How should a law firm answer the telephone?
Having your phone answers by a real person is much much better than using an automatic attendant that says “Press 1 for new client, 2 for current client, 3 for billing, 4 for etc.”
Customers want to be appreciated and often a voice system just doesn’t cover their concerns. Often potential clients have an urgent issue and want to speak with someone NOW. They don’t want to be called back.
In the first few seconds that a customer has with your law firm they form an opinion of how you want to work with customers. Listening to a recorded message is not a good start. Sure it might save you money but at what cost?
Callers want to feel important
A recorded message turns many people off. Especially if they feel that have an urgent need.
Don’t presume that your automated voice menu is working.
Sure you might be getting leads, but have you checked you call logs. What percentages of callers are hanging up?
Who should answer the phone?
The best person to answer the phone is another lawyer. That person can quickly qualify a potential client and set up a consultation.
Receptionist
The next best person to answer the telephone is your own TRAINED receptionist. Give him or her a script if need be. Also, have you ever called your own office to see what the receptionist says?
3rd party receptionist:
If you don’t have a receptionist, you can hire one 247 from somebody like LexReception. It may seem expense but it will cost you less that an employee and they are trained for your practice area.
The Need to Feel Important
If someone calls you law firm, they expect to speak with someone. Not to listen to a recording. Even if it is after hours.
No one likes Voicemail
Clients call when they want a problem solved. NOW. Most Voicemail systems only attempt to connect someone to another person but usually don’t solve any problem.
A live person
When a potential client talks to a liver person, if it not with a lawyer, they feel that someone cares and will be offering a solution soon.
Call back
Often the lawyer who should be speaking with a client will not be available, but a liver person can give an idea of when the lawyer will be back. Voicemail systems leave clients wondering when they will hear from someone.
How many clients are you losing?
If your office has an automated system handling your calls, you absolutely need to find and analyze your call logs and statistics.There is a good chance that a significant number of callers are hanging up without you ever knowing they called. That’s the big danger of automated call handling: incoming calls are happening and callers are being forced to make choices before your phone makes a peep. Without reports, you have no data to challenge your assumptions about how things are going.
Keeping Current Clients Happy
“If somebody’s making the effort to pick up the phone, dial the numbers, and get over that hump, avoiding the convenience of all the other ways they could contact you.
They really want to talk to a real live person.
Maybe they don’t want to leave an email trail of their contact.
Maybe it feels more private to them to call.
Maybe they want to talk instead of going back and forth over email.
Should Attorneys Answer the Phone Themselves?
See this article by Roy Ginsberg
Don’t Answer Your Phone!
As I mentioned most callers expect to speak to a live person which doesn’t mean that a lawyer has to answer the call.
Here are some reasons why your or a lawyer on your staff should not be answering phone calls.
lUsually answering phone calls cannot count as billable hours
lIt takes you away from working on current cases
lYou can’t prepare to answer properly
lReturning a call promptly (with 24 hours) is better
lLawyers who answer their own phone calls must not be too busy or can’t afford staff
A lot depends on where your client come from.
Criminal lawyers usually have clients who are in a jam and urgently need help. So maybe an immediate response is needed as these clients usually have a list of lawyers that they are calling
Of course if the call is from an existing client (you do have caller ID that tells you this, don’t you?, then they probably can go to voice mail where you have time to listen to their concerns and prepare your answer
CONCLUSION
The person who answers your phone is the first contact that a potential client will have with your law firm. Make sure that your phones are being answer promptly, correctly, and don’t l
u decide to do, be intentional about it.