The legal sector is paying closer attention than ever to new business – investing valuable time, resource and cash into generating leads in a bid to grow client portfolios. But, what happens to enquiries once they land?
According to research, 93% of firms admit to being too busy to handle leads properly and with many firms still operating with reduced resource, the challenge is growing. Solicitors are feeling overwhelmed trying to juggle existing work and handle new enquiries. This can lead to a leaky sales funnel, as well as bad sentiment from prospects who feel they’ve been waiting too long for a call back or follow-up.
Bernadette Bennett, Head of Legal at Moneypenny explains how outsourcing this function can enable solicitors to strike while the iron’s hot and speak with prospects while interest is high – improving client care and progressing potential opportunities before a competitor gets to them.
Act fast
Since lockdown, consumer behaviour has shifted. Call duration to law firms is up, live chat is generating more leads and out-of-hours calls are routine. It’s not uncommon for firms to be faced with hundreds of enquiries first thing in the morning – particularly on a Monday. It can take hours to work through them and when there are other pressing matters for fee earners to deal with, it’s a job that can fall to the bottom of the list.
Data also tells us that if a query isn’t answered quickly and easily, prospects will abandon their enquiry and move on, so the potential for lost revenue is huge. By responding to leads quickly, solicitors can demonstrate they value a prospect’s business from the offset, push them along the sales funnel efficiently and begin the journey to conversion.
Identify value
While some leads carry significant potential value, the unfortunate reality is that others are highly unlikely to convert. By making an initial, friendly follow-up call, Moneypenny’s dedicated legal Outbound Team is able to establish whether a lead is an immediate opportunity or one to put into a more long-term nurture cycle.
Separating the wheat from the chaff is crucial for effective lead handling. It’s an onerous task to respond to everyone and when a lead is unlikely to amount to anything, it’s understandably frustrating. By outsourcing this task, law firms can be confident that leads passed on to their team have been pre-qualified, are more likely to convert and therefore worthy of their precious follow-up time.
Generate loyalty
As well as business development, Moneypenny’s legal Outbound Calling service can be used to support account management and drive loyalty from existing clients.
In addition to attracting new clients, solicitors must ensure they’re making every effort to mine their existing database for potential business. They could be sat on some lucrative cases. By making catch-up calls, they can identify potential opportunities for new business, strengthen relationships and cleanse data in the process.
Moneypenny’s Outbound Calling service can be used to qualify conveyancing enquiries, handle inbound leads for personal injury and other claims, and contact wills and probate and lasting powers of attorney clients to gain up-to-date information on their circumstances. The service was designed to give firms greater organisational agility, efficiency and capacity. Moneypenny will respond to leads from any source, calling them promptly from the firm’s office telephone number to ensure a professional experience.
Conveyancing leads will be managed via the Perfect Portal platform, where Moneypenny’s Outbound Team will respond directly to both inbound and referral enquiries. This will provide firms with a seamless outsourced solution where experienced legal receptionists qualify leads before providing a quote and converting enquiries.
For claims and wills and probate calls, leads will be managed via secure databases that can be uploaded directly to a firm’s CRM.
Pritpal Chahal, Solicitor and Practice Manager for Askews Legal LLP, said: “We receive a lot of enquiries each day, particularly from conveyancers. Moneypenny’s Outbound Team now picks and up and qualifies our leads. It’s taken the pressure off our admin staff and ensured every lead is contacted and made to feel valued – exactly what we wanted to achieve.”
Moneypenny handles more than 2 million legal calls and live chats each year for more than 1,000 legal firms in the UK, including 65 of the Top 200, thanks to its dedicated team of 55 legal receptionists.
For more information about Moneypenny’s work with the legal sector, visit