Marketing a law firm is difficult.  You work hard to build relationships and provide good service so you get word of mouth referrals.  You attend networking events and seminars.  You pour money, time, and resources into your web presence and blog so that people with legal issues reach out to contact you.  You finally hit a tipping point where you get the phone ringing and........no one is there to answer.

Perhaps you were in court.  Maybe you were consulting with another client.  The call might have come in after hours.  Any way you slice it, expecting a potential client to leave a voicemail in the age of your competitor being one click away is not the best strategy.

A Real Life Experience

I was recently reviewing call reports with one of our law firm clients.  We utilize a phone tracking system so that we can measure the results of the firm's web marketing campaigns.  They have a receptionist that is able to handle calls during working hours.  However, we noticed a trend where the duration of the calls after hours were all a minute or less and the firm told us that they were not receiving any voice mails with potential client inquiries.  Right away, I recognized that many of the calls coming in after hours were simply falling on the floor.  We needed to rectify the problem considering that if just one of these leads converted into a client, this could mean a substantial increase in revenue for the firm.

The firm signed up with a voice reception service to handle after hour calls.  The firm now enjoys being able to handle potential client inquiries 24 hours a day with a live receptionist answering the phone.  We anticipate that those after hour callers will now convert at a much better rate than before.

Voice Reception Services

There are some very good voice reception services out there that work specifically with law firms and understand how to address legal inquiries.  Hiring a good answering service should be a part of your budget. They are affordable and most importantly, can bring revenue back into the firm by making the most of the people contacting you.

Photo by diP