How often do you call your law firm to see how potential or existing clients are treated by your receptionist?

Do you ask friends and family to to call to evaluate the way the phone is answered?

If you are like most law firms you don’t and that is a huge mistake that is costing you money everyday.  I will cover in this article about increasing website conversion rates from lawyer websites and advertising. In today’s world of instant gratification, you must follow the basic rules of lawyer sales. All phone inquiries are handled like they are the most important client ever to your law firm. All calls should be handled with care, interest and efficient response. Otherwise you are just throwing away money on your advertising.

Real World Case Study
Today I received a call from one of our law firm SEO and Internet marketing clients in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was really excited about the performance of his services from our company, Lawyer Success, Inc. He had signed up a few personal injury cases already within the first few weeks of 2010 and he was providing me with some feedback about his most recent sign up.

He stated that the the new client is a real estate agent that works about a mile away.  He used Google; one firm came up first (he doesn’t remember the name).  He got a less than enthusiastic response from the first firm’s  receptionist when he called, so he hung up and called me next.  My wife happened to be here, answered the phone, and he liked her.

There are three things to take away from this case study. First, you need to be listed or ranked in the top 3 searches for a wide variety of search phrases. Second, the initial impression is the lasting impression. Lastly, have an attorney ready to discuss the claim with the client. If you can’t do that, then you mind as well have an answering machine.

Create a Plan

1. – Embrace new technology! Google Voice, Blackberry or PDA phones, etc…
2. – Turn your receptionist into a skilled sales person. Purchase a CRM for all your leads for follow ups, letters, etc. Keep details, call history, notes, keep following up on those leads! You and your receptionist should be experts with a CRM. Sales should be your receptionists core responsibility. They should be in charge of keeping a list of open leads, perform return calls until they speak with prospective client, keep notes of all calls and emails, and should close out dead leads and have a reason why they were lost.
3. – Think user experience and ultimate customer service!
4. – Create a mission statement and post it in the receptionist area.
5. – Create a script for your receptionist to follow.
6. – Train them on the value of being friendly, respectful, courteous and helpful.
7. – Advise the receptionist that their performance review will be rated on their greeting and helpfulness with phone calls.
8. – Set up and use instant messaging in your office so you can be notified if a prospective client is on the phone so you can take the call or end a phone call to speak to the prospective client.
9. – Always have the ability to forward calls to your cell phone. So if you are out of the office or for after hours you receive the calls. Also, so that the receptionist can have the ability to forward a call to you and be able tell the potential client that they are being forwarded to your personal cell phone.
10. – Review your caller ID everyday. Have your receptionist cal any number on caller ID if a message was not left. If appropriate.
11. – Have a plan for every situation – What to do when no attorneys available to talk to the prospective clients? What do you say when you answer the phone? Etc.
12. – Never have your receptionist put someone on hold to see if you are available only to have them take a message. You will lose the lead.
13. – Never let the phone ring more than two rings. Period.
14. – Create a better voice mail message. Be professional but friendly. Tell potential clients that your phone message is important and will be returned momentarily (as you should be able to do with technology). Always leave a phone number, email or simple web address on your answering machine for new clients to reach you. I use a separate email and cell phone number for this purpose only. Lastly, sell yourself (ethically of course). Our voice mail really sizzles and really lets people know that we are the best choice and we WILL return your call momentarily