One of the things we have learned is the necessity for a culture shift to occur in consumer law firms so that the individuals responsible for the firm’s intake process are chosen based on a sales background, not customer service.

Consumer law firms operate in an intensely competitive environment where their prospective clients have hundreds, if not thousands, of choices. All of your competitors are easily identifiable with the click of a mouse or the turning of a page.

If you have done the necessary work to ensure you can be easily found by consumers looking for a firm that practices your type of law, you are likely to be contacted. And when you are, you want someone with a sales background answering those calls and following up.

Most law firms that we’ve worked with over the years don’t even have a formal intake department. They basically have a receptionist and somebody who’s a rollover person in case the receptionist gets too busy. This is a good way to fail consistently at lead conversion.

Our experience has shown us that many law firms have the wrong people answering prospect calls. You don’t want people handling your intake process who have a customer service background; you want people who have sold stuff over the telephone.

You want to build a sales-oriented culture within your firm since lead conversion is a money-making function. You don’t want a bunch of order takers in charge of your lead conversion efforts; you want a bunch of rainmakers – people who are dedicated to getting prospects from being a potential client to being a paying client.

This is best done by people who are particularly skilled at lead response. According to lead response research by InsideSales.com, your intake team must be able to respond to a lead within five minutes of the initial call and follow up with those who don’t schedule an appointment or retain you after the first meeting at least six times.

The infographic below details some of InsideSales.com’s research on best practices for lead response; how does your intake team measure up?