Here at cj Advertising, we are constantly monitoring our clients’ marketing dollars. Even if your personal injury law firm is not a cj client, you can and should be doing the same thing. At any given time, you should know what you are spending across all marketing mediums, what leads are coming in from each source, and the quality of cases that those leads produce. Oftentimes, we use this knowledge to tweak marketing efforts. We are able to see which marketing mediums aren’t producing any leads as well as which marketing efforts are producing low-quality leads or leads for cases that are outside of the firm’s practice area. All of this knowledge helps us perfect the marketing plan, allocate the budget efficiently, and save the firm from unnecessary spending.
Even if you have a perfect marketing plan, it’s possible for marketing dollars to go to waste. The marketing department’s job is to get qualified leads in the door. However, once someone reaches out to your firm, the marketing department has no control over what happens with that lead. This is where the intake department takes over. If your intake team is not trained on how to correctly manage an incoming call, gather the information needed to assess whether or not the case is a fit, or reassure the caller that signing with your firm is the right choice for them, you could be wasting marketing dollars and severely impacting your law firm’s profits.
GRACES: The Qualities of a Good PI Intake
The first set of factors to look for in a good intake call are:
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Greeting
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Really Listening
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Assurance
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Compassion
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Empathy
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Smile & Signup
It’s important for your intake team to remember that when someone calls your PI firm, they are usually telling their story for the first time. Additionally, the accident they were in was stressful, scary, and dangerous. One of the best things that your intake specialists can do to make the caller feel at ease is to greet them in a friendly manner, show the caller that they are listening to their story, offer assurance that they made the right decision in calling your law firm, show compassion and empathy to the caller, and smile while speaking. While the caller may not be able to see your intake specialist’s smile, kindness and calmness can both be heard through the phone. Assuming the caller has a qualified case, if your intake specialists follow the GRACES protocol, there is a much higher chance that the lead will sign up with your law firm. GRACES ensures that the caller feels safe and cared for by your firm, something that is incredibly important to establish from the very first conversation.
Four I’s: Determining Whether or Not the Caller Has a Case
The Four I’s are the outline of what your intake specialists need to be listening for in a call to determine whether or not the case is one that your firm could sign up or would want to sign up. The Four I’s are:
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Injuries
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Incident Date & Details
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Insurance
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Innocence
Callers may not always disclose this information without being prompted, so it’s important that your specialists know how to ask questions about the Four I’s and maintain control of the call, ensuring that they can get all the information that your firm needs. Furthermore, it is critical that your intake specialists are well-trained on what your firm’s criteria are for signing up cases. If intake specialists don’t know that you accept specific case types, they could be rejecting callers with cases that you actually would want. On the flip side, they could be signing up cases that don’t meet your criteria, causing issues down the line when your case management team has to let the client know that you cannot actually take on their case.
Looking for Intake Training? We’re Here to Help
There are countless opportunities for things to slip through the cracks in the intake department. If you aren’t investing time and resources into training your team, chances are, marketing dollars are going to waste and your firm’s profits are much lower than they could be. We highly recommend that you take the time to really delve into intake and make sure that your specialists know everything that they need to know to offer the best experience for the caller and to make good decisions on behalf of the firm.
On March 8, 2023, we are hosting an Intake Boot Camp in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is a fantastic opportunity to send some of your intake specialists for a full day of intensive training, during which we will cover all things discussed above. Intake specialists will leave New Orleans with a better understanding of how to approach a call, digital lead, and web form submission. Ultimately, this will allow them to get better cases signed up for your law firm and improve the firm’s overall profit. Click here to sign up!
If you are looking for individual training, Law Firm Xcelerator offers many different options for intake coaching. We’d love to work with your firm to ensure that your intake department is operating well and making the most of your marketing dollars. If you’d like more information, please reach out to your brand strategist or to askus@cjadvertising.com
