Why A Live Virtual Receptionist Is A Key Tool In A Solo Lawyer’s Toolbox

The law has very real effects on people’s lives, but it isn’t itself a real thing—it only exists in the books it is written in. The job of an attorney is to interpret the law in each client’s case and work for the best interests of the client. In a way, you’re making something theoretical into a reality for your client for the duration of their case, not unlike the way filmmakers might make something feel real on a movie screen for two hours.

Running a business, on the other hand, is a lot more like building a house. For solo lawyers, it’s a lot like building a house by yourself! An incredibly difficult but rewarding task that, most importantly, you’re tooling for the long haul. You need to make sure every part of your house is solid at all times so that you’re not constantly patching holes or leaky faucets.

If you’ve ever done any construction or remodeling work, or even just major handiwork around the house, you know how important it is to have the right tools at hand. If you want to get a job done efficiently, you can’t keep running off to secure whatever you need for the task you’re working on. For solo lawyers especially, a live virtual receptionist is one of those tools, and it’s one your firm will use every day. Below, we’ll talk about why solo lawyers should make sure to keep a live virtual receptionist in their firm’s metaphorical toolbox to build a strong business that will last a lifetime.

A Live Virtual Receptionist Will Keep Your Clients Happy

The foundation of any business’s success are, obviously, those who pay for its services. In the case of a law firm, these would be your clients, both current and prospective. If your current clients are unhappy with their representation, you might not be doing your job as well as you could be. And, of course, without a constant influx of new clients, your law firm may not stand the test of time.

A live virtual receptionist, luckily, is the perfect tool to address both of these potential issues. The primary job of a live virtual receptionist is to make sure every caller has a positive experience. For existing clients, this means giving them a friendly and professional conversation with a representative of your law firm every time they call, even if they don’t speak to you specifically.

Existing Clients Want To Know What’s Going On

Keeping clients happy isn’t always easy. For a solo law firm, a particular client’s legal issue is likely not to be the sole focus of your day-to-day. You’re running a business, after all, which has its own tasks that need managing, not to mention other cases you might be handling! However, for your clients, their legal issues are among the most pressing issues they’re facing, and might even be keeping them up at night.

According to a survey of studies conducted by Georgia State University, over half of clients identified the major cause of dissatisfaction as a failure to keep them adequately informed.

The good news is that when an existing client calls, they’re probably not coming to you with an emergency. They’re likely looking for an update, and you can often head these calls off by providing frequent regular updates to your clients via email, perhaps even automatically!

But for the clients you can’t keep happy with email updates, a live virtual receptionist can make sure they stay happy while they wait for you to get an update on their case to them. Your clients will never feel ignored when explaining their issue to a voicemail, and their requests don’t have to interrupt your work, which can be costly, as we’ll explain later in this blog. You’ll always know what’s going on thanks to immediate messages from your live virtual receptionist, and you can handle their issues on your schedule.

New Clients Want To Feel Heard

New clients, on the other hand, do have urgent business, in that if you don’t get back to them quickly, you might not be able to secure their business at all. After all, new clients want to hire a lawyer. They might even want to hire you specifically! But most of all they want to hire one soon. Whatever legal issue is pressing on their minds, they’re calling law firms to get it resolved.

A live virtual receptionist will make your new leads feel like they’ve already started hiring your firm. The key to this process is the legal intake. A live virtual receptionist will be able to conduct a legal intake specifically tailored to your firm. Their familiarity with legal concepts and the specificity of the questions they ask will prompt the caller to feel like they’ve told their part of the story to someone who can help.

And, most importantly, a live virtual receptionist can do this for every single caller.

Only 1 in 3 phone calls to law firms are picked up live.

Because a live virtual receptionist is available 24/7, you’ll be more than doubling the number of new leads you have the opportunity to close. Most of those two-thirds of callers to law firms are just going to find another law firm that will actually answer their phone call.

Of course, a live virtual receptionist can transfer these callers to you—which would certainly help you win their business! But taking calls at all hours of the day and night is no way to run your firm. You’ll end up burned out before long, and you’ll be constantly interrupted by phone calls, which won’t leave you much better off than you were before!

A Live Virtual Receptionist Will Save You Time And Money

The unseen benefit of a live virtual receptionist is that you won’t have to deal with the problems we just described. By taking phone calls out of your hands, a live virtual receptionist will make sure you spend your time the way you want to.

According to Clio’s 2022 Legal Trends Report, 68 percent of clients want to be able to communicate outside of regular business hours and on weekends, and studies have shown that the average attorney spends 1.1 hours a day talking to clients on the phone.

Are you one of these attorneys? Do you take calls and answer emails while sitting at the dinner table with your family, or even worse, in the middle of the night? A live virtual receptionist can make that a thing of the past.

Of course, there are occasionally genuine emergencies that do need your immediate attention. But, as opposed to emergency surgeons, lawyers often handle problems that take days, weeks, or months to resolve. Often just speaking to a live virtual receptionist will mean the person calling at 2 AM will be able to finally sleep, having found someone to help with their legal issue, and will take your call to secure their business in the morning.

When you’re not fielding calls at all hours, you’ll be able to focus on your work and get more done. Spam callers and clients seeking updates will stop interrupting your work, and, after hours, you’ll be able to be more present with your family and friends, which will go a long way toward preventing burnout.

Perhaps less valuable than your time, but no less important, is your money. In order to get the caliber of service you would get from a live virtual receptionist, you’d have to pay much more than what a live virtual receptionist service would run your firm. With a live virtual receptionist, you can save on office space, save on training, and save on wages, all while receiving the benefits of 24/7 phone coverage.

Answering Legal’s Live Virtual Receptionists Have Your Back

If a law firm is like a building and clients are its foundation, then you, the law firm owner, are the owner and contractor. It’s your job to make sure you have all the tools necessary to ensure your law firm has a solid foundation and can keep growing as you go.

Answering Legal, in this metaphor, is like a drill. We’ll be at your side day and night, making sure your new leads are ready for you to call them and drive your point home, securing another client for your growing firm.

Our service was built from the ground up to be customizable. You can swap out your settings with ease, depending on what job you want our service to perform. In addition, we’re compatible with all the tools you use because we integrate with the biggest law firm software around.

But the most important part of our service is our virtual receptionists. They undergo months of training, which you can read about here, before they ever pick up the phone for a law firm. And we make sure they have everything they need to do their jobs with our 24/7 support system.

Secure your firm’s future with the right tool for the job. Click here or call 631-686-9700 to sign up for our free trial. For a limited time, we’re offering firms that sign up for our service their first 400 minutes free.