Why Response Time is the Key to Converting Law Firm Leads into Clients
Attorneys will analyze many aspects of their sales process to find out what’s preventing law firm leads from converting into new clients. Unfortunately, they’re often missing the one thing that matters most or, more accurately, the one moment that matters most.
And nothing matters more than the moment your lead is delivered.
At 4LegalLeads.com, we’ve invested a great deal of time and technology into perfecting the delivery of “Real-Time” leads. This means that once someone completes an online request for legal help, the process matching and delivering that lead to the attorney’s area of practice and location is nearly instantaneous. Ninety-five percent of our leads are distributed within milliseconds. It’s a feature that’s often underestimated in its power to affect sales growth in a law firm.
For example, at 4LegalLeads our law firm leads are both “Exclusive” and “Real-Time”. Of those two features, attorneys easily see value in the exclusivity of information. However, the value of Real-Time doesn’t always connect right away. If someone is unfamiliar with the research surrounding lead response time, it’s easy to think “Well, thanks for the fast delivery. I’ll get to that lead when I have a moment.”
A moment can make all the difference between losing and landing a new client from a law firm lead.
It’s easy for anyone to understand how a fast response to a lead can make a difference, but it might be surprising how much of a difference it makes. Sometimes it takes real numbers to provoke us to action.
There’s a classic study on this issue conducted by Dr. James B. Oldroyd of MIT in 2007. It offered some powerful, statistical wake-up calls about the need to respond quickly to sales leads. Oldroyd found that from a 30 minute response time to a 5 minute response time, the odds of contacting a lead went up 100 fold.
You can imagine how drastically the odds go down when it takes more than 30 minutes. With statistics like this, the value of a Real-Time law firm lead seems inestimable.
In case that’s not convincing, here’s one more, harrowing statistic. Within that 5-minute mark above, a study by Lead Connect showed that sales conversions increase by 391% in the first minute after a lead reaches out for help.
One of the main factors in these statistics is that there’s simply no reason someone should wait. They have an entire internet of options at their fingertips, and they’re going to keep searching until they find solutions.
Beyond the numbers, there’s an intangible truth in the legal industry that magnifies the importance of a rapid response. It takes a lot for someone to reach the point where they say “I need help.” That vulnerability and openness only lasts so long before it hardens into something else.
Here’s some good news, though. It isn’t that hard to beat the competition if you put your mind to it.
Further study by Dr. Oldroyd published in the Harvard Business review in 2011 found:
- 37% of companies responding to leads within an hour
- 16% within 24 hours
- 24% more than 24 hours
- And 23% never responding at all
So, if you can set your office up for a rapid response to a Real-Time lead, you’re in a powerful position to take the lead in your local market.
The way your respond to a law firm lead also makes a difference.
An article by Forbes published in 2012 estimated that 70% of companies use email as a first response to a lead instead of the phone. Imagine how much a personal call to someone in need stands out in an atmosphere like that.
Furthermore, that same article revealed that most companies only try once to reach a potential lead, while an interview of sales leaders by Hubspot in 2014 recommended an average number of 6-8 attempts over a variety of media.
The formula is simple. A rapid response, a phone, and an organized, repeated effort to reach a lead can equal strong sales and growth for a law firm. However, it takes a disciplined effort to stay consistent and get the most value out of the law firm leads you are paying for.
It’s worth asking a few key questions for your organization.
Ask yourself…
- How impressive is it to a person in need of legal help to receive a rapid response? How much care and concern does it convey?
- Can your office, regardless of its size, dedicate resources and improve its response time to legal leads?
- Who can make at least an initial touch with the lead, even if professionals with answers are tied up with work?
If you can close the gap to an hour you’re already at the very top of the game, if you can go even further you place yourself in an elite class statistically and stand to enable a great deal of growth for your firm.
A few key, operational changes can help your legal firm live more in the present and make the most of the law firm leads you’re paying for.
Law firms who need to Find New Clients are facing a big problem.
While nearly all potential clients are now searching online for an attorney, it’s become increasingly difficult for law firms to stand out in search results.
Here’s how Legal Leads help.
1) We use 20 years of online advertising expertise to make sure potential clients in your region can find your law firm. As they search for an attorney, we route them to you as a Legal Lead.
2) Legal Leads are EXCLUSIVE and delivered in REAL-TIME through the web or LIVE on the phone. This means you can respond to leads right in the moment they reach out for help. It’s the best time to win them as a new client.
You only pay when you receive a lead. You can stop at any time, and you have an excellent customer support team to help you succeed!
CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT at 4legalleads.com/lawyers. It only takes a moment. Then, we’ll be in touch to help you complete your setup so you can start finding new clients!
