Is it good to talk?

A mystery shopping exercise among law firms of all sizes has revealed a catalogue of telephone inefficiencies, missed business opportunities and inappropriate comments. 

In more than a third of 254 “mystery calls”, neither party knew who they were talking to because the caller’s name was not taken and the call handler did not introduce themselves.

In 97% of the calls, the call handler failed to either ask if the caller wanted to go ahead or make an appointment. 93% of firms called during lunchtime either had nobody available to deal with the enquiry or were closed with a recorded message.

Telephone bloomers include one call handler who told a potential client: “Yes, a broken ankle is a very good injury…and if you are lucky, it will develop complications and you can claim more.”

Another potential clients was told: “If it’s a quote you want for a will, you should know we don’t do cheap wills. You see the problem with doing cheap wills is that there is very little profit on it, until people die and often it’s a long time before that happens.”

The research, by Ian Cooper, a business development consultant for the legal profession, included interviews with senior management in 92 law firms about strategy.

Cooper found that 70% of firms made no attempt to formally track and monitor incoming new enquiry calls and conversion rates, and nine out of 10 people who dealt with incoming potential client calls admitted to not liking it or not being good at it.

However, 90% of firms who trained their staff in how to deal with potential clients benefited from at least a 10% improvement in conversion rates within a month.

Cooper said: “It is quite amazing that at a time of massive competitive pressure and changes in the legal sector, law firms have not yet fully embraced the importance of converting their leads into profitable business. Most firms don’t have a proper strategy and have simply not switched on to the fact that this is a high priority area, which is costing them business.”