Lawyer marketing: how to audit intake calls

Have you ever realized that the most challenging part of addressing a problem is recognizing that you actually have one? You probably want more leads from your law firm marketing efforts, but can you explain what you did with the last bunch of leads you got?

Well, once you realize that your intake process is not quite up to scratch, it is essential that you audit your intake phone call process. This will help you identify various aspects that need improvement and ultimately streamline the entire process. This guide focuses on how you can run a successful intake phone call to audit the specific elements you must evaluate.

Define what matters most

Before you begin evaluating various aspects of your intake phone calls, according to DNovo Group, it is essential to create a framework that the entire system must follow. If you own or manage a reputable law firm, you probably have an outline of what an excellent intake call should look like. However, if you started a dedicated intake department within your organization recently, there is a good chance you have a nebulous idea of what an intake phone call should be.

Think about your prospective customers' experience and how you desire to make them feel on a phone call. To understand this concept, define what you think should be most important to you if you were to make the first contact with a lawyer or a law firm. Some of the elements you would consider include tone, empathy, knowledge, helpfulness, efficiency, and documentation. Similarly, your target audience is likely to pay attention to these essential aspects of a phone call.

Perform gap analysis

Now that you have the ideal intake model, it is time to do a gap analysis. This is the process of evaluating your current staff against the set of criteria that is important to your organization. Based on the important aspect of a phone call mentioned above, you would try to find out if your employees use a friendly tone, are knowledgeable, respond appropriately to your clients, and offer help whenever necessary. You should also find out if they are efficient when it comes to note-taking and documentation.

Evaluating the available resources, both physical resources and human resources (phone handlers), allows you to judge everyone on the same scale and against similar criteria. The gap analysis also allows you to identify areas where your employees are falling short. Identifying this gap makes it easier for you to determine what you need to bridge the gap between the available resources and what your organization actually needs to equip its call handlers.

Assign this task to an experienced auditor

Based on the current size of your law firm, you can choose to handle the task on your own or delegate it to an expert. Regardless of who audits the calls, it is important to ensure that they understand your corporate culture and the core values you wish to instill in your intake team. Sure, the gap analysis findings will help you specify some of those values, but it still important for the call auditor to understand the specific image you intend to project to your target audience.

Stay organized

As with many things in business, you must keep the entire audit process organized. Schedule them frequently, particularly for the new hires, to ensure that they understand what's expected of them. This is important because your law firm may not be ready to bear the cost of hiring the wrong call handler.

Additionally, frequent audits will give you insights into the impact different strategies are having. For instance, you can try something as simple as a new greeting or changing the way your law firm redirects calls. The essence of regular audits is to help you determine what works best for your law firm and what doesn't.

Give feedback

Upon the completion of the audit process, tell the people involved how they handled the entire process. Remember, audits offer more than just telling you how the intake calls are going. They may also give insights into what your employees are doing and the specific areas they should improve on. So, give them constructive feedback after the audit.

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