If you haven’t put a system in place to automatically track and convert those unconverted leads to your law firm, start thinking about how to accomplish this today.
I talk specifically about how to convert new leads in my book The DNA Of The Autonomous Attorney and you can obtain a copy by going to: www.YourPracticeMastered.com/Fisher.
Here’s the idea…
The true money to be made in a law firm is in following up with the prospect who says: “I don’t want to set an appointment,” “I don’t want to show for my appointment,” or “I don’t want to hire your firm right now.” These are the unconverted leads. In fact, in 2012 we created over $700,000 in gross sales from these unconverted leads for the a bankruptcy firm in Phoenix, Arizona.
So, how long should you continue to follow up with unconverted leads? Until they buy, die, or unsubscribe!
The word that comes to mind is “unrelenting” – following up with unconverted leads should be done frequently, consistently, and automatically. To do that effectively, you need to view lead conversion as a process.
Lead Conversion Is a Process, and a Mind Shift
Every successful law firm should have an automated system to track and convert prospective leads into clients. In addition to tracking, your job is to influence those leads. To change their minds, shifting them toward doing business with your firm. Sometimes the mind shift is a small one, accomplished with a single follow-up telephone call. More often, it takes persistence.
How do you influence unconverted leads into taking the path to your door, one they’ve resisted thus far? To begin, you should approach lead conversion as a process.
Trust me, conversion is not a single event that happens (win) or doesn’t happen (lose). Too many attorneys view conversion as a one-time event; that’s a serious mistake with real financial consequences. Instead, you need to influence and cultivate your leads at every opportunity.
Here’s an overview of the process. We begin with marketing initiatives that provide multiple lead sources – firm website, newspaper, TV, radio, Yellow Book – that’s step one. Those initiatives generate leads (step two). Leads schedule appointments (step three) and show up for initial consultations (step four). And in step five, of course, leads hire your law firm.
Tracking Your Results
The only way to know whether your conversion efforts are winning leads over is to track the results at every step. This is also how you determine what doesn’t work, and what may actually be undermining your overall objective of making a PROFIT.
Your system should identify the percentage of success at each stage. You should be able, with the click of a button, tell what percent of your leads turned into Appointments, what percent of appointments Showed, what percentage of the shows Hired the firm.
Based on those percentages, you can make adjustments to your business. If you are not converting enough leads to appointments, you can look for ways to adjust your inbound call script and ensure you have a ‘call specialist’ answering the phone.
If you have an issue with appointments showing up, you can ensure you have a reminder sequence via, phone, email, phone calls, and direct mail (using a shock and awe package).
If your conversion process works beautifully until the prospect walks in the door, then you know your office presence needs some work. (It only takes a few seconds for a lead to make a negative assessment of the firm’s office environment. The last thing you want is for a prospect to arrive for an appointment, walk in the door, look around, and walk back out.)
In all stages you should look for ways to automate the communication to your unconverted leads. This will ensure that you are maximizing the effectiveness of ever lead, every time.
To determine why conversions are (or aren’t) successful, you must track your lead sources, collect feedback, evaluate customer service, and come up with measurable data. Something that can be compared month over month, year over year.
For my money, I use Infusionsoft. For more information about Infusionsoft, please visit www.YourPracticeMastered.com/Infusionsoft.
Building a better business, one conversion at a time…
