Eliminating Time Wasters in Your Law Firm (EP 154)

Season #2 July 16, 2024

Welcome to another episode of the Scalable Law Podcast! Today, I'm inspired to talk to you about client onboarding and the onboarding process from that initial appointment or call through to the initial appointment, and how you can get it working in a way that the conversion rate is higher.

So, how do you avoid that and make the sales process more simplified? The main thing here is understanding that the purpose of the initial appointment is to sell your service, not to give free legal advice. At Collective Family Law, we changed our process. We used to give a free one-hour initial appointment, then cut it down to 45 minutes, but often it would go over. The year before last, we did 742 initial appointments. That's 742 hours of giving away free advice. Many cannot afford legal fees, have no intention of engaging a lawyer, or are looking for free solutions.

Our Process at Collective Family Law

Here’s what we do at Collective Family Law to streamline our client acquisition process:

Qualifying Calls: We have a receptionist who asks specific questions to qualify potential clients. For instance, in family law, we ask if they require legal aid. If they do, we refer them to a legal aid firm.
Automated Follow-Ups: Once a client is qualified, they receive a text reminder and an email with a questionnaire. If they don’t fill out the questionnaire, they don’t get an appointment. This step ensures that they are serious about their matter.
Structured Calls: We offer a free 15-minute call with a loose script—5 minutes to understand their matter, 5 minutes to explain how we can help, and 5 minutes to present our offer. If they are ready, they can either retain us immediately or pay for a one-hour consultation at a discounted rate.

This process has significantly reduced time-wasters and increased our conversion rates.

That's all from me for now. I hope that you have a wonderful day. Bye.