Five Call Handling Mistakes That Can Cost Your Firm Dearly

Call handling is an often overlooked, yet vital part of running a law office. Just one mistake on the phone, whether it’s made by a receptionist, legal associate, or even you, can end up costing your firm valuable time and income.

At the end of this piece, we’ll let you know about a service that can help eliminate all of your practice’s call handling mistakes. But, first, let’s examine five call handling errors that could be disrupting your firm’s growth.

Mistake #1 - Being Rude

People running a law office are often overworked and operating under a lot of stress. People calling into a law office are often in a bad place and looking for a compassionate and understanding voice to hear their problems. This combination often doesn’t lead to the best outcome.

You’re capable of having bad days just like any other human being, and when those bad days occur, you probably shouldn’t be answering the phone that much. Just one impolite or insensitive remark can send today’s law consumer running into the arms of your competitors. No matter how good a lawyer you are, most customers won’t want to deal with you if you come off as a jerk on that initial phone call. Instead of getting a new client, you might end up scoring yourself a negative online review on Yelp. And if the internet is widespread with negative reviews about your firm, attracting new potential clients online will be nearly impossible.

The Solution

Attorneys need a receptionist buffer between them and their customers. A trained legal receptionist can deal with a customer’s problems in a polite and courteous manner, and make sure lawyers aren’t speaking with potential clients during times of high stress. Having the ability to have a receptionist take a message on your behalf, and call a customer back at a later time can save you a lot of headaches.

Mistake #2 - Getting Stuck On The Phone Too Long

Let’s talk freely here for a moment. You may publically say that every customer’s call to your firm is an important one, but we all know that’s not true. A lot of client calls, particularly ones from existing customers, end up being a huge waste of your valuable time. You know exactly the type of callers we’re talking about. You can probably name a few right now who make you cringe every time they come up on your caller ID.

While dealing with never-ending sob stories or trivial complaints is just plain annoying, the bigger issue is that these types of calls are wasting your day away. Instead of performing important billable case work that will make you money, you end up getting stuck on the phone all day.

The Solution

We’re going to double up on our previous solution here. All lawyers need a receptionist buffer! Prioritization is key when running a law office, and you need someone who can direct the time sensitive and important calls to your desk, while keeping the less important ones that will derail your work day at bay.

Mistake #3 - Performing Sloppy Intake

Legal intake is the most important part of that first phone conversation with a new customer, and unfortunately, the easiest part to make a mistake with. For those unfamiliar with the term, legal intake is the process of gathering personal and case information from a first time caller.

The goal of a legal intake is to:

• Make the caller feel more confident in your firm’s ability to handle their case
• Ensure that the attorney is prepared and properly informed for their next meeting with a client

Without a proper legal intake process in place, a call handling disaster is just waiting to happen. Important questions can be forgotten to be asked, case information can be recorded incorrectly, and the caller can be left underwhelmed during their first impression of your firm.

The Solution

Have a legal intake checklist and/or script ready to go for every new caller you speak with. Include on the sheet every question that should be asked by either you or the receptionist performing your legal intake. Don’t leave anything to chance.

Related: Need help building a client intake form? This blog post can get you started.

Mistake #4 - Not Providing A Warm Call Transfer

Call transfers should in theory be quite simple, yet they all too often get mishandled. The ideal method for transporting a caller from a receptionist to a lawyer is called a warm call transfer. The warm call transfer process starts with the receptionist gathering a caller’s information and reason for calling, then briefly putting the caller on hold and giving the lawyer the caller’s info, before finally transferring the caller over to lawyer now fully prepared to begin solving their issue.

But, without a proper plan or professional receptionist services in place, warm call transfers can quickly turn cold.

When receptionists fail to perform a warm call transfer:

• Attorneys enter exchanges with transferred customers having no information about who they are speaking with or why they are calling. This lack of preparation can often result in the attorney coming off as unprofessional and making a negative first impression.
• Calling customers, who just spent time giving all of their information to a receptionist before being put on hold, end up having to repeat everything they previously said. This will typically lead to customers growing frustrated well before a discussion about the attorney taking on their case even begins.

Failing to perform a warm call transfer can leave customers feeling unappreciated and unimportant, and is one of the quickest ways to lose potential business.

The Solution

Make sure you and your receptionist have a plan of action for every call transferring scenario. This should include what to do with first time callers, calls from current clients, as well as scenarios such as you being unavailable. You’ll also want to establish what pertinent information your receptionist should provide you with before the transfer, and what your receptionist should tell callers when you’re unavailable.

Mistake #5 - Letting A Call Go To Voicemail

The biggest call handling mistake your law office can make is failing to answer a call and letting it go to voicemail.

Data shows that 80 percent of callers sent to voicemail fail to leave messages because they do not think they will ever be heard.

Today’s legal consumers don’t like waiting around for results, and will typically not leave messages or wait for a call back from your office. Instead, they’ll just move on to calling another firm. And this habit doesn’t just apply to regular office hours, but after hours and weekends too. You always need a live voice answering your phones.

This presents a major problem for firms, as lawyers can’t be expected to answer customer calls at all hours of the day, and neither can an in-office receptionist.

The Ultimate Solution

Live 24/7 answering services, like Answering Legal, will ensure that all of your office calls are answered by trained legal receptionists. The receptionists from our team will be able to greet callers in a professional manner, take them through the legal intake process, and take down a proper message when your unavailable.

It’s time to stop letting customers slip away because of careless and easily avoidable customer service errors. Sign up for a free trial of Answering Legal now, and see your call handling mistakes decrease in a hurry.