How an Attorney Answering Service Increases Billable Hours

Administrative tasks and seeking new business costs you and your legal practice precious time. An attorney answering service greatly improves office efficiency.

Being a lawyer means working long exhausting hours into the late hours of the night. A lot of those hours aren’t even billable to your clients.

A lot of lawyers work close to 66 hours with only about 42 hours that are billable. What if you could increase those billable hours?

An attorney answering service will let you focus on your work and keep you off the phone. Spend a few minutes of your day learning how this service works.

How is Time Spent?

Did you know you’re spending about 81% of your working day seeking new business and completing administrative tasks?

Additionally, when you do finally get in the groove to work, there’s a chance you’ll face an interruption from a colleague, family member, or the court.

All of this time taking care of office tasks, seeking business, and dealing with interruptions could be billable hours for clients.

Business Development

Spending time seeking business isn’t a hindrance to your operations; in fact, it’s the lifeblood of your career.

Clients want a responsive attorney, so when you’re able to call them back in a timely manner you increase your chances of landing the prospective client.

What if you had someone to always answer the phone when you couldn’t? Whether you’re out to eat, sleeping, or in court, an attorney answering service can take all your calls.

A highly trained receptionist will extract all the necessary information for you to recall at a later time. You’ll be able to screen unwanted calls and move clients and future business to the front.

Don’t worry about missing out on landing a big client because you were doing your job for another client. Sleep soundly at night knowing you’ll never miss a call.

Administrative Duties

These tasks aren’t always unavoidable and sometimes even require the help of dedicated clerks or assistants.

You might have someone to help you schedule and set appointments, but you still have to decide what appointments fit and why.

Reducing phone calls and call length can help you finish your administrative tasks quicker and focus on cases. You’ll also be able to avoid more errors or mistakes that could result in a malpractice lawsuit.

If you use a professional attorney answering service, all the information you need can be organized and summarized for you before calling someone.

Clients want answers to every single question they have. Knowing the questions and potential topics ahead of time will let you sort your answers to move the conversation along.

This will reduce your call lengths and save you precious minutes that add up at the end of the day.

Interruptions

Some interruptions you encounter are going to be billable or crucial to your operations. Maybe a high profile client has made a mistake and needs your counsel.

There are always some distractions that you’d be better without. Salespeople, disgruntled former clients or employees, and scammers may take you away from your work for only a few seconds.

Each distraction may take several minutes to refocus on your work.

How much more work would you complete in a day if your interruptions were decreased in half?

A legal answering service can keep you on track whether it’s blocking calls or pushing them off to a later time.

Creating a Better Experience

Even major law firms with dedicated receptionists or administrative assistants can miss calls or need help managing clients.

Some clients only want to leave a message, and relaying important information to a person always feels better than leaving it with an answering machine.

Other lawyers in your firm will appreciate the ease of business and streamlined processes to get new leads.

Make sure people associate your firm with world-class customer service and client experience.

Questions to Ask an Attorney Answering Service

Before you choose to hire a legal answering service for your firm, you’ll need to ask the right questions.

Check out some of these questions to help cater to your business:

Do you just need reception?
How many live phone operators do you need?
What are the hours of operation?
How is payment processed?

If you’re just looking for someone to answer phones, that’s a service that can be easily filled, but look to see what other benefits they offer.

A lot of legal answering services also offer scheduling, legal intake, and even bilingual assistance.

Some services offer online chat connected to your website. Those who are hearing impaired will find this feature especially useful.

Do you just need one person or a team of people? Think about the size of your firm. Maybe every single lawyer needs a dedicated person, or one operator for the entire firm will work fine.

You provide the greeting and script for the operators and leave it simple, or you can train them specifically on how to talk through different scenarios.

Do you have set hours that are needed? If your current receptionist is gone for one hour every day, you will only need one hour of service.

Your current needs may require 24/7 coverage or just at the end of business hours until you open again.

Be sure to ask about their plans and pricing. Depending on your firm’s size and needs you might be able to secure a deal that fits your budget and needs.

Ask about their billing cycles and payment methods accepted so you can pay on time.

Increase the Billable Hours

In the courtroom, office, and at home, you’re working tirelessly to help your clients and generate new business.

You can eliminate unnecessary distractions, capture new leads, and save time by utilizing an attorney answering service. Turn the extra time into billable hours to help your bottom line.

If you’re ready to streamline your communications and make life more efficient, then contact us today so we can help you get started.