If you are a DUI attorney, you know that legal matters can arise at any time of day or night. When your client is arrested for DUI at night or during the weekends when your legal firm is closed, the last thing they want to hear is an automated voice message when they call you. Clients who call your law firm after office hours are usually in need of immediate services. For this reason, many DUI law firms are partnering with call answering services to manage their legal clients’ communication channels and ensure that no call goes unanswered. As a DUI attorney, you must have a lot on your plate. Collaborating with a reliable call answering service will go a long way in keeping your DUI law firm competitive and improving your customer service.
A DUI Attorney Answering Service
A DUI attorney answering service manages inbound calls to an attorney’s office, generally taking messages, capturing the caller information, setting appointments, and answering frequently asked questions. Live receptionists act on behalf of a law firm's employees, and customers will not realize that the customer service is outsourced. Depending on a law firm's needs, some call answering services conduct outbound calling to help law firms generate new leads and win new clients.
When choosing an answering service for your DUI law firm, choosing one that your business can scale with is important. The call-answering agents will help you handle all client queries via several communication channels like calls, emails, and chats. You might be wondering how the call agents will know about what to tell your legal clients and how they will maintain the confidentiality of your clients, which is integral in DUI cases. The experts in the call answering service you choose to outsource will liaise with your DUI law firm protocols and take time to understand how your legal office operates. How a call answering service operates will mainly depend on the directions you give to the call-answering agents.
How can you tell that you need a call answering service for your DUI law firm? When a client calls your DUI law firm, and your office team cannot receive the call because they are on other calls or past work hours, you need a call answering service. When a call-answering agent receives the phone, he or she will answer it professionally, just like a member of your office team. The agent will determine whether the call is urgent and decide whether to transfer it to the available member of your office team. You need an answering service in your DUI law firm if you want to remain competitive in a legal industry full of qualified attorneys.
What to Consider When Choosing an Answering Service for Your DUI Law Firm
With so many answering services available, choosing the right one for your DUI law firm can be a daunting task. Therefore, you should consider several answering services and determine each firm’s potential risks or drawbacks. Below are some important factors that you should consider when choosing an answering service for your DUI law firm:
Capability to Handle Your DUI Law Firm’s Call Volumes
When choosing an answering service for your DUI law firm, you should consider the volume of calls your law firm receives. If the call answering service cannot manage the calls efficiently, your clients will face delays. Keeping your DUI clients waiting, especially after a DUI arrest, could ruin your reputation and spoil your customer service. Therefore, you should ensure that the call answering service that you choose can handle several calls and once to avoid keeping clients waiting.
Properly Trained Call Operators Who Understand DUI Issues
Some of the answering services do not meet the standards of your DUI practice. You should consider whether the legal answering service has the necessary knowledge about DUI laws and queries. Hiring an answering service that lacks industry knowledge could significantly affect your DUI practice. You should find an answering service with well-trained agents specializing in DUI legal matters and comfortably handle issues among your callers.
Legal Experience
Before hiring a call answering service for your DUI practice, you should ensure that the company has legal experience and has worked with other DUI firms. If you work with an answering service with DUI legal experience, it will be easy to manage your customer communications efficiently. You do not have to spend a lot of time trying to make the call-answering agents understand the nitty-gritty of a DUI law firm. A call answering service with DUI legal experience can also recommend possible practices and tips that have worked for other DUI law firms. You can then use these tips to help your DUI practice thrive.
24/7 Answering Services for Your DUI Firm
DUI arrests and other related situations can happen at any time, and clients can contact your DUI law firm at any time. Therefore, you should choose a call answering service that is available on a 24/7 basis. In addition, you should ensure that the call answering service you choose can assess the urgency of every call that your DUI law firm receives and respond appropriately.
Technological Competence that Matches Your DUI Law Firm
The majority of legal answering services have free trials that enable clients to gauge their service delivery level. You should use this opportunity to determine whether an answering service has the proper technological competence to handle your client communications. Ensure that there are no glitches related to call transfers, forwarding, and automated systems.
Benefits of Using an Answering Service for Your DUI Practice
Hiring a reliable call answering service for your DUI practice will offer immense benefits to your customer engagement and satisfaction. Below are some of the benefits that you will reap from working with a reliable call answering service:
Handling Your Calls When You Are Busy With Other Legal Issues
DUI law firms are often busy with numerous cases to handle. You should not allow the incoming calls to get in your way or affect your productivity. It is advisable to partner with a competent call answering service to let you handle the prospects, inquiries, and customer issues while you concentrate on your DUI cases. You and your office team can focus on the essential tasks needed to run your firm without worrying about the incoming phone calls.
