New enquiries sat in a shared inbox until someone had a gap, often two days. Prospective clients had usually instructed another firm by then. They wanted every enquiry qualified and booked the same day.
Three things kept going wrong, and each cost the business time, money or a customer.
Intake and booking agents, connected to the systems the business already ran on, with approvals on anything irreversible and a full log of every action.
A law firm has rules about what may be said before a client is engaged, so the first week went on writing them down with the managing partner: no advice, no fee quotes beyond the published ranges, a conflict check before any booking. The agent ran in shadow mode for five days against live enquiries; the partners reviewed every draft and adjusted the wording until it read like the firm.
Enquiries that sat in a shared inbox for two days are now answered in four minutes and booked the same day. Consultations more than doubled, and the partners see a Monday brief of every open enquiry and its status rather than discovering lost ones at quarter end.
'Prospective clients had usually instructed someone else by the time we replied. Not any more.'
Managing partner
The practice's two receptionists were also running the front desk, so a third of calls went to voicemail at lunch and after 5pm. They wanted every call answered and every cancellation refilled, without hiring.
Enquiries arrived through Instagram, the website and WhatsApp at all hours, and the clinic replied the next working day. By then many had booked elsewhere. They wanted every enquiry answered within minutes and turned into a consultation.
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