Previous posts on our blog discussed the importance of prompt and persistent follow-up with internet case leads. During my conversations with clients, attorneys and advocates often recognize the importance of a robust follow-up effort, but remain unsure how to implement an actual system to accomplish it. Accordingly, I wanted to focus this post on how certain lead management systems can help you and your staff contact leads at desired intervals, flag high potential prospects, and resolve (i.e., accept or reject) leads more efficiently. This should result in saving time and potentially higher conversion rates on your internet leads.

A Few Words About Software

Of the numerous software options on the market, I have the most familiarity with eGenerationMarketing’s client management software, eLuminate. I will thus concentrate on specific features within eLuminate during this post. However, other software and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems may offer similar functionality to accomplish the same tasks.

When to Contact

After a contact attempt is made with a particular lead, it is wise schedule a follow-up date to note when you should contact the claimant again. For example, you may have tried to call a lead, but no one answered the phone. This lead could still have a strong case, so you will want to make contact again at a later date.

With eLuminate, you can update the “Next Scheduled Contact” date for your leads and then sort leads by this field. You will then have an organized list of all leads, along with the dates on which they need to be contacted again. This will help ensure that you follow-up with prospects at the proper intervals and that no lead falls through the proverbial cracks.

Flagging High Potentials

Clients often ask me how to flag “high-potential” leads, so they appear on a special follow-up list. You may have spoken to a claimant who has a strong case, but is unsure whether to move forward with a claim. You will want to continue following up with this individual, since the case seems desirable.

In this situation, you can mark the lead has “Qualified” within eLuminate. The lead will then populate a special list of qualified leads. “Qualified” is a designation that denotes a claimant who may not yet have expressed interest in filing a claim with your firm, but has a case that you deem potentially pursuable. You will then have easy access to your highest potential prospects to prioritize your outreach accordingly.

Standardizing the Intake Questionnaire

If multiple staff members call leads, you may consider standardizing your intake questionnaire so that all staff members are qualifying leads in the same manner. You may choose to create a written list of questions to distribute to staff or simply have them rely on memory. However, employing such strategies could create confusion or result in certain questions being omitted or asked out of order.

Some lead management platforms allow you to add custom fields to all of the leads in your account. In eLuminate, you can create a custom field for each question on your intake questionnaire and specify the input type of the custom field (e.g., radio button, text field, date field, select list etc.), depending on the type of data you wish to capture. After the fields are added, you then enter the responses once you speak with lead on the phone, thereby standardizing the order and type of questions asked during the qualification process.

You can also segment and prioritize leads based on data contained within eLuminate custom fields. By creating custom views, you will be able to isolate leads based on case type, medical condition, or any other criteria you specify.

These are just a few of the ways that lead management software can augment your intake process and render it more efficient. You can contact us to learn more about the features described in this post or to schedule a free demo of the eLuminate Client Management Software.