Every day, people call on consumer law firms to inquire about filing a case. But not every inquiry results in a paying client for the attorney. Here are the top reasons why those leads go cold, and what you can do to prevent prospects from walking away from your firm.

1   Taking Too Long to Respond to the Prospect
If you can’t respond to a lead within 24 hours, you’ve probably lost that lead. In today’s “instant reply” internet world, people expect a firm to be responsive with communications. Taking too long to make initial contact is, in the prospect’s mind, a reflection on how you may perform if he or she retains you.

2   Providing an Estimate of Fees That “Blew Them Out of the Water”
Your law firm may have significant overhead in staff and office space, and you may have years of experience. But many clients just can’t afford to pay for that. The attorneys that sign the most new clients are the ones who charge reasonable fees, often under the average of most attorneys in the area. Attempt to charge more than that, and you could well lose prospects to a lower priced attorney.

3   Prospect Didn’t Like You
The ugly truth is that people work with people they like. And tend not to work with people they don’t. A friendly, considerate, responsive, upfront and straightforward approach will always win more prospects into clients. Be aware of quirks in your staff’s personalities that also may turn prospects off — such as talking too much, getting too personal, or appearing untrustworthy. If a prospect likes you (and your staff) personally, it can often overcome some pricing, office location and timing issues to get you the case.

4   Losing Out to More Aggressive Competition
Prospects almost never contact just one attorney. They’ll reach out to at least two and often three. Let the prospect know how much you understand their unique situation. Price your services competitively and follow up diligently. If you don’t, your competition will, and it’s likely that they’ll get the client instead of you.

5   Inconvenient Office Location
If your office location is somewhat far away from the prospect, he your she may decide to instead find another attorney whose office is closer. Unless, you can mitigate that. You may want to consider offering to meet at an alternative location or handle the entire case virtually for these prospects. 

6   Changing Circumstances for the Prospect
Sometimes a lead goes cold through no fault of your own. Sometimes the prospect has to postpone the intended filing. But in most cases, will eventually come back and file down the road. Don’t be discouraged, if you follow through, do everything right, and still don’t hear back from the prospect right away. He or she may still come your way in good time. Consumer law attorneys that we work with report that sometimes a lead comes back to them 3-6 months or even a year later.

To find out more about how LeadQ can generate more clients for your law firm, call us at 800-662-2888 or 602-288-8393 (direct line).