For the third year running, Concert Networks carried out their Legal Services Communication Report that focuses on the communication between law firms and clients.
Although better telephony technology has definitely improved things, it’s been made plain that there are still communication issues within the legal industry. The increase in competition has meant that the way firms handle enquiries is continuing to increase in importance.
In the report, Concert Networks called 30 leading law firms at three different points of the day and judged how well they responded to enquiries. While there are improvements in some areas compared to 2015, there are still a lot of issues that need to be addressed.
Namely, there is evidence showing that the legal services fail to value incoming client enquiries and lack insight to the client’s point of view. Part of the issue is that training and systems are not always in place to fully prepare staff to handle these phone calls in a sale-focussed way. I know, lawyers ‘selling’ how unsettling is that going to be for the new breed of lawyers?
Overall, the report highlighted:
- 47 seconds was the average time the caller was prepared to stay on hold. 27 firms kept the caller on hold for over a minute. This means that a whopping 90% of firms are risking 62% of their business by simply taking too long to transfer the call.
- Only 46% of calls were forwarded on to someone who could actually help with the enquiry. This was generally due to lack of availability and training.
- The caller’s telephone number was asked for in only 39% of the calls, and their email address asked for in only 21% of calls. This limits future sales and marketing efforts.
- Only 2% of calls were followed up with further sales communications, thus losing a lot of potential business.
- Only 3 firms scored 87%. This was due to their quick, clear communication, good data usage and robust sales process.
You can download the full report here: http://www.concertnetworks.co.uk/the-legal-services-communication-report-2016
It’s an eye opening report that can offer a lot of insight into the way you handle enquiries within your firm. Check out our recent blog: Are You Following Up All Your Enquiries? for some advice on what you can do to improve your process.