Five Reasons Solo Lawyers Need A Virtual Legal Receptionist

It’s liberating to operate a solo practice, but it requires additional effort. The life of a sole law practitioner is a constant struggle, from marketing to hiring. The smooth operation of your law firm as a solo lawyer would require your prompt response to call inquiries. 

With the phone always ringing, it would be impossible to respond to every call personally, and recruiting a full-time staff can be expensive. The better choice for solo lawyers is to outsource answering services to a virtual legal receptionist. 

A virtual receptionist can do so much more than just book or cancel appointments; they follow customizable scripts specific to your law firm.

Role of a Virtual Legal Receptionist

Rather than a full-time receptionist, many sole practitioners opt to use virtual receptionists instead. To have a virtual legal receptionist means having access to more than simply an answering service. 

A live legal receptionist takes calls with a personalized greeting, qualifies leads, and routes the information to the relevant vertical of your practice. This frees up time for the firm’s lawyers to focus on their core competency—practicing law—and generate more revenue for the business.

Since telephones are a business owner’s best friend, you must always have a working line. Here are five reasons solo lawyers need a virtual legal receptionist:

1. Stay Ahead of Your Competitors

In an established law firm with multiple partners, operations can usually continue even if one of the partners goes dormant. However, when you work alone, your company completely depends on you. You can’t afford to let business opportunities pass you by because you didn’t pick up the phone. 

As a solo lawyer, you must maximize your marketing efforts because your budget is likely lower than your rivals’. A virtual legal receptionist ensures you never miss a potential client or case. Call answering services have many advantages over traditional voicemail.

A virtual receptionist can reassure new leads that you will get back to them as soon as possible. After going through your firm’s unique legal intake process, prospective clients will feel they have taken the first step toward hiring your firm.

2. Carve a Professional and Credible Image

In the legal system, timing is of the essence. Your legal practice will lose potential clients if they call and get an answering machine. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a dedicated lawyer who just happened to be in court.

With a virtual receptionist, your potential clients’ calls are attended to and well-assisted. 

To handle a frazzled customer needing legal services, you must impress them first. 

Use a live receptionist service that works around the clock instead of a voicemail system to make a good first impression. The prompt response assures the client of your professionalism, and they are more likely to hire you. 

3. Grow Your Practice without Investing In Infrastructure

A virtual receptionist doesn’t need physical office space, saving you money otherwise spent on infrastructure. Also, with a virtual receptionist, you don’t have to hand out bonuses and appraisals, saving you money.

You avoid the high cost of employing a regular receptionist by saving money on their salary and employee benefits. And you have more time to devote to assisting customers and providing high-quality legal services, as the virtual receptionist handles the bulk of your office’s calls.

4. Independence and Flexibility 

Of course, freedom and adaptability are major appeals of a solo practice. A virtual legal receptionist embraces and facilitates this mobility in a way that a conventional receptionist can’t.

A virtual receptionist will forward all new leads to you. If you’re available, you may talk to them immediately following a quick transfer so you never miss any potential client calls. Your virtual receptionist will do a legal intake if you can’t accept a call. 

The retention rate of new customers is much higher if they talk to a real receptionist on their initial call. After the conversation, you can access the gathered data and follow up from any location. 

5. Trained Virtual Legal Receptionists 

Without a huge marketing and public relations team, it may be difficult for a solo practitioner to build a reputation in the legal field. You would invest a lot of time and money into advertising to spread awareness of your name since it is all you have.

Virtual receptionists can be thoroughly trained before being matched with a small business like yours, and they can perform almost all the same tasks as in-house receptionists. 

Virtual receptionists provide the same level of service as in-house receptionists and avoid voicemails and phone tags. They can schedule appointments, change or cancel existing ones, and follow predefined and individualized scripts. 

A Reliable Virtual Legal Receptionist Is Just A Call Away

No matter how big, a law firm requires a receptionist to manage the daily influx of calls and client concerns. At Go Answer, our legal intake service includes call forwarding, off-hours answering, and other contact center services. 

Our outbound services involve calling customers to guarantee adequate follow-up and to gather all relevant information. Our services work for your firm 24/7, which is vital, so clients believe you’re constantly on their side.

Simply put, Go Answer is like having a receptionist on call around the clock, providing a wider range of services, including online customer assistance. Even when the office is closed, a law company should always be accessible to its customers. Get in touch with Go Answer to learn more about our virtual legal receptionist service.