While the legal profession is lucrative, running a legal firm has several challenges. The legal industry is one of the most competitive industries. According to the Ohio State Bar Association, there were over 28,000 lawyers actively practicing in the state and 3,000 law firms. With the high competition in the industry, there is constant pressure on legal firms to ensure they stay on top of their game. An answering service for attorneys can help.
One of the best ways to stand out from competitors is by providing a better customer experience and ensuring you are always available to promptly address your clients’ concerns. You will often be caught up in consultations and court, which means it is impossible to answer every call. While using an answering machine can be a solution, most of your clients will not be impressed by recorded messages.
When clients call your office, they want to speak to a live person. If they are greeted by an automated voice or their calls go unanswered, they will become frustrated and contact the next law firm on their list.
Hiring a 24/7 answering service for attorneys is a cost-effective and efficient way to meet customer expectations and streamline your law firm’s operations. This article will discuss the benefits of a legal answering service and what to look for when choosing an answering service for attorneys in Ohio. Keep reading to learn more.
Reasons Why Ohio Lawyers Should Consider an Answering Service
The following are reasons why you should consider an answering service for lawyers in Ohio.
Allows You to Focus on Your Practice
As a legal professional, your job involves defending your clients in court, staying on top of the latest legal proceedings, and providing expert consultations. Answering phone calls from your potential and existing clients is certainly not one of them. However, one sure thing is that your clients will often call your office for legal services.
Managing incoming calls can be inefficient and time-consuming. An answering service for attorneys will provide 24/7 customer service and answer all calls from your potential and existing clients even when you are not in the office. This will allow you to focus on providing high-quality legal services without worrying about delays in response times or missing calls.
In addition, an answering service for attorneys can help you with managing appointments. All you need to do is give them access to your work schedule and allow them to schedule appointments according to your availability. You can also allow them to confirm appointments with your customers so that no time is wasted.
Improved Client Service
The success of your legal practice depends on customer satisfaction and how you build existing and new relationships with clients. Your clients deserve the best, and you must strive to ensure they have a better customer experience. A satisfied customer will always return to you when they need legal service. They can also refer you to potential customers and do positive reviews about your legal firm on social platforms.
An answering service for attorneys ensures that no call from a potential or existing client goes unanswered. Answering services have highly trained, professional virtual receptionists who ensure that every caller gets prompt attention when they contact your legal firm. When you are out of the office on a weekend, holiday, or after-hours, you can be sure that someone knowledgeable is providing customer service.
With a live answering service, all incoming calls are handled professionally. This can help build trust among potential clients looking for legal services. Virtual receptionists are highly trained and well-versed in dealing with complex legal issues and can transmit them systematically and professionally.
Increased Business Opportunities
When a potential customer calls your office, there is an opportunity to generate new business. When you hire a legal answering service, a virtual receptionist can capture potential customers and direct them accordingly, transforming them into long-term clients. In addition, virtual receptionists have persuasive skills and can easily convince potential customers to consider your legal services.
An answering service for attorneys will also make your law firm appear larger. The illusion of size gives clients a better impression of your law firm, particularly newer customers for whom a positive first impression is critical. Some clients believe smaller law firms cannot provide the same quality service.
Cost Savings
Hiring a full-time, in-house receptionist for your law firm can be costly and time-consuming. You will need to spend a lot of time interviewing and training your in-house receptionist. You will also have to pay them full-time salary and benefits, such as retirement and health insurance. In addition, you will need money to set up a customer service office. Even with a full-time salary and other benefits, you cannot expect your in-house receptionist to handle after-hour calls.
If you compare this with the cost of hiring a legal answering service, you will be saving much more than you might think. Most answering services provide different ways to pay for their services, allowing enough flexibility to negotiate a reasonable sum that is considerably lower than the cost of hiring a full-time employee.
What to Look for When Choosing an Answering Service for Attorneys
An answering service for attorneys can help you grow your law firm and save on costs. However, all answering services are not the same. A wrong legal answering service can be an extra source of stress and can damage your firm’s reputation. You need a provider that will work with your staff to develop effective strategies for reaching your customers.
The following are things to consider when choosing an answering service for attorneys.
Professionalism and Experience
The success or failure of your law firm may hinge on your choice of an answering service. Since virtual receptionists act as the face of your firm, it is important that they are highly trained and professional. The virtual receptionists should be eloquent and must meet the needs of your firm and your clients.
When choosing an answering service for your legal firm, it is also important that you check the experience they have with working with law firms. You will want to ensure that the virtual receptionists answering calls can deal with your clients’ needs while understanding a variety of cases, whether you specialize in workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, or personal jury law. The right answering service must have worked with other legal firms.
Reliability and Bilingual Capabilities
When you hire a legal answering service, it means that you are entrusting them to manage your phone calls and provide 24/7 customer service. For this reason, you need an answering service with 24/7 availability. The best options will include holidays and weekends at no additional cost.
While you will obviously want to hire a company that utilizes English speakers to answer calls, you should also choose a company that is bilingual. Statistics show that Spanish is the second most common language in the USA after English. For this reason, you should go for a legal answering service that is capable of handling Spanish speakers, so you will not have to miss any clients, no matter what language they speak.
Located in the Same State as Your Practice
These days, many businesses tend to lean toward local answering services because they feel they are more personable, more connected, and more trustworthy than large nationwide answering service providers. Hiring an answering service that is located in Ohio means that you will have receptionists who live and work in your region. A legal answering service located in Ohio has local expertise and knowledge that may be valuable to your clients.
Final Thoughts
The legal profession is one of the most lucrative and well-respected professions in the world. Many people constantly seek legal services for various reasons, such as when they want to start a business, file a lawsuit for an accident or medical malpractice case, and defend themselves when they are accused of violating the law.
As you’ve read here, an answering service for attorneys can benefit your law firm in many ways. It can help you increase business opportunities and improve client service by providing 24/7 customer service. A legal answering service will also allow you to focus on your practice as they manage your calls.
Always Answer is an award-winning call center in Toledo, OH and can provide next-level communication for your law firm. Click here to learn more about our legal answering service, or here to learn about our Toledo, Ohio, location. Also, you can contact us for any questions, and we will be happy to help.
