When Reaching out for a Lawyer, Consumers Go for the Phone

Legal consumers might search for a lawyer online. They might check out your attorney website or browse through your blog.

But when it comes time to get in touch, almost all legal consumers do so via phone.

Reach out and Touch Someone

If you want to keep clients coming in, make sure you're paying your phone bill. Seventy-two percent of consumers contact potential attorneys through the phone, according to a new infographic on legal marketing trends by FindLaw's Lawyer Marketing.

What's more, when those consumers call, they mean business. Eighty-seven percent of those who call an attorney go on to retain one, while 58 percent do so within one week, and 64 percent only contact a single attorney.

Capitalizing on Consumer Calls

As Drake knows, "When that hotline bling, that can only mean one thing." Clients. So answer your phones.

One of the best ways to turn a potential client into a paying one is to respond quickly to initial inquiries. How quick is quick? Under 24 hours.

As a recent FindLaw white paper points out, legal consumers often call when facing major crises or an urgent need and they expect a quick response.

Yet law firms often drop the ball. About more than a third of the time, client calls go straight to voicemail or are not answered at all, according to a study by the ABA. What's worse, 42 percent of the time, firms take three or more days to respond to voicemail or online contact. At that point, your potential client could be divorced, incarcerated, and deep into foreclosure -- or at least they'll have found another attorney.

Capitalizing on calls from potential clients isn't difficult. Simply answer your phone and respond to voicemail in a timely fashion and you'll already be ahead of much of the competition.

Related Resources:

• Who is Answering Your Firm's Phone? (FindLaw's Lawyer Marketing)
• Client Intake: An Easy Way to Boost Law Firm Business (FindLaw's Strategist)
• 3 Ways Law Firms Lose Clients at Intake (FindLaw's Strategist)
• Cheap and Easy Tips for Marketing Your Practice (FindLaw's Strategist)