We came to solve a specific problem and wound up changing the industry.
Imagine being a wheat farmer in 1835, when Hiram Moore patented the first combine harvester, which was capable of reaping, threshing, and winnowing grain. Up to that point, the cost and effort to keep up a wheat field was significant, but manageable for a family. But with a combine, what used to take 80 hours of work each week could be completed in 20, at a fraction of the cost, with better results – all without the health concerns associated with doing the work.
Solving the collections problem changed the wheat industry forever.
The legal industry is going through something similar. To attract and sign more clients, most attorneys offer some kind of payment plan. This leaves it up to them to collect their own harvest – working their cases manually over a long period of time.
In 2016 Jason Brown and Josh Utesch sat down with some attorneys to help them solve this problem for their firms. That solution would ultimately lead to the creation of Fortify, which allows attorneys to offer a client every option to hire them, upfront, then manages those payment plans – collecting up to 93 cents on the dollar for the cases.
“The verdict is in on iQualify. I’ve used it for 6 months and my current ROI is already over 800%!” — Regina Edwards, a divorce attorney in Gwinnett County, Ga.
Attorneys don’t want to put clients on payment plans, but clients need options that fit their budget. They’re looking for an affordable way to hire an affordable expert to win their case. This problem is so universal that 66% of clients leave their first meeting without a clear understanding of how to pay the attorney for their case moving forward. As a result, the first attorneys often become the baseline for the client to shop around and find a better price. But if the client specifically says “I can’t afford that, can you work something out?”, then the attorney only has one option – offer a payment plan. The client is looking for the lowest payment and/or to spread payments out over a set amount of time. As a result, your firm becomes the bank – and that’s bad news for attorneys managing their own retainer plans.
Jason Brown and Josh Utesch began iQualify Lending with a mind for finance, but a heart for legal and the belief in what can happen when those two things meet. “Turns out”, Jason says, “attorneys have never had options like this before. We realized most of them are putting clients on payment plans and, to no one’s surprise, they’re not very good at collecting. It’s hard being counselor and collection agent to the same client. But those same attorneys using our retainer financing tools with Fortify are enjoying up to a 30% raise, for the exact same clients.”
With a product as unique as Fortify, other legal retainer financiers are hoping you will assume cost is the only difference between them and iQualify. But retainer financing alone won’t solve the problem – not even close. There is no other program out there that will make it easier to get hired, get paid, and get out of the collections business, once and for all. Think about that for a second. We help you convert more potential clients, get you paid, and take you out of the collections business once and for all. What are you waiting for?