If you are building your own law firm, you already know how competitive the legal marketplace can be. That’s something you no doubt learned as you were choosing the practice areas where you plan to focus most of your firm’s energy and researched the community where you are setting up practice. You have probably also started to research legal marketing and to understand how communicating clearly with your customers and establishing a brand with a clear image will help you bring in more relevant referrals and boost your visibility to potential clients.
What your marketing materials might tell you less about are the ways your office infrastructure can support and even enhance your marketing strategies. That includes the way your attorney answering service can affect your firm’s image when potential clients call in the hopes of having their questions answered and concerns addressed.
Polishing Your First Impression
Your firm’s first impression to new clients tends to happen over the phone. That’s because online communications don’t tend to include the human touch people use when they make decisions about whether to do business with a certain firm or organization. That moment comes the first time they try to connect in real time, and it makes your phone service an important part of your overall communication strategy. Most businesses realize this, training staffers to answer phones and handle customers who come through the door with polish and professionalism. Your firm’s first impression to new clients tends to happen over the phone.
Unfortunately, that polish and professionalism evaporates if there is no human connection, which is probably why 7 out of 10 people who call a business and receive a voice mailbox simply hang up. To be able to make those connections, companies and law firms need to receive the messages that come from those calls. This means your attorney answering service quickly becomes the reason why many of your potential clients leave you messages instead of passing on to the next firm.
Demonstrating Resourcefulness and Success
Another reason why an answering service will help your firm is because it demonstrates success. This principle is well-known when it is applied to personal dress and conduct, and it does extend out to businesses as a whole as well—when your firm can afford to establish a live answering service to handle its communications, it not only helps to make your clients more comfortable and to augment your marketing strategies by connecting more people to your office, it also helps the appearance of your firm by adding a level of polish to your operation.
It’s easy to overestimate how important this can be, but the fact is your answering service shows you invest in your callers’ experience. That, in turn, shows you are willing to put money into making sure your clients are taken care of. It also sends the message that you have that money, which can subtly communicate the idea that you are a “winner.” All of this helps you to look more resourceful and successful in your clients’ eyes, which also helps them understand your firm’s trustworthiness.
Using an Attorney Answering Service 24/7
For smaller firms that do not have a lot of resources to invest in the first place, a virtual receptionist service package can extend the quality reception work done by an answering service like Voice Nation into a full package of services capable of replacing an on-site receptionist. That includes:
- Bilingual support
- “Warm” transfers so your clients do not receive a machine
- Answering services and message-taking
- Virtual appointment setting
In many cases, this can even eliminate the need for an on-site receptionist, helping small firms save money while ensuring they maintain a full-service, professional operation that can handle the needs of every client.
Give VoiceNation a call or try out our 7-day Free Trial today to check out our simple pricing plans and to see how our services can help you take your firm to the next level of service.