We just got off the phone with a client. We were looking at his call logs, and it was phone call after phone call after phone call, and all of them were only one minute long. What that means is that every single time, his calls were going to voicemail.
The Problem With Voicemail
Sure enough, we looked at the times, and they were when either the office was at lunch or after 5:00 PM when their office was closed. He pays us a lot of money on marketing and spends a lot of money on advertising. In an effort to help, we told him to get an answering service because people do not leave voice messages.
People Want Help Now
Picture this: Let’s say your toilet is overflowing and you call a plumber. Are you going to leave a message or are you going to hang up and dial the next plumber?
Odds are you’re going to hang up and dial the next plumber. That’s how people are when they’re searching for a lawyer. If they need an attorney and they know who you are, then they’re more likely to leave a voicemail.
Remember Where Your Potential Clients Come From
However, most of the time, the clients that we’re dealing with come to us through pay per click, search engine optimization, social media, etc. People are not willing to leave a message. They are just going to hang up and call your competitor. Once that happens, they are gone.
What You Need To Do
You need to either make sure your phones are staffed 24 hours a day, or you need to hire an answering service. We have two that we recommend. I do not have any affiliation with either of them, but one is Voice Nation, and the other is Answer First. We’ve worked with both of them with our clients, and they have both done a good job.
It always amazes me when a lawyer spent so much money, this client spends $2,500 a month with us every single month, and he lets calls go to voicemail.
What One Missed Call Could Be Worth
One of those missed calls could have paid for our entire marketing campaign, and he’s just letting it go to voicemail. An answering service is not expensive. It’s only a few hundred dollars a month. That pales in comparison to what you are losing, and it also pales in comparison to what you’re typically spending on marketing.
I just wanted to share this quick little PSA. I talk to lawyers all the time where this is an issue, and it doesn’t have to be. It’s a really simple problem to solve. All you have to do is call Voice Nation, Answer First, or another service. Just make sure that your calls do not go to voicemail.