Three Reasons Solo Lawyers Should Invest In A Bilingual Virtual Receptionist

Attorneys are detail-oriented people, and tend to like to have their hands in everything that comes through their office. Delegation is a valuable skill, then, but for solo practitioners, it can feel like delegation isn’t an option. After all, you’re the only attorney in the office.

But that isn’t true. Solo lawyers can still delegate their phone answering, and should. If you’re answering the phone every time it rings, you’re dropping whatever you’re doing, dealing with the caller, and then trying to get back to work. And all that, several times a day, means you’re just not as productive as you could be.

Hiring a receptionist is the way to go, then, but salary is expensive and training is time-consuming, and as a sole practitioner, your time is all you have. That’s why solo lawyers should invest in a bilingual virtual receptionist to not only handle all your calls, but help grow your solo practice by expanding your market share and improving your reputation. Here are three reasons solo lawyers should invest in a bilingual virtual receptionist:

You’ll Get More Done By Delegating Your Call Answering

Studies show that it takes 23 minutes to get back on task after an interruption. Human brains simply aren’t built for multitasking, no matter how much we try to train them to be. And since time is a solo practitioner’s most important resource, it’s important that solo lawyers not be stopping every few minutes to answer their phone.

Of course, if you’re not answering the phone, you’re not getting any new clients, and you just aren’t going to be making enough money. The best way to save both time and money is to invest in a bilingual virtual receptionist. You’ll find that when you have someone answering the phones for you, you’ll have a lot more time to do actual legal work.

But why a virtual receptionist? Well, nowadays, some solo lawyers find it easier to run a virtual practice, saving on expensive overhead costs. If you do have a physical office, it might not be set up for a receptionist to do their job. And finally, it’s just good business sense. By letting someone else handle the job search, training, and salary payment, you save time and money by hiring a bilingual virtual receptionist.

You’ll Grow Your Market Share

That’s, of course, why a virtual receptionist works so well for solo lawyers. But why a bilingual virtual receptionist? Well, there are over 41 million people in the U.S. who speak Spanish at home, likely as their first language. That means no matter where you live, there’s a significant community of people who speak primarily Spanish, and those people need legal help just as much as English-speakers. You can expand your client base to include those Spanish-speakers, increasing your pool of potential clients.

In addition, as a solo practitioner, your world is even more cutthroat than the standard hyper-competitive world of lawyers who are part of bigger firms. Your practice survives and thrives on only the strength of your clients, as you don’t have partners to cover when your inflow is slow, or to pass clients onto you.

That’s why getting ahead of your competition is even more important for sole practitioners. By investing in a bilingual virtual receptionist, you’ll gain an edge over your competitors. Depending on your area, you may be one of few attorneys catering to the Spanish-speaking community, giving you access to clients your competitors might never have access to.

You’ll Improve Your Reputation

As a solo practitioner, you likely don’t have a large marketing or PR department to rely on for getting your name out there, and you don’t have an illustrious name on your firm that already has brand recognition. Your name is all you have, so you likely spend a lot of time and money on marketing to make sure people know it.

By investing in a bilingual virtual receptionist, you can advertise to Spanish-speakers in your area, and your name will start to grow in those communities. Once your firm develops a reputation for being able to help people in their own language, you’ll find your name growing in esteem within that community.

Word-of-mouth referrals will start coming in, and even some positive online reviews, which will all help you attract new leads and get more out of your marketing.

Answering Legal’s Bilingual Virtual Receptionists Are The Best Around

As we discussed earlier, it’s tough for attorneys to delegate work. You probably believe you’re the best person for every job within your practice, and so if you do delegate, you will want to make sure you’re delegating to the most qualified candidates around.

Answering Legal has you covered. We’re a bit biased, but we believe our bilingual virtual receptionists to be the best in the business. They’re highly-trained, undergoing months of tutorials and role plays before ever picking up the phone for your firm. They can also perform legal intakes, making sure that if you’re not speaking to the clients directly, you’ll still be capturing as many leads as you need.

Not only that, but our service is the best around, too. We’ve got live call transferring, so that if you want to speak directly to new client callers after a receptionist greets them and gathers their information in order to better secure their business, you can do that. We’re also available 24/7, so you can be sure you’ll never miss a potential client, no matter what time they call. With Answering Legal, your solo practice will be best positioned to grow and thrive.

Stop doing everything yourself and start growing your solo practice today by hiring Answering Legal. Click here or call 631-686-9700 to take advantage of our free trial. For a limited time, we’re also offering attorneys who sign up with our service their first 400 minutes free.