8 Tips Lawyers Can Use to Retain More Clients

Client acquisition in the legal field has fundamentally changed, and the expectations of clients have changed with it.The concept of the networking luncheons is waning, the probability of receiving a walk-in to your law office has diminished, and let’s be realistic, measuring the return on ad spend for a billboard or magazine article is unclear at best.

Maybe you know this instinctually, and have already adapted to digital lead generation, but take it a step further, and deep down you also know it’s more than just anumbers game. If you are receiving legal leads for lawyers, but getting poor results, doing more of the same won’t improve the situation.Sure, you can return the legal leads for attorneysto your lead generation partner, cancel the service, switch to another, repeat, but this won’t help you achieve your goal of financial success and earning more money.

You need sales strategy, and you need your whole team on-board. My name is Rebecca Evers, and I work in digital lead generation. I work with hundreds of lawyers and legal associations generating clients’ frominternet sources. I also work with a call center, and spend countless hours listening to clients and lawyers negotiate over the phone. Below are a few insider tips which can give you the edge and make you an expert digital lead closer.

1. Work with a marketing specialist and optimize your digital lead-gen campaign

The number one mistake that I see lawyers make when they launch a lead generation for lawyers

Campaign is they sign-up, try it out, and immediately cancel. This will not produce results, and it doesn’t matter how many lead generationcompanies you use, it’s unlikely that this will provide you the long-term sustaining income you’re looking for. This practice is for people who are playing a numbers game, and not for people who are strategically refining their digital campaigns to be high performing. If you want to be successful at monetizing the best legal leads for attorneys, you need to communicate with a lead-generation specialist. If you receive a lead which is vastly different from the client’s you’re looking for, tell your digital lead-gen account manager. Expert legal lead specialists are working with legal bloggers and web-optimization experts from all over the internet. They can fine tune your specific practice area like motor vehicle accident leads for lawyerscampaign with unique sources of web traffic, additional filters, and qualifying parameters. Seeing your lead generation representative as a partner in adapting your campaign will give you long-term results. Canceling the first time you receive motor vehicle accident leads for attorneys that don’t meet your qualifications, will leave you burning through a short list of specialists.

2. Refine your in-take strategy

Law firms should consider the customer journey when crafting the customer’s initial experience with your company.Some potential clients were referred to you because they filled out an online questionnaire likesocial security disability leads for lawyers. Others may have been referred to you after speaking with a qualifying agent. Avoid asking questions that you already have the information for. When obtaining a qualified lead, the in-take specialist (whether it’s a paralegal, associate lawyer, or receptionist) should properly brief the lawyer on the details of the case and client before transferring the call. Many clients become frustrated and exasperated when they have participated in a lengthy and structured pre-qualifying process, only to be asked by the lawyer, "ok, so what is your name, and what happened to you?" Make sure the handover is complete from the In-take specialistto the lawyer, or all will be lost in the transfer. The final transfer from in-take specialist to lawyer is so important. It is not unusual, for a client to become tense, and make the wrong impression on the lawyer, only to be quickly dismissed. Consider the customer journey; and ask how wecan make this the best possible experience.

3. Optimize your Phone Lines

Working with call centers, and lead generation companies we are innately aware of the need to optimize our phone lines. However, many lawyers may not be aware of all the changes that have taken place in recent years by telecom companies. If your law firm frequently makes solicitation calls, several phone applications and cell phone carriers may flag you as potential spam. If a client receives a message that says "Most Likely Spam" when you’re calling, there is a high probability that call will go to voicemail, repeatedly. You may believe it’s the lead, but more often than not, it’s a phone application that is blocking you. While there is no easy way to tell if a client’s phone applicationsare affecting you, there are a few best practices you can use to have your law firm performing its best? The first is to select a Caller-ID to appear in cellphones, rather than leaving your chances to the default. The other best practice is to monitor the results of your in-take specialist. If a disproportionate number of callsare automatically going tovoicemail you may be flagged with one, or more telephone companies. Have your team working smarter, by understanding this important first impression. Create a phone-line for out-going solicitation calls that can be changed occasionally without impacting your core business. Choosing a VoIP phone number is an inexpensive and easy option to implement. Another important tip to convert more digital leads into paying customers is to respond quickly and effectively when you receive the lead. The old adage "The early bird gets the worm" is still relevant today. Work with your team and your phone capabilities, to respond to clients as quickly as possible. Reaching them, while this is a top priority in the client’s mind, will improve your results.

4. Double check your Value Proposition, then record it.

Society, the economy, and the competition areconstantly changing. You must double-check your value proposition, to make sure your law firm is competitive with others in the field. Do a market analysis to find out what benefits your competitors are offering. Read and listen to the marketing materials for other law firms in your geographic region or area of practice. By doing this research, you can better understand your market position, and be able to better craft your value proposition. Are you the economical and effective choice, or are you the premium law firm with the highest level of customer care?

