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We want to give listeners an opportunity to actually experience what it's like to go through
a coaching program, what it's like to actually listen in to a real call, and how to coach
an intake call. Because what we find is that, again, one of the biggest challenges that
law firms have is they're spending all this money on marketing and advertising, but the
conversion -- meaning that critical point of contact when someone picks up the phone
for the first time and is calling an attorney -- the experience that they have is absolutely
critical. And most attorneys think they do a great job of intake and what we find is
actually there is tremendous opportunity to improve conversion and to improve the experience
that prospective clients have on the initial phone call. So I'm really excited to go through
this with you. ...office, how may I direct your call? Yes, I've been out of work for
the last -- can you hear that okay? I can. Alright, here we go, pay close attention and
take notes. 18 months due to CMT and I need to file for Social Security Disability. Okay, so you're
seeking representation with attorney for a Social Security claim? Yes. Alright. Important
to us, and we'll be with you as soon as... This is.. how can I help you? Yes, I've been
out of work for about, uh, 18 months due to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder and I wanted
to file for Social Security Disability. Okay... Is it something that your doctors are telling
you is going to keep you out of work? Yes. Okay. And do you treat regularly with a doctor?
Do you have a primary care doctor? I am, and I've been going to physical therapy for two
years. Okay. What is your first and last name? Jennifer, and the last name is... Alright,
and how did you hear about our office? I just did a Google search by zip code. Okay. Alright,
basically with Social Security Disability there is two different programs. One is based
on work credits -- how much you've worked and paid in the last ten years -- and the
other is based on income. So I'll just screen you for both of those and then we can go from
there. Okay. Your disability will qualify you if you're treating but it's not necessarily
just your disabilities. You have to meet guidelines first before we can sign you up or before
Social Security will allow you to sign up. Okay. Okay... Now where are you located, what
city and zip code are you in? I'm in... my zip is... K. And what phone number would you
like to put on file? ....Okay and your date of birth? 2/23/75. Alright and you said, when
did you say was the last time that you worked? Um, it's been about 18 months, almost two
years. So you think you last worked in 2011? It was more like 2010. Alright, I just want
to point out a few quick things before we continue. Okay. Just a couple items. First
off, the person taking the call, she sounds very kind and professional, um, but I mean
we're a little more than three minutes into the call and so what we want to do differently
is, you know, we want to build a relationship with the person. So far, it's what I call
"license and registration" and what that means is we're just doing what we were taught to
do. We're asking our intake screening questions. We're just going down a list and asking and
that's what we were taught to do but going forward what we want to do differently is
we want to ask them in a different way and do what I call "singing" so that we don't
sound like we're asking survey questions and license and registration. But then the other
is, you know, before you even get into your intake screening process, you know, you want
to do, you want to welcome them to your practice. We did ask their name, but you want to use
their name in conversation, you want to make sure that you get their number that they're
calling from in case you get disconnected, you want to do what we call a "wow welcome".
