Most firms test an agency fee against zero, which is the wrong comparison. The useful test is narrower: at your average collected fee, how many extra signed matters does the programme need to produce each month to wash its face? If the answer is a fraction of a case, the arithmetic is easy. If it is five cases, you are betting on a large change rather than a modest one.
Your break-even, by case value
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| Programme | Monthly, with ad spend | Extra matters/month to break even | Six-month exposure |
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How to read the answer
Two tests, and both should pass before you commit.
- Plausibility. If one extra matter a month covers the fee, that is a low bar and the programme is worth trying. If it needs five, consistently, you are relying on a large change.
- Survivability. The number in the right-hand column is the figure that matters for cash flow: six months of fee, largely unreturned, because organic search takes three to six months to compound. If that number is uncomfortable, choose a smaller programme for longer rather than a larger one briefly.
Two adjustments worth making before you trust the output. Use what you actually collect, since collection rates in some practice areas sit well below 100%. And if your matters generate downstream work or referrals, the first case is worth more than its own fee, so the calculator understates the return.
The full argument, including where the economics stop working, is on our page about the revenue level at which hiring an agency makes sense.
Attorney Pro Marketing publishes the three figures above rather than quoting them, which is why this calculator can give you a real number instead of a range. Month to month with 30 days’ notice, and a day 0 baseline with a day 14 report before you are billed for that period.