When a potential client contacts your law firm to come in for an appointment, responding quickly is vitally important.  Most potential clients are contacting multiple law firms when they are in need of legal services.  The reality is that the law firm that is most responsive is often the law firm that gets the client.

So, what are you doing in your law firm to streamline your intake process?  Is an individual or individuals taking these calls as they come and setting the potential client up quickly for an appointment?

If your law firm is doing this, you’re in a good shape.  If your law firm is not doing this, and potential clients are hitting voice mail and are waiting long periods of time for a call back, it can be problematic for the success of your law firm.

Most potential clients don’t like hitting voice mail.  If they hit voice mail, they are looking for a call back quickly.  Most potential clients also don’t like waiting for a return call.  While lawyers can often find this difficult when they are in court or attending to other matters, responding to potential clients quickly is critically important for most law firms.

If you can get potential clients in the same day, this is optimum and will likely set your law firm apart.  But sometimes that isn’t possible–even as it relates to the potential client’s schedule.

The reality is that when a potential client calls, you want to be able to call them back the same day.  You then want to get them in within 48-hours at the latest.

If you are any less efficient than this, look for ways to increase efficiency at your law firm.  The firms that succeed have great procedures in place to deal with potential client calls.  The firms that are struggling generally do not.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.