You know, you want to do some relationship building and empathy and, and just be human
with them before you automatically go into question-answer, question-answer. And then,
the other, the other quick note too is, and then we'll go on is when you have pauses while
you're talking on the phone, you're putting information into your system. That, you know,
is normal, that makes sense, but, here's what I suggest you do so that the experience is
much better for everyone, especially the prospective client -- and even your established clients
-- is, just tell them what you're doing. 'Cause when you pause, and you don't say anything,
they don't know what you're doing and sometimes they don't even know if you're there. So,
you don't have to worry about being able to do small-talk talk, 'cause that's not easy
to do. Just say, you know, Jennifer, I am typing in your information, or I am correcting
what I just -- whatever it is you're doing -- just tell them, tell them what you're,
what you're doing. And this is all about the experience. Um, the big thing I'm gonna remind
you of and you'll hear it again is you folks are not really in the legal business as much
as you are in the relationship and healing business. So you're much more in the relationship
and healing business than you are in the legal business. Um, did you want to say anything
Ryan, or did you want me to continue on? Well, I think, I mean, I agree with you 100% on
these points. I notice the exact same thing. I mean, really, this is, the person who's
taking the call is doing a great job of basically just doing their job. But I don't get any
sense of, you know, that they're actually engaging with this caller at a deeper level
other than the required questions that they have to go through. So I would say the exact
same thing in terms of I think some of these things can be polished up with just some basic
techniques and scripting, if they were gonna follow this process, which, you know, we'll
talk about later, later on throughout this call. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let me, let
me continue. Here we go. Okay and how long did you have that job? Three years. Okay and
before that? Oh, I was a stay at home mom. Okay, so you think you worked about three
years of the last ten? Yes. So just a quick thing I want to throw in to everybody. Remember
this, write this down: telephones are amplifiers. Okay? Telephones are amplifiers. They can
pick up everything. So, this, this, intake specialist on the phone. You know, she just
kinda went -- sigh -- Okay? Now, we don't know what that meant, but the thing is, the
person that she's on the phone with -- the prospective client -- they're not gonna take
that as positive. They can translate that into, you know, okay, I'm just another call,
or she's tired, or she- I'm not important. You might not mean it or feel it in your heart,
but this is what people feel and think on the other end. I just wanted to mention that,
so here we go. Now do you have any personal income from anything right now? Um, just my
husband. Okay. Is that from him working? Yes. And what does he bring in gross per month?
Um, about a thousand. Okay, so he only brings in, I mean, is that before taxes he brings
in about a thousand a month? Uh, that's after. K, so do you know what he makes per hour?
Gross is before taxes. Uh, you know I don't know how much he makes an hour. Okay, um,
do you all have food stamps, medical cards? None of that. Have you applied for it? I'm
in the process of doing it now. Okay. And did you want to put anything else on file
besides the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease? Did you have anything else to add? No, that's
all I have is the, I'm dealing with, that's the only medical issue I have. Okay. You said
you're treating with a family doctor, correct? Yes. I want everybody to pay very close attention
to this call, okay? 'Cause I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk about something at the end and
I'm just wondering if anybody else picked it up, okay? So now I see a, um, I've been
seeing a physical therapist for the last two years. Okay. Alright. So you will be eligible
for that SSI program. Basically with the other program, you need to have worked a majority
of the last ten years and paid in to Social Security. And since you only worked about
three of the last ten you won't be eligible for that program. But you'll be eligible for
that income-based program. What you have to do with that -- and that's SSI. What you have
to do with that is you actually have to apply initially through the Social Security office
and then once that application's put through, we can pick you up as a client from there.
Okay. But you're required to file with them first. Uh, what I can do if you'd like to
do that now, I can transfer you through to Social Security. They can give you your appointment
time and then you can call me back with that. Okay, um, okay. So you're gonna transfer me
to the Social Security office and I can just call you back? Yes, we can't call with you
so you have to give us a call back. Okay. With that, and you need to set up an SSI appointment
and when you get that date and time, just call us back with that. Okay. Did you have
any questions? No, I didn't. Okay, give me just a moment, I'll transfer you through,
okay? Okay, just one more thing... Okay. So Ryan, that's the end of the call. They get
transferred through and then what happens is the call ends up getting dropped because
they're waiting. Okay. Yeah, so... what did you think? Well, I think that this was a pretty
