Being served with foreclosure letters, harassing creditors calling, and bills piling up, the first course of action a person thinks of is contacting a bankruptcy lawyer to help them battle the financially difficult times they are facing. When the person calls, they expect to find you right away because they want the matter to be handled as soon as possible. But what if you are in court or meeting other clients? Who will answer this call? Remember, since the call is urgent and the caller hasn’t been able to talk to you, they won’t call back. They will undoubtedly try other firms.
But if someone picks the call and assures them that you will call them back to help, then you have just won yourself a client. A bankruptcy lawyer answering service comes in handy in reassuring the caller. With this service, you can be in court or conducting meetings relaxed that your firm is still operating as usual. Here is how it will help keep your business afloat.
You Will Be Responding Quicker to Callers
Legal matters are sensitive when it comes to timing and may change suddenly. As a successful lawyer, you need to be up-to-date with all the latest developments in your cases. Any client would also appreciate a lawyer who is constantly responsive to his/her legal issue. Focused & personalized services translate into satisfied clientele and referrals.
So, how does the responsiveness of an answering service benefit you? Bankruptcy is a very personal matter. Most clients would opt to seek legal advice privately, that is, after hours. These clients might also think of questions and concerns later during the day from their homes’ privacy. An answering service will enable a prospective client to contact you at his/her convenient time. You will be sure to receive that first phone call before another firm does.
You Won’t Experience Missed Phone Calls Anymore
It is not a secret that bankruptcy lawyers are very busy people. Continually being in and out of your office usually results in missed calls. Each caller you lose may potentially have been a new client, alleviating your business’s bottom line. If you have a bankruptcy lawyer answering service working for you, you wouldn’t have to be worried about missed phone calls or losing profits anymore.
If your law firm tends to handle more phone calls after-hours, missing these calls will be costing you a lot of money. With an answering service, you will have 24/7/365 support. Potential clients can reach you at all times, be it after or during office hours. Another essential feature of an answering service is that you won’t put callers on hold anymore. Whenever a person calls, they will be answered by a real, live virtual receptionist, even if you are on another call.
Apart from Handling Calls, An Answering Service Also Takes and Delivers Messages
The message ‘taking & delivery’ feature of an answering service is the ideal alternative to having a caller leave a voicemail message. Whereas a few callers are willing to leave voicemail messages, seven out of ten won’t. When a client calls, he/she wants to talk to a live person. Allowing them the choice to do that, regardless of when they call, increases the odds of capturing all your leads.
Also, sometimes when taking calls, there might be questions that an answering agent can’t answer. In this case, they will take messages and assure the callers that they will call them back. This makes callers trust in your firm even more since they see that you care.
Whereas taking messages isn’t the most thrilling task you would want to do all day, it’s still essential. Between meeting current and prospective clients and answering phone calls, you and your staff are most likely struggling to finish other works before the end of business hours. However, when you partner with an answering service to handle your message taking and delivery needs, you’ll be capable of freeing up a few minutes of your time to tend to those tasks you have been postponing. Whereas you cannot add extra hours to a typical day, you’ll feel as though you have when you take advantage of an answering service’s message taking and delivery feature.
The message taking and delivery feature permits you to choose what messages are delivered to you and how they will be delivered. Whether you prefer regular emails, pager, secure encrypted emails, text messaging, fax, or via the phone, an answering agent ensures your messages are delivered to you securely and promptly.
Faster and Easier Appointment Scheduling
Another advantage of a bankruptcy lawyer answering serving is the receptionists’ or answering agents’ capability to set up appointments. An answering service integrates with Outlook or Google calendar, or any other kind of software calendar system you’re using, enabling a virtual receptionist to schedule appointments for you. It is critical to know if you can access your appointment calendar online, and if so, whether it can sync to your Outlook or Google calendar. Before making final decisions, ask the answering service provider for a tour of the appointment-scheduling service. A virtual receptionist will always handle your schedule carefully and be extremely accurate when setting up new appointment times.
Less Interruption
If you hire a bankruptcy attorney answering service, your hands will be free from menial personal tasks. You will have much free time to do your law work, including holding appointments with clients and going to court. Gone are the days that you will have to serve as your receptionist.
Provides Answers to Routine Questions
It’s not a doubt that you receive similar questions concerning your practice over again via the phone. Where are you located, your hourly rate, etc., are basic questions to almost every bankruptcy law firm. Whereas the answers to all these questions may be right there on your firm’s website, callers may not see them or have time to check them up. A trained legal virtual receptionist can answer any of these questions professionally and expeditiously. An answering agent can find the answers to these kinds of queries using a customized database of the most frequently asked questions and their answers.
