Hero’s Journey: Law Firm Intake, Part 1 – Engage

Lawyers often focus on their own expectations when it comes to client intake.  They assume a lot about legal consumers’ preferences, without actually investigating what those preferences really are.  In that situation, it usually ends up that law firms construct intake programs that don’t reflect relevant trends respecting legal consumers, and that are created for the ease of use of the law firm, and not for the ease of use of the consumer. 



But, we’re firmly entrenched in the convenience economy; and, everything a law firm does to engage legal consumers should be based on the ease, convenience and preferences of those legal consumers. 

 

The potential client is the hero of the client journey, and that’s where the law firm’s focus should be.  Every aspect of the intake process should address engagement, because 90% of the time, the law firm that effectively engages a new lead, closes that lead. 

 

That means that all of your online content should focus on and anticipate specific questions that your potential clients have.  It also means that you offer ways for potential clients to interact with your law firm in the most immediate ways possible – that could be a virtual receptionist, to pick up your phone (only about 1/3 of law firm phone calls are actually answered, and more than 60% of voicemails left for law firms are ignored), or it could be placing a live chat or chatbot program on your website.  Some law firms even have their attorneys pick up all of the incoming phone calls – in order to surprise and delight potential clients. 

 

If you take the focus off of yourself, and place the spotlight on your leads, you’ll convert more business. 

 

. . . 

 

Need help building an intake system?  We can help. 

Through a unique partnership between the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar and Jared Correia’s Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, Maine attorneys have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discounted rate. 

To get started, visit Red Cave’s landing page for Maine attorneys, and start running your law practice like a business.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pay It Forward: How to Incentivize Attorneys and Staff Beyond Salary

Image
Many law firm owners are comfortable just paying out a salary .  And, that can work, for sure .  But, if you want to drive revenue within your law firm, it makes sense to look at bonusing attorneys and staff in ways that will incentivize your employees to generate or close more cases for the firm, which will lead to additional revenue. Obviously, this is a bit easier for attorney staff, since lawyers can share fees with each other, which makes it easier to create a direct incentive plan .  But, for staff , you can bonus them without sharing fees, including for converting clients from leads, for example, by doing things like offering a $50 bonus for each lead closed, potentially in a certain time frame .   This is the same method that lead generation services use to get paid by law firms, without sharing fees.     But, the place that law firm owners can really make money here is by using origination fees to bonus their attorney staff .  Law firms ...
Read more

Perfect Timing: New Calendaring Tools Make It Easy to Connect with Leads and Clients

Image
Lawyers tend to be inefficient, and have difficulty engaging both leads and clients.  These hurdles are apparent when it comes to the scheduling process.  Attorneys and staff onboard leads for meetings, and schedule appointments with existing clients, via strings of emails -- and, delayed response s only extend the conversation, and the time frame.  And, while this is detrimental for client s (who demand speed and convenience), it’s even worse for leads, who may never convert, if they’re not onboarded simply, and easily.   The good news is that modern technology tools allow for scheduling without the intervention of humans, including you and your staff.  That means that you can say goodbye to all those extra emails, and wasted time.  Programs like Calendly and Acuity allow clients to book appointments directly onto a law firm or lawyer’s calendar, and include buffers and controls, so users aren’t overwhelmed.  LawTap offers a similar tool focu...
Read more

Close Sesame: Three Things You Can Do To Improve Your System Security Right Know

Image
It’s 202 4 , and everybody is still kind of bad with passwords.  Many passwords, in fact, still contain the word . . . password .  That can’t be good.     However, there are three simple moves that you can make to ensure that your passwords are more impressive, and difficult to hack .  That will, in turn, better secure the systems that you are using passwords to protect – which, at this juncture , are pretty much all your systems.   Step one, is to generate stronger passwords .  You can try passphrases .  You can use a password management tool, that will generate more secure passwords for you, so you don’t have to .  And, you can ensure that you’re not using the same password across multiple programs, which is dangerous, because if one gets hacked – they all get hacked.     Step two, is to lean into password managers .  Not only can those systems generate strong passwords for you, you can also use these tools to mana...
Read more