Episode 362

Digger Earles

EP 362: Digger Earles on Winning Big | Trucking Trials


Podcast EP 362: Digger Earles on Winning Big on Trucking Trials
EP 362: Digger Earles on Winning Big | Trucking Trials

Verdicts create momentum, but brand and operations turn momentum into market share. Digger Earles breaks down how Laborde Earles built a billion-dollar reputation across Louisiana: leveraging NIL partnerships for instant B2C credibility, running intake like an operator (closing 95% of wanted leads), and keeping a trial-first edge from trucking cases to settlement committee discipline.

Using Trucking Trials To Build a Billion-Dollar PI Brand

  • How to turn courtroom wins into peer referrals that drive long-term law firm growth
  • Using name, image, and likeness marketing to build instant credibility for personal injury firms
  • How PI law firm intake teams can improve conversions with empathy, on-call lawyers, and structured follow-ups
  • Settlement committee systems that help trial lawyers push past “good enough” offers for maximum client recovery

Learn more about building a brand:

Guest Details

Digger Earles is a founding partner of Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers, a Louisiana PI firm built on trial-first execution and operator-level rigor. Practicing since 2004, he pairs deep trucking background with an active CDL, bringing real-world expertise to strategy and courtroom narratives. Under his leadership, the firm has expanded to seven offices, recovered over $1B in verdicts and settlements, and built a statewide brand through community-driven partnerships and a client-experience model.

Chris Dreyer and Rankings.io Details

Chris Dreyer is the CEO and founder of Rankings.io, the elite law firm marketing experts - for all your digital and traditional needs. 

Transcript

Chris Dreyer:

Big verdicts get headlines.

Digger Earles:

The best cases weren't going to the best lawyers.

Chris Dreyer:

But they don't build a brand alone.

Digger Earles:

They were going to the best marketers.

Chris Dreyer:

If you want to scale a personal injury firm today, you've got to compete like a marketer and operate like a CEO.

Digger Earles:

intake is the most important part of your business. The best lawyers in the world can't do anything without the client.

Chris Dreyer:

That is Digger Earles. He built the Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers into one of the largest firms in Louisiana. Seven offices, 30+ attorneys, over $1 billion are covered for their clients.

Digger Earles:

My view of the world these days is you're going to be a litigator or you're not going to be a personal injury lawyer.

Chris Dreyer:

This is PIM, powered by Rankings.io. I'm Chris Dreyer. Today, you'll learn how to turn verdicts into leverage, how to use name, image, likeness deals to build instant B2C credibility, and how to run intake like an operator. Let's go. Let's start with the good stuff. What's like a big win that you've had recent that you could share?

Digger Earles:

Well, I got a $5 million verdict last week. That's my most recent big win I'm very proud of.

Chris Dreyer:

Let's go.

Digger Earles:

Yeah, very proud of it. It was a different case. It was an insurance bad faith litigation. We've got a jury verdict three years ago and then got what's called an assignment of rights from the insureds, the defendants to proceed against their insurance company for the bad faith handling of their claim. We were able to pop them with a $5 million verdict. So, in all, we'll have recovered $6.6 million on a $1 million policy.

Chris Dreyer:

That's incredible. Congrats on that.

Digger Earles:

Thank you.

Chris Dreyer:

So a lot of the audience listening, it starts with the leads, right? We got to talk about that. So, you're in a tough market, a lot of big firms that have been advertising for a long time. So, just throwing a couple billboards up and doing the basics isn't really going to break through the noise. How do you think about marketing in a competitive landscape like you're in?

Digger Earles:

Well, I think I've been listening to your podcast for a very long time and all your guests come on and say, "Hey, I'm in the most competitive market. I'm in a very competitive market." But I got to tell you, Louisiana, I want to echo those guys because Louisiana is as tough as it gets in my opinion. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the most expensive market in the country. New Orleans is probably number three or four. Lafayette, Louisiana is in the top 10. I mean, it's a lot of ad dollars spent based on the population that we have. So, it's very competitive. What do I think about marketing? Absolutely hate it.

