For personal injury firms, getting leads is competitive and expensive. An inefficient intake process makes this situation even more challenging. After investing time and money into your… Read More >
For personal injury firms, getting leads is competitive and expensive. An inefficient intake process makes this situation even more challenging. After investing time and money into your prospective clients, is your intake team doing everything they can to convert them?
From the moment a prospect contacts your law firm, it’s important to keep track of them so they don’t slip through the cracks. Follow these tips to supercharge your personal injury law firm’s intake process and sign more clients.
Most personal injury clients will choose a lawyer within 48 hours of contacting your firm. Make it as easy as possible for them to hire you. Prospects who sign your contract quickly, and have a positive experience doing so, are most likely to stay your clients. In-person meetings are always effective, but personal injury law firms often work with clients remotely.
If that is the case for your firm, consider using an electronic signing service to streamline your contracts. E-signature tools allow your team to send secure contracts quickly, automate reminder and follow-up emails, and are easy for your prospects to execute. Most e-signature services are optimized for mobile phones, allowing your client to sign his or her CFA while on the line with your intake team.
Doesn’t that seem easier than asking prospects to fax or mail back signed contracts?
It’s important to capture the right information from your prospective clients, whether they calls, email, or complete a website form. First and foremost, make sure you are able to contact the prospect after the initial contact.
Besides gathering information about their case, you need one or more phone number, their email address, and a secondary contact. If leads contact you through your firm website, make sure you are requiring contact information on your forms.
Your intake team should take good notes on every prospect, whether they become a client or not. It’s also important for them to ask every lead how they found your firm. This can help you make better marketing decisions in the future. More on this later.
This is a lot of information, and it’s important to have a place to store it. Whether it’s a Google Doc, spreadsheet, or case management system, you should be able to easily access the client’s information after the initial contact. With all of today’s technology, don’t let your team rely on legal pads and post-it notes.
Whether it’s you, a staff member, or an intake team talking to prospects, your follow up is crucial. Again, your lead will hire you or another firm in the first 48 hours after their initial contact. Don’t drop the ball. Decide what your protocols will be. For example:
Set reminders to contact a prospect after your first contact and after sending over a contract. Phone calls and text messages are some of the most effective methods of follow-up. Task management software like CASEpeer allows you to set automatic reminders that trigger after intake or sending out a contract, streamlining the process and making sure no leads slip through the cracks.
Personal injury law firms spend a lot on marketing. Your biggest competitors are tracking every lead, monitoring each referral source, and painstakingly analyzing their data. Knowing where good – and bad – leads are coming from allows law firms to make strategic decisions with their marketing budget.
Successful firms don’t happen by accident. They are the result of data-driven decision making.
If your firm is spending money on a certain lead source, but not getting any leads, stop that advertising. If another campaign is bringing in a high volume of leads, but few conversions, you may want to take a closer look. It could be that the leads are not qualified, or it could mean someone on your intake team needs more training.
Case management solutions like CASEpeer make it easy to capture lead source information, enabling your personal injury law firm to make data-driven decisions. CASEpeer’s intake reports allow attorneys to see conversion rates over time based on lead source, intake worker, cases type, and more.
Intake is important, but so is your reputation. Law firms are in the service industry. This is more true than ever before, when reputations rise and fall by your most recent yelp review. It’s more critical than ever to ensure your team is providing a consistent high level of client care.
Once your intake team signs a client, deliver the experience that was promised. This will result in building up your law firm’s reputation – and a healthy flow of leads and referrals.
Signing more cases is easy. Without upping your marketing budget, start by applying these tips. Improve your follow-up, streamline your contracts, and use data to make more strategic decisions.
CASEpeer is secure case management software designed for personal injury attorneys. From intake to settlement, our robust features help law firms become more proactive and powerful. Our goal is to help your law firm grow. For more practice management tips, visit our blog.
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