Should I Dedicate Staff to Legal Intake?

Legal intake is the lifeblood of any firm. Whenever you are spending money advertising in order to obtain new clients, or your goodwill has afforded you a referral, the only way to ensure that the new inquirer hires you is to perform a legal intake. How important is legal intake to your law firm? Well, without having someone always available to ask the caller questions about his/her case and let them know how you can help, your firm will slowly decline as profits will decrease without an influx of paying customers.
So should I dedicate staff to legal intake?
Absolutely. If you already have a full-time or part-time receptionist, you should train him/her in performing a legal intake. If you need help in teaching your receptionist to perform a legal intake, or you want to learn yourself, here is a great resource on how to perform a legal intake.
What if I don’t already have a receptionist?
If you don’t already have a receptionist, you should definitely consider hiring someone who is qualified, and has experience speaking on the phone. He/she should be polite, professional, and quick enough on the phone to ask questions, listen to answers, and collect the information pertinent to the case. Once you find the right person, you can train them to perform legal intakes, teach them which questions to ask for particular areas of the law you practice, and perform other administrative tasks you need.
What if I don’t want to hire a receptionist?
Well, it’s impossible to answer every single call yourself, and since 72% of callers do not leave voicemail, you definitely need to make sure that someone is answering your phone so that you can continue to obtain new clients! That’s why you should hire an answering service like Answering Legal, whose legal intake receptionists are trained exclusively for your firm. Answering Legal’s legal intake receptionists are trained to answer exclusively for your firm, sound as if they are inside of your office, and answer your calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that you never miss the new client! Hiring an answering service saves you approximately 90% of the cost of hiring an in-house receptionist, and you get more hours of the day covered!
How much does it cost?
That’s the best part, you only pay for what you use! Answering Legal gives you a customized flat rate bill that works exactly with the amount of calls you receive each month. If you receive very few calls, you’ll have a much lower bill than if you receive a lot of calls. However, if you have a ton of phone calls and are using a lot of minutes, your per-minute rate will become lower, because as you grow we want to help you maintain success, not leech off of your business’ growth. You can view our standard prices or get your custom quote here. Do you want to know something even better? Answering Legal never charges extra for any of the premium features, legal intake, or anything else you want to customize! The best way to learn is to try the service for yourself! Call us today at 631-400-8000 to speak to an expert!
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