want to create fans that [13:33] goes out into the community and promotes our brand and sends their family and friends to us. [13:38] Yeah, those are the ventures. I can't remember the exact stat you told me, but the [13:41] percentage you told me on referrals was way higher than I've heard of before. Yeah. [13:46] Yeah, it's like 70%. Yeah, unreal. And that's that's amazing. And you want to talk to everybody's [13:54] all this consolidation, everybody's costs go up and you're like, hey, I've got 70%. So you've got [13:59] you got a nice motor. [14:01] Yeah, marketing costs seem to go up every year. [14:04] Our cax seems to increase every year, year over year. [14:08] So, how do you combat that? [14:10] If you compare it to spending more money, you have to spend more money, [14:14] and there's only some excellent pull of injured people in Louisiana, [14:18] and that pulls even shrinking, would say, for cars and just fewer wrecks. [14:22] So, what do you do different? [14:24] You kind of lean into your customer base that you've already built out over the years, [14:28] the years and you take really good care of them and you stay in touch and you stay in front [14:32] of them and you create fans or evangelists, you called them and whenever they're friends [14:39] and family need a lawyer, they're there, you have to top of their mind. [14:43] That's really smart and people talk about what is marketing, but marketing is everything you do. [14:49] So you've this decline experience is marketing. [14:52] The other thing I was going to ask about is the combating the rising cost of the front end, [14:58] is like obviously being great litigators, right? [15:00] You've got some amazing results for your clients. [15:05] I guess for our audience, and this is more for audience, [15:07] not for me, of course. [15:10] But like what's some tips to maximize fees? [15:12] Just in general, if you're trying to maximize [15:15] an increase your average fees. [15:17] Well Chris, one thing I always appreciated [15:18] about your podcast and all the guests you've had on it [15:21] is the guests that truly dialed into the numbers [15:24] and the guests that really got into the details [15:26] shared information. That's what made a interesting podcast and what made me want to listen. [15:32] So I want to do that for you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And what we have found is you get all these [15:38] lawyers and all your lawyers just won't as many cases as they can because they think more cases [15:43] equals more money. Right? We've kind of found that there's a as they find tuned number. You can only [15:50] touch X amount of cases X amount of files per day. Whether you have 50 files or 500 files, you [15:57] could only only X amount of files per day can get your attention. And that number is different [16:02] for every lawyer, every lawyer is very different, but we try our best. There are our leadership team [16:08] here to really find to what number these lawyers work best at, right? And the best tip that I [16:15] I could tell you is more cases doesn't necessarily mean more money or more revenue for your firm [16:21] or for that lawyer. [16:22] Our lawyers are all commissioned based and so they want to work hard and settle as much [16:28] as they can, so that was many cases they can to make more money for their families. [16:32] And which you find and it was a tough sale at first but like hey instead of 200 cases, [16:38] we're going to give you 75 and you're going to work the heck out of those 75 cases. [16:43] So what do I find helps maximize those case values? [16:47] It's fewer cases, but really focus in on attention to detail in those files. [16:52] So amazing what you find in those files when you really dig down or have the time to really [16:56] dig down into what the case is, who your client is, who the defendant is, what you can uncover [17:03] when you really spend the time to focus on. [17:05] The second part of really maximizing fees is taking them to the map. [17:10] and look at PIVamanas, you know, these lawyers at Common and say, [17:14] oh, well, we're gonna fight for you, we're gonna fight so hard, [17:17] but insurance companies have amazing records and amazing data. [17:22] And they know that when you settle 90% of your cases, [17:27] they know when you accept less than policy limits on your cases. [17:31] And they know who does it. [17:33] So I'm not beating on my chest to tell you that, [17:35] you know, I'm gonna fight harder than anybody else, whatever. [17:38] just telling you that the devils in the details on our side and their side and they know [17:43] who is going to stand up and take them to the end. I try a lot of cases, our firm [17:49] draws a lot of cases, I try a lot of cases myself, I start trial next Monday. It's, it's, [17:55] it means something to really hold them accountable and to not accept their first offer, their [18:02] second offer or even, even their last offer, but really let take them to the jury and let's [18:06] Super the jury