A clickable walkthrough of one estate-planning inquiry moving from your website form to your contact list, a follow-up reminder, a follow-up email and a social post. Each step uses real tools, and the costs below come from Albuquerque wage data and published prices.
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Sample demo: Cottonwood Bend Law Group and its client “Maria Delgado” are fictitious. Nothing here is connected to any real firm or system.
of law firms in Clio’s 2024 secret-shopper study never replied to a prospective client’s email.[2]
of people looking for a lawyer expect a reply within 24 hours.[3]
potential clients, on average, at firms that use online intake tools, according to Clio.[2]
Many firms already answer fast on a good day. The point here is to keep that speed on busy days too, without adding hours.
Click a step or use Next. Each step shows what happens today, what the automated version does, and which tools do it.
Today: the form emails one inbox. Someone reads it, works out what the person needs, then calls or texts back to set up a consultation.
Automated: within a minute, Maria gets a friendly reply with your scheduling link for a free consultation. Your team gets a text alert with a one-line summary. A person still makes the call. It’s just faster and better prepared.
Plain words: Zapier is a “when this happens, do that” connector between apps you already use.
Today: copy name, email, phone and notes into a spreadsheet, your phone or a notepad, or leave them in the inbox.
Automated: a contact is created with the matter type, county and a short summary pulled from the message. Key details, like owning a home and wanting to avoid probate, are flagged, so the consult starts warm.
CRM means contact list with a history of every touch. If you’d rather stay inside legal software, Clio Grow does the same job inside Clio.
Today: remembering, or writing down, who still needs a callback, then checking whether they booked.
Automated: a reminder is created at the time she asked for. When she books through Acuity, the reminder clears itself and her stage updates. Acuity has a ready-made Zapier connection for “new appointment.”[9]
Hi Maria,
Thank you for talking with me today. Here’s a quick recap of how we’ll put your living trust and healthcare powers of attorney in place:
First, we draft your trust and powers of attorney based on today’s conversation. Next, you review the drafts with us. Then we set a signing appointment, and finally we walk you through moving your home into the trust.
As we discussed, the price we went over today covers the whole process.
When you’re ready, just reply here or pick a signing time with the scheduling link.
Cottonwood Bend Law Group (fictitious) · (505) 555-0100
Today: write the recap from scratch after each consult, or skip it on busy days.
Automated: after the Acuity appointment ends, a draft lands in your Outlook or Gmail drafts folder using your firm’s standard wording and the notes from the record. Nothing sends until you read it and click send. You set the fee line.
Today: think of a topic, write it, make a graphic and post it by hand on each channel.
Automated: once a week, common questions from inquiries (never names or details) become a draft post in your voice, using material you already publish, like your FAQ or a checklist. You approve it, and it’s scheduled to Facebook and LinkedIn.
Client details never go into a post. The AI only sees anonymized topics.
Typical for a solo or two-attorney practice. With a real firm, we’d confirm all of this on a call.
Cost = minutes per step × hourly cost × how often it happens. The defaults are 10 inquiries a week (an assumption; change it in the calculator) and $28.96/hr, the May 2025 mean wage for paralegals and legal assistants in the Albuquerque metro area.[1] Wages only, before benefits, so the real cost is higher. Minutes per step are estimates.
| Step | How often | Today (min) | Automated (min) | Today $/wk | Automated $/wk | Saved $/yr | Tools |
|---|
| New tool subscription | Plan | $/month | $/year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Professional, 750 tasks/mo, billed annually | $19.99 | $239.88 | [4] |
| HubSpot CRM | Free (2 users, 1,000 contacts) | $0.00 | $0.00 | [6] |
| Meta Business Suite | Free | $0.00 | $0.00 | [7] |
| Buffer | Essentials, 1 channel (LinkedIn), billed annually | $5.00 | $60.00 | [8] |
| Scheduling (e.g. Acuity) | Assumed already in use, no change | $0.00 | $0.00 | [12] |
| Total new subscriptions | $24.99 | $299.88 |
One-time setup by our team is separate and quoted as a fixed price after the discovery call. Task volume check: about 6 Zapier tasks per inquiry × 43 inquiries/mo ≈ 260 tasks, well inside the 750-task plan (estimate).
If an attorney handles intake, choose the lawyer rate. The hours saved are hours they can spend on paid work.
We’d start with one or two of these steps, likely the auto-reply with your scheduling link plus the contact record, and measure the difference.
Reply to set up a time, or just give me a call Email john@sunnyskiesconsulting.com Call (505) 720-1380
Built by John Mierzwa, founder of Ingenuity Software Labs. Its team built client sites, custom web apps and CRMs for local companies, including the Duran & McDonald law-firm site (newmexicoaccidentfirm.com). Today John designs and runs a team of about 14 AI agents that handle work like this every day.
Offered through Sunny Skies Consulting, a woman-owned Albuquerque company owned by Lisa Adkins (sunnyskiesconsulting.com).
Estimates: minutes per step (today and automated), inquiries per week, social posts per week and the Zapier task count are estimates or assumptions for illustration. We replace them with your real numbers during the two-week baseline. Dollar figures use wages only, before benefits and overhead, so actual savings are likely higher.