1. No Sense of Urgency When Handling Leads
People often feel anxious or scared when they realize they need legal help, so they typically want to speak to a lawyer right away to learn about their options.
Because of this, it’s important for lawyers to handle each lead with a sense of urgency. If you take too long to call a lead back, you may lose the opportunity to convert the lead into a client.
2. Failing to Train the Person Who Communicates With Leads
The person who is responsible for answering your law firm’s phone should be trained to handle each lead with urgency.
If you’re not around to take the call, make sure this person knows how to capture the lead’s contact information and reassure them that you will get in touch quickly.
3. Making Leads Jump Through Hoops to Talk to You
Leads want someone to pick up the phone when they call—they don’t want to listen to countless options on a call menu or phone tree.
Instead of asking them to jump through hoops to reach you, connect them to a live person within your firm as soon as they call.
4. Choosing Not to Hire An Answering Service
Hire an answering service to field calls that come in after hours instead of sending these potential clients to voicemail.
Talking to someone—even if it is not a lawyer—could convince the lead to put his search for an attorney on hold until he hears back from your law firm.
5. Using An Ineffective Voicemail Message
Law firms should never send their calls to voicemail, but if it happens due to a technical glitch, it’s best to be prepared.
Record a strong voicemail message identifying your law firm, apologizing for the inconvenience, and asking for the caller’s contact information.
The message should also tell the caller when he should expect to hear back from you.
6. Failing to Get Clients to Leave Online Reviews
The search for an attorney often starts online. Leads turn to websites such as Google, Avvo, and Yelp to see what clients are saying about local law firms.
If a law firm has too many negative reviews or no reviews at all, the lead may cross this name off of his list. Therefore, it’s important for lawyers to ask their clients to leave reviews online.
7. Pretending Negative Reviews Don’t Exist
Your law firm will most likely get negative reviews at some point. When it happens, respond to the reviewer to apologize for the misunderstanding.
Responding to negative reviews shows other leads who are reading your reviews that you genuinely care about your clients.
8. Believing Prospects Don’t Have Money
If a lead says he is need of legal advice but has no money, don’t believe him.
Every lead will find money if he truly believes he could benefit from your legal services. It’s your job to make feel this way.
Believe it or not, these marketing mistakes could cost your firm tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Fix these mistakes to grow your business exponentially!