CLNC^® Success Story: Certified Legal Nurse Consultant Shares Her Immediate Success Exhibiting at Legal Conferences

Vickie, I just have to tell you about my recent exhibiting success. I started my Certified Legal Nurse Consultant business 5½ months ago after a long hiatus from nursing. I was fortunate to be able to work on my legal nurse consulting business full time and I made a concerted effort to use the marketing strategies I learned from the CLNC^® Certification Program. I got my first two cases on the same day within a week of my launch date just networking with friends. This networking brought me two attorneys and seven cases in the first three months.

To create immediate success for my legal nurse consulting business, I decided to exhibit at a statewide plaintiff attorney convention. I put to use the event marketing information in the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook, NACLNC^® Apprenticeship and Advanced CLNC^® Practice-Building Programs. I decided to spend the money to hire a graphic designer to create a professional tri-fold exhibit I could use repeatedly. I was thrilled with the final product and thanks to the information I received from Vickie Milazzo Institute, my exhibit booth looked attractive and professional.

I stood in front of my exhibit throughout the convention and introduced myself to most everyone who walked by. I passed out numerous business cards and brochures. I focused my conversations on how the attorneys were currently screening and developing their medical-related cases and how I could save them time and money. On the first day, I stayed until all attorneys and all but two exhibitors had left the exhibit hall. Ten minutes after returning to my hotel room, I got a call from an attorney-prospect who was waiting by my booth with medical records for me to review! Needless to say, I ran downstairs to meet with him. Believe it or not, I walked away from that convention with not one but two sets of medical records and retainers for both cases from that one attorney!

I received permission to follow up from every attorney with whom I spoke. I also gave free screenings to three attorneys who were particularly interested in my CLNC^® services. Two other attorneys asked me to call them after the convention to discuss a case on which they needed help. The day after I notified one attorney of his free screening, he called me to discuss a case he wanted me to handle. He needed help with several cases and wanted to get started. His firm handles a large number of malpractice and negligence cases so this opportunity really opened doors for my CLNC^® business.

I was surprised on the second day of the convention when one of the other two legal nurse consultant exhibitors shut down their booth (three RNs were exhibiting together). It was “tax-free shopping” that weekend so they closed their booth at 11:00am and went shopping! Needless to say, they had not attended the Vickie Milazzo Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program. Since the convention was only 2½ days, they lost a huge opportunity to meet attorneys.

All in all, as a result of exhibiting at this one event I came home with the following:

• Two sets of medical records and retainer fees for each case from the same attorney.
• Requests from two attorneys to call regarding cases on which they need help.
• Request to screen a case for merit from a new attorney-client.
• Request to locate two testifying experts.
• Plus I received the attorney mailing list database from the association sponsoring the convention.

While exhibiting is not cheap nor easy, it definitely paid off for me. It gave my CLNC^® business statewide exposure and I will be hiring my first CLNC^® subcontractor to help with my rapidly increasing case load. I love my new career as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and look forward to many years of exhibiting success.

Laura H. Beard, RN, BSN, CLNC is president of LHB Medical-Legal Consulting located in South Carolina and specializes in medical malpractice, personal injury, workers’ compensation cases and Medicare Set-Aside Allocations.