How to Effectively Close Bankruptcy Leads

6 tips for turning potential clients into paying clients

Sometimes managing your marketing leads can feel like you are panning for gold. It may feel like you have to weed through leads to find the few that are truly solid and ready to hire you.

 

In reality, however, only a small percentage of your leads are going to fit in this mold of being “golden gems”. Most of your leads require nurturing before they finally decide to hire you. Using effective lead management techniques, you can turn more leads into paying clients. Sure, it requires work on your part, but the results can be powerful. As you increase your close ratio of leads to clients, you will become more profitable.

 

While lead management is a science of its own, there are several simple principles that you can follow to increase your close rate on inbound leads.

1. Respond Quickly to Leads

How long does it take you to respond to an inquiry about your services? Does it take you 5 minutes, an hour, 5 hours, a day to respond? The faster you contact interested individuals, the more likely they will remain interested in your services. Leads that are not contacted quickly often lose interest, contact your competitors, or simply fade away as you lose contact with them.  If you are too busy to respond to all leads in a timely manner, consider having a secretary or another staff member handle the initial response and lead contacting. Also consider having an automated email response with a customized message for email leads.

2. Gauge Your Leads’ Interest Level

Each lead you get is likely at a different stage in the buying cycle. Some may be searching for information about bankruptcy and want questions answered, but aren’t ready to start filing yet. Others may have an urgent need to file and are ready to start the bankruptcy process immediately. The better you gauge the status of each individual, the better you will be able to offer them the appropriate incentives and commitments that keep them moving closer to hiring you. Through your questions, you can discover where the person is in their readiness level to hire you. For example, you could ask ,”When were you hoping to file bankruptcy?” or “How well do you understand the bankruptcy process?”

3. Contact Leads Consistently and Frequently

Leads often require multiple contacts before they commit to filing bankruptcy. To keep leads interested, you should contact them frequently. Find a balance in how often you contact them and how you contact them. The last thing you want to do is annoy your potential clients by over contacting them. Create a schedule for each lead and determine when you will contact them each week. You can call them, email them, or even send them mail if you have their address. Remember that your goal is to nurture these leads, not to put pressure on them. As you have frequent interactions with these leads, you will be able to maintain their interest, help them avoid forgetting about you, and nurture your relationship with them.

4. Share Helpful Bankruptcy Materials

Too often, attorneys try and convince leads to hire them too soon, before they have had a chance to overcome their objections and fears. Bankruptcy filers often have plenty of questions about the bankruptcy process, how it works, how it helps them, etc. As you contact your leads by email, phone, or mail, consider creating helpful resources that answer their many bankruptcy questions. You may develop an eBook, an FAQ website page, a printed bankruptcy guide pamphlet or brochure, or a page of links to other great online resources about bankruptcy. Share these resources with your leads for free. Your leads will feel very appreciative of your materials and will feel that you are their friend and ally. As they find answers to their questions and become more comfortable with the bankruptcy process, they will be much more likely to hire you.

5. Offer Price Promotions

Many of the leads you meet are very concerned about prices, which is why many will contact multiple attorneys to “shop around” and find the best price. Don’t be afraid to tell your leads what you charge. They will appreciate your openness. Make sure to explain all the great benefits that they will get from your services to justify your price. Then, you can offer them a price discount that helps them feel like they are getting a good deal. For example, you may say, “We’re offering $150 off our attorney fee for our website visitors.” You may even decide to run promotions that are time-sensitive to create urgency. For example, “Get 15% off our attorney filing fees for the month of March.” Whatever your price promotion is, it should help overcome your leads’ concerns about price and create a sense of urgency in hiring you.

6. Use Lead Management Software Tools

As you get more leads, you may find it difficult to keep track of what leads you have, which ones you have contacted, what you talked about, etc. Fortunately, there are plenty of affordable, effective software solutions that can help you manage your sales pipeline efficiently. The cost of using such software will more than pay for itself as it helps you close more leads and obtain more paying clients. While Salesforce is perhaps the most common lead management platform, there are many others that you can research and compare to find one that meets your budget and feature requirements. Common features of these platforms include calendar planning, status tracking, task reminders, and reporting.

 

Over time, you can continually refine your lead management techniques as you experiment with different ideas. Remember that your efforts to improve your close rate are just as important (if not more so) than your efforts to market your law firm and generate leads.