If you want to grow your law firm, one of the first things you should focus on is converting your unconverted leads. The truth is that most law firms don't need more leads to grow. As a matter of fact, giving more law firms more leads would be a sin because they're not converting the leads they already have.
The number one reason law firms fail to convert leads is because they don’t have a lead conversion system, specifically an automation tool to manage follow-up. There’s an old saying: “Fix your follow-up, and you fix your fortune.” And that’s the truth. Many law firms have holes in their bucket.
Before teaching lawyers what I knew from running insurance companies, pet supply businesses, and funeral homes, I noticed the same thing: law firms don’t follow up. One piece of advice my mentor gave me years ago was, “Follow up until they die, buy, or unsubscribe.” Now, for many attorneys, that might sound a little too pushy, and I get that. They don’t want to be seen as marketers or salespeople. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a basic follow-up system in place.
When I built my firm in Phoenix, we started from scratch. It was just the managing partner and me, working out of executive offices, making our key hires. He focused on legal work, while I stripped away everything that didn’t require a law degree and had someone else handle it. One of the first things I did was build an automated follow-up system.
Back then, I used a tool called Infusionsoft (now Keap), a CRM system that helped us manage customer relationships, handle orders, and automate payments. I built that platform to ensure we followed up with every lead… until they died, bought, or unsubscribed. It wasn’t optional.
Why does this matter? Well, I grew that firm from $0 to $3.5 million in just a couple of years. And here’s why: Over 60% of the people who eventually retained us originally said no. Without a system to follow up with non-buying prospects, we would have generated 60% less than we did. In other words, 60% of our gross sales came from people who initially said no, whether that was no to setting an appointment, no to showing up for their appointment, or no to retaining the firm during the consultation.
Building Your Law Firm’s Automation System
At the heart of it, we need to understand that if we help enough people get what they want, we get what we want. Your clients want help with their legal issues, and what you want is revenue to grow your firm. It’s a fair exchange. Your clients get freedom, results, and peace of mind, while you get money, compliance, attention, and scalability.
So how do we ensure we get as many clients as possible from the leads we generate? The key is building a New Client Attraction Follow-Up System. This system focuses on tracking every lead and following up with all of them, qualified or not.
Many law firms miss this. When I ask how they track leads, they tell me they only measure the people who set appointments. But what about the leads who didn’t set appointments? They don’t track them, and that’s a big problem.
Here’s what we do: We track every lead, qualified or not. We separate them into two categories: qualified leads who didn’t set an appointment and non-qualified leads. From there, we can send e-newsletters, market other practice areas, or even sell the leads to other firms if necessary.
If a lead sets an appointment, we have a reminder sequence to follow up with them through email, phone calls, texts, social media, and even direct mail. And we might mix in some AI tools to make the process even more effective. We use video, audio, and written communication to keep prospects engaged and make sure they show up for their appointments.
If a lead doesn’t set an appointment, we put them into a follow-up sequence, which uses the same methods (email, phone, text, social media, and direct mail). We address why they didn’t set the appointment and why it’s still important to do so. Maybe they didn’t respond because they never spoke to anyone. So, we make sure we use every communication channel possible.
For example, I like to collect physical addresses, depending on the practice area, because some people might not respond to phone calls or emails, but they might respond to direct mail. So, we cover all bases.
Once we get the lead to set the appointment, we continue with reminders, and if they don’t show, we have a follow-up sequence for that too. The goal is to keep the conversation going, understanding why they didn’t show, and convincing them to come back for another appointment.
This is how we manage the entire client lifecycle, from leads to appointments, shows, and ultimately hires. And once they’re hired, we move them into the workflow system, which tracks all stages of their case and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
The point is, once we have a system that tracks everything and follows up consistently, we see higher conversions, which means more income and more growth for your firm.
If you're ready to build out your own automation system, there are various items you need to consider. You need to think about things like lead capture, appointment setters, nurture campaigns, referral workflows, and many others, as illustrated.
If you want to take it to the next level, we can help. Additionally, our vendors can assist you with automation. Feel free to reach out if you need support.
But the most important thing is that you need to follow up with every lead, until they buy, die, or unsubscribe.
