Lawyers – Are You Unknowingly Losing Cases and Getting a Bad Rap From Poor Phone Service?

You’d be shocked at the amount of cases that get lost and the amount of negative word of mouth that stems from poor phone service.

Poor service isn’t limited to a bad attitude by the person answering the phone – it’s also not getting the caller on the phone with someone that can help them.

If a new caller can’t speak with a lawyer or someone that is qualified to answer their questions on the first call, that caller will move on until they find a law firm that can.

Think of the last time you got poor service at a store. It probably gave you some type of negative feeling towards the business. If the service was bad enough – you may even refuse to do business with the store ever again.

You might go out of your way to tell other people not to do business with them too.

Your phone should be looked at as another doorway into your “store”. Great service on the phone is just as important as great service face-to-face.

The same goes for callers into your firm. When they get bad service on the phone, your odds of converting that prospect into a client, getting that client to refer your firm, or getting that client to use your firm again has just drastically decreased.

With poor service you don’t close the deal.

And if your service was bad enough, the caller might even go out of his/her way to tell people NOT to use your firm.

It’s also important to note – on average a disgruntled client or prospect will tell more people NOT use your firm, than a happy client will tell to use your firm.

How Can You Avoid This Common Pitfall?

At one of PILMMA’s marketing summits a few years ago, I witnessed first-hand, just how bad phone service could be. Even more shocking was how ‘in the dark’ lawyers were about the quality of their firm’s phone service quality.

One of our presenters asked for volunteers in the audience to allow her to call their firm and ‘test’ how well their firm could handle her call.

Each call was worse than the next. But the real shocker – the lawyers that volunteered were the lawyers that were absolutely positive that their firm would undoubting handle her call well.

Test This Out For Yourself!

Have someone call your firm with a moderately difficult-to-handle scenario. Take notes and listen in on the call.

How well does your firm do?

Find out where your firm could improve and use the call for training purposes. Let your staff know what’s expected of them when handling calls.

YOU MUST DEVELOP A PHONE SCRIPT! This is key to having quality service on the phone.

You can also hire a ghost call service to call once or twice a month. A ghost caller is a lot like a mystery shopper. They will record every call and give you some recommendations on where your firm could improve.

Remember, your firm’s phones are one of the doorways into your business. Make sure you’re not losing potential cases and getting a bad rap from bad service!

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