Page 22 - Dallas Vol 5 No 1

10 STEPS TO MAKE YOUR INTAKE TEAM A LEAN, MEAN REVENUE MACHINE
By Stephen Fairley
Allthe money and e ort your rm puts toward new client lead generation is futile if your intake team can’t, or doesn’t know how to, convert new leads into appointments.
Your carefully planned marketing strategy is not only working, it is a considerable nancial investment that is expected to grow your revenues like you’ve been dreaming of since you passed the bar. When potential new clients call, you should have a well-planned intake system in place that converts inqui- ries into appointments. That’s building revenue.
An intake system based on listening and helpfulness is critical for the survival and growth of any law rm. Here’s a 10-step guide on how to revolutionize your intake system and your revenues:
01 Make client’s rst contact with your rm a hassle-free experience,
step Whenever anyone contacts your law rm, you only need three essential pieces of information: their name, phone number and email address. Once that information is quickly obtained, your intake team needs to focus their attention on connecting with the prospect and their needs. Without a connection being made, there is seldom an
appointment.
Build trust.
Building trust can take time, so don’t in- centivize your intake team to get a caller step o the phone as soon as possible. Instead, train them to really listen to the caller’s problems and how to empathize along the
05 step
focused on their needs.
Train and re-train your people.
ey’re not receptionists; they are mem- bers of your marketing team. Your intake team needs to be trained on every step of the intake process. ere is no detail too small to overlook. We have secret-shopped hundreds of law rms and nd that many times the intake person doesn’t know the rm’s website address, has to look up the phone number, or fails to correctly answer other common questions prospects ask. In fact, this is so common that we set up our Rainmaker Intake University speci cally to train intake personnel on how to con- nect and book appointments for law rms.
Analyze your results on an ongoing basis.
You can’t know whether something is working unless you take the time to mea- sure your results. You should be looking at the number of calls you get every day, the number of appointments that are booked, how many of those appointments actually show up, how many prospects sign on with you a er your initial meeting, and so on. Every member of your intake team should be assessed on these variables so you can evaluate their individual performance.
Automate the process.
First of all, you need a state-of-the-art
phone system that can actually provide you
with some critical insight into how your step sales process is — or is not — working.
en you need to automate your follow-up,
sending emails to con rm appointments,
re-book no-shows and get those who didn’t
sign a er the initial consultation to hire you.
02
way.
Ask questions that encourage connection.
Asking prospects open-ended questions that gets them to open up more to you is key to making the connection necessary to take that important next step: booking the appointment. Talking about their prob- lems makes people feel good. Take advan- tage of that.
Train your intake team to listen.
Your goal is not to fill out a form; step your goal is to book an appointment. That requires that a prospect trust you enough to take that next step. You build trust through listening. Be sure your intake team does more listening
than talking.
06 step
03 step
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