Between strategizing cases, negotiating agreements, conducting research, litigation, writing briefs, advising clients, mediation, and staying updated with new laws changes, lawyers do it all, and their workday equalizes a week’s worth of work for most people.
With that in mind, lawyers don’t have to get everything done by themselves because legal services availability is crucial. If a client calls your law firm and doesn’t get a response at their most convenient time to talk, they will likely look for another alternative. Successful lawyers choose to solve this problem and maximize the value of their time by the use of attorney answering services.
An answering service enables lawyers to outsource ongoing communication and screening phone calls with clients and answer legal matters. These services are done by agents who reply to prospects and clients through phone calls or online chats.
A law firm needs to hire professionally trained receptionists on the communication frontline to ensure that you never miss a client’s call and experience other benefits in hiring an answering service.
Challenges Lawyers Face When Managing Client Relationships
When you have an extra busy schedule, it is hard for you to answer all questions that come into your law firm. At times, email or call could come in when you are not in the office or handle a project that requires your full attention.
At times the calls could be a waste of billable time. It could be an unorganized client request for the same record for the sixth time. These clients could get in your way and cause distractions while working. You must balance communication with various prospects and clients who expect you to offer personalized and responsive services.
If you want to experience tremendous growth in your business, hire a call center to handle the communication on your behalf.
Benefits For a Call Center For a Legal Firm
It is hard to avoid pitfalls that lead to requiring a lawyer. There are various benefits of having a call center in your law firm. Some of these benefits include:
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No more missed calls — Even with a diligent administrative staff, many calls go unanswered in many law firms. Law offices are always busy, or it’s the weekend, and no one is available in the office, and many calls end up going unanswered. You lose new clients and risk losing your long-term clients if you are not always available to attend to their urgent needs online. The law firms that use call services miss very few calls and gain clients.
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Free up your staff’s time — Even with 150 employees, law firms get very busy. You would rather have your administrative look at oncoming cases, and the current cases rather than spend hours answering repeated questions on the phone. Your staff’s time is essential and having a call service center gives your team the time they need to work on time-sensitive projects. Some of the service s offered by the call center are:
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Confirming appointments
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Providing information about business hours
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Giving directions
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Taking messages for attorneys.
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Improve customer satisfaction — When clients or prospects call your law firm, they want to ensure they are heard and their needs will be attended to. If a person calls and gets repeated voicemails that are never returned, they will always feel dissatisfied. Law firms don’t fail to return voicemails intentionally. Some voicemails are not returned because maybe the phone was cut off before the number was recorded, could be the message was unintelligible, or some days the staff gets busy with work, and the voicemail is forgotten. This is where call centers come in hand and fill the gap. For faster responses, they get pertinent information, which they pass on to the responsible staff. These will improve your retention rates and leave your clients satisfied.
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Better organization — Having a call center enables you to keep your calls in one place. In most call centers, every call is recorded. The information relayed by the client is uploaded in a way that everyone in the law firm can access it whenever they need real-time data. Some call services also offer recordings. The recordings are helpful because they enable you and your staff to hear the calls that came in and attend to them. You can also call the clients back and offer detailed legal guidance. These services will help you eliminate thousands of random numbers laying on your office desk.
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Avoid Interruptions — You need full attention to concentrate on cases. While every call is important, phone calls could be a distraction. No lawyer wants to choose whether to focus on the ongoing cases or to answer a phone call. Having a call center where calls and messages are managed on your behalf could save you from many interruptions and allow you to focus on your work.
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24/7 Services — working around the clock means that clients can call your law firm when they need information and at their most convenient time. Some people are arrested over the weekend and would still need legal help and guidance. Others might need a lawyer for arraignment, and this information can be relayed to you early Monday morning by the call center representatives. Again this helps you to focus on the urgent matters after being off the weekend or at night. The caller’s details are also recorded, and you can check them at your own time. It will also help you not to lose any client or prospect.
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Professionalism and consistency — With a call center, you decide when and how you would like your calls to be answered. We will ensure that all calls are responded to in a friendly, polite, and professional manner. With a professional call center, clients cannot tell that they are communicating with an outsourced service. Even on call, different clients want to be handled differently. Some might be needy while others are tough since it is their professional work; call centers representatives know how to handle each client while still maintaining professionalism.
