Over the years, we have developed a proven intake and lead conversion system that has doubled the conversion rates of thousands of attorneys all across the nation. It consists of four major components:

#1: Training for your front office and intake staff;

#2: Specific tactics and strategies to maximize your conversion at each stage;

#3: An intake customer relationship management (CRM) software that automatically tracks and follows up with every lead; and

#4: Tracking and measurement of key metrics.

Today’s post covers #3 and #4:

#3: An Intake Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
Once your firm is getting more than 30 to 50 leads per month (meaning contacts from potential clients, not consultations or sign ups), you really need to have a software system for keeping track of all these incoming leads and where the leads are in the sales cycle. Has the prospect been contacted? Has an appointment been set? Did they come in for a consultation? Did they sign up?

Once a lead comes in, your intake person should be tasked with keeping track of the lead status so leads do not fall through the cracks. When we are asked to go into a law firm to analyze their intake system, you would be shocked at how many leads they are losing just because they don’t have a system in place to keep track of every single lead and where the person is in the sales process.

Lost leads are wasted opportunities. Small law firms lose tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year because they aren’t tracking their leads and quickly following up with them. Mid-sized law firms are losing millions. Lost leads also hurt your reputation with your referral sources if they supplied the referral and your team doesn’t follow through on the lead.

A good intake CRM should:

• Integrate with your website, live chat, phone system and other major lead sources.

• Provide an electronic intake form that helps your intake person qualify and disqualify leads.

• Track every lead and where they are in the sales process.

• Notify your intake person when a new lead comes in.

• Allow your intake person to track their contact with the prospect.

• Enable your intake person to follow up with each lead via email and text message.

• Track your lead conversion rates by lead source and whoever is doing the initial consultation.

• Provide metrics and data (hopefully via visual dashboard).

A comprehensive law firm marketing program that embraces multiple marketing tools – SEO, PPC, ads, email marketing, social media, blogs, etc. – means leads come in from many different sources. If you don’t have an automated way to deal with them, leads will slip through the cracks and all that hard work and financial investment will be for nothing. Converting those leads into clients and ultimately referral sources is how you grow your law firm into what you envisioned when you began. Without a good lead flow system, the likelihood of you maximizing the possibilities of your marketing program is slim.

#4: Tracking and Measurement of Key Metrics
There are several metrics every law firm should measure regarding their intake:

• How many leads are you getting every day? Remember, we want to measure leads, not just appointments, consults, or sign ups.

• Where are these leads coming from? Use tracking phone numbers whenever possible.

• How many appointments are set by practice area?

• How many of those appointments show up for the consultation?

• What is your closing rate at the initial consultation?

• How many people sign up later after the consult?

• If you have multiple people handling consultations, what are their individual conversion rates?

• What is your cost per lead by lead source?

• What is your cost per client acquisition by lead source?

If you track and measure each of these numbers, you will be far ahead of your competition. This data will allow you to make smart marketing decisions and identify holes in your system. The fastest and most cost-effective way to grow your law firm is not to spend more money chasing more leads, it’s to fix your follow-up and maximize your lead conversion rate.

Part 1- Double Your Law Firm’s Lead Conversion Rates with This Proven System (Part 1 of 3)

Part 2- Double Your Law Firm’s Lead Conversion Rates with This Proven System (Part 2 of 3)