MODULE 07 / 08 · 12 MIN
Consultative Discovery & Objection Handling
Persona-specific discovery questions and executive-grade responses to the objections you'll hear every week.
Key intelligence
- 1
CFO: “What percentage of monthly pre-bills are rejected or delayed due to OCG violations?”
- 2
“Switching is too risky” → zero failed implementations; start modular, move the core later.
- 3
“Clio is simpler” → basic case tracking vs enterprise legal financial management.
- 4
“We already have Teams and SharePoint” → Handshake is the layer that makes them matter-aware.
Discovery matrix
Ask about process and numbers, not product
| Persona | Question | Maps to |
|---|---|---|
| CFO | "What percentage of your monthly pre-bills are rejected or delayed due to Outside Counsel Guideline violations?" | Onyx · BillBlast · Cloud AR |
| CFO | "How many days does it take from a rejected e-bill to a resubmitted, paid invoice?" | BillBlast |
| Managing Partner | "How does your pricing committee calculate fixed-fee proposals today, and how do you monitor margin erosion during execution?" | Virtual Pricing Director |
| Managing Partner | "How do partners get time in — daily, or reconstructed at the end of the week?" | iTimekeep |
| CIO | "What is your firm's timeline for offloading on-premise database infrastructure, and how do you plan to handle cloud integrations?" | Expert Sierra · Stridyn |
| CKO | "How easily can attorneys surface firm work product or view real-time matter financial KPIs directly inside Microsoft Teams?" | Handshake · Handshake for Teams |
| Litigation | "How are court-rule changes reflected in your attorneys' calendars today?" | CompuLaw · Milana |
Objection handling
Defensive to offensive
Response
Totally fair — it's the most important system in the firm. That's why it matters that Aderant has zero failed enterprise implementations. And you don't have to start with the core: many firms deploy iTimekeep or BillBlast first, see the financial return, then move the general ledger to Expert Sierra on their timeline.
The three-line close
What to leave every call with
Lead with Work-to-Cash
Rejections down with BillBlast, OCGs enforced with Onyx, hours captured with iTimekeep, margins modeled with VPD.
Cloud without disruption
Expert Sierra on Stridyn removes server overhead without disrupting firm operations.
Enterprise reliability
Zero failed implementations, NPS 90+, 98% of the Am Law 200.