standard call, meaning this is the type of experience that most callers have when they
come in. So of all the phone calls, intakes that I've heard ,this is one of them. Meaning,
there's nothing in here that really, I'm going wow, this sets it apart, this differentiates
this firm from all the other firms that are out there. You know, there are definitely
things that could be improved in terms of the caller experience. I think my overall
reaction to this is that the person who's doing the intake on this is, goes through
so many of these phone calls on a daily basis that they have become jaded and insensitive
to some extent. And rightfully so, this is no fault of the intake specialist. But what's
happening is there's a blind spot there. So this person isn't aware of how they're coming
across on the phone. And just having a real conversation with the person. Granted, doing
it in a structured way where they still maintain control of that phone call, and they can quickly
dispatch the caller as needed. That's my overall impression. Yeah, and I want to reiterate
that the individual handling the call, the intake specialist, they're only doing what
they were taught to do and what they were trained to do, okay? So we've all gotta realize
and understand that, that we want to start over and give them exceptional coaching and
training as long as it's supported by the attorneys, okay? So, you know, the attorneys
top down have to believe that it's time for a new sales culture and it's time to handle
calls differently. And the main thing that you really want to keep top of mind is the
amount of money you're spending just to get one prospect to call you. So you wanna make
sure that one of two things happens on those calls. That we're either closing the deal
as it pertains to our firm, or we're making sure that we have complete contact information
-- email and phone -- and we put them in our marketing funnel and we send them, you know,
a book, a free book or free report. Something exceptional that they're gonna want to say
yes I want that, that way you can keep it in front of them. But setting that aside,
this call definitely is what I call "license and registration". When you go through the
intake process, you want to check in with the person you're speaking to. You know, ask
them if they're okay. You know, say, you're doing a great job, do you need a break? 'Cause
this takes a long time. I only have a couple more questions. My next question may be a
difficult question but I do have to ask it. Things like that during the intake process.
And I don't know if everybody caught on, caught up with this or not and heard it but you have
to have your listening ears on. Remember, you're in the relationship and the healing
business. You're not in the survey business, okay? This particular prospective client,
if you really heard them, they sounded distressed. They sounded like they were in pain. They
sounded like they were having a really difficult time being on the call. And so, you don't
want to act like you don't hear that. You want to respond to them and just say something
like "Are you okay, Jennifer? Do you need a break? You sound like you might be a little
bit uncomfortable. I might be misreading you but I just want to check in." That's what
you want to do. You need to be human and be real and be there, be now on the call with
that person. Because if you don't, first off, isn't that the business you're in? Aren't
you in the business of helping people? And the other is a prospective client will, I
guarantee you, call -- you wanna write this down -- 3 to 5 of your competitors. So when
a prospective client is finally ready to sit down and call you, they've been thinking about
it for days, weeks, months, years. So when they finally call you, this is a big deal.
They're like hyper qualified. They're ready for the next step or they never would have
called you. But what they did do before they called you is they wrote down on a piece of
paper 3 to 5 law firms that they've accumulated over a period of time. And they didn't say
to themselves "I'm gonna call your law firm," they said "I'm gonna call a law firm" and
if you do marketing you're on the list, so great. But when they call you, no matter what
the experience is like, like this call here. When this prospect is done, no matter what
happens, they are gonna call the next one on their list. They're gonna do their due
diligence. And my point in saying that is a couple of things. Number one: they're gonna
call three or four or five prospects in a row and you're one of them. You need to stand
out, you need to be different. You can't sound like all the other law firms in a row. And
this call sounds just like every law firm. And you can't do that. If you sound like that
law firm, then you're no different. There's nothing special, there's no way you're gonna
ever be able to help this person. And so when they make those phone calls to all the law
firms and they all sound the same -- putting people on hold, or robotic, or license and
registration, no emotions, no empathy, all of that stuff -- then they're gonna hang up
and then here's how they're gonna make their buying decisions. Here's how they're gonna
make their decision on which firm they'll follow through with. They're gonna go "eenie
meenie miney mo". That's how they pick! Unless the call they had with your office, with your
intake specialist, with the hero of your intake team, unless they have that. If they can have
that experience be like the Ritz-Carlton and using the Intake Academy scripting system.
