Respect the Process: Clients Desire to Know How It All Works

May 6, 2022 - Law Practice Management

Law firms have a particularly hard time with lead intake. It costs time and money to acquire leads in the first place, to the point where it’s devastating to whiff on those leads, once you have a chance to convert them. Even when law firms effectively engage leads and are responsive in contacting them back, oftentimes they don’t say the right thing, and therefore fail in transitioning the lead to a client.

One of the chief reasons for that is that lawyers are unwilling to respond to what clients most want to know. Because clients choose lawyers based not only on their general expertise, but also based on their specific expertise in particular niche practice areas, they want to know more about the legal process that effects their claim.

Only, lawyers are reticent to talk with leads about the legal process for a couple of reasons: (1) they’re worried about overstepping ethical bounds; and, (2) they’ve been taught not to ‘give away the farm’, and to make clients pay for it instead. As to (1), utilizing a disclaimer, including clickthrough web disclaimers, and sending nonengagement letters to leads who do not become clients, solves for keeping the lead apprised of her status, and making certain that an attorney-client relationship doesn’t attach. With respect to (2), you’re not giving specific advice; you’re laying out further information about the legal process, just as you would on your website. If you’re holding back from telling your potential client exactly how you will manage the type of claim they will bring, don’t do it any longer. It’s not like they’re going to get a law degree, and do it themselves. And, if you’re worried about that: make what you do sound really, really complex — which it is.

After all, it’s what modern law firm clients most want to hear.

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If you need to convert more leads, call us first.

The Wyoming State Bar offers free law practice management consulting services through Red Cave Law Firm Consulting.

To request a consult, visit the Wyoming State Bar’s law practice management page, and start running your law firm like a business.