The person who contacts your estate planning law practice from your website is different than the person who calls your office because their CPA gave her your name. Shouldn’t all clients be treated the same way, with great courtesy, respect and care? Yes, but the referral lead is different and requires a different level of care.
Response times matter. People who submit a contact us form from your web page need to hear back from you or someone in your office as soon as humanly possible. We know attorneys who will call people back during the weekend because they know that by Monday morning, the opportunity to reach someone who filled out a form on Saturday will be gone. People who fill out Contact Us forms expect to get an email confirming that their request has been received. How soon they receive a phone call from a person is often the difference between a new client and a lost lead.
Information gathering. While you may be able to call a regular referrer to get some information about the lead, an online referral is a blank slate. Does your E2-CRM include intake forms that are automatically sent once a Contact Us form is filled out? That would save your team considerable time and demonstrate that your office runs like a well-oiled machine.
Introduce yourself and your staff. Online leads don’t know you or your team. Treat them like new friends arriving at your house for a party. When they arrive at your office, make sure that they are not kept waiting too long, and make an extra point of introducing them to team members. They need to be made to feel like they are part of a caring professional practice.
When do you qualify them? This is the toughest part about online leads. Some practices have a conversation during the first phone call, when they explain the costs for different types of services. Others ask that intake forms be filled out first, then have a conversation about what the family needs and provide an estimate of costs. Others feel that these are matters best handled during a face-to-face meeting. What your office does will depend on the socioeconomics of your market, how many appointments you have during the course of a week, and what is profitable for your practice.