Choosing an Answering Service For Your Law Firm
Regardless of the type of law you practice, growing your firm is critical. According to a survey, most law firms find it challenging to grow their enterprises due to competition from other firms and the weakening demand for legal services. Sometimes, the salaries and bonuses for the associates increase, leaving little income to expand the business.
Your ability to grow is key to thriving and surviving in a business with intense competition for clients. Acquiring new clients is one of the ways of growing and expanding your business. Adding new clients to your firm is not a walk in the park, and it takes some time and effort.
A firm’s ability to capture new clientele is determined by how to handle the already existing and potential clients. Using an answering service for your firm can help give your clients quicker responses and maintain solid customer service. You can also save the advertising budget since the answering service can put together a package and offer you their services.
Overview of Answering Services for your Law Firm
Being a lawyer is one of the most demanding jobs you can have. The time and commitment required for this job are strenuous, not to mention the overall demand. Like any other successful practice, your law firm needs to try hard and reel in clients when they approach you. However, you may miss potential clients during the hours that no one is handling the telephone.
An answering service is a great option of having consistent, well-trained staff manage the calls for your law firm. This will help you concentrate on the already existing customers without worrying about acquiring new ones. An answering service comprises agents who answer and make calls and the infrastructure through which the calls are made.
Benefits of a Legal Answering Service for your Law Firm
The answering services we have today are different from those of our fathers. In the past, the answering services only helped their clients to answer calls and pass messages. However, today’s services will provide answering capabilities for twenty-four hours to ensure the law firm runs efficiently. Some of the answering service roles will be to schedule appointments for new and existing clients, Social media marketing, and responding to emails.
These services will free you and your staff to take care of the law firm’s wide range of responsibilities such as handling paperwork, dealing with existing clients, and attending court hearings. Some benefits that come with using an answering service for your law firm include:
An Answering Service Ensures Availability of Your Services 24/7
Lawyers are known to overwork as they try to finish the paperwork, and other responsibilities such as scheduling appointments, answering questions from potential clients and attending court sessions. All these tasks need to be completed to ensure the smooth running of the firm.
There are times when you are handling very demanding tasks such as completing paperwork for a suit before the deadline, reviewing a petition that was declined by the judge, or even attending court sessions, and you do not want to be interrupted. Unfortunately, people have situations that need a lawyer regularly, and they do not want to wait till morning to contact you.
Since most in-house receptionists will not work round the clock, an answering service will offer your firm twenty-four hours service and ensure callers get the response they seek from your firm. This will ensure that callers are not put through voicemail. When a potential client calls or sends a message, and they receive an immediate response, it is likely that they will trust our firm to handle the situation.
Affordable and Flexible Service
There are several limitations of working with an in-house receptionist in your firm. The receptionist works for a particular number of hours, which is not convenient for legal practice. There are days that the individual may not be able to work. Also, finding the right person to suit the position is challenging. A legal answering service will provide more flexible services and be more cost-effective since they work around the clock.
Offers a Live Response to Callers
Most people who call a lawyer for help are often in critical situations. Therefore, no one wants to listen to an automated message when they seek legal services. Even though you and your team are busy helping other people, you should give each caller importance.
Even when you respond after a short while, they could have already called another lawyer. However, talking to a live respondent can be a good first impression and a start to a good relationship. It would be wise to use an answering service to ensure you do not lose clients.
A Reliable Answering Serves Helps Avoid Missing on Opportunities
Running a successful law firm requires you to be always looking for opportunities to engage new clients. When your potential clients constantly leave during off days or busing with court proceedings, it can be frustrating to lose them since they are not promptly attended. When you partner up with a legal answering service, you do not need to worry about losing a customer. This is because they will revive a live answer to the questions they seek and can even book an appointment without talking directly to you.
Provides Services on Demand
On the days that all your staff are busy and cannot work on the phone, an answering service could come in handy for you. The legal answering service will handle the spike in calls and free up your staff to take care of priority tasks.
Helps you Stay Connected
When you use an answering service for your law firm, you can access their services anytime. Every time a person calls or sends a message, you do not have to go back to the office to respond to the messages. It is impossible to take a call while you are in court. However, an answering service can take your calls and respond to messages without putting potential clients on hold.
