Running a successful law firm takes a lot of your energy and needs you to always be in your best frame of mind. When your phone rings, it can distract you from what you were doing, especially when it’s your office line. The way you answer the caller will have an impact on your business and probably on your reputation.
If you do not have the experience or haven’t mastered the ideal way to answer a business call, you may end up hurting your business’ image significantly. A successful law firm needs you to hire an answering service to ensure you attain your set goals. Some of the benefits that you will gain after hiring an answering service for your office include:
Your Clients Will Receive Personalized Services
With an answering service, you will be in a position to choose how your clients are treated once they call your firm. You will receive a package that will meet your firm’s needs and at the same time provide both your potential and existing clients with some vital information regarding your business. Answering service agents have the necessary training for dealing with clients, translating to your clients receiving friendly service, which will build their trust in your firm. In addition, a legal answering service will filter any unwanted calls and messages, which could take a lot of your time and resources.
They Can Turn Calls into Business Leads
You will realize that your incoming calls will be documented, with an answering service providing a framework for a follow-up. This will ensure that you can follow any leads and capture the necessary information to follow on potential clients. If it’s one of your existing clients, you will follow their issues, making them feel valued. Answering service agents will capture all the relevant information, making it easy to earn back what you have invested in the service.
They Help Boost Productivity of Your Staff
You want your staff to be at their best and deliver on whatever task they are handling. A telephone call will significantly distract them, which will be detrimental to their productivity. When a staff member leaves what they are doing to answer a telephone call, they will need some time to pick their work from where they left it. This will interfere with their productivity, waste time and at the same time make them lose money. An answering service will boost your staff’s productivity as they will concentrate on their work, which will easily translate to more profits.
High Level of Professionalism
What frustrates a client most is making a call, and the person answering doesn’t understand them or is not in a position to offer relevant information. With an answering service, you will train their agents on how you wish your calls answered. Once your callers call, they will receive the necessary information, delivered in a tone that makes them feel someone is on their case. You will note that most of the time, a client will call your law firm most of the time when they or their loved ones are going through a rough patch. Having someone who understands and is firm enough to gather the necessary information will save you time and ensure your client receives the necessary support when they need it. This will go a long way in ensuring your client is well cared for, which will help you achieve your goals.
Your Customers will Enjoy a Seamless Service
Answering service will provide you with a friendly secretary who knows how to handle your clients professionally; a secretary never takes sick leave or vacation and is available 24/7. You will rest easy knowing that your calls are answered, and if there is an emergency, they will forward the information to the relevant personnel. Your clients will enjoy having someone available to take their call at any time of the day or night. Most clients will appreciate speaking with an actual person compared to an answering machine.
High Return on Your Investment
When you invest in an answering service, you will have a high return on the investment as their agents will capture all information which will prevent lost opportunities and sales. In addition, most answering service providers offer a wide range of services like setting your clients’ appointments, making follow-up calls which will go a long way in increasing your firm’s bottom line.
In this era where you have to be ahead of your competitors, having an answering service is crucial to the success of your business. When a potential client calls your office, and an answering machine picks the call, they may call the next law firm available to them. An answering service will ensure that your callers end up being your clients.
Offer Reliable Service to your Clients
Communication is vital, especially when it comes to defense law firms. Since most clients will call when they urgently need your service and expertise, an answering service will offer reliability during this time to your clients. If you never miss a call because your phone was off, your clients will know to always reach out to you when they need to. In addition, most answering service providers will ensure that their phones are always on with trained agents ready to offer assistance to your clients.
Answering service providers will offer 24/7 service to your business, which is vital as it provides your clients with someone to talk to when they need to, which will translate to more business for your law firm. When a client calls and can’t reach you, it may lead to a loss of business on your end. With an answering service, your clients will not only know you as a reliable defense attorney, but they will advertise your services to their family and friends.
Brings Personality to Your Business
Personality is one of the most significant factors that always bring clients back to your business. Personality makes people feel like they already know you, which in essence, makes them trust you and your services. When people feel like they know you and can trust your services, it makes them feel free to come back for more. One way to give your business a personality is the interactions you have with your clients, and you can achieve this when your answering service agents interact with your callers. Real conversations with real people will give your business personality.
