The prospect of new clients is exciting and often a sign that your law firm is doing something right.
There is a delicate art to securing new clients as the balance needs to be struck between giving them time and attention but not detracting from work for existing clients.
A poor onboarding process can taint your reputation in the eyes of a prospect forever, while a smooth process can lead to retention.
Ironically, the better you get at onboarding new clients, the less likely you are to have to do it.
We found in our research that 85 per cent of firms rely on word-of-mouth as their primary client growth channel.
This would suggest that law firms still rely on goodwill and client satisfaction as the main avenues towards growth.
Only 43 per cent of firms identified digital marketing as an additional avenue to expand their customer base.
There seems to be a traditional mindset to attracting new clients, which is not an inherently bad thing.
It only becomes a problem if that traditional approach is at odds with the challenges of the modern world.
Recent research from Hennessey Digital found that 27 per cent of law firms failed to respond to online leads altogether.
Meanwhile, 28 per cent of law firms were able to respond to new enquiries within five minutes, setting a strong precedent for client expectations.
Of course, there is a sharp difference between responding to a prospective client and fully onboarding them.
As the expectations of new clients increases, the speed with which they are onboarded needs to increase to match.
Clients can become disheartened by long wait times and turn their attention to your competitor.
New clients pose a host of new challenges, but that word-of-mouth recommendation, whilst inherently important, poses its own risk if you don’t get it right
If your new clients are happy, they will thank whoever recommended them, and potentially tell others.
Making your new clients happier
Our digital age has brought with it instant access to everything from food to entertainment to travel.
New clients want their legal services to feel as efficient as choosing a film on Netflix or ordering a pizza.
We know that one in three solicitors believe in the importance of lasting relationships and how client retention is one of the main barriers to growth.
Client retention starts with efficient and effective onboarding.
Smokeball has designed its Intake features to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible.
Utilising Smokeball’s intake features can help you embrace the digital way of attracting and onboarding clients with bespoke intake forms that can be embedded on your website or sent out when an enquiry comes in
Data entered onto Intake forms automatically populates into your Smokeball case to save you data entry time and eliminate errors.
Visibility over all leads with an intuitive dashboard that keeps real-time updates on all enquiries so that you never let a hot lead turn cold.
For visibility over the entire lead workflow, Smokeball generates Lead Management Reports showing the number of leads you have attracted, the number that are still open, the ones you have successfully converted, as well as by whom.
Using Smokeball’s Intake gives you that layer over your business, so you can make smart decisions.
Beyond intake, Smokeball can take you through your entire case management right through to invoicing and getting paid with industry-leading features to optimise your workday and boost client retention.
Don’t leave potential new clients out in the cold. Book a demo today!