Skilled Legal Virtual Receptionists Helps Your Firm Prioritize
Hiring an answering service means you are receiving specialized legal assistance for your business. Experienced live virtual receptionists are trained & tested on client situations and legal terminology. Their expertise makes them capable of receiving and screening crucial details from potential clients.
This enables you to prioritize phone calls and manage your time better. An answering service ensures that emergency or critical calls are directed to you as required, and improved time management results in higher profits for your firm.
Bilingual Services Mean a Larger Customer Reach
Bankruptcy attorney answering services also provide services in languages other than English, for instance, Spanish. The Spanish-speaking population is growing in the country, which can be a good customer base critical to your business. If a Spanish-speaking client calls your firm, not speaking his/her language can lead to lost profits or the opportunity to solve a major case and change a person’s life, not to mention receiving positive online reviews. A bilingual or multilingual staff ensures your firm connects with these clients effectively as well.
Great Impression on both Prospective and Old Clients
A first impression is critical to today’s overly picky clients. When it comes to your bankruptcy law firm, this impression is typically made by your receptionist. A virtual receptionist will always answer a client’s call politely and handle issues sensitively and properly. When this happens, a caller will always think they are talking to a person from inside your office, when in fact, it’s a live answering agent. A bankruptcy lawyer answering service also provides your clients with quick answers to their questions and concerns. Also, it informs them right away that they’re engaging with a highly professional and competent firm. Efficient and faster services create a good impression even for someone who has learned about your law firm for the first time.
24/7/365 Availability
Prepping for a case is a difficult task. It usually necessitates burning the midnight oil. However, in-house administrative staff and receptionists often leave the office at 5.00 pm. A live 24-hour bankruptcy attorney answering service will relay important messages to you after hours. Then, you will decide if you need to answer them later on or right away.
An Answering Service Also Cares About Caller Confidentiality
Confidentiality is among the biggest concerns that most clients have as far as trusting bankruptcy attorneys with their issues is concerned. These clients are right because bankruptcy is a sensitive topic, and they trust you with the information they wouldn’t tell any other person. An answering service understands and respects clients’ confidential matters and lets them remain so. If a client wants to talk to only you and no one else, an answering agent will immediately dispatch the call. Alternatively, if you want an answering service only to handle call routing, it can do that.
A Live Person Is Far Much Better Than Automated Messages
No caller likes an automated messaging service. Therefore, the last thing you would want prospective or current clients to do is hearing automated messages. Even though you and your staff could be busy assisting other clients, if a caller is greeted by an automated message, what they’ll hear is ‘your situation isn’t critical or urgent enough for us to address. Try another firm.’
You Can Create a Reliable Partnership By Using An Answering Service
Working with a lawyer answering service will enable you to establish productive relationships with knowledgeable partners. An answering agent knows what kinds of phone calls you or your staff are likely to receive other than clients’ calls, such as when an opposing lawyer on a major case calls or the judge on a big case phone. They also know how you would want to respond when faced with critical circumstances.
Cheaper Staffing
Hiring a full-time secretary or receptionist to join your staff isn’t any cheap. It could be that you only require part-time help. Partnering with a lawyer answering service is the most cost-effective means to manage communication with clients. You will have options like paying for a virtual receptionist by the call or by the minute. This will help your business cut out unnecessary staffing expenses. Also, even if you have already employed an on staff receptionist or secretary, an attorney answering service comes in handy when they are on vacation or leave.
An Answering Service Provides Analytics and Comprehensive Reports
As an added advantage to all the services a bankruptcy lawyer answering service offers, you’ll receive detailed analytics and detailed reports that keep track of all your phone calls and messages. These reports show the number of phone calls received, nature and length of the calls, caller ID, date & time, how the phone calls were handled, etc. These details are compiled in a way that is easy to understand. You can also access these reports wherever and whenever you want.
Additionally, the story the information gathered tells could be translated into valuable business info you may refer to while making critical decisions for your law firm. The data gives you a clue about your firm’s performance. It could also help predict how your firm will perform in the future based on past performance. Utilizing these analytics and reports to enhance your firm’s performance can place you on the competitive edge as you continue working to develop it to greater heights. It is easy to export analytics and reports detailing calls by time & date, billable time, region, etc.
Let An Answering Service Grow Your Bankruptcy Law Firm
A bankruptcy attorney answering service is invaluable for your bankruptcy law firm. From scheduling appointments to taking messages, you can rest assured your practice is well taken care of when you are unavailable. It’s the ideal way to ensure a friendly, courteous voice greets your clients. Additionally, communication with your clients will never be broken. Are you ready to boost your business’s productivity & profits? Bring a bankruptcy lawyer answering service on board. It will work with you to ensure customer support in your firm is a complete success.
