Why Your Law Firm Needs An Answering Service

 

How Your Firm Can Benefit from Attorney Answering Services

As a busy legal firm, your services may be so much in demand that your office is receiving more calls than it can handle in a single business day. While this high volume of calls is a great thing for your legal firm, unless you are able to answer all client calls right away, you are risking losing them to another attorney.

While you can’t possibly answer all of the calls you receive personally or right away, there is a solution that can accomplish this for you; an attorney answering service. Let’s explore what this service is, and what it can do for your firm.

business woman using phone

How Does an Attorney Answering Service Work?

An attorney answering service consists of live receptionists who have been professionally trained to answer client calls. These individuals specialize in prompt, friendly, and knowledgeable service. When clients call your firm, their calls are quickly answered by real people who act as an extension of your firm’s office. The agent can provide the caller with information about your firm, collect necessary details from them for you to decide if you’d like to take their case, messages can be taken, and calls can be transferred. An attorney answering service can even schedule appointments too!

Can You Keep Your Receptionist?

An attorney answering service can be used in any capacity you require. If you already have receptionists, this service can be of great help to them in times when you are receiving a lot of client calls. Instead of your receptionists having to figure out how they’re going to handle high call volumes, you can relieve their stress by directing overflow calls to your attorney reception service. Additionally, you can flip your phone lines over to your virtual receptionist whenever your in-house receptionist is unavailable (during breaks, after hours, weekends).

 

colleagues at meeting

 

Keep Your Staff Working

During busy call times, many firms will have their non-receptionist staff process their client calls. However, in doing so, these attorneys and paralegals have to break their concentration and leave their tasks to do so. Once they return to their important casework, your employees may not regain that concentration for some time. With a lawyer answering service, your employees never have to interrupt their work for client calls; instead, they can continue working on client cases.

Around-The-Clock Availability

One of the biggest benefits of an answering service for attorneys is that you can have a real person answering your phones whenever clients call, even if it’s in the middle of the night. Being able to be available at any time will hold infinite value for a client who may need help as soon as possible. Your virtual receptionists can help determine what it is your clients need and then provide them with the needed information to get started working with you.

All Calls Are Processed and Categorized for You

Yet another great thing about hiring virtual receptionists for your law firm is that, in addition to taking calls from your clients around the clock, they can also organize each call according to its priority. Imagine coming into your office first thing in the morning to find a list of calls received overnight that you don’t have to do anything else with but return. No more sifting through voicemails or organizing a list of people to call back. What could you be doing for your clients with all of that extra time?

No More Recorded Messages or Hang-Ups

Automated answering services have been a great thing for many businesses. Technology has allowed calls to be directed to the right departments with a voice command or the single press of a button. However, this kind of automation can have the opposite effect on legal firms. Forcing your clients to endure long lists of options when they really just want to speak with someone in your firm will only cause frustration.

This is even truer when clients dutifully choose their preferred option, only to be met with an answering machine. If your firm has experienced a lot of hang-ups from clients, it’s highly likely that they are frustrated by not being able to reach you.

A legal answering service doesn’t use automated systems or answering machines. These are real people who answer each and every call within a few rings. In today’s technology-inundated world, this kind of real-person service will really make your firm stand out from the rest.

 

business woman on phone entering data

 

Appointment Scheduling

Virtual receptionists not only answer and prioritize client calls, take messages, and give clients information about your firm. They also have another superpower: scheduling appointments. All you need to do is provide operators with your calendar as well as your parameters for what appointments should be set, and they can do the rest, even after your office has closed for the day. With this kind of service to take care of your clients, your firm will never have to worry about not being able to meet with them in a timely manner.

Incredible Cost Savings

Your in-house staff is what allows you to keep doing what you do, but it doesn’t come cheap; in return for their hard work, your staff members expect a decent wage, benefits, and coverage when they can’t come to work due to illness. Plus, when they go on vacation, you have to either burden other staff with their work or hire temporary help. Hiring even temporary staff can mean time lost in training them in your office’s procedures.

Virtual receptionists do work for your firm, but they are on a different payroll; they work for the company that provides receptionist services to you. Because they are outsourced in this way, they can save you literally thousands of dollars. With so little overhead, the money you save can be put back into growing your firm.

Seamless Integration

Automated phone and message recording systems can be very complicated and expensive to have installed. In order to have this service in your firm, you have to hire a company to come into your office and install it for you, which may interrupt your ability to do business. Not only that but, once one of these sophisticated systems are installed, your staff will need to be trained on how to operate them, which can cost you even more time.

Virtual answering services completely eliminate the need for expensive installations and training because it’s already been taken care of by the service company. All you have to do is request the service for your firm and provide the necessary information for the operators, and you can have professional representation for your office almost instantaneously.

Connect with Spanish-Speaking Clients

In addition to the many benefits covered above, your attorney answering service can also include bilingual operators who can handle calls from your Spanish-speaking clients. Having this option can be of great benefit, as it eliminates any language barriers, allowing for a complete understanding of a client’s needs. This is something they will truly appreciate when dealing with stressful legal matters.

How to Choose the Right Answering Service for Attorneys

It’s true that there are a lot of companies that offer answering services to legal firms. That being said, how can you possibly know which is the best one for you? The truth is that any company of high quality will possess certain characteristics. They should have a good amount of years under their belt providing service for legal firms. This experience comes with familiarity with the legal industry and its common terms. Find a provider that has low employee turnover as you don’t want new people answering your calls each time someone dials. Also, look for a service provider that will work with you to customize a plan that fits your budgets and solves the challenges your office faces.

Your Clients Deserve the Best

When your clients choose your firm, they are placing their trust in you. Don’t leave this important relationship to chance; AnswerMTI’s team of live, professional receptionists is ready to help with friendly and personal service. Find out how easy it is to get started today; just call 800-673-2000.