Welcome them to the practice, using their name in conversation, telling them that you're,
you know, they made the right decision when they called, finding out what their emotional
pain is, what is it that prompted them to call finally today, holding their hand in
a compassionate, empathetic way through the intake process, having listening ears on and
hearing how they sound and what they say and be willing to stop and be there with them
at that particular moment and respond to them. And then, going ahead and assuming the sale,
assuming it's going to happen. And, then of course, having your "wow" closing. So, so
you can fix this, it can be done, but, you know, overall the call was no different than
any other law firm and it's really just, you know, chance if, if you win. So really, bottom
line is think about the amount of money you're spending and think about the kind of law firm
you really, you really want to be. Anything else from you, Ryan? Yeah, I wanna back up
and I wanna ask you a couple of questions about this one. So, in terms of -- and this
is actually a broader question -- in terms of staff members and folks who are taking
calls. In this particular instance, is this something that can be trained or is this a
like a personal skills issue, or is it a combination of both in your experience? Uh, in my experience,
yes, well, here's how I'll answer it. If you have the right people on your team, which
all of you already know if you do or don't, you don't, you know, you already know that.
So, if you have the right people already on your team then yes, you can teach them how
to do this. You know, assuming that they have a good voice and they can speak clear English
and that sort of thing, but, in other words, if you have the right folks: attitude-wise,
behavior-wise, they follow through, they do what you ask them to do, enthusiastic, all
of that. So if you have the right team, you can teach the right people how to do this.
But if you have folks on your team that already aren't the right people or you're already
having challenges with that you haven't fixed and you let sit, no. You know, it's gonna
be an uphill battle. So in your experience, if you have an intake specialist who is resistant
to this type of training or this type of coaching, is it out of fear of I've done it my way for
all these years and this is just the way that I do it, or do they feel like they don't have
enough confidence to be able to execute the skill set? Well, it's a couple of things.
In fairness to them, they weren't hired to have this kind of approach. They weren't trained
and coached to do it this way, so that's the first thing. The second thing usually, here's
what really happens is we, the business owner, the partners, the attorneys, don't usually
let our team know the right way or advance notice and complete explanation about the
wonderful new training program that they're gonna do. We kind of usually just throw it
at them and say "just do it or leave". So that causes a problem. And then you also have
the people that have been there 10, 20, 30 years, men and women, that have never been
told in their mind that they need to do things differently. And so they personally will take
it like an attack, like they're doing something wrong. And all people in all businesses, if
it's not communicated right, they're gonna feel like "uh oh, this is the calm before
the storm. They must want to get rid of me." So there's fear there, too, but a lot of it
has to do with how you currently run your business. The beautiful thing about this program
and and folks trying to learn something new and different is it will bring out all of
those emotions and you will be able to, you know, attack them straight on, but you'll
have the right training and skillset. So, you're running into a lot of different things.
And, you know, it really, first and foremost, honestly, Ryan, it starts with the talk. So,
the talk -- the attorneys and the partners have to be fully committed into changing their
universe with intake at their practice before their team can do it. And that doesn't sound
like a big deal, but it's huge. What will a significant transition like this do for
a firm in the long run. Meaning, what type of results, what type of breakthroughs could
a firm have if they were able to really implement this and install it across the board and change
their culture. Oh my gosh, it's huge. I mean, um, you know, we've worked with law firms
that have been able to comfortably say a minimum of 10% improvement in their bottom line. Um,
you'll have even better retention with your team because they'll want to stay with you
because now there is more communication and training and coaching. You'll have a stronger
team because once they get past all the initial concerns and discomfort with having calls
critiqued and monitored and, um, you know, played, and learning from it and learning
new things and scripts, because most people hate the "s" word script, and the "s" word
sales. They, you know, they don't approach it the right way. But once they get past all
of those things which are normal, you'll have a team that's not only with you longer, but
they'll be stronger as individuals and as people, so, you know, staff retention, you'll
have an easy, quick start training program that when you get new people on board you
can quickly put them into your system and get them trained and everybody's on the same
page. I mean it's just, it's endless, so, your culture will change, your sales culture
will change for the better. More internal communication from team member to team member
and attorneys. Other departments in your firm that probably don't even know everybody that's
in your office, you'll know each other more, you'll communicate with each other more and,
as far as the dollars that you're spending on marketing -- my gosh! -- you'll have much
more control over what's going on and you'll be able to convert more. Again, you know,
some attorneys report at least a 20% improvement in their conversion.