Handling Calls When Your DUI Firm is Closed
Some DUI arrests will occur when your DUI firm is closed, mainly at night or on holidays. Most people violate DUI laws at night or early mornings. When you have an answering service in place, potential clients will not turn away from your firm. The call-answering agents will receive all your calls even when your DUI firm is closed.
Saves Your DUI Firm Money
You do not have to hire an onsite receptionist once you hire an answering service for your DUI law firm. A professional call answering service is enough to play the same role as an in-house receptionist at a much lower cost. You do not have to worry about additional costs of training an in-house receptionist, maintaining their salaries, or buying office supplies. You can save some money to invest in other necessities that will significantly help improve your law firm’s productivity. Working with a reliable call answering service in your DUI firm will specifically help you reduce the following costs:
- The cost of purchasing additional advanced communication equipment
- Staff training costs
- The cost of employing additional customer care agents
- Costs of expanding your law firm’s office to accommodate additional customer care agents
A reliable call answering service stays up-to-date with the latest technological advancements in the call answering field to ensure better communication with your clients. Hiring an answering service for your DUI practice is affordable because most call answering companies will only charge you for the time they spend with your clients. Ensure that you understand the pricing when choosing a call answering service because some companies charge a flat fee, meaning that you have to pay them even if you only have a few clients in a month.
When you find a prospective call answering service provider, you have to choose the type of services you want them to provide for your DUI practice. For instance, if you have an in-house receptionist who handles your phone calls during the day, you can go for a call answering service to handle your phone call during after-work hours and on holidays. Before you make any significant commitment, ensure that you inquire from a prospective call answering service about the services they provide and their pricing policy.
Dispatching Messages to DUI Lawyers
When you have an answering service for your DUI firm, you can access your messages from wherever you are located. DUI lawyers are busy people often involved in meeting clients, collecting evidence, and attending court sessions. There is a high possibility of missing a large number of calls when out of the office. A DUI lawyer might also delete their essential messages. You won’t miss a single message when you hire a call answering service. Messages provide you with an excellent resource for pitching new clients and helping you deal with potential clients.
DUI Case-to-Case Prioritization
Another important reason you need an answering service for your criminal defense law firm is to help you filter and prioritize important client calls. Every DUI client is different in terms of urgency. Having an answering service for your DUI law firms helps you filter your clients' calls in terms of urgency and priority, enabling you to first handle urgent cases. In every legal practice, prioritizing clients' calls could differentiate between winning and losing a case.
An answering service will work with your DUI law firm hand-in-hand to help create a customized script to use while handling client’s queries. You will inform the call agents about the types of calls to prioritize and the ones that can wait. If you do not have an answering service, you are likely to spend a lot of time and resources sorting your clients’ calls regarding priority. Spending too much time on the calls might impact other critical legal matters of your DUI practice.
Great First Impressions When Clients Call Your DUI Law Firm
A call answering service will help make an excellent first impression to every client who calls your DUI law firm. The work of a professional call agent revolves around talking to clients on different communication channels. A call answering agent understands the best way to handle a client on the phone and social media platforms. Whether you run a big or small DUI law firm, the chances are that you do not have ample time to manage all your clients’ calls. Most of the time, your office staff are likely to be busy handling walk-in customers and researching other legal matters. Failing to answer your clients when they need your DUI firm the most could negatively tarnish your DUI law firm's reputation.
You will create a better first impression by having a live agent handle all your phone calls instead of having automated voice or voicemail call answering services. When your existing and potential clients contact your DUI law firm through different online and offline communication channels, a call answering service will create a better image. When clients have a good impression of your DUI law firm, they will recommend you to other DUI clients, meaning you will expand your client base.
Reducing Interruptions in Your DUI Law Firm
Certain administrative tasks are inevitable in a DUI law firm. Outsourcing your phone calls to a call answering service will free your staff’s time, enabling them to focus on other aspects of your DUI law firm. The time your in-house receptionist spends listening to missed call voicemails can be put into other use.
Find an Answering Service Today
You can grow your DUI law firm and improve your reputation with a reliable call answering service. You should take ample time finding a reliable call answering service to work with because some call answering agents have better competence and experience than others.
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