Your billable hours are limited and precious. They should be spent on tasks that require your expertise – so there’s nothing more frustrating than taking time to phone a client, and reaching their voicemail.
But clients want to speak on the phone. Clio found that 71% of people prefer to communicate with their firm by phone. If you can follow up by phone, you’re more likely to make a connection. Or if your receptionist can follow up on your behalf.
LEX can call out as well as answer inbound calls – so you can tell us to call out to specific contacts. Discover how outbound calling can help to improve your client service.
Why should firms use outbound calling?
Outbound calling is often considered an acquisition strategy – to help move potential new clients past the research stage and towards signing a retainer. After all, if you contact a potential client before your competitor, you’re more likely to convert them. An ABA study found that 42% of law firms take 3+ days to respond to voicemail, email and web form submissions. But that’s not all it can do!
It can also be used for improved client communication. You’ll have dealt with nervous clients who call constantly looking for reassurance – outbound calling can preempt that.
How could your practice use outbound calling?
We can build an outbound account based on one of the following actions:
- Follow up with web and contact form inquiries
- Prompt follow-ups with potential client emails
- Returning calls to transfer contacts through to staff
- Complete intake questions
- Secure appointments with potential clients
- Appointment reminders to reduce no-shows
- Confirm document receipt
- Answer concerns delaying contract signing
- Call out to take payment
- And even more.
For different actions, you may need to set multiple outbound accounts with LEX. This doesn’t cost extra, but it can take more time for you to check that each email is sent to the right account. For this reason, we don’t recommend creating more than 3 outbound accounts.
How do you set up LEX’s outbound calling for your firm?
You can set up outbound calling within your LEX monthly plan for no extra cost. Our outbound calls are included within your planned minutes, calculated from the time the receptionist gets your instruction to call out.
Our client service team can help you set up outbound calling rules and scripts. You can set rules like a time-limitation, so we will only call out within set hours. This call can be really short – appointment reminders are often under a minute long. But intake calls will take longer, so we can gather detailed information.
Some clients rule out calling before 9am and after 6pm, while others prefer us to call as soon as we receive the email.
Once you have outbound calling set up, it doesn’t have to take much time from you. You can email a list of contacts marked for the specific follow-up action, as and when you need. And you can set web form responses to forward to us automatically as soon as they come in.
After we’ve made the call, you’ll see a message arrive in your Inbox showing what the response was. Sometimes the contact doesn’t pick up their phone – and that’s okay. You’ll see that we reached voicemail in the message notes, and can instruct us to try again the next day.
What makes a successful outbound call?
The key to a good outbound call is timeliness. By following up when your firm is freshly in their minds, you can impress potential clients, secure appointments, and increase the chance of making a positive connection.
Similarly, with clients, they like regular contact as long as it has a purpose. Make sure that you include a reason why we’re calling them. That could be:
- One day before their consultation to remind them of their time slot
- One week after you sent through some documents that need their attention
- One month since you last updated them on their case
We won’t give specific updates on their case – our receptionists won’t see this private information. But just letting them know that you are hard at work on their case and will be in touch as soon as the situation changes is enough to reassure many clients.
Your clients will also have their own lives – they might not be able to wait by the phone for your callback. That’s why we can call out 24/7, so we can connect in the evening after they’ve finished work, or at the weekend when they’re catching up with personal emails.
Why choose LEX?
When you’re pressed for time, and clients expect prompt responses and consistent communication, LEX is the solution. By following up on your behalf, we can help you secure more consultations, retain more clients, and improve client communication. In every situation, clients want to talk to an attentive person who can answer questions and listen to them.
Our professional receptionists are experienced in legal outbound calling, and know the importance of a friendly voice on the phone. They’re like your in-house receptionist – but available after-hours and they don’t have other office tasks to distract them from your calls.
Are you ready to try outbound calling for your firm? Our existing clients can get started easily, by contacting our client service team. If you haven’t become a LEX client yet, have a chat with our sales team on 1-800-800-9995 or book an appointment to learn more.
