A poorly constructed client intake process can severely hinder your income potential as a law firm. If you can’t capture leads immediately and sign clients on the initial call, you may have trouble growing your business. The key to conversion is a streamlined intake process. You can evaluate the effectiveness of your own process using these seven questions.
1. Do You Use a Standardized, Easy-to-Understand Intake Form to Collect Information?
When someone initiates contact with a lead, they need an easy-to-follow form that will help collect the necessary information to convert that lead. This improves the client intake process by ensuring all important information is covered during the first call and all client data is retained for future communication.
2. Do You Use Lead Capturing and Response Systems?
Your firm should strive for a 99% lead capture rate. The right tools, like caller ID, call routing programs, live transfer ,and similar call managing programs, as well as services from Alert Communications, ensure you can respond immediately to leads. This type of responsiveness will stop the shopping and land the client with your firm.
3. Do You Have Enough Intake Specialists on Staff to Effectively Handle Incoming Leads and Inquiries?
You need dedicated staff members whose sole job is to respond to leads, whether via phone or web. When intake specialists handle other jobs, your leads do not get prompt responses. Train a person or team in your firm to manage client intakes, then allow them to focus solely on that.
4. Do You Receive Text/Chat/Web Leads and Respond to them in a Timely Manner?
Today’s legal client isn’t just using the phone to contact firms – they are using website contact forms, email, and even text. Have a plan in place to respond to all of these, so your firm can build a reputation as being responsive. Responsiveness transforms leads into clients, so take the time to focus on this aspect of your intake process.
5. Do You Sign Qualified Leads Immediately After Intake?
If a lead is a good fit for your firm, you should sign them as a client at the moment of intake. This increases client conversions and prevents them from jumping to the competition. Use text, email, FedEx, or another fast, secure delivery method to get contracts into the hands of your leads.
6. Do You Follow up with All Leads, Including Phone and Web?
After you start building a relationship with a lead, be sure to follow up. This is how you will convert all leads, even those from the phone and web, into clients. Use a CRM platform, employ many different forms of communication and have a written plan in place, but make following up a priority.
7. Do You Measure the Success of Your Intake Process?
Determine the effectiveness of your intake process by measuring factors like lead capture rate, client conversion rate, lead loss rate, and client intake satisfaction. Measurement is the only way to identify areas to improve your intake process.
Why Evaluate Client Intake?
Why should you evaluate your law firm’s intake process? Without evaluation, you can’t improve. Without improvement, you can’t convert leads into clients.
An optimized, efficient intake process ensures every lead has the best potential to become a client. Use these questions to assess your current client intake process and find ways to improve. Make the necessary changes, and, in turn, boost your results.