Assurance of Confidentiality
Most of the information passed to a lawyer by a client, such as a rape victim, is often very sensitive. When a plaintiff or defendant shares information with your law firm, they do not expect to hear the information from a third party. Therefore, an answering service can handle sensitive information while maintaining client-lawyer confidentiality. This is because the staff from the answering service are trained to respect confidentiality and privacy.
Gives Answers to Routine Questions
You and your in-house receptionist could be tired of answering the routine questions. Some basic information regarding your firm may be on your site, but some callers want an answer from you. An answering service can answer these common questions before connecting the caller to you or other legal staff.
Creates a Reliable Partnership
When you work closely with the answering service, you can create a productive relationship. The entity understands the type of calls your firm prioritizes, and they will know how you respond to different situations. Such a relationship will save you the hassle of training new staff all the time.
A Legal Answering service Helps You Understand What is Missing in your business.
Most people contact a lawyer when there is a dire need for legal guidance. Therefore, a client could call after office hours or even in the middle of the night seeking legal guidance. You may not know the number of clients you are missing when you are not on the phone. Gaining new clients for your law firm is not an easy task. Therefore, when you have an answering service, you will bridge the gap and ensure you capture any client who calls your firm.
Preempts Competition from Other Firms
When an individual requires immediate legal guidance, they do not have time to look around. A client will always go with the first firm or layer, which gives a positive response. A caller could be willing to use your services provided you respond promptly. An answering service provides this touch with to your law firm and gives you an upper hand in the industry.
Provides Priority Access
When you partner up with an answering service, you can inform them of the type of calls you want to know about, depending on their urgency. Each member of the legal team could make a list of their most urgent calls. Overall, competition is stiff when it comes to finding new clients for your firm. Therefore, when priority clients and paperwork is handled promptly, you will reduce the risk of losing important clients.
Your Legal Answering Service will Help you Advertise your Practice.
A lot of money is spent on advertising. An answering service can help you cut the cost by putting together a package that makes use of their staff.
An Answering Service Minimizes Interruptions
A lawyer’s schedule is often very busy, from handling basic paperwork to speaking to clients and attending court. It is impossible to answer your phone or reply to a message when the court is in session. It would help if you had enough time to deal with each case to provide all your clients with the best possible services. Having an answering service for your law firm ensures that you can answer and serve both new and potential clients without interrupting your schedule. The outsourced answering service can help you stay focused and keep a balance in your tasks.
An Answering Service Will Earn You Client Referrals Repeatedly
All the benefits of using an answering service for your law firm will add to one significant one. When you have an answering service, more content clients will refer their friends and family to your firm since they will have received competent and satisfactory services. This will keep clients coming back to your law firm, ensuring that your firm continues to grow.
The cost associated with acquiring new clients is substantial and could lead to a significant drain on your business’s resources. The answering service will improve your ability to efficiently serve the existing clients to keep them returning for more services and helping you win new clients without trying so hard.
Costs Associated with Hiring a Legal Answering Service
Even when you are practicing the same kind of law, law firms are quite different. Some firms are very busy and have less staff while others are not too busy. Therefore, the cost of hiring a legal answering service could vary depending on the dynamics of your establishment. By partnering with a reliable answering service, you can boost your customer service and receive your investment returns.
The type of you provides, and call volume will significantly impact an answering service’s overall cost. A firm that only requires an answering service to take their calls will pay differently from one that wishes to delegate tasks to the answering service. The package you select will depend on the size and specific needs of your business.
Before you decide on a specific service provider, you could determine how they charge for their services. Sometimes, there may be hidden charges added to the overall cost. When you understand the costs, you will determine whether or not the answering service is a worthwhile investment for your firm.
Allow an Answering Service to Help you Grow your Law Firm
The modern world is fast-paced. When a plaintiff or defendant has an urgent matter that requires an attorney’s help, they will make a call, and if you don’t pick up the phone, they will call another lawyer. However, keeping your law firm staffed and ensuring the phone is always monitored will ensure every caller is attended to and you don’t lose potential customers.
The legal answering service is available even after business hours. Working with an answering service is faster, efficient, and cost-effective than hiring and training more staff. When you decide to work with an answering service for your law firm, you will be investing in a high-return staffing option that works to improve your day-to-day communication with clients and improves caller satisfaction. Whether you are a small or large law firm, this venture could significantly help your business.
