A recent study involving conveyancing firms revealed that a shocking 60% of firms refused to give out quotes over the phone. Why is this a huge faux pas on the part of these firms and any others that don’t provide prospective clients with this information upfront? What damage is it doing to their business and how much is it costing them?
Just quote them
There are a number of reasons why people calling in should be provided with quotes over the phone. Ben Harris, marketing director at TM Group commented, that home buyers are simply looking for a fair price for the service they require. This is important to remember. When they call you for a quote they may also be calling other firms to simply get a range or see where the best price can be found. Bear in mind this quote initially only has to be an estimate and additional fees can be discussed in further detail when speaking directly to a solicitor. When your firm refuses to provide them with a quote you’re essentially eliminating yourself from the first round because you refused to participate.
First time buyers will almost always go on a recommendation of someone to find a solicitor. Whether it comes from an estate agent or a family member, failing to live up to the recommendation causes conflict in the opinion held of your firm. This first impression instantly creates distrust around your brand and loses you a client.
Your firm’s first impression
Firstly, as the most recent report from Client Experience in Law (CXINLAW) states, clients are increasingly finding high quality information themselves- fast and for free. So when they do eventually pick up the phone to call the firm, they expect a great client experience. They also know how to recognise it.
So much information is readily available from a number of different channels, which means that it’s now so quick and easy for prospective clients to move on to a competitor without hesitation. What you need to ask yourself is, what is not providing a quote really going to cost me and then is that really worth it?
It’s worth it
Further CXINLAW research showed that firms who were investing 10% or more of their revenue back into client experience had an increase of 35% in retained clients and a 50% increase in client referral rates. This investment ultimately returned to increase client referral rates by a third.
In terms of investing revenue back into client experience there are a couple of routes you can take. One option is that you may need to hire more staff or arrange for additional training to take place with existing staff. Taking into account the cost of recruitment, additional training days and updating software and hardware, just one additional switchboard operator could cost you an average of over £470 per day. A more efficient route with more favourable costs could be to look at outsourcing.
Client satisfaction
CallCare are experts in dealing with calls for the legal sector. We have been handling calls and more specifically providing over the phone conveyancing quotes for over 17 years now. So we know the importance and consequence of making all first impressions the right ones every time. There’s no second chance with these things anymore so firms are only hurting themselves by not being able to deliver what the client wants. If you think you may be at risk of this then re-evaluate your current process now and find out if you can improve your client experience and increase your return on investment.