Provides a Flexible Working Environment for your Staff
Currently, most businesses are supporting a flexible working environment for their staff. With a flexible working environment, your staff’s satisfaction is guaranteed, and this will, in turn, lead to an increase in their productivity and performance. In addition, an answering service will help you and your staff achieve this goal as your staff doesn’t have to be in the office from 9-5 every day to attend the phone.
An answering service will ensure that your phones are covered throughout the day. In addition, answering services promote remote working, which goes hand in hand with the flexible working environment for your team members. Depending on the agreement you have with the answering service providers, you can have their agents route some calls to specific staff members, which will ensure your firm runs smoothly.
Offer Excellent Customer Service
Excellent customer service is essential for your business to thrive. You will have to provide your customers with excellent services if you want to retain and gain new ones. When you decide to answer service, make sure you go for one that offers excellent customer service. Their agents will bring a high level of excellent expertise to your firm when they take charge of your phone lines.
In addition to excellent customer service, answering service will answer your clients promptly and at the same time extend your working hours. Remember, a satisfied client will always bring back business your way.
Help keep you Abreast with your Competitors
In today’s competitive business, you will need to take advantage of every available advantage to succeed and beat your competition. Having an answering service is one way to achieve this, as this means you will never miss a call and that your callers are attended to in a friendly and professional manner. This will also ensure that you never miss a potential client and you are in a position to follow up on them.
It Reduces the Use of Voicemail, Something Most Clients Dislike
One of the things that most callers dislike more than an unanswered call is the use of voicemail. Asking your callers to leave a voicemail will make you lose a lot of business. Most people will hang up, and if they leave a message, it may end up being deleted by mistake by one of your staff. In a defense law firm, your caller may be in distress, making their message hard to understand. With an answering service, you are sure to receive a clear, and the agents can ask the caller to verify any information that is not clear.
It Is Cost-Effective
Hiring someone to take care of the calls can be expensive, as you will consider having someone to take care of the phone during the day and another at night. You will also have to consider the time and effort you will put during the hiring and training process. Apart from these, you will need to consider who will take their place when they take their day off or on holiday. It, therefore, becomes easy to hire an answering service as it will save you the entire headache that comes with hiring someone to take charge of the phone.
Helps you Cope When the Unexpected Happens
You will realize that running a business doesn’t cushion you against unexpected situations. You may receive emergencies requiring your urgent attention, which can negatively affect your business. An answering service ensures that your callers are attended to and keep you updated on your business. This will ensure you have ample time and peace of mind to deal with your emergency. In addition, your clients will be attended to, and they don’t even have to know you are going through a rough patch.
Improved Accountability and Office Organization
Once you engage the services of answering agents, you will improve your call’s accountability and have an organized office. Answering agents’ records of all the calls received makes it easy to follow up on the leads. You will be in a position to know which clients' cases need your urgent attention and which ones you can deal with later.
You can ask them to record all new callers you can follow later and have a record of your existing clients. If you are running a large office with several partners, the answering service agents can route specific calls to various partners depending on your instructions. Most answering service providers will allow for a seamless flow of conversation in your office as they transfer calls through different departments.
Helps in Capturing All Callers
Currently, the global market is increasing rapidly, and you can be sure to receive a call from someone in a different time zone. You may have a client calling from any part of the world, and capturing their information is crucial to both of you. If you do not have someone at the office to take their call, you may lose their business, but with an answering service, you will be able to offer support to the caller at any time.
Hire an Answering Service Near Me
Hiring a 24/7 answering service provider to deal with your callers will ensure you enjoy a wide variety of benefits. If you want to have an efficient and cost-effective call handling process, you should consider having a telephone answering service. Take your time and research for one that has excellent reviews, as this will give you an idea of what they offer. Also, try to take some of the service providers who offer a free trial period.
During this trial period, you can call a new caller, depending on their response. As a result, you will know if their agents are in sync with your business. You can also call an existing client to see how they will handle your information. This will help you know if their agents can handle your callers and, at the same time, deliver data to your office in an efficient manner.