I mean, I wish we didn't have to do it, but 12 to 15 years ago when we launched this marketing blitz, we always got cases. We always did a good job for our clients, but we quickly realized that the best cases weren't going to the best lawyers. They were going to the best marketers. We had some very large marketers in our markets that were just to churn and burn mass advertising, get lots of cases in, get them in, work them up, settle them, get them out the door. We were litigators, we were fighters, but we saw that we had to jump into that world if we were going to survive.

So, we did, and we took a different approach. We wanted to keep our litigation practice live and well, but we knew we had to start marketing to be able to get the cases to show our talents. We started marketing, getting cases in and kept on litigating them, getting great results and then just snowballed, one thing into another. Now we have seven offices throughout Louisiana and still growing.

 

How to turn courtroom wins into peer referrals that drive long-term law firm growth

 

Chris Dreyer:

I've worked with a bunch of PI firms, and if you look at referrals as a channel to get leads, I've had a few of the non-litigating firms we've worked with at our big advertisers and they don't get the peer referrals. They'll get the clients and friends and family stuff. You've put some big numbers on the board. Trial first, you said. Talk to me through that channel, the peer referrals channel.

Digger Earles:

We know what our cost per acquisition is. We spend X amount of dollars on marketing. We sign up X amount of leads. X amount of those are wanted. Our target is to convert 95% of wanted leads. So, we know what that cost per acquisition is. We track everything here and the best cases seem to come from referrals from other lawyers. I mean, we get our fair share just from our brand, but every small town lawyer throughout the country has their cousin or friend or so-and-so who has a horrible accident and a great freaking case.

They're going to their local guy no matter what, and the local guy may not be equipped to litigate it or try it. So, that's where relationships come into play. Hey, let me take that case on and they'll probably pay you $1 million, but if I can get five, then the client wins, you win. Everybody's better off. I really enjoy that part, the business-to-business marketing, building those relationships and working those cases with mostly young lawyers, but some older lawyers as well. It's proven to be a very good business model and a good way to build up great cases.

 

Using name, image, and likeness marketing to build instant credibility for personal injury firms

 

Chris Dreyer:

In court, you see world-class B2B marketing in action. Lawyers proving their value to other lawyers, that's how peer referrals happen, but B2C is different. The public never sees the trial, never reads the verdict. So, how do you build that same credibility fast? NIL, name, image, and likeness deals that let you borrow trust from people in your community that they already follow. It's a shortcut to consumer awareness and a modern play that works.

Digger Earles:

We look for ways to be different. Every lawyer commercial out there, when we started this was stuffy lawyer in the library talking about I am the best lawyer in the country and you need to send me your case. So, when you got a competitive market and lots of lawyers standing there saying, "Hire me, hire me, hire me," you have to be memorable in that very competitive 30-second TV spot. So, through our core value of community, we reached out to Alvin Kamara's team and partnered with him on his nonprofit to give back to our community in exchange for him participating in some match with us. The south in general is football crazy and Louisiana is no exception. Our football players are legends and heroes, especially Alvin Kamara.

I'll tell you that the idea came to us about Drew Brees because at the time, the Saints had just won the Superbowl with Drew Brees and we got the price for Drew Brees and who's next? And then we got the next one. We're like, "Who's next?" Well, we got this rookie Alvin Kamara who seems to be pretty promising. I knew Alvin Kamara's name from Tennessee because I'm a massive football fan myself. So, we took a shot on him. He turned out to be rookie of the year. His personality was infectious and people just loved him. Then we've turned that into Bobby Hebert who's an old, retired Saints legend now.

Taysom Hill is our partner now. Taysom's number seven. Our phone number is all seven. So, it's a play on that, but just we really go after really good humans who are on that big football stage and give back a lot to the community through their organizations and our nonprofits and our passions. It made us stand out. It made us different and it worked. If national brands have figured out that celebrity endorsements works, why can't that work for our business? So that was our way of thinking and it's paid dividends.

