While every department in a law firm is vital, no other department can function without intake, which speaks with potential new clients and signs new cases; without cases, a law firm doesn’t exist. There are constant problems to solve in a fast-paced and busy intake department, and there are also constant new innovations and technologies that make intake an easier, faster, and more accurate process.
That’s exactly the reason why a legal conference like the Brain Trust Legal conferences and events are a great place to level up your intake department. Powerful, firm-changing insights and up-to-date innovations are featured from the stage and in the exhibition hall. Below are just a few of the takeaways and insights that can be gained from events like ours.
Many law firms only have intake coverage for the hours the office is open. Perhaps they will extend it a few hours to 8:00 or 9:00 at night, but then their office is, for all intents and purposes, closed for business. The problem with that is, accidents happen every hour of the day, which means people are constantly looking for legal help. If they can’t call you, they will call someone else.
Additionally, if you don’t have someone answering your phones overnight, you can’t list your business as open 24 hours on Google. That means Google will only recommend your firm over other firms during the hours you are listed as open. Imagine the number of potential clients you could be missing!
There are numerous companies that provide remote answering services, and they are designed specifically for lawyers. Shopping around and finding a company you like at a price you find reasonable can make a huge impact in the number of signed cases by answering calls that come into your firm overnight and on holidays.
When a potential client calls a law firm, the ideal goal for a great intake department is to establish if they have a case the firm can take, and then sign them up. To get that accomplished quickly and efficiently, an intake team needs to ask a series of questions to get those answers. Does that mean you should write out an intake script for your team members?
The quick answer is: yes and no. You absolutely want to make sure that your intake team has a clear list of information to gather from potential clients. However, you may not want it to be a fully-written script because not everyone can make a scripted conversation sound and feel authentic. The last thing you want is for potential clients to feel like they need help and your intake team is just checking boxes and phoning it in.
The best option is to have an instructional flowchart that shows your intake team what information is needed in what sequence, along with important notes about their interactions, such as “show compassion.” That way, your team knows what needs to be achieved in what order, but they can make the interaction feel organic and unique.
There are certain traits that make for a better law firm employee in general, traits like loyalty and accountability. However, there are additional traits that make a team member uniquely suited to the intake department:
The intake department has to move fast in order to continually sign clients and get to the next call. An ideal intake candidate is one that can get the information needed from the potential client and input it into your CRM system as quickly as possible while still making the potential client feel heard. Speed is a key skill set for intake employees.
In addition to speed, flexibility is an incredibly helpful trait for your intake team members. Every single call with a potential client is different. There could be high emotion or no emotion, a long series of questions or almost no interaction. An intake team member has a standard process, but they also have to be ready for surprises, anything from getting a call while someone is still at the scene of an accident to someone with a heavy accent and their entire family on speakerphone all asking questions at the same time. Being able to adjust to these challenges in the moment is a powerful key to being a successful intake team member.
Equally as important as those two is compassion, the element that will separate your intake department from others. When people have been in an accident, they don’t just want legal help; they want support, understanding, and a friendly ear to listen. An ideal intake team member will be able to quickly but effectively set the potential client at ease and make them feel heard and helped. This is one of the most important traits, and frequently one of the most overlooked.
The truth is that three things will always continue to grow: the number of people who need legal help, the number of attorneys in competition for those people, and the number of technological innovations and advancements that will allow a law firm to close those clients faster and more effectively. Only by embracing the new technology and innovations can you make sure to secure more of those clients and remain competitive with other attorneys. That’s where the true value of the Brain Trust Legal conference and events lie. Presentations from expert speakers and successful attorneys provide context and strategy to take back to your office. Insights and programs from the vendors in the exhibitor’s area arm you with options for how to recognize and solve your intake issues. Attending events like these can make all the difference in the number of cases you close and how much you can see your law firm grow.
To learn more about Brain Trust Legal Conferences and events, you can call (855) 743-1636 from anywhere in the country to speak with a team member, or you can explore the site more to read about previous and upcoming BTL events.
