Surviving in the business world these days requires pragmatic policies that ensure that you achieve the best result in what you are best at. This applies to DUI defense law firms as well as other businesses. For your law firm to achieve its goals, it should concentrate on its core areas and delegate other duties to suitable candidates. The best way to accomplish this is by the use of an answering service. Research has shown that an answering service can help achieve tremendous growth in any business, including your DUI defense law firm. Below is a detailed discussion of the need to use an answering service for your DUI defense law firm.
Types of Call Answering Services
Before we go into details on the benefits of using an answering service, it is recommendable to learn about the different call answering service types at your disposal. There are three types of call answering services. You should choose the most reliable option depending on whether it suits your law firm’s needs. These call answering services are as follows.
Interactive Voice Response Systems
Interactive voice response systems are also referred to as autoresponders or robots. They provide a list of transfers and self-services. Callers are required to press different options to learn different information about your DUI defense law firm, depending on their needs.
This kind of answering service is scalable since its interactive components are simple. However, some of the IVR or IVR-equivalents technology handle customer interaction throughout their calls. Therefore, they cannot capture your callers' tone or context and cannot deal with their questions or requests better than a human person. Therefore, they are not quite suitable options for your DUI defense law firm.
Call Centers
Call centers are traditional answering services that rely on a few people than virtual receptionists but still depend on real people. They are usually large operations specialized in different fields and offer services to different clients from a shared location.
Call centers can be suitable options for a DUI defense law firm with high volumes of calls. However, contrary to virtual receptionists, call centers rely on pre-written scripts, meaning that they cannot provide a personalized customer service experience that you expect in your DUI defense law firm. They usually team up with large numbers of operators with less intensive training, who would probably fail to meet the needs of your firm.
Virtual Receptionists
Virtual receptionists are people who manage calls remotely. Their only difference with in-house receptionists is that they do not work onsite.
Virtual receptionists are indistinguishable from in-house receptionists. They work similarly to conventional receptionists- taking and scheduling appointments, collecting client information, taking messages, transferring calls, and answering basic FAQs.
Virtual receptionists have several options to customize their performance. Therefore, your law firm can benefit greatly from their customized performance as you deliver excellent services to your clients. That's why it is the best option for your DUI defense law firm.
How Legal Answering Services Work
To start, you need to understand that most law firms prefer virtual receptionists over call centers due to the medium and small number of clients they deal with. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the kind of services a virtual receptionist can offer compared to a call center.
Once you contact an answering service provider, they will start by asking questions to understand your needs and expectations. For instance, they would like to know what kind of information you would expect their agents to give to your clients in particular legal situations.
Most call answering services rely on forwarding calls to ease up all incoming calls into your firm. When forwarding is activated, calls are automatically bounced from your phone traffic to another destination. This means that an operator from the call answering service will pick up the calls rather than have the calls ringing in your office. All law firms depending on this service, usually forward their calls to their service number.
Some call answering services use a different method of forwarding calls. For instance, some would prefer to pick your calls past your normal operating hours and automatically forward the calling service hours during your office hours. All these depend on the kind of option your law firm decides to pick based on its convenience and the nature of clients it handles.
Finally, apart from 24/7 call handling, you expect several features from a call answering service. This includes texting, emailing, appointment scheduling, mobile app or portal access, and bilingual support.
The Benefits of Using a Call Answering Service for Your DUI Defense Law Firm
Since premium clients' place and personal connection play an essential role in your law firm's growth. Hiring a good call answering service would offer plenty of benefits in terms of your clients’ satisfaction and engagement. Here are a few advantages that a call answering service would bring to your DUI defense law firm.
Taking Calls When You Are Busy With Your Legal Duties
It's no secret that law firms are busy places with a lot of tasks to handle. However, you should not let incoming calls get into your way and affect your firm’s productivity. That's why it is recommendable to partner with a call answering service and let them engage prospects, inquire, and handle customer problems while you are preoccupied with other essential tasks needed to run your firm.
Answering Services Takes Calls Even When Your Firm is Closed
Not all DUI-related situations are bound to happen during your regular working hours. Therefore, instead of allowing potential clients to turn away from your firm, you should leverage yourself to the flexibility of a legal answering service. With this kind of service at your disposal, all incoming calls received while you are closed would be available to you the next day and can lead to potential long-term clients.
Answering Services Can Save Your Money
Once you hire a legal answering service, there is no need to hire an onsite receptionist to handle your firm’s calls. An answering service is enough to fulfill the same role at a fraction of the expense of hiring an in-house receptionist. Therefore, you do not need to worry about the expenses incurred in training the receptionists, purchasing office supplies, and maintaining their salaries. This would help you invest more in other necessities that would significantly increase your law firm’s productivity.