Chris Dreyer:

I completely agree. I mean looking at the other side that you got to look at your competitors and how they're marketing and stuff. State Farms got Patrick Mahomes and some of those, and it doesn't matter if you're looking at shoes. I think Shaq just bought Reebok and he's trying to resurrect that brand. So, now he's got one of the top golfers, I think DeChambeau. Yeah, so I think it's smart. Do you see the social proof component like, "Hey, I saw you with Alvin, so they must be great attorneys"?

Digger Earles:

100%. It's almost like it gives you instant credibility. Now, look, when we partnered with Alvin, he was a rookie. So, how old are you when you're a rookie? Twenty-three, 21, 22 years old. So, at 22, 23-year-old, because he has multiple 100 yard rushing games and scores, 15 touchdowns in his rookie season gives me instant credibility. Not my 20 years of service in the legal field in my multimillion dollar jury verdicts, but to the general public, hey, he's with Alvin Kamara, he's with Taysom Hill, that guy must be stand up. Let's give him a shot.

Chris Dreyer:

Yeah, I think that the B2C that gives you social proof, the B2B to your peers, those big litigate numbers, they know who are the people trying cases.

Digger Earles:

Earlier I told you that we quickly realized the best cases were going to the best marketers, not to the best lawyers. That's true in the B2C, but in the B2B world, it's the best lawyers getting the best cases. So, you do need to prove yourself to those guys. Although I have had referring lawyers ask me for an autographed Alvin Kamara jersey.

Chris Dreyer:

There you go. There you go. That's awesome. The other thing that I just appreciate, you're so client first. It's really going the distance. I think that's part of that. The true trial attorneys, they get into it because they want to fight for the client. Because they're getting undercut, they're not getting what they deserve.

Digger Earles:

So we're very data-driven. We are extremely client-focused, and in Louisiana or whatever markets you're in, it's so competitive to get that case. When you get it, you want to be sure you hold onto it and then taking it a step further, you do a good job for them. They become your largest referral source or your best advertisement, right? I look at our data and far and away our number one referral source is former clients or friends and family or former clients. You give them a first-class experience that Ritz-Carlton experience from the day they walk in the door to the day they walk out the door. You'll be amazed at the return on investment you get from that.

So, we've implemented lots of little details along the way to make sure or ensure that our clients have the best client experience there is. The number one complaint we always got was I never hear from my lawyer. Well, we have checklists in our CRM that every 15 days they hear from their lawyer or the paralegal. Fifteen days lawyer calls, 15 days later, paralegal calls, 15 days lawyer calls just to check in. Now I told you we track everything. We track inbound calls too, and you'd be amazed at the volume of inbound calls, the decrease in inbound calls, just because you call them so much, they don't have to call you. They don't call you to complain about I never hear from you.

They don't call you to tell you, "Hey, I need to go back to the doctor or I haven't had an MRI" because we're on top of it. You got to talk about something when you call them. So, hey, have you had that MRI? I saw you saw the doctor two weeks ago and it's been eight weeks post-accident and there's no MRI or what's the doctor telling you? Those little tidbits, they enter them into the note section. So, the next person called and can read them. It makes for a better client experience and a happier client. Number one, it's all about those five star Google reviews, Chris. So, you get the benefit of that. You get the benefit of their referral sources and you're telling all their friends. Their friend's in an accident and says, man, "I'll never hear from my lawyer."

They say, "I hear from mine all the time so much that I don't have to call them." So client experience is a big deal, so much to us that we hired a client experience manager. Her sole job is mapping out the client journey and maximizing the client experience, whether it's from welcome video, text messages, or hey, your case has progressed to the next stage. Anything we can do to make a better client experience to ensure that they become a fan at the end is what we want to do.

