The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Since the COVID pandemic struck, and law firms were forced to immediately reenvision their intake processes as digital programs – attorney s have been more focused on the ‘ client journey ’ than ever before .  That’s , of course, taken on many forms, with law firms adopting click-to-call and chat on websites, onboarding CRM softwares , and adding esignature and epayment functionality to workflows.  And, that’s all great, because all of those items on that tick list allow attorneys to more effectively convert clients .   Now, while the intake process for a law firm can be totally digital , many attorneys still prefer to utilize staff to manage, at least parts of, the intake process .  Oftentimes, law firms will push that duty onto existing staff .  Sometimes, attorneys are picking up the phone, to talk to potential clients .  Or, a paralegal is scheduling appointments for new leads .  Or, maybe intake is just part of an administrator’s set of duties .  However, none of those f

Everybody wants more clients .  It’s a good problem to have .  And, i t invites additional opportunities – to become more efficient so you can accommodate even more work, or hire some great people .  And, there are a couple of super basic numbers you can look at, to determine what your current success rate is with respect to adding clients – including whether you can improve it.     The first place to look is at your raw lead numbers .  Are you generating enough ?  If not, how can you increase those opportunities, or the viability of those leads ?  Do you get more aggressive about content marketing, in order to acquire more good -fit leads ?  Or, do you raise your prices, to create additional value from each lead you get ?   Even a small bump in prices can help you hit your revenue projections, while requiring fewer cases, to do so.     The second metric you can review is your conversion rate .  In other words, what percentage of total leads d o you close ?   No law firm h

One of the things that came out of the pandemic was that it was clear that law firms need ed to think more granularly about their intake processes.  The convenience economy was accelerated by the pandemi c, which means that any business intake process must now b e tight as a drum .   Now , in thinking about your law firm’s intake process , understand that it comes in stages.  The first stage is a basic qualification level = give us your contact information, tell us what your legal need is, let us know whether you live in our jurisdiction, etc.  Of course, legal consumers want a speedy response, and transition to a next step (like scheduling an appointment), so they will only tolerate so many qualification questions – usually 7,10.  But, that’s enough to get some basic answers, and to determine whether the potential client is a fit for the law firm.     But, there’s often a second level of intake, that’s probably just as important; and, that’s when you need to collect data to effectu