As part of the launch for our new Lean Align invoicing workflow we're releasing this guide to help you get started on your own. Why Lean Align? Because financial alignment between your firm and your firms' customers is critical. Tight financial alignment means quick payments with few questions, and that's your goal.
Lean Align includes e-payments (credit cards, debit cards, ACH - you name it!), but it's so much more than that. Lean Align includes all these functionalities bundled into a sleek workflow within LeanLaw:
invoice & trust request email customization, with the ability to include your firms logo and other customizations.
email tracking to visualize exactly the status of your invoice and trust request emails -- have they been opened? Did they bounce? Partially paid? Paid in full? Now you know.
Sleek reminder emails to remind clients of outstanding balances with one click.
other tools to drive financial alignment between your firm and clients.
If Lean Align is the concept of financial alignment with your clients, our payments functionality is where the money actually transfers over to your firms' bank account in a seamless, compliant manner. Best of all? Payment links are automatically updated to reflect the actual balance of the invoice (or full client balance) if a partial payment has been made. Payments are recorded automatically in QBO, and you're off the the races.
So, ready to get started? Here is the step-by-step flow:
1. Sign up for Confido Legal using LeanLaw
The first major step in getting started with Lean Align and Payments is to set up an account with our partner, Confido Legal. We've leveraged their payment processing infrastructure to build this feature set, so you'll need to follow these steps to complete the 3-way integration between LeanLaw, Confido Legal, and QuickBooks Online.
2. Complete the payments application
As part of the Payments solution you'll actually be collecting payments/trust from clients, so completing the payment application is a must. Think of it as setting up a new bank account: Confido will be handling money, and there are federal regulations involved in doing so.
This application can appear quite involved and personal, but that's largely because of the compliance with federal anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations. This translates to confidence when transacting with LeanLaw + Confido Legal, but if you'd like to learn more check out Confido Legal's article below:
If you have any questions or need assistance with the application please contact the Confido Legal team at support@gravity-legal.com.
3. Set up email preferences
LeanLaw's email service allows you to customize your email's appearance for a professional, branded look, while letting you automate details like an account summary, an email text body, and your firm's logo. LeanLaw's email service (with Confido Legal) also sets you up to quickly receive electronic payments from your clients with either invoice payment links or full balance payments links -- your choice on whether to include either or both.
4. Sending invoices and getting paid
Now for the easy part: create and email invoices like you normally would! Invoices you email from the LeanLaw application will now use LeanLaw's email service, which means you have granular tracking over every email you send. Think of it almost like a precursor to the receivables report -- now you can see every step in the flow, including whether your customer has opened the email, and partially or fully paid the invoice balance.
This means all of the invoices that you deliver via email in LeanLaw can include a payment link, allowing your client to review and pay in just a few clicks!
We've built this functionality to make communicating with clients seamless and all-from-one place.
This process can get confusing, but we're here to help! If you run into any issues please reach out to our wonderful Support team using the in-app chat or emailing support@myleanlaw.com