Chris Dreyer:

I got to say just not too long ago, you went to that Chick-fil-A. I'm looking for that. It's our pleasure. The Ritz-Carlton, it's our pleasure, it just makes you feel good, keeps you coming back. The other thing I'll just highlight is a lot of firms I talk to, it's like, "Oh, we're asking for a review at the closeout" or maybe once or twice, but if you're meeting with them every 15 days, you've got a lot of opportunities to find a moment when they're really happy.

Digger Earles:

Well, our team are trained to strike at the best time to get that five-star review. Maybe it's at signup. We've had five-star reviews for our team on cases we've turned down just because they helped them. I'm sorry, I can't help you in this case, but they gave them good advice and referred them to where they needed to be or pushed them along the way and just was kind and courteous and said, "Hey, would you mind leaving us a five-star review?" So it doesn't have to be at disbursement. It can be at sign up. It can be any good interaction along the way is an opportune time to get a five-star review.

 

How PI law firm intake teams can improve conversions with empathy, on-call lawyers, and structured follow-ups

 

Chris Dreyer:

You can have the best marketing in the world, but if your team can't convert calls into cases, it's all wasted spend. Intake is the engine room where tech training and speed decide your ROI.

Digger Earles:

So intake, when we started this process, if you'd have told me intake team, I would've been like, "You're crazy." If somebody calls and wants to hire us, we get them 100% of the time. Well, when you start advertising and that volume comes in and you start really looking at the data, you start to understand what you're missing. So, if you're listening to this podcast and if you don't know that intake is the most important part of your business, you need to take a deeper look at your business because the best lawyers in the world can't do anything without the client.

If you don't have a refined intake process, you're not getting that client and they're going to go home and see 100 other television commercials and 100 other billboards and they're going to hire your competitor who has their intake process refined. So, we use Litify. We've come a long ways in Litify. We have KPIs established for our intake team. We have team leads on intake. We have openers and we have closers like the intake teams that get the client. If they can't close it, then it goes to a closer, someone who's really proven that they closed higher volume of cases.

We have an intake attorney whose old sole job is overseeing the intake process and being there when, "Hey, I want to talk to a lawyer," or if someone's on the fence, hey, how about I get a lawyer on the phone to answer your questions? When we started really diving deep into our intake numbers, we were converting about 84% of one at leads, which was just embarrassing. Our goal now is 95%, and I'm happy to say as we sit here today, it's about 95.4% of one at leads.

Chris Dreyer:

That's incredible. I like the extra touch with, hey, get the lawyer on the phone and you go into the closer if you got one that's hem and hawing around because it is sales. You do have to close.

Digger Earles:

Look, we've spent so much time focused on intake and training and listening to those phone calls. Our entire intake team now has mirrors at their desk. So, they can see themselves while they're on the phone with the client. Because if you have the resting bitch face, that's coming across to the caller, right? That's not what we want. So, we want them to see themselves be happy and hopefully relay those emotions to the client being compassionate and a pleasure to listen to.

Chris Dreyer:

That's smart. One of the things just on Litify because I don't know, I know it's built off of Salesforce. One thing that intrigued me and I thought maybe you could just touch on it was they have, I guess, a referral portal that makes referrals easier. Because I have no idea how that works. Could you just give me a little-

Digger Earles:

Yeah, it's no different than there's lots of attorney share with Bob Simon. I know you know Bob Simon.

Chris Dreyer:

Yeah, Bob's great.

Digger Earles:

Yeah, attorney shares one of those platforms. Michael Mogill and Crisp had their own file shared deal as well. Litify is no different. It's just a way of putting together partners from around the country. We advertise in Louisiana, but maybe the Louisiana guy was in Colorado and got in a car wreck and needs a lawyer there. They call us because they're from Louisiana and I'm looking for a referral partner. So, it's just a referral network within Litify.

Chris Dreyer:

So let's talk about the trial side. Let's talk about ops.

Digger Earles:

Sure.

