Virtual Receptionist For Lawyers: Why You Need Live Call Handling Assistance

There are two things attorneys with growing firms can’t afford to do.

1. Be on the phone all day.
2. Miss an opportunity to engage with a calling client.

You can see how this might be a problem.

So how can attorneys make themselves available for calls from current and prospective clients, during times when they’re not really available? Well they certainly shouldn’t go about handling their phones alone. Today, all lawyers need some kind of receptionist help. They need someone to appropriately engage with and guide the callers they want to be in touch with, and filter away the ones they don’t.

The need for phone answering help is clear among attorneys, but how they should go about getting help is a bit trickier. In this blog post, we’ll break down why that is, discuss the value of investing in live call handling assistance, and clue you in on the best place to find a virtual receptionist for lawyers.

The Problem

Let’s say your workday is overloaded with meetings and paperwork, and you don’t want to be interrupted by phone calls. In these situations, many lawyers figure they can just let their voicemail handle calls for them. What those lawyers fail to release is that voicemail’s effectiveness as client capturing device has become extremely low.

Today’s consumer is in most cases looking for instant gratification, and is definitely not interested in leaving a message with an automated machine and waiting around for a call back. And what if you get a call from a client with an urgent matter, or a call from a customer with a prospective case that could bring in a big payday for your firm. An automated machine won’t be able to alert you and give you the option to be transferred in when those situations arise.

Many of you will probably fire back to the problem we’ve presented with, “that’s what I have a receptionist for”. While a quality in-house receptionist certainly can aid you in fielding daytime callers, they won’t be able to greet your callers outside of normal office hours. Many attorneys will receive a high number calls during after hours and weekend times, and without anyone ready to greet them, will be forced to either let potentially significant client opportunities pass them by, or sacrifice their valuable time off.

The Benefits Of Using Virtual Receptionists

In order to keep new clients from slipping through your grasp, while actually giving yourself some much needed time away from the job to decompress, you’ll need to invest in some additional phone answering help. That help can come in the form a virtual receptionist for lawyers. A quality phone answering service can utilize virtual receptionists to help you solve the problem we presented in the introduction of this piece. Being available, during times when you’re not really available. And it can do so by providing live call transferring.

Using a virtual receptionist may sound like you’ll be committing to having a machine answer your calls, but it’s actually the exact opposite. A phone answering service will provide real people to answer your firm’s calls from an off-site location. During times in which you would prefer not to answer the phone, whether it be because you’re buried in paperwork or having a dinner with the family, you can confidently let your answering service handle your calls. Doing so will lead to one of two outcomes.

Outcome #1

If the call turns out not to be a time sensitive matter— which, let’s be honest, most calls will be —your answering service can simply take a message on your behalf. With a live person picking up the phone, your customers will feel much more accommodated, and more willing to wait to hear back from you at a later time.

Outcome #2

If the call does turn out to be urgent, a virtual receptionist can attempt to patch the call through to you on your cell phone. You’ll first get the chance to speak with your virtual receptionist, who will brief you on what the call is regarding. Once fully equipped with information about the customer, you can be patched into their call, allowing you every opportunity to win over new business for your firm.

Where To Get Help

If you think you may be ready to invest in a virtual receptionist for lawyers, look no further than Answering Legal. While many answering services out there will say they provide live call transferring assistance, their reliability in performing that duty can often be described as questionable at best. In order to properly address your law office’s call handling, and maximize your opportunities to win over new clients, you’ll need to make Answering Legal your virtual receptionist choice.

Here are some reasons why:

• Answering Legal truly is a 24/7/365 service, meaning anytime of day or night your phone rings, a member of our team will be there to pick up the phone. That team member will be fully trained in all legal receptionist matters, including advanced message taking, legal intake, and call transferring.
• Our legal intake receptionists can be counted on to ascertain whether your caller is a new or existing client. For new clients, we’ll typically attempt to patch them into your mobile phone, giving you the option to speak with a prospective client in real time.
• Every lawyer will be different when it comes to how they want to handle calls, and which situations they will want to be patched in. Answering Legal is perfect for all lawyers, because we allow our customers full control in customizing the way we handle their calls. For example, we know that some lawyers won’t want to pick up a call when it comes from a number they don’t recognize. In those cases, Answering Legal can qualify the new caller, and patch it back into you if it’s someone you have pre-determined you would like to speak with. We can also route calls to specific people at your firm, based on your pre-determined preferences.
• We know you won’t always be able to hop on to a call. But, with Answering Legal, you won’t have to wait long to learn what your missed call was about. At the conclusion of every new call fielded by one of our receptionists, a detailed message can be sent to a lawyer’s smartphone via text and/or email message. This way you’ll never have to stress about missing the new client.

To truly get an idea of how live call transferring assistance can impact your firm, you’ll need to try it out. That’s why at Answering Legal we offer a free-day 10 trial of our service. During our trial you’ll have full use of all our business’ features, and won’t have to sign any contracts. To get the process started, visit our sign-up page!

To learn more about how a service like Answering Legal can transform your firm, check out this blog post!