When a North Carolina office realized its referrals from clients were dwindling, it responded by setting up a plan to ensure maximum personal contact with the clients. Within the first year the plan was in place, the personal injury firm doubled its referrals.
The focus was placed on communications, fast response to calls, maintaining contact throughout the year and keeping in touch with referral sources.
Computer-enforced call returns
A major client complaint is lack of access to the attorneys and a delay in returning phone calls.
So the first rule was that calls from prospective clients have to be returned by the end of the day. The rule is enforced by computer check as well as by the managing partner.
When the receptionist takes a message from a potential client, he or she takes the name, telephone number, address and message into a client intake form and emails it to the attorney. Then when the call gets returned, the attorney fills in the time and date plus a note on what the attorney told that client.
At the end of the day, all forms are printed out and given to the senior partner. If any form shows a call has not been returned, the managing partner returns it. He then meets with the attorney the next day to find out why the call wasn’t returned.
Get business by the next day
The firm then made a rule that potential clients have to be seen by the next day.
Why the hurry? The firm reviewed its phone records and found that 75 percent of the callers whose initial appointments were made more than two days later didn’t retain the firm. People who call in have a legal issue in mind right then and they don’t want to wait three days to see an attorney.
After the change, the firm found almost 100 percent of the callers seen the same day or the next become clients.
Two personal calls every 30 days
The next rule ensured continued personal contact throughout the representation period.
Every 30 days the attorneys have to call their clients. They ask how their clients are faring personally and if there are any developments such as medical test results or job difficulties that might affect the matter.
Those calls illustrate personal concern. They also keep fi les up to date. If a client had a medical test, for example, the attorney can get a copy of the results. There’s no searching for information at the last minute.
The same rule applies to staff. The staff member assisting the attorney also has to call the client every 30 days and ask the same questions. To keep the calls separated, the attorneys call during the first half of the month and the staff call during the second half.
Even the name counts
There’s another rule for office visits.
When clients are in the office, staff address the attorneys by last name. Meanwhile, the attorneys ask the clients to address them by first name.
That makes the clients think they have a personal rapport with attorneys that even the staff don’t have. It tells the clients they are the boss.
There is also a rule that neither the attorneys nor the staff can make derogatory comments about a client.
It is permissible to say the client is “difficult to deal with,” but it is not permissible to say the client is “a jerk.”
The reason is psychological. If the office is always respectful, that attitude gets conveyed to the clients.
Referrals to and from the office
The firm also set up new referral initiatives. One is a requirement that the attorneys ask for referrals at the end of the representation. The attorney says, “If you are pleased with the work, we hope you will refer other people to the firm.”
Another initiative is to send holiday greeting cards not just to the clients but also to anyone who has called the firm but hasn’t retained its services. The mailing list comes from the telephone call tracking system.
Here is an initiative few offices follow–sending referrals to other attorneys.
The office keeps a list of attorneys who work in other areas of law and whom the attorneys know personally. When a caller has a legal matter the firm can’t handle, the receptionist gives the caller a name from the list and tells about that attorney’s reputation and personality.
In turn, the office gets referrals from those attorneys.
Finally, the firm uses community involvement to increase its visibility.
When it opened five satellite offices, it donated $1,000 to a scholarship for a high school student in each community. When the scholarships were awarded, the office provided the local newspapers with photos and information about the each student, the scholarship and the firm.
Law Office Manager wants to send you $100. Tell us how you solved a problem or implemented a successful program, or share any idea we can use in our Reader Tips column and we’ll send you $100. Send your stories to BARB@plainlanguagemedia.com.