Managing a successful law firm requires more than the ability to properly serve your clients. Knowing how to generate leads while attracting new clientele is just the start of it. Having a phone intake system that ensures every lead is being properly handled is a vital step in your business.

When you want to ensure that you’re landing as many clients as possible, make sure that you have a phone intake system for your law firm in place. Here are some important tips to stick to:

1) First Impressions Matter with PPC Leads

Once you begin devising your online marketing strategy with the use of PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns you’ll begin receiving phone calls from leads.

But, the question is – who will be there to answer the phone calls at your law firm? Perhaps it’s your receptionist or assistant – these individuals will be responsible for making a good first impression on your leads. Having an upbeat, professional tone of voice is a must.

2) Deploy Empathy with PPC Leads

The people that are calling you are most likely in a tremendous amount of pain. Whether that be emotional, financial or even physical pain – having empathy for what they are going through is essential in showing your humanity.

Whichever law firm team member will be responsible for answering the phone calls from your PPC leads should have emotional intelligence and empathy for your clients when they communicate their circumstances.

3) Escalate High Quality Leads

Sometimes, your law firm may get “high quality” phone calls from leads. These are individuals who either have an intricate or complex case and need to speak with someone at the corresponding level within the firm.

Train your receptionist or assistant to seamlessly escalate and transfer this phone call to you or someone else who is able to assist them.

4) Consider a Phone Intake Service.

If you do not have a receptionist or assistant, you should consider hiring a phone intake service provider to take and monitor all calls your law firm or direct professional phone number receives.

Tracking phone intakes can feel overwhelming and tedious at times, especially if you are working alone or if you are just starting out in a new firm or with a firm of your own.

A service that manages phone calls can provide valuable insight into the type of clients that have reached out to you and how they went about discovering the services you currently provide.

With an intake service on-call, you will never never miss an opportunity to generate new leads and attract new paying clients. 

5) Follow Up With Leads You Receive ASAP 

Leads that you generate mean nothing if they are not tracked and followed up on. Follow up with any lead you receive ASAP to prevent missing an opportunity to represent a new client who is in the midst of a divorce or seeking representation for their child support or custody case.

When you want to turn prospects into clients, call your leads or email them back immediately to show them you are professional and that you are truly there for them. 

Consider hiring an answering service that specializes in phone intakes if you do not have enough time during the day to focus solely on responding to interested clients or simply answering the phone. An answering service is extremely beneficial and helps to maximize the time you spend helping clients in need without missing out on new potential opportunities or important meetings. 

With a complete understanding of effective legal marketing, launch campaigns that entice prospective clients to call and contact you directly. Implementing a law firm marketing strategy that is attractive, relevant, and that resonates with your target client base is a way to drastically increase the number of leads you are able to generate along with phone intakes and direct emails.

You can download our Law Firm Phone Intake Script here: Law Firm Phone Intake Script | SMB Team