11 Steps To Improve Your Law Firm's Client Intake and Convert More Leads to Clients
11 Steps To Improve Your Law Firm's Client Intake and Convert More Leads to Clients
For most of our clients, one of the more frustrating parts of running their law firm is the intake process. Before they started using our qualified lead service, these attorneys would spend a significant number of non-billable hours communicating with potential clients who sometimes weren't even interested in the services they offered.
Legal Locator doesn't solve the problem entirely — we certainly can't guarantee that every lead we sell will convert into a client. We do guarantee that each lead is
● Pre-qualified
● Sold only to your firm
● Sent to you as soon as our automated system processes it
Whenever you're interested in getting started, please contact us directly.
Improving Intake To Convert Leads
Your entire intake process matters, not just the quality of each lead. Since we have a highly experienced law firm marketing team running our organization, we thought we'd share some of the insights we have on improving client intake. These steps should help you make the most of each lead you buy from us:
1.Define your vision
2.Research your market
3.Plan intake strategies
4.Track every step for every lead
5.Analyze intake processes
6.Automate where possible
7.Pre-screen leads (or get qualified leads)
8.Maintain communication
9.Make hiring you as easy as possible
10.Review intake system performance periodically
Follow through after clients hire your firm
Define Your Vision
A good intake process starts with the vision of your firm. Vague visions result in vague client expectations and difficult intake, so be as specific as you can.
Do you want to grow into a nationwide firm with hundreds of lawyers? Do you want to stay a small-town practice and handle the entire town's estate plans across multiple generations? Whatever your unique idea of success is, defining it will help you search for the right clients and manage their expectations throughout the intake process.
Research Your Market
Client intake is a sales and marketing process. To do it profitably, you have to know something about the people you're talking to — or the people you want to contact you.
Some of that happens during the consultations, but other parts happen during market research. For example, if you're a volume divorce firm, it would help to know the average ages and communications-technology behaviors of the people who are most likely to get a divorce.
Plan Intake Strategies
Nobody wants to feel like they're being pushed through a process when they contact an attorney. However, it is in your best interest as a business to at least have a high-level strategic plan about what happens during client intake.
For example, there might be a specific signal that a case should go to a partner. In other firms, such as Workers' Compensation, you might prepare a response for clients with a case in a commonly conflated practice area, such as personal injury.
Track Every Step for Every Lead
Keeping track of different steps in your intake process is essential for refining it. You need to know what's happening in order to know what you need to change.
Formerly, this would have been a relatively onerous task. However, many types of business management and development software do this automatically or semi-automatically.
Analyze Intake Processes
Once you have a record of what happens, you can review the performance of the different steps in your intake process. This will show you the exact places you need to improve, and which things are working the best.
Automate Where Possible
A good record should also include the amount of time you're spending on each step with each client. You can then look at places where automation might be more efficient. Some of the usual suspects include:
● Data entry
● Note-taking
● Payment acceptance
● Collection of initial personal information
Our state-of-the-art system automates many of the most tedious tasks associated with new leads. There are also many other types of business software for lawyers that can supplement ours.
Pre-Screen Leads (or Get Qualified Leads)
If you're trying to attract business, screening your leads might seem counterintuitive. However, what you're really looking for is revenue, not just conversation. Passive screening often works relatively well — clear, direct information about the services you provide, for example.
Pre-qualified leads, such as the ones Legal Locator provides, are the gold standard. We automatically confirm that every lead we send represents someone in your territory who has expressed real interest in the types of services you offer.
Maintain Communication
With all of the work and money attorneys put into making first contact with potential clients, it makes sense to maintain communication throughout the intake process. Keep the lines open to the extent that your code of ethics allows, and you will probably make a good impression on a good number of your leads.
Make Hiring You as Easy as Possible
Assuming that one of your leads provides a case you want to handle, it should be as easy as possible for the client to hire you. These days, that means electronic documents, online payment options, and clear descriptions of your services.
Review Intake System Performance Periodically
Intake technology evolves just as quickly as any other business management tool. If it seems like you're being left behind by your competition, you might not be using the industry-standard anymore.
Reviewing your intake system performance can give you clues about more than just possible updates. For example, you might find out that you have more capacity to process new leads — something we can help you with. Our system is month-to-month guaranteed lead delivery, so you're not locked into long-term contracts. If you need to scale up or down, you're free to do so.
Follow Through After Clients Hire Your Firm
The final step in an effective intake process is maintaining your focus throughout the entire client lifecycle. After all, the internet has not yet replaced word of mouth — happy clients are excellent providers of new leads. You'll also find that former clients may leave good reviews when invited to do so, improving your firm's online reputation.
