One hesitation many law firms have about using a legal call center for outsourced intake is the fear that untrained or poorly trained individuals will drive away potential clients.
This is a legitimate concern when dealing with traditional call centers. However, Alert ‘ legal intake specialists receive unique, robust and ongoing education. Our ability to customize legal intake evaluations further sets our training regime apart from the competition.
While understanding basic call answering skills is essential, our training also includes:
1. Legal Terminology
Industry jargon can seem like a foreign language to people unfamiliar with the legal world. Whether callers do not know basic terminology or whether they have their own law degree, our legal intake specialists know how to best communicate using (or not using) legal industry terminology.
2. Phone Etiquette
Customer service is the foundation of a great legal call center. This includes being polite, professional and personable during the screening process. Intake specialists are trained to put leads at ease and listen to what they have to say.
3. Empathy
Potential clients are often nervous if they’re unfamiliar with the legal system.. It’s natural for emotions to be raw and for people to feel concerned and unsure. When a personal injury leaves the potential client’s family in peril, he or she will likely be in an even greater state of emotional turmoil. Alert ’ intake specialists know to respond with empathy and support. Thanks to their training in empathy, legal intake specialists know to acknowledge these emotions and listen to your potential client to create a connection.
4. Call Control
Any receptionist can answer the phone, be friendly and take a message. However, legal intake specialists are trained to do more. This includes evaluating each caller’s situation in order to qualify leads appropriately. By leading the direction of the call, specialists are able to ask the right questions and gather vital information within a timely manner.
5. Online Lead Response
Not every prospective client will call your firm; some will fill out a web form or send an email. Web form leads, especially, need to be answered quickly by a trained intake specialist. The legal intake specialist provides quality service by reaching out to anyone who fills out a lead form. They follow up with leads and convert them.
6. Retainer Execution with E-Sign
An essential part of the intake process is gathering the required signatures for a retainer. Our legal intake specialists provide electronic or paper versions of the correct forms. Forms can be sent and returned during an introductory phone call. If retainers are not signed immediately, legal intake specialists will use lead tracking to follow up with the potential client. That way, law firms only have to deal with prospects that have converted.
7. Appointment Scheduling
Alert legal intake specialists also know how to arrange appointments in a way that does not conflict with our client’s schedule. They are trained to provide the same kind of support that in-house receptionists offer.
8. Live Transfer/Call Routing
Our goal is to essentially become a seamless extension of your firm. With live transfer and call routing, callers never know they are being transferred from a call center to your law firm. As far as they are concerned, an in-house receptionist answered the phone.
Partnering with a call center with little to no specialized legal training could cause problems for your firm. Without proper training, call center specialists could potentially hurt your conversion rates during the intake process. Potential clients might sense whether the specialist knows the legal terminology or displays proper empathy. This might cause them to judge your firm’s ability to take care of their legal situation. While traditional call centers seem cheaper at first, the opportunity cost from lost leads makes the investment worthless.
