The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Phone systems, and managing phone systems, are essential for law firms  --  even if managing lawyers can tend to overlook the importance of such things.  But, in a very real sense, law firm phone systems are really  money machine s.  Getting a lead to the right person, transferring calls appropriately, accessing a message in a timely fashion, utilizing a system in which leads most often reach humans, even  if those humans are part of a contracted virtual receptionist service . . . any or all of those attributes of a feature set and their application can increase your chances of converting a lead by degrees.  You can also utilize phone systems to keep existing clients happy, including by  reducing the perceived layers of administration between lawyers and their customers.   As with most technology options that face modern attorneys, there are no easy choices.  Not only is  a lawyer’s ethical competency now often tied to...

Everytime  you complete a business-facing page -- your website, a social media profile, a review platform page -- you're always asked to provide an opening and closing time for your office.   Don't.   I mean, think about it: Does that jibe with the way modern consumers access businesses, or the way that modern business owners work ?   Do you work 9-5?  Of course not.  You do things after hours, and you're frustrated when consumer service options don't exist after hours, too.  So are your clients.  And, guess what: If you indicate that your office close s  at 5 pm, you're just giving your potential clients an excuse not to call you, and to call someone else  instead .   Of course, this course of action necessitates the need for providing contact options for potential clients who contact you on off hours.  That c ontact option c ould be you.  Or ,  it could be a contact form.  Or, it could be a virtual engagement service or to...

Nobody has ever liked waiting.  But, there has never been a point in recorded history where people have liked waiting less.  Cave people, I suppose, never had the benefit of the internet and smartphones.  But, I’m not even talking about the Neanderthals; heck, people are far less patient than they were even ten years ago, since things like Netflix have pumped urgency addition up on steroids.  No one wants to wait for anything anymore, because no one has to wait for anything anymore.  Except for hiring law firms. Despite the fact that consumers are simultaneously less patient and have more choices than ever before, attorneys still make those consumers wait.  They call; you wait to call them back.  They want engagement; you give them online forms.  They text; you ignore their texts.  Converting leads starts at first contact; and, if you’re not the first contact back, you’ve already lost the game.  Everything you do in marketi...