Call Answering Services Helps You Access Messages from Anywhere
Lawyers are busy people and are usually involved in attending court sessions, collecting evidence, and meeting clients. Therefore, there is a possibility of missing a large number of calls once you are out of your office. Fortunately, most call answering services comprehensively log and store to avoid losing or accidentally deleting your essential messages. They provide access to a catalog of every message, an excellent resource for dealing with potential clients or pitching new clients.
Most Answering Services Do Not Use Contracts or Set-up Fee
Tying your DUI defense law firm to a contract can be expensive. There is no guarantee that you would meet a certain number of calls in a particular period based on the nature of most DUI cases. However, most legal answering services do not need law firms to sign contracts so that they can offer their services. They only need to monitor your spending by either a fixed, monthly or pay as you go tariff, meaning that you will never expect any unexpected expenses.
Your Firm will Have a Dedicated Numbers even when It Has an Existing Mobile Number
Using a dedicated landline or 0800 number makes your DUI law firm sound professional compared to using a personal mobile phone number. This is a suitable option, especially when you intend to provide free support to your client. It also paints a picture that your firm is not a one-person band, even when running with a few personnel.
Call Answering Makes Call Recording a Suitable Option
When your firm is receiving a lot of calls, there is a possibility that you might miss some of the crucial details from your clients. Losing these pieces of information can significantly affect how you prepare for your clients’ cases. However, with the call recording services offered by answering services, you won’t miss any information provided by your clients. This will help you prepare for your legal defense and avoid the possibility of reaching out to your clients again to clarify certain facts related to their cases.
The Use of an Answering Service Increases your Firm's Productivity
With the high volumes of incoming calls to your firm, call answering can be a significant distraction in any workplace. Answering calls is not the problem, but constantly interrupting your workflow can break your momentum. Apart from that, getting yourself back into your workflow can take time more than answering calls. This can severely affect your law firm’s productivity unless you choose to partner with an answering service. An answering service will help you concentrate on priority calls, which would probably lead to potential long-term clients.
Most Answering Services Offer Free Trial
Hiring an answering service without assessing its potential can be the worst decision that your firm will ever make. However, the free trials offered by most call answering services can be suitable means to help you evaluate whether their services meet your needs or not. In the end, you will not spend money on an answering service that does not meet your expectations.
Things to Consider while Choosing a Call Answering Service
With numerous legal answering services to choose from, selecting a service provider who suits your firm can be daunting. It is essential to carefully select your answering services after determining each option's potential risks and drawbacks. Below are a few things to consider while choosing an answering service or your DUI defense law firm.
Check whether it Has Effectively Trained Operators
Some of the legal answering services at your disposal do not meet your standards. For example, some legal answering services can lack the necessary knowledge about your industry and customer niche, and hiring this kind of service can significantly affect your growth. Therefore, you should find an answering service with well-trained agents, specialized in legal matters, and prepared to handle common issues among your callers.
Technological Competence
Most answering services provide free trials to help their clients evaluate their level of service delivery. Use this opportunity to set-up their systems and test them. Ensure that there aren’t potential glitches related to call forwarding, transfer, or automated systems before deciding on a particular firm. However, an ideal call answering service would safeguard these concerns.
Capabilities to Handle High Call Volumes
If there are several incoming calls into your firm, and your preferred call answering services cannot manage them, it means that your clients will be delayed. These delays can ruin your customer relationship and spoil your reputation as well. Therefore, you should find a service provider who can handle several calls and would not put your clients in delay for long.
Check Whether the Answering Service Has Legal Experience
If you rely on an answering service with legal experience, it is easy to have them hit the ground running once you contact them. Therefore, you will not spend a great deal of time bringing them up to speed about the nitty-gritty of a DUI defense law firm. They can also suggest possible practices and tips to help your firm grow based on their previous legal experiences.
24/7 Services
As stated earlier, DUI related situations can happen anytime, and clients can contact your firm at any time. Therefore, it is crucial to depend on an answering service that is available 24/7. You should also contact an answering service with the capabilities to assess the urgency of every situation presented by your clients and respond to it accordingly.
Hire an Answering Service For Your DUI Defense Firm Today
Choosing the right answering service for your DUI defense firm is vital to its growth and marketing. There are a lot of benefits that you can enjoy as described above. However, you should take time to ensure that your firm's every need is met and whether you can meet some, if not all of the benefits provided above before you make your decision. This would help you determine whether your preferred attorney answering service is helping you achieve your goals or not.