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Business continuity — Your law firm must continue to work even during meetings, court days, or a holiday. To ensure this, you need to have an answering service. Call centers also offer you peace of mind for the unplanned like being called away for some minutes or connectivity issues. Having the right calls and messages relayed to the appropriate person is crucial in ensuring that the business runs even with the busy schedules.
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Useful for marketing purposes — You may spend a lot of money to advertise your company. Hiring call services can help you reduce your spendings. After allocating the specific amount of money you want to spend, the call center will draft a package with their reporting capabilities, software, and staff. This will be inclusive of the advertising, and they will handle the advertising on your behalf while saving your money.
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Receptionist — When your receptionist is not available, a call center has a readily available receptionist. If your receptionist has gone for a meeting, lunch, or is unwell, someone is on the desk to back him/her up. Call centers can forward and answer calls as required while your receptionist takes a break. It is also essential during the high call times because help is readily available to ensure no call goes unanswered, and every client is satisfied with the feedback.
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It helps you land more legal clients — It is crucial to have a person answering your calls no matter the time of the day; they should be available 24/7. It is an effective way of converting leads into clients. Having a real person empathize with the caller builds trust and increases the chances of winning over that client. A call service center will provide all that and help you gain more clients.
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Call services show you what’s missing — Many law firms have no idea of the number of clients they lose during an intake process. What happens to the people who call during odd hours? Many leads are lost in the unquestioned gap. Having a call center in your law firm puts some solid ground where there was a gap. A person may come across your ad even late at night and call the phone number provided. You may end up entering their case information into your system or even sign them up as clients on the phone.
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It creates a reliable partnership — working with a professional call service, you will be able to generate fruitful relationships with knowledgeable partners. This unit is aware of the type of calls you like to get instantly, for instance, when opposing the counsel on significant cases. They are also mindful of your response in critical situations. These are ways in which the call center can liaise your professionalism and commitment to service, which are essential factors that can turn a new business into your law firm and help you gain more new clients.
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Preempt competition — Some prospects call in a hurry to get someone to help them. At times, the least they want to do is leave a call back number or a message. They want to communicate with a live person immediately. Missing calls from potential clients do no good to your business. If you fail to pick their call, they will move to the next available person. If you respond quickly to all calls, the chances of being chosen over your competition are high.
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Answers routine questions — where are you located, your hourly rate, what types of cases you handle, and similar items are common in almost all law firms. Even though the information is written on your website, some callers may not have the time to read or fail to see. A call center can answer all these professionally.
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Boost positive client reviews — Client’s reviews are crucial for every business. If a client calls and their calls are answered immediately and professionally, they will leave a positive review or use “word of mouth” to give positive feedback, attracting new clients. This goes in hand with the enhancement of industry reputation.
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Makes a great first impression with callers — The first impression is significant. Answering calls promptly and professionally create an excellent first impression of the company. If you impress a client with their first call, they are likely to stick around, and you gain a new client.
How Much Does Legal Call Services Cost?
Law firms are different; some are very busy while others and not quite busy. Regardless of that, hiring a legal answering service is also different. However, if you want to increase your sales, boost customer service, and get a high investment return, you need to hire the best call center services.
In most call centers, the price is determined by the service type and the call volume. The more the calls, the more the pricing. Service is also vital.
For instance, if you are looking for a call center, that single pricing answers only calls. If you want a call center that offers more than that, that’s a different cost.
You must choose a call service that solves the internal needs of your firm. Before hiring a call service, it is essential that you first determine your firm’s needs and employ a call center that matches what you are looking for.
Additional Factors That Impact The Cost of an Answering Service
More factors impacting the cost of answering service include:
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The cost to divert your calls to mobile from landline
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Price of answering each phone call
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Charge for forwarding calls
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Monthly management fees and minimum call numbers
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Cancellations fees and setup fees
There are various ways in which the answering service can charge you. It could be pay by phone, pay by messages sent, pay by the minute. It is essential to also ask about any additional charges.
After you have the total costs, compare it with the amount you use to pay your full-time receptionist. You might be surprised how hiring a legal answering service is cost-effective.
Even as a small law firm facing growth challenges, if you hire a professional answering service, you will be surprised at how much growth your firm will experience in a short period.
Find a Legal Answering Service Near Me
Most defense firms with call answering services are more successful compared to those without. If you are looking to grow your business, having a call center in your firm should be the first thing on your list. What if you are able to answer all the phone calls that come in even during odd hours? You would have definitely gained new clients. At times, the answering services are cheaper than the office receptionist. Set your goals and look for a call center that understands the demand of your business.
