10 Ways to Boost Profits through Intake and Conversion

Soaring Profits Through

Intake and Conversion

By Gary P. Falkowitz, Esq.

Presented by The National Trial Lawyers

Larry Bodine

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• Attorney & Journalist• Editor• The National Trial Lawyers• Lbodine@TheNTL.org• 520.577.9759

Gary Falkowitz• Founding Attorney at Maximum

Intake Consulting, Inc. • Managing Partner at The Falkowitz

Law Firm, PLLC• Former Managing Attorney at

Parker Waichman LLP• Gary@Maxintake.com• (844) 629-4682

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Want Sustained Success?

1) Make The Phone Ring

2) Get Retained

3) Resolve Cases At Their Highest Values

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Goal:Sign more cases

Without spending

One more dollar

On marketing! (Yes, you read that correctly)

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Firm Responsibilities•Marketing

•Managing Advertisement Campaigns

•Tracking ROI and KPIs

•Communicating with Vendors

•Supervising our Intake Staff

•Managing Referral Process

•Speaking with Clients

•Spokesperson on TV

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Why Do We Spend So Much On Marketing?

1)Our ability to earn a fee from a retained case is very high, and

2)Our fees can be huge!

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Our Personal Investments

• Hire advisor• Track certain metrics• Get alerts• Assess comparable data• Constant review

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Why aren’t we treating our law firm’s investments the

same

(if not better)

Than we treat our

Personal investments?

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Average Conversion Percentage for most mass torts cases:

60 – 65%If your average fee is $10,000…

# of Additional Cases Signed Potential Increase in Revenue

10 more cases $100,000

50 more cases $500,000

100 more cases $1,000,000

200 more cases $2,000,000

500 more cases $5,000,000

Reasons Callers Give For Not Signing With Our Firm:

• They’ve hired another law firm; and• They claim that they no longer

wish to pursue

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90% of the cases we want and lose are retained by another law firm.

Why?

1)We are not the only firm that wants them, and

2)Claimants know that they have options

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What are the

Real reasons

that claimants

Are choosing

Our competitors

Over us?14

5 Reasons

1.Wrong Person On The Phone

2.Wrong Message Conveyed

3.Inadequate Attorney Involvement

4.Inadequate Procedures

5.Inadequate Tracking

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I. Wrong Person On The Phone

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71% of customers buy because

they like you,

trust you

and

respect you.

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Personality Traits For The Ideal Intake Specialist

•Good Listeners•Empathetic•Likeable / Charismatic•Superior People Skills•Confident•Organized•Do they have Sales Experience?•Do they have Phone Experience?•Do they have Customer Service Experience?•Listen to their calls!

II. Wrong Message Conveyed

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Basic Tools•Do they have authority to make decisions? •Do they know how to brag?•Can they sell?•Do they have sufficient information about your firm, attorneys, recent news?

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III. Inadequate Attorney Involvement

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Attorney involvement

•For All Wanted cases!•Ideally – at the sign up.•Open-Door Policy with intake•Communicating with Referral Firms

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IV. Inadequate Procedures

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Need Procedures for:•Follow Ups •Scripts •FAQs•Referrals•Sign Up Methods•Wanted criteria •Refer Out Rules•When/How to get an attorney involved•Calendar Reminders (must be in a place where others can hold them accountable)

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V. Inadequate Tracking of KPIs

(Key Performance Indicators)

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What Needs To Be Tracked

• Leads• Scheduled Sign Ups• Wanted Cases• Method of Sign Ups• Referral Sources• Conversion Percentage• Unanswered Calls• How quickly inquiries are

being responded to

• Review of Daily Decisions• Any Follow-Ups not

handled appropriately• Referred-In and Referred-

Out Cases• Advertisement

Campaigns• Hourly Call Patterns• How long are cases in

certain statuses?26

Intake Pitfalls To Beware Of:

• Putting your intake staff on other projects• Long lasting calls for claimants you

do NOT want signed• Assigning too many cases to your

specialists • Not meeting with them• No Open-Door policy

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10 Things Your Firm MUST start doing:

1. Listen to Calls (again and again and again…)

2. Track (the important stuff)

3. Review the Decisions Made

4. Enforce Strict Procedures

5. Have Attorneys Get Involved

6. Improve/Strengthen your Intake Packet

7. Hold Frequent Intake Meetings

8. Hold Refer-Out Firms More Accountable

9. Show appreciation to your intake staff (make it fun)

10. Manage / Supervise / Lead (be All-In) 28

Statistics To Consider When Evaluating Your Intake

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Only 10% of Sales People Make More than three

contacts

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80% of Sales are Made

on the Fifth to Twelfth Contact

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91% of customers say they’d give referrals.

Only 11% of sales people ask for referrals

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Only 13% of customers believe a sales person can

understand their need.

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30% - 50% of Sales go to the vendor that responds first

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If you follow up with web leads within 5 minutes,

you’re 9 times more likely to convert them.

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Visuals are processed

60,000 x’s faster in the

brain than text.

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Personalized emails including the recipient’s first name in the subject

line have higher open rates.

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The Optimal Voicemail message is between

8 and 14 seconds.

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80% of calls go to voicemail and 90% of first time

voicemails are

never returned.

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Questions

• Founding Attorney at Maximum Intake Consulting, Inc.

• Managing Partner at The Falkowitz Law Firm, PLLC

• Gary@Maxintake.com• (844) 629-4682• http://maxintake.com

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Gary Falkowitz

PRIORITIZEPRIORITIZE = PRIORITIZE

SCRUTINIZE

MAXIMIZE

(844) Max Intake

gary@maxintake.com

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