Chris Dreyer:

Some firms, they'll have a pre-lit department and then a case gets flagged and then it goes to the trial pods. How are you set up? How have you seen the most success to handle? Because your advertisement's for the volume, but then you got the A, B's and C's, those tier one cases come in. So, talk to me about that.

 

Settlement committee systems that help trial lawyers push past “good enough” offers for maximum client recovery

 

Digger Earles:

So we're set up. We have a lit and pre-lit model. I know you know what I'm talking about there. You've been through this before. All cases that come in go to the pre-lit department and they are setting up treatment, verifying coverage, getting the case set up and gone. Then we have an attorney in charge of legal operations that's monitoring those cases. Why hadn't this case settled? What's going on here? Whatever the deal may be. Then when it comes time for litigation, he moves them to the litigation department. We also implement what's called settlement committee.

We meet every Tuesday. No case can be settled for less than policy limits without presenting to the settlement committee and the settlement committee rotates, but it's three lawyers that are assigned each week. If you want to settle a case for less than policy limits, you make your pitch and they decide. They vote yes, that's a good number to settle for or no, you need to do this, this, and this, and you can get more money for it.

Chris Dreyer:

Could you give me an example on one, maybe one at just top of the dome like, "Hey, we were going to consider and settle on this one and then bam, we hit a big-

Digger Earles:

Yeah. Well, young lawyer comes in and says, "Hey, this is my case. This is the venue." I mean, Litify pre-populates a form for us for settlement committee, and it identifies the client. Is this a credible client that would present well to the jury or is this a good venue with a good judge or is it defense oriented? It's a lot of stuff that goes into it. Past medical, future medical, everything's in there. Then they do their research of what they think the generals are and they make their pitch.

Well, a young lawyer had one and he wants to settle for $400,000, but coming to the settlement committee with senior lawyers there, it's just bouncing ideas off and they're like, "Hey, if you get a life care plan for what the doctor's telling you, then that number could drastically improve." So young lawyer, that's his opportunity to learn, hey, life care plan increases settlement value. He did it. He settled a case for 950. So, that's our settlement committee, and that's what it was designed to do and it works.

Chris Dreyer:

That's great. That's that asynchronous, that upside, the value side of experience where it comes into play. You're about utilization and people executing and working. I think, what was the name of the tool?

Digger Earles:

ActivTrak?

Chris Dreyer:

Yeah, ActivTrak.

Digger Earles:

ActivTrak, yeah. We spent a lot of money with vendors on different programs and whether it's Litify or all kinds of programs, we spent a fortune on. So, we implemented this program called ActivTrak that monitors the utilization of the different programs. I mean, how much time are we actually spending? Is our team actually using those programs to their fullest extent? So number one, it identifies programs that, hey, this is costing us a lot of money and it's obviously not beneficial because they aren't using it, or two, these 10 team members are using this program and these 10 aren't. The productivity shows it.

So, maybe it's a learning experience. Hey, did you know this program could do this, this, and this? Maybe merge those two teams in for a quick meeting to see how they're utilizing that program and how it's benefiting them and how much more efficient it's made them, stuff like that.

Chris Dreyer:

That's incredible. I also wanted to just lean in, not only are you trial first firm, but you're also an expert in trucking over two decades. One of the things that caught my attention when I'm doing my research is you even have your own CDL. When you're trying these cases in court, have you used that? Hey, I'm speaking from experience. How does that play into it?

Digger Earles:

I haven't used that in front of the jury yet, but we market so much. We advertise so much. I'm pretty sure they know that. I mean, I walk down the street and people say, "Yeah, that's the guy that drives the trucks." I'm a CDL driver that became a lawyer. I'm not a lawyer that became a CDL driver. I grew up on a farm in rural Louisiana, and that's just what we did. So, I know my way around a big truck and I know much more than most lawyers about the inner workings of big trucks just from growing up around them.

Chris Dreyer:

That makes sense. It's funny how those things work out with your background, your experience, and how it applies to your future career. I thought that was really intriguing because it's like why don't more of these trucking accident attorneys have their CDL? It just makes sense if you're going to go all in there.

