A law firm's client acquisition is the supreme discipline - because it combines legal expertise, strategy, marketing, sales and a good client experience. Those who master this have a lot to gain: Time, more lucrative mandates and relief for staff. Nevertheless, many law firms do not deal with this process and leave great potential untapped - this is the opportunity to stand out from the competition. In the following, we will discuss what client onboarding is, how law firms benefit from it and how to achieve optimal client onboarding.
What does client admission mean?
Client onboarding (often also referred to as client acceptance, client onboarding or client relationship management) refers to the entirety of the work steps that are carried out in the law firm when you receive an inquiry from a potential client - from initial contact to legal work.
Wenn die Kanzlei eine Anfrage erhält, werden erfahrungsgemäß stets dieselben Arbeitsschritte ausgeführt. Es passiert Folgendes:
• You answer the call or email from the enquirer
• You ask for the first important information (e.g. on deadlines)
• You carry out a conflict of interest check
• You make an appointment
• You request the first documents
• You record the facts of the case in a dedicated initial meeting
• You collect further information and documents
• You draw up a power of attorney and have it signed
• You create a file
This or something similar is what client onboarding looks like in almost all law firms. All of these steps combined represent the process of your “client intake”. If all these steps are carried out manually by lawyers or specialist staff, completing these tasks costs time and capacity every time.
What appears to be a problem at first glance is actually a real opportunity, as the (partial) automation of these work steps opens up real development potential for law firms.
Advantages of an optimized client intake
The benefits of a good client intake are often underestimated. Below are the three most relevant advantages for lawyers, even if there are a few more.
1. Relief of the staff:
Have you ever calculated how much time you and your staff spend on these recurring steps of client intake? There are at least ten days and regular effort between the first contact and the file being completely filled for the start of legal work. Another factor is that the many steps involved in client onboarding cannot be completed in one go, but occur again and again in between. This means that you and your employees are regularly interrupted by other, current tasks. After such interruptions, it takes an average person around 23 minutes to get back to the current topic - so not only do you lose 15 minutes each time for the actual activity, but in the worst-case scenario, another 23 minutes to get back to the point at which you were interrupted. A structured, automated client intake takes over the majority of these work steps from the first contact and reduces the workload enormously. This allows the entire law firm to focus on more important tasks - without constant interruptions. In times of staff shortages, this is a factor that should not be underestimated and represents an enormous increase in efficiency.
2. Weniger erfolglose Erstgespräche
Kennen Sie das folgende Szenario? Jemand wendet sich mit einem konkreten Rechtsproblem an Sie, z. B. mit einer arbeitsrechtlichen Kündigung. Ihre Anwaltskanzlei erhält die Anfrage, vereinbart einen Termin für ein erstes Gespräch und bittet um die wichtigsten Informationen. In den nächsten Tagen erhalten Sie die ersten Unterlagen des Mandanten (im schlimmsten Fall in Form von 21 Fotos in 21 einzelnen E-Mails). Diese werden sortiert und eventuell wird auch eine Akte angelegt. Es folgt das Erstgespräch, bei dem schnell klar wird, dass die mögliche Vorgehensweise nicht den Vorstellungen des Mandanten entspricht. Es wird kein weiterer Auftrag erteilt. Zwar kann nun ein Beratungshonorar in Rechnung gestellt werden, aber die Zeit und Kapazität hätte in weitere, lukrativere Mandate investiert werden können. Genau hier setzt die strukturierte Kundenaufnahme an: Mit dem richtigen Tool werden bereits im ersten Schritt der Kontaktanfrage automatisch genau die Informationen abgefragt, die Sie benötigen, um zu entscheiden, ob es sich um ein potenziell lukratives und geeignetes Mandat handelt („Präqualifikation“). So werden weniger „erfolglose“ Erstgespräche geführt und die Zeit kann gezielter für lukrative Mandate genutzt werden.
3. More lucrative mandates
How many lucrative mandates lawyers win depends to a large extent on how many clients contact them. This in turn depends to a large extent on how easy it is for those seeking legal advice to contact them. Since client acquisition begins with the very first contact with the client, the foundation stone for the success or failure of client acquisition is already laid here. Good client acquisition is characterized by low barriers to contact and converts a larger proportion of website visitors into enquirers - in conjunction with the above-mentioned pre-qualification, ultimately also into more lucrative mandates.
Three steps to an optimal client intake
It is therefore worthwhile dealing with and optimizing the client intake process. But how is this actually implemented in the law firm? Here are three steps to a good client intake:
1. Determine relevant channels
Having already emphasized the importance of the initial contact, lawyers should first be clear about which “starting points” are appropriate for the client intake. The next steps are based on this. You should ask yourself: Which channels do clients use to find me? Which channels do clients then use to contact me? While the answer to the first question is usually “the internet”, the answer to the latter question can vary. In our experience, the telephone is usually the strongest contact channel, followed by email. Here's a tip: A well thought-out, low-threshold and proactive contact point on the website (such as a chatbot, which has been known everywhere since ChatGPT at the latest) can overtake the telephone as a contact point and convert more website visitors into clients.
2. Conception of the appropriate client intake and selection of the right tool
Once the starting points have been determined, it's time to get down to business: developing the client relationship. To do this, first think about which work steps of the people involved (clients, paralegals, lawyers) are required in the course of the client relationship and when they need to be carried out. It helps enormously to visualize the whole process, for example by drawing a “timeline” on which the different work steps are assigned to the participants. You should then consider what the specific objective of each step is and how achieving this objective can be made more time-efficient and less time-consuming for the person carrying out the task. It is always worth taking advantage of the benefits of digitalization: There are tasks that still need to be performed by a human - such as the initial meeting with the client. On the other hand, there are work steps that can be wonderfully automated - such as obtaining information, reminding clients or creating files. My tip: It's definitely worth looking at your own processes - but you don't have to do everything yourself. The first legal tech providers, such as JUPUS, are now focusing on precisely this and providing a ready-to-use, digital and tried-and-tested mandate process. Important: When making your choice, pay attention to the
3. Start and customize
New processes will never be perfect at the beginning. However, if you want to improve and get more out of your law firm, you must have the courage to change. Improvements have never been achieved by standing still. It is also not necessary to overturn the entire law firm processes overnight. It is worth starting with small changes to work steps that take up a lot of time. It will soon become clear what works and what doesn't, and work in the law firm will become more and more efficient. Another advantage is that you gain a better feel for the needs of your clients.
Conclusion: A decisive step on the way to a modern, future-proof law firm
The importance of client intake for the success of a law firm should not be underestimated. It is worth taking a closer look at your own client intake, because few processes within a law firm have such optimization potential. A shift from manual processing of new inquiries to a digital, structured client acceptance process leads to more turnover, more time and less work for staff. Those who have the courage to change and tackle this issue in their own law firm will be rewarded.
