Never miss a call with 24/7 live receptionists.

Lawyers are often busy working on client cases and can’t be expected to answer every call that comes in, but providing quality customer support through a reliable legal and law firm answering service has been shown to improve law firms in a variety of ways. Here are a few of the benefits law firms and legal practices experience with us:

• Expand availability‍

With a phone answering service that’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, your clients will always have a real person to talk to, whether your business is busy, closed, or on holiday. Your clients’ questions always receive a thoughtful response.

• Increase leads captured  

Missed calls mean missed opportunities. Don’t miss out on leads just because you’re not always able to pick up the phone. Answering services provide nighttime, weekend, and after-hours availability so your law firm will never miss another call.

• Boost work productivity ‍

Through outsourcing call handling to an answering service, you’ll be able to spend time where you need it most and focus on more important work to build your business.

• Enhance client satisfaction and business reputation

At Smith.ai, we know great customer service and how to deliver it for a range of business types and industries. Our virtual receptionists are trained in customer service and hospitality, so let us put best practices to work for you and deliver an exceptional and professional response that represents your business well every time.

• Save money and time

No need to allocate limited time and money towards hiring an in-house receptionist when you can get all of the services you need and then some with an answering service for a fraction of the price. On average, customers who use Smith.ai save upwards of $30,000/year.

• Stay up-to-date with leads and clients

Phone answering services can provide your law firm with detailed call summaries after each call and even provide your clients with chat, social media, and text messaging so you can stay in contact with your most valued clients.

A legal and law firm answering service can provide your firm with much needed relief, whether your team is on a budget, overwhelmed by overflow calls, or simply looking to enrich your firm’s customer service. With Smith.ai’s answering service, your law firm can receive even more benefits to help your law firm accomplish its goals, whatever they may be.

Smith.ai’s answering service can provide law firms with…

24/7 availability

After-hours & overflow answering

Bilingual answering

Outbound call-backs

Spam blocking

Appointment scheduling

Sales development

Payment collection

CRM Integration

Lead development

And much more…

‍With nearly limitless features, Smith.ai’s answering service is guaranteed to grow your law firm’s productivity, revenue, and outreach. Smith.ai has offered quality service to law firms and legal practices for years and our clients trust Smith.ai to provide their business with premium support. Read our 5-star reviews to learn why business owners prefer Smith.ai.

The price of a receptionist is one of the most important factors to consider when deciding on whether to hire an answering service or a traditional, in-house receptionist. Let’s look at the average price for an in-house receptionist.

The average salary nation-wide for an in-house receptionist is about $37,000 and they often come with hefty, additional fees, such as:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, costing about $11,000/year
• Life and disability insurance, costing about $2,000/year
• 401K’s, retirement and pension plans, costing about $2,000/year
• Paid sick leave, holidays, and vacations, costing about $5,500/year
• Commuting reimbursement, costing about $5,000/year
• Child care subsidy and parental leave, costing about $3,000/year
• Health and wellness programs, costing about $1,000/year
• Bonus pay, costing about $2,000/year
• Company retreats, team bonding events, and employee outings, costing about $4,000/year
• Free lunch, snacks, and drinks, costing about $3,500/year
  

Total Cost, Including Salary: $77,000/year

If your law firm is located in a highly populated area, that price may be even higher. In-house receptionists can add to that cost when they inevitably come in late, call in sick, request time off, take personal leaves of absence, go on vacation, and so on. Contrarily, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can accomplish the same tasks as an in-house receptionist and then some, barring coffee runs and supply restocks, of course, and are much less expensive, as your firm doesn’t have to pay for any time off, benefits, or salaries.

Smith.ai’s answering service costs as little as $255/month, with no hidden fees. Ever. By hiring an answering service instead of an in-house receptionist, your business could save over $33,000/year on salary alone, and possibly up to $40,000/year in benefits beyond salary payments. Not only will your law firm save money, but your law firm will also be able to optimize productivity and revenue like never before. Unlike in-house receptionists, virtual receptionists can answer calls outside of regular business hours, which is far more important than you might recognize, as 27% of leads call after hours. Smith.ai’s agents can answer live chats, texts, and social media messages. SMS answering can be overlooked, but over 46% of customers prefer communicating with businesses through text.

Virtual receptionists can even provide sales assistance by making outbound calls to convert more leads, which has been proven to be helpful. It’s critical for businesses to respond promptly, as over 67% of clients base their decision to hire a business on the initial responsiveness to their call or email. Long waiting periods encourage leads to take their business elsewhere and you may not have the chance to explain why you’re the right business to hire. With Smith.ai’s legal answering service, your law firm can receive all the benefits of an in-house worker without the unnecessary cost. Read our article to learn more about the differences between an in-house vs. a virtual receptionist.

Running a law firm can get hectic, from managing projects and tasks to overseeing company development and growth. Businesses like these constantly face issues that impact their ability to succeed. The most common scenarios that law firms use virtual receptionist services for are:

• I can’t afford to hire staff, but still need “front desk” support

“Front desk” support is an invaluable way to provide law firms with regular administrative assistance that can help operations run a lot more smoothly. When law firms have a limited budget, however, they may not be able to afford pricey in-house receptionists, especially when they already have to pay for office rent and supplies, marketing, and advertising.

• I need time to focus without constant interruptions from calls

Calls come in whether your law firm is available to answer them or not. When team members have to answer phone calls in addition to their regular duties, they may struggle with falling behind on more important tasks and losing focus. On average, it takes about 23 minutes to get back to a task after being interrupted by a phone call.