Digger Earles:

Yeah. Talk about the ultimate certification for being a truck accident lawyer, right? I mean, I took the test. It just hit me one day that all these guys are out there advertising send me your big truck case because I'm the big truck guy, but are you? There's a lot more to it than just saying it. So, it just hit me. I am the big truck guy. I've been driving trucks since I was 18 years old. I know a thing or two about them. The truth of the matter is when it comes to litigating an 18-wheeler accident, you just see things a little differently when you actually know what they're supposed to do or know what they should have done and where they should have been and how they should have acted. That CDL manual is ripe with lots of nuggets whenever you're looking at a trucking case.

Chris Dreyer:

You can build systems, automate intake, and scale marketing, but at the end of the day, it all runs on talent. Trial lawyers are the rarest asset in business, limited supply, high impact. The question every firm faces is the same. How do you find them, keep them, and build around your heavy hitters?

Digger Earles:

We've recruited insurance defense lawyers who we've been against and we're very impressed with. We hired guys and gals right out of law school and developed them through our pre-lit department and then ultimately built them up to litigators. We have, in my very biased opinion, the best team in the world. Our guys are really passionate about what they do and their success proves it. My view of the world these days is you're going to be a litigator or you're not going to be a personal injury lawyer. Because with the advent of this AI technology and lots of other new opportunities and software out there and new avenues to push cases along in pre-lit, I mean the pre-lit world is going to shrink.

Needing a lawyer to handle the day-to-day task of a pre-lit case is just not going to become necessary. AI can read the medical records and tell me a summary of the medical in seconds, where it would've took me an hour to do it. So, is that the best utilization of your legal talents, reading medical records and figuring out what they say, or can you run it through the AI program? We have our own custom GPT built for us that summarizes them for us and puts the key tools in the hands of the litigators that know how to use them.

Chris Dreyer:

I couldn't agree more. I 1000% stamp it. That's why I think the value of the trial attorneys are going to increase. That's why I've been hitting on it.

Digger Earles:

I do too. Not only the value of the trial. Yes, smart lawyers, hardworking lawyers that really know how to litigate, super valuable, but there's another tier to that. It's the guys that stand in front of that jury and are able to present a case.

Chris Dreyer:

The orators.

Digger Earles:

The orators. Sometimes those aren't the same people. Sometimes the super bright guy that knows this law backwards and forwards and is very skilled at building a case and deposition isn't the right person to present that to the jury. So, as a different type of person, that could be very beneficial to you.

Chris Dreyer:

That front of house versus back of house.

Digger Earles:

Correct.

Chris Dreyer:

Look, we got them too on our side.

Digger Earles:

Yeah.

Chris Dreyer:

One thing I'll tell you that I don't know why I'd never thought about this. You have people like Mr. McCready, who's very into AI and ChatGPT, and I did Hormozi. Alex Hormozi sucked me in his book launch. Before I knew it, I went in thinking I was going to buy one book and ended up getting upsold to 18K or something and a community and workshops. But I was in this community and you have to enter and say, "Hey, here's the best thing that I'm doing for my business."

One of the posts that caught my attention is this business converted all of their SOPs into custom GPTs. I was like, "Oh, wow, that's powerful because you could just download your SOPs and you plug it the GPT in it." I just was really intrigued by that. So, that's one of the things that we're starting to do in our bigger processes.

Digger Earles:

Yeah, I've heard of firms eliminating their HR department because you have a question. You have the firm's custom GPT as your HR department. What's our sick leave policy? Well, just ask the LEGPT and it gives you the answer.

Chris Dreyer:

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, it's just wild what the future holds. What do you see for the future? You already alluded to the trial first, but collision detection. What about that space? What's your thoughts on that? I mean, Waymo's are here.