Once you’re confident about your value proposition and sales pitch, make a recording and add it to your phone system’s holding message. This is a big deal. There is a critical moment between when the in-take specialist transfers the call to you, and when the client is holding. During these few minutes, playing a recording with your value proposition is much more effective, then listening to the beeps of a holding phone line. In fact, those tense beeps of a holding phone line, are nerve racking.Feel confident scrapping the elevator hold music and put your value proposition message in its place. By making a friendly recording, and playing it for waiting clients, you are preparing for the close. Make sure the in-take specialist fully briefs you on the details obtained, as to sound professional when you finally pick-up the phone.

5. Do your homework

If your receptionist is not transferring a live call, but scheduling an appointment, make sure to do your homework. You should have the retainer contract, and any other materials available for the call, in digital format, with a docu-sign application. If you can close in the meeting, do so! If you have to get back to them with the information, retainer, or other documents you may have lost the opportunity. If possible, send contracts and retainers within the same day. This will greatly improve your conversion rates. It’s important to be prepared when you finally take the call.

6. Make the most of your CRM system

Many law firms are implementing customer relation management systems (CRM) into their practices. These systems create a databank for your staff to retrieve client information, and schedule follow-up communications. However, like most software programs, the question remains are you maximizing the use of this system? If you are receiving your best legal leads for lawyers

via email, this may already be a sign that you are not maximizing the power of your CRM system. Look at which processes can be automated. Data entry may cause errors or omissions in your database of contacts. Most CRM systems can be integrated with your bankruptcy leads for lawyers,or specific campaigns for automated data entry. Your lead generation specialist can advise you if your CRM system has this capability.

A good CRM system can remind you of a follow-update with a client, store documents related with their case, and even save notes about the client’s preferences or unique circumstances. The data analytics is perhaps the most underutilized aspect of a law firms use of CRM systems. When scheduling a meeting to review your digital lead campaigns with your lead generation account manager, have the right information ready. Reports about conversions (or lack thereof) can be exceedingly helpful in improving your success rate. With the proper use of a CRM system, you can alleviate menial and time-consuming data-entry, scheduling, and routine emails. Proper use can also result in a better contact rate, higher client personalization of service, and reports ready for your lead-gen expert to improve upon. Ask yourself, if you are truly using your CRM to it’s full potential, as this can be a critical tool in improving the performance of your digital lead campaigns.

7. Review and refine your campaigns

Once you have optimized your firm’s customer journey, review the results. Just like in the physical world, not every lead received is going to be converted to a sale. It’s unrealistic to expect a 100% conversion rate. Research shows 2-6% to be the normal range for conversion rates. So be patient and grow your firm steadily and consistently for results. Schedule appointments with your digital marketing specialist and review the results of each ofthe campaigns. These are the different channels of web traffic that make up your lead generation campaign. Make a log (or use your CRM report)to review the results of the calls you receive. Then provide this log to your specialist. They can dial up or down the channels of web traffic to get more of what you like, and less of what you don’t like. Try to look for trends of why the leads didn’t qualify or convert. There are many touch points in the customer journey and by making refinements every step of the way, you can begin to convert more.Your feedback is incredibly important. By listening and reviewing the results, your lead generation partner can phase out traffic sources which are not providing desirable results, and refine, invest, and amplify campaigns that are getting valuable results.

8. Learn how to scale your business

When your law firm grows you can better provide for the business. As a marketing partner, we’re here to cultivate that growth. Make sure your foundation is solid before you launch a growth campaign. Do you have the capacity from a human resource standpoint to handle more volume? Have you trained your staff on the proper scripts, handover protocols, and customer relation management processes? Have you solidified your competitive market offer? Once all elements are in place, you’re ready to scale.

Speak with your digital marketing specialist to get more volume, and see what new campaigns are being invested in. We’re busy creating online content to engage clients, bidding on search engine keywords, calling, qualifying, and filtering. Try to work with a lead generation company that sells exclusive leads only. This feature alone will greatly improve your conversion rate.

There is no perfect digital lead generation campaign. However, you can turn the dials on quantity of leads, conversion rate, best in-take practices, traffic sources, and competitive value proposition to retain more clients, and be a legal super star. Speak with a digital marketing specialist today to increase clients at your firm.

Grow my firm online is a front runner in the lead generation for lawyers business. Creating a low-cost high intent network of the best legal leads for attorneys. Check out our website and see how we can put our cutting-edge technology to work for you.

Grow my firm online is a front runner in the lead generation for lawyers business. Creating a low-cost high intent network of the best legal leads for attorneys.