has to say. [18:07] Thank you for sharing that. [18:08] That's incredible. [18:10] You know, the first comment on the 75. [18:12] I'm sure you did get pushed back in the beginning, [18:15] but it makes me think, I can't remember [18:17] what I was talking to is like a fine law rep. [18:21] It's talking about how they split the territory in half. [18:24] I think it was the St. Louis fine law rep. [18:26] And I was like, well, did you hit your quota? [18:29] Like, yeah, hit my quota. [18:31] They're like, we get half your territory. [18:32] So smart business. [18:35] right? They just doubled their revenue and great point and I'm not saying that 75 is the magic number. [18:43] I'm telling you, lawyer A may be rolling on all cylinders at 80 when lawyer B does his [18:52] his or her best at 60. You know it's just it's all about them and the team they have around [18:57] them and their systems and their processes, right? We have a lawyer who will read every word [19:02] of every page 10 times. He can't have 100 files, right? He needs that's just his method, [19:08] his way of doing things and it works really, really well for him, but he needs fewer files [19:13] to be able to do that. [19:14] Yeah, and you've got the team surrounding. You've got the pair of Legels. You've got the investigators. [19:20] You've got all the resources. I guess a few other questions. If you're going to choose to [19:27] to have a smaller doc in the cases. [19:29] I know attorneys hate the word soft tissue, right? [19:32] But like, just like, hey, we're, [19:34] this doesn't, you know, this is an ABC, [19:36] you know, D and like, hey, maybe the season D's now [19:38] go to another firm like he wanna monetize, of course, right? [19:42] Cause he's been so much to market. [19:44] Is that naturally happening on the front end [19:45] where you're screening a little bit more on the front end? [19:48] No, we are, we are screening a better for, [19:52] for losing cases, you know, [19:53] total form hit Louisiana pretty hard in the last couple years. [19:56] No paid no play and Louisiana used to be 15,000. [20:00] you were born from recovering the first 15,000 dollars, where you claim if you didn't have insurance. [20:05] Last legislative session, they up that till $200,000. So if someone doesn't have insurance, [20:11] they have born from recovering the first 100,000 dollars of their claim. So our intake team, [20:15] and our intake attorneys really focus on trying to figure out viable money-making cases on the front, [20:23] instead of bogging our team down, or cases that may not ever pay a dividend in the end. For example, [20:28] know they know play if they don't have insurance on their on their automobile when they get an accident their injuries aren't severe enough to ever get surpassed that [20:36] hundred thousand dollar mark [20:38] and we cut them loose [20:39] you know pretty quickly because it [20:41] you know if it's going to be a loser or a case that you don't make make a feel and then then you don't want to tell you team up about your team down for you know [20:48] a mother to just for no reason [20:51] I talked to a big name, one of the bigger attorneys in their state. [20:58] They said they're in COVID. [20:59] They didn't know how it was going to go. [21:00] So they signed up all the cases that they wouldn't normally sign. [21:04] And he was, he was cursed. [21:05] And he's like, yeah, he didn't make money on any of those. [21:07] And he was just afraid they're in COVID. [21:10] I just use no pay, no play as an example of something we call and get good rid of. [21:15] But your lower value cases, your young lawyers could cut their teeth on those lower value cases. [21:20] And they can get a man if they're pretty [21:22] that lawyer, they can get a man and get them set up [21:25] and figure out the fleas on the case [21:27] and try to expose the fleas early [21:28] and are how to beat back the fleas [21:30] and make the case better. [21:32] If they're young litigation lawyers, then you know, [21:35] you don't cut your teeth on the multimillion dollar cases [21:37] where you really learn and fine-tune your craft [21:40] is with the smaller cases with issues, with problems. [21:43] That's how you become a better trial lawyers [21:45] when you end all cases with issues. [21:47] any dummy can handle a rear-end collision with that can back surgery and they just offer you the policy limits. [21:54] That's not how you find two in your craft. [21:56] Where you really get good is whenever you got problems that you have to overcome. [22:01] And young lawyers deal with problems, make them better, better lawyers. [22:06] Well said. [22:07] Well said. [22:08] One other question I had is, you know, we got a lot of EOS. [22:11] I know you're in a lot of mastermind and see you, you're constantly growing and making improvements [22:17] and in EOS they have track these leading indicators these KPIs make your scoreboard make your [22:23] jumbo tron whatever it's called in your seat at like kind of the top like what