• My business is growing and my team can’t handle it all

Businesses grow and it can be difficult to keep up. With calls that need to be answered, appointments that need to be scheduled, and invoices that need to be sent, it’s easy for teams to feel overwhelmed.

• I can’t offer around-the-clock availability to answer calls

When the work day ends, employees want to go home and enjoy their free time away from clients, but calls don’t stop coming in and leads can often be missed, as over 27% of leads call outside of normal business hours. Law firms may not be able to provide after-hours availability, but may still want to offer accessible customer service.

If your legal practice or law firm is experiencing one or any of these scenarios, an answering service can help by allowing you to outsource these tasks directly to a professional agent. An answering service will take on some of the more time-consuming responsibilities, addressing and alleviating the tedious issues your law firm faces. Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can accomplish the same, whether your firm needs assistance handling phone calls, blocking spam, or qualifying leads. By eliminating the need to allocate time to screening calls and answering clients’ questions, your firm can get back to focusing on more important work without neglecting your client relationships. Review our case study to learn more about how Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service can provide support for law firms like yours.

Law firms and legal practices, like any business, often find themselves in compromising situations that require outsourced assistance to resolve. Some of the most common complications are:

• I can’t keep up with incoming calls and messages from clients

With a limited staff and an endless list of assignments, law firms frequently struggle to answer phones and respond to messages from clients in addition to their regular duties. Running a law firm and providing quality customer service at the same time can prove to be difficult and lead to poor performance in both.

• I’m spending my whole day on administrative tasks and can’t get productive, real work done

With the price of in-house receptionists being as high as it is, businesses are often left to delegate daily tasks themselves. Despite spending a large portion of their day performing administrative duties, law firms often struggle to balance their important projects with their regular office tasks.

• I’m missing calls from new business leads and it's costing me money

Responding to each call can feel impossible for legal practices when they have higher priority assignments to address. Businesses can easily fall behind on responding to new inquiries so potential leads can be frequently missed. Leads don't wait for call-backs. They call the next business in the search results. If businesses fail to pick up, they not only lose a lead, they lose ROI, money on marketing campaigns and ad spend, as well as conversion rates from ads.

• I can’t respond fast enough to leads to beat my competition to new clients

With the crowded marketplace for law firms being what it is, it can be a major obstacle for businesses to distinguish themselves and stand out amongst other similar businesses. Providing quality customer service through quick and thoughtful responses can place businesses above their competitors, but many law firms often lack the time to do so.

• I’m struggling to find and keep new clients

One of the most crucial, yet challenging, aspects of growing a successful business is obtaining and keeping new clients. With so much time and effort being spent towards existing clients, law firms may not have the opportunity to seek out and nurture new clients. Law firms who spread their workload too thin may not be able to deliver quality customer service. Slow response times may frustrate customers and hurt client loyalty and retention, as well.

• I can’t seem to keep track of my clients’ data

Maintaining detailed phone records and call summaries can be overwhelming for law firms who disperse client data across a multitude of software platforms. Knowing how, when, and why clients call is significant for any business hoping to successfully navigate client relationships, but unfortunately, is not always easy to accomplish.

If your law firm is facing any of these challenges, a virtual receptionist service may be useful. One of the many great things about Smith.ai is that our services fit your business needs, not the other way around. Our virtual receptionists can allocate time where you need it most and address the specific issues your law firms face, whether you need help qualifying and intaking new clients or sending invoices and collecting payments. Sign up risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee and see how Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can alleviate the problems your law firm faces.

Determining which services are important to your Iaw firm is a good place to start. To figure out which services would be best for your business, ask yourself what problems or opportunities you face that a virtual receptionist service can address:

• Does your law firm need a little extra help obtaining new clients?
• Does your law firm fall behind in answering website, social media, and text messages?
• Does your law firm struggle with blocking spam calls?
  

Whatever it may be, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can adjust their service to better suit your business needs.

After that, think about what services would best fit your company’s activity level:

• Does your law firm receive hundreds of calls a day or just a few?
• Do you receive more online messages than calls?
• Would your law firm benefit from 24/7 phone answering or would you prefer a particular time frame, such as 9-to-5, for answering calls?
  

Whether you get twenty calls a month or 2,000, Smith.ai can customize your virtual receptionist service to fit your business activity so you only pay for what you need.

All you have to do next is sign up. Getting started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service is simple and fast. No annual contracts, no setup fees, and no need to supply scripts.

Follow three simple steps:

1. Customize your instructions – Just answer a few, quick questions about your firm and the preferences you have and we’ll get you started. We’ll use your answers to customize the way our virtual receptionists answer your calls and your clients’ questions. 
2. Send your calls to us – We work with every phone system and can set up customized rules for when we answer your calls. Or we can answer every call, 24/7!
3. Try risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee – Fully experience our call answering, scheduling, payments, and other phone services completely risk free for 14 days. If we're not the right fit for you, get your money back up to $1000 within the first 14 days.

Whether your business is looking for a full-time virtual receptionist or an overflow or occasional phone answering service, Smith.ai can offer customized assistance to your team with quality customer service, lead screening, and sales development. When you sign up with Smith.ai, you won’t just be gaining a virtual receptionist service, you’ll be gaining a professional, reliable, and friendly team who are guaranteed to transform your business by capturing leads and delighting current clients. 

‍Learn how to get started with Smith.ai’s virtual receptionist service.