The purpose of marketing is to generate leads. The purpose of your intake system is to convert those leads into clients. To take your law firm to the next level, you need both lead generation and lead conversion. The problem is most attorneys spend all their time and money focusing on getting more and more leads, but fail to recognize that what you do with those opportunities is just as important as generating them.
Over the last 16 years, we have developed a proven intake and lead conversion system that has doubled the conversion rates of thousands of attorneys all across the nation. It consists of four major components:
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Training for your front office and intake staff;
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Specific tactics and strategies to maximize your conversion at each stage;
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An intake customer relationship management (CRM) software that automatically tracks and follows up with every lead; and
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Tracking and measurement of key metrics.
Today’s post covers #1:
#1: Training for Front Office and Intake Staff
Most law firms have a receptionist, but a receptionist is very different from an intake person. When hiring someone to handle calls from prospects, you are not looking for a receptionist. You are essentially looking for a sales person – someone who feels very comfortable “selling” over the phone. They are selling prospects on why they shouldn’t try to handle their legal problem on their own and why they should come in for a consultation. One of the biggest mistakes for consumer law firms is having an untrained, minimum wage receptionist handling calls from prospects. The only thing worse is to have a paralegal or attorney handle incoming calls. Why is that worse? Because in our experience, 99 percent of the time, they are terrible at it. Paralegals and associates see these calls as an interruption to their day.
Here are the major areas your intake staff should be trained on:
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How to quickly qualify or disqualify prospects (this should be no more than four to six questions).
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Precisely what information you want collected: name, phone, email, reason for call.
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Talking points on exactly how you want the phone answered.
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Answers to the most frequently asked questions prospects call about.
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Scripts for when they leave voicemail messages.
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Brief guide on how to use your phone system.
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How to use your lead tracking system or intake CRM.
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Your firm’s relevant information, such as website, address, driving directions to your local office.
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Protocol on expectations on how, when and how frequently to follow up with prospects.
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Top three reasons why they should come in for a consultation (for local clients).
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Top three to five reasons why they should hire you. What makes your firm unique?
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How, when and with whom to set appointments for initial consultations.
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What to do when you don’t know how to handle a prospect.
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Key phrases of empathy and support.
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How to control the call for when prospects want to talk too much.
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Sample intake form filled out correctly as a guide.
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Training on how to use any software required of them.