Law Firm Intake and Marketing: More Leads Won’t Fix a Broken Intake Process

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We all know how vital case leads are to maintaining the health and longevity of your law firm, but what about the step that comes after you acquire a new lead? That step—also known as the intake process—is incredibly crucial to turning a lead into an actual client and case. And surprisingly, it’s a step we find that many law firms lack in.

If your firm’s intake process isn’t working like it should, potential clients are leaving you in the dust. Many are in the middle of a stressful, desperate situation. If they don’t receive a call back when they reach out to your firm, they’ll call the next firm on their list. If they have a bad experience filling out your contact form or communicating with your live chat service, they’ll find another attorney.

The intake process is an essential bridge between your firm and your next client. It doesn’t matter how many leads you get if your firm isn’t equipped to properly handle those leads. It’s a simple fact that in the legal industry, leads don’t stick around for long.

Let’s look at some of the ways law firm intake processes break and how they can be fixed:

Taking Too Long to Follow Up

Potential legal clients contact law firms in a state of urgency. They need help and reassurance now. Waiting to respond or call back after that first contact by a day or even a couple of hours can make the difference between a new case and a lost case.

A delayed response also leaves an awful impression on potential clients. They want to hire a firm that can respond to questions and concerns immediately. How can they expect a good relationship with their lawyer if that all-important initial point of contact is delayed?

How to Stop Delays:

• Use a 24/7 live chat service on your website if you aren’t already. Live chat services respond to potential client queries immediately regardless of what time it is and gather basic case information and contact information, giving your intake team an informed foundation right off the bat. If you’re a GAVL client, we’ll work with you to determine the best live chat services to use and help you get them rolling.
• Hold your intake team accountable for response times. Set up a policy for returning calls and responding to new inquiries in a timely manner and ensure your intake team follows through with this policy.
• Track communication. Services like CallRail can help you track incoming calls and form fills so you can look for any delays or missed calls. Knowledge is power. Look for any weaknesses in your team’s response times and remedy them.

Failing to Follow Up

Multiple conversations are generally necessary to turn a potential client into a real client. Don’t neglect to follow up in instances where a prospective client is weighing multiple options or waiting to gather documentation. Don’t let a qualified lead slip through the cracks because someone on your team failed to follow up.

Tips for Staying on Track:

• Create a system and stick by that system. If you don’t have a standardized system for when your intake team should follow up with potential leads and how those follow-up conversations should occur, it’s time to implement a system and hold your team accountable.
• Vary your communication methods. If you’ve mostly spoken with a potential client over the phone, don’t forget that follow-ups can happen via text or email as well. Some folks may find it easier to respond to you via email or text, even. During your initial point of contact, ask people how they prefer to communicate.
• Take advantage of automated tools. Legal CRM tools make communicating with potential and current clients easy. You can use them to automatically send out emails and texts that ensure communication always happens when it needs to and that no questions go unanswered.
• Make conversations valuable. Don’t simply follow up each time and ask if a client is ready to decide. Provide value with every follow-up response. Did they leave you with questions that you can answer in a fuller manner? Is there an excellent blog or practice area page you can send them that explains a specific asset of their case? Are there other ways you can help them reach their goals? Going the extra mile can have a tremendous impact.

Spending Too Much Time on Poor Leads

There’s a huge difference between a good lead and a bad one. Most poor case leads are easy to recognize right away, but others require more digging. Make life easier for your intake team members by helping them filter through leads quickly and prioritize the leads that have the strongest potential. You want to minimize the amount of time spent on leads that will never see the light of day at a courthouse.

How to Dig Through the Weeds:

• Train your team members. Your firm’s intake specialists need to be compassionate and empathetic when communicating with potential clients, but they also need to know how to quickly determine the difference between a solid case and one that won’t hold water. Train them in what questions to ask and what criteria should be met before proceeding forward with next steps. Also make sure that they know how to politely decline case inquiries that won’t become viable cases.
• Use an intake questionnaire that works. Whether potential clients are speaking to a member of your intake team or filling out an intake form, make sure prospective clients are asked crucial questions that can help your intake team make decisions early. Include questions regarding time frame, for example, to establish a statute of limitations and about whether they have spoken to other attorneys already.

Taking Leads to the Finish Line

Once you’re well on your way to fixing and improving your firm’s intake processes, every lead you get will stand a better chance of becoming a client you can help. Think of your intake process like a well-oiled machine. With the right checks, balances, and mechanical screws in place, you can maximize your team’s time spent on successful intake calls and communications.

At GAVL, we do everything we can to help our clients keep their intake systems running smoothly. From tracking and reporting on firm communications to implementing website and tech improvements, we’ve got your back. Reach out to learn more.