what's some [22:29] of the numbers like key numbers that you're looking at to kind of judge the health or just [22:34] things that you're interested in and seeing. Yeah so we track and measure everything and some of the [22:41] numbers I look every day on how many cases we saw in the very day, right? And that's all I [22:48] used to care about is I heard someone on this podcast or maybe it was even me that told [22:54] you that on my death that I want my kids to know I love them, I want my wife to know I love [22:58] them and I want to know how many cases we saw in that day, right? That's all I cared about [23:02] was how many cases we saw in the end of the year when you start looking at revenue numbers [23:08] or projecting revenue, there's a really big number you also need to consider and that's [23:13] closed without fee. If you sign up 100 cases but only 75 pay then you need to know that, right? [23:20] You're not based in your financial projections on 100 cases paying, it's only 75 that pay. [23:25] So two big numbers or sign ups and then close without fee. You want to know your cost-break [23:32] position, you know you're marketing dollars, how I will there, they're working. You want to know [23:36] average fee. You know, of the kept cases, what a melt fees paid per case, what's the average [23:42] pre-lit versus lit. All kinds of numbers we're tracking, but I think those are the high-level [23:48] most important ones. It's amazing what the data will show you when you when you start tracking [23:55] large amounts of data, it's amazing the trends that have become easily identifiable and the [24:01] things you can recognize. My CFO predicts our revenue every year within one or two percent at the [24:07] beginning of the year and it's just data. We know we signed up this many cases last year, [24:12] this average fee. We know this we settled this much, this percent of cases per month and this [24:18] many of this many in pre-lit. And when you start tracking all that data over multiple years and [24:23] another that much data, the trends become easy to see and easy to spot. And from a business [24:30] owner standpoint, it's invaluable information to know within one or two percent where you're [24:34] going to end that year. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Let's see forecast, you know, avoid those pitfalls [24:41] of eye over hiring, under hiring. Yeah. All of every Monday, my CFO sends my partner and I, we call [24:48] of the jumbo trot. And it's everything you can imagine that we are tracking every department [24:54] reports up and and and has their report weekly. So every Monday afternoon we get that we [25:01] need all of the every Tuesday morning and we're monitoring you know cases sign cases closed [25:06] close without feet percentages average fees. How many settlements we're in this week? How many fees [25:12] we're in this week, attorney case loads, paralegal case loads, all those good things. [25:18] But when you compile that data and you keep that data in a way that you can understand [25:25] it, it's amazing what that data will tell you and where it will lead you. [25:29] And helps you make better decisions. [25:31] Very smart. [25:32] Thanks for sharing. [25:33] Digger, this has been incredible. [25:34] I'm really excited to have you speak at PimCon for audience that wants to connect with you. [25:39] It has a case Louisiana. [25:40] wants to send to you, wants to talk shop. [25:42] What's the best way to get in touch? [25:44] Yeah, on my side.com is the website. [25:47] I'm email is diggeratonmyside.com, cell phone 318 3595069 Instagram, Facebook, all those good [25:56] things you can find me there. [25:58] I love what I do. [26:00] I love legal marketing. [26:01] I love talking about it. [26:03] Anybody any time you have an issue in Louisiana or you have something, you know, maybe [26:06] you want to bring us celebrity athlete to your hometown, call me, I've got some connections [26:11] that maybe can make some some introductions for you. [26:14] So, love to help. [26:16] Amazing. [26:17] Figure, thanks for coming on the show. [26:18] Yeah, thanks Chris. [26:19] What an incredible conversation. [26:25] Digger is proving that you don't have to accept the industry standard. [26:28] By leaning in a technology with custom in-house AI, tracking the exact data to drive profit [26:33] and having the courage to reduce caseloads to maximize case values, [26:37] he's built an absolute powerhouse down in Louisiana. [26:40] If you want to hear more from Digger and trust me, you do. [26:43] You need to be a PemCon this year. [26:45] He is taking a stage of breakdown of his exact playbook for using name image and likeness [26:48] deals to completely dominate your market. [26:51] You do not want to miss it. [26:52] It's happening October 4th through 6th in Scottsdale, Arizona. [26:56] Head on over to PemCon.org, the Secure Your Take is Before They're Gone. [27:00] I'm Chris Strier, thanks for listening to, First Linger Mastermind. [27:03] See you next time.