Digger Earles:

Waymo's are here. They weren't in Louisiana yet, so I think we have a little lag time there. But to your point, yeah, Waymo is rapidly growing across the country. Elon Musk's Tesla cars are driving themselves and heck, my wife's car. I was driving my wife's car last weekend on the phone, I must say, and should have reared somebody, but it wouldn't let me. It locked up the brakes. So, I told you, we track data like probably no other firm in the country, and I know that accidents in Louisiana are down. They're down like 20% year over year. That's safer driving or better technology of cars, safer cars, newer cars, self-driving cars.

I mean, there are fewer and fewer accidents out there. So, you better be able to maximize the ones that you get. It's going to be a tougher landscape, a tougher environment to get these fewer auto accident cases. So, you better set yourself to stand apart.

Chris Dreyer:

Well said. I didn't know it was that high. Geez, and it's a good thing. So, then it opens up opportunity for other practice areas and because the insurance companies are obviously going to low ball when they can. That's their model.

Digger Earles:

Well, the best thing for our business as trial lawyers is the greediness of the insurance companies. I tell my clients all the time that if insurance companies ever just learn to act right and do the right thing, they would put us out of business. But fortunately for us, they just can't do it. So, there's fewer accidents. The premiums are still through the roof. They're still low balling clients on their damages and they keeps us in business. But it is a scary time with the safer cars get, the fewer the accidents. It's a tough business. So, you better maximize the ones you have and you better find a way to stand out, set yourself apart.

Chris Dreyer:

I agree. Digger, so you've had incredible success, and one of the things we don't talk about enough is team. So, how do you take care of the team? Talk to me about that component of everybody rolling in the same direction.

Digger Earles:

Yeah, you're only as strong as your team. Correct? The team behind you, we're the guys on TV, we're the guys in trial, we're bringing the cases in. But if your team lags behind, then that client experience suffers and then you have a disgruntled client and you've really taken a step back instead of a step forward. So, we want A+ team members at every level. Whether it's our lady at the front desk because she's our ambassador of smiles to the accounting department behind the scenes, we want A+ team members. So, it's really difficult to get those team members. Then when you get them, it's tough to keep them because when you train them up and they're A+ players, then other people want to poach them.

So, how do you set yourself apart and make it a place that they want to stay? Number one, you pay well. You pay at the top tier, the 80 percentile and above the market. You pay well. Number two, your culture. We're really big on culture here at the Laborde Earles. We do quarterly retreats. We do meals. We celebrate everything. We celebrate team members. We give back to our team a lot because the truth of the matter is you spend more time at work than you probably do with your spouse.

You spend more time with your coworkers than you treat your spouse during the week. So, it needs to be a happy place. It needs to be a place where they want to come to work. We have team members that hang out together on the weekends and their families support and they're godmothers to other. I've married two people in our office. They asked me to officiate their wedding.

Chris Dreyer:

That's incredible.

Digger Earles:

So that's team building, that's culture. Our retention rate is higher than it's ever been because of those things. You get an A player. You spend a lot of time, effort, and money training them up on your way of doing things, and if you lose them to a competitor, then you're taking a step back and it's really costly. It costs a lot of money to train these players. So, invest in your culture, invest in your team, and the culture pays dividends that you can't even measure. Just unmeasurable return on investment with the culture investment.

Chris Dreyer:

Thank you for sharing, being so transparent. For our audience listening the needs a great trial first firm in Louisiana or wants to connect with you, has questions about something we discussed on the pod, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

Digger Earles:

Yeah, well my cell phone is (318) 359-5069. It's with me 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My wife will detest. You can find me online onmyside.com. My email address is digger@onmyside.com. Shoot me a text, shoot me an email. Instagram, @DiggerEarls. I'm easy to find. I'm out there.

Chris Dreyer:

Winning big verdicts isn't enough anymore. You've got to compete like a marketer, operate like a CEO, and deliver like a tactician. This is PIM. I'm Chris Dreyer, CEO at Rankings.io. Every day at rankings, we help personal injury firms dominate search and sign more cases. Get ready to scale like the best in the business? Head to Rankings.io. See you there.

 

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