When a law firm receives personal injury cases, it involves people who have sustained injuries due to an unfortunate accident or other incident. For this reason, connecting with them personally and emotionally is crucial. That’s where a positive client experience comes in.
Showing care and empathy is one way you can build serious trust, and in turn, cultivate long-lasting relationships with potential clients. Providing prompt communication and positive interactions can make them feel heard and valued. The ultimate goal is to make a positive impression in the initial conversation by providing an excellent call-in experience to help you win over clients early in the intake process.
The call-in experience at your law firm plays a major role in client conversion; therefore, it’s essential to do everything possible to improve in this area. After all, clients who are handled properly during the intake process translate into increased revenue and referrals. To help you get started, we’ve put together six ways to improve the client experience as it relates to calls from prospective clients.
1. Deliver Immediate, Live Response
Most likely, a prospective client facing a personal injury issue has an urgent need, and thus prefers to speak to a human being, or receive live support. To deliver the best call-in experience, aim for the following benchmarks:
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Answer phone calls in three rings or less, regardless of the day or time
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Keep hold times under 15 seconds
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Call web leads immediately or conduct a live transfer directly through online chat
2. Be Empathetic
Depending on the case, prospective clients may have just had an accident or be dealing with serious issues. Be certain whoever answers the phone understands not only how to handle the case properly and “close the deal,” but they can also be empathetic and help the person feel as comfortable as possible during this tough situation. Showing empathy can lead to a positive client experience, resulting in more conversions for your law firm.
3. Implement an Efficient Follow-Up System
While delivering an immediate, live response is always best, sometimes it is simply not possible. If this is the case, make sure there is a follow-up system in place that allows you to respond to prospective leads as soon as possible. Following up in multiple ways, such as by phone, text, email or even in-person, can help you reach an even larger percentage of potential clients.
4. Provide Ongoing Staff Training
Intake specialists should have a range of both hard and soft skills to create a positive call-in experience. Not only are they expected to build trust and rapport, show active listening skills, display empathy and apply psychology, but they should also be trained in effective call control and legal terminology. When you have a dedicated intake team that can “do it all,” it builds client confidence in your law firm and helps you seal the deal on receiving those cases.
5. Offer Bilingual Support
Language barriers can negatively impact a prospective client’s call-in experience. It can make them feel uncomfortable and misunderstood, leading to a negative experience. And since the Hispanic population represents a large number of potential clients for law firms of all sizes, it’s essential to provide Spanish language support to capture this demographic. A firm that doesn’t offer this support cannot communicate with a huge number of potential clients – leading to a poor call-in experience for them and lost business for your firm.
6. Provide a Clear Path Moving Forward
Providing clear next steps for potential clients allows you to manage their expectations. One option is to sign on all qualified leads as clients immediately after intake. To increase the chances of conversion, deliver contracts via text, email or FedEx. If that’s not possible, booking a follow-up appointment is crucial. When you provide clear steps for the future, prospective clients feel confident you can and will help them with their issue and they are most likely to quit calling other firms.
Bad call-in experiences can hurt your firm’s reputation and negatively impact your revenue and return on investment (ROI). That’s why it’s important to focus on this important aspect of your legal business. Utilize these strategies to create a positive client experience for your firm, and in turn, increase the number of leads that you successfully capture and convert into paying clients.
