On January 20, 2014,  I had the honor of speaking at the 2014 National Trial Lawyers Summit in Miami about a topic that should be at the top of every law firm’s marketing list:  lead conversion.  This is a skill that is woefully overlooked by most legal marketers, who instead focus 99% of their efforts and money on lead generation.

But why would you spend money on lead generation if you’re not doing anything to actually convert those leads into paying clients? 

The problem is, most lawyers believe they are great when it comes to lead conversion.  I get that no attorney wants to admit he or she doesn’t know how to close a deal, but that is not what lead conversion is all about. 

Lead conversion doesn’t begin when you are trying to close a sale, it begins the moment someone initiates contact with you.

And I can illustrate perfectly why most law firms simply stink at lead conversion. 

Not to shame any of the firms present at the National Trial Lawyers Summit, but during the weeks leading up to my presentation I had my staff call 126 of the firms that would be attending the Miami Summit.  I shared these results during my talk:

• Only 40 of the 126 firms identified the name of the firm when we called.  The rest answered, ”Law Office” or “Law Firm”.

• 70% did not ask our staff for any contact information

• 90 firms left our staff on hold for at least two minutes

• When our staff left their contact information for a call back, 52% of the firms never called back

• When our staff asked for the firm’s website address, 33% misspelled it

• When our staff asked why they should hire the firm, the responses were:

• 23%  “We have a lot of experience”

• 21%  “We care about our clients”

• 17%   “I’m not sure”

Other interesting responses ranged from “I’m not at liberty to say” (intake person) to a partner who remarked, “I’m not going to say why we are different!”

I’ve performed similar call campaigns before, calling the offices of attendees and I have to tell you, the results are not that different.  Most of you do not have a proper lead conversion process in place that begins when someone calls or emails and your staff is poorly trained to boot!

As I related to my National Trial Lawyers Summit audience, there are 7 critical components to any lead conversion system and they must all be working in concert if you are to have any real success in converting your leads:

1. A system that tracks where all your leads come from

2. Customized for the way you do business

3. Measures how many of your leads turn into appointments and how many convert into clients

4. Automated follow up process so you never lose a lead

5. Systems to help you convert more prospects into retentions

6. Must include ongoing training for your staff

7. Must include consulting on best practices in lead conversion

If you really want to make your lead generation efforts pay dividends, you simply must become better at lead conversion.  It is probably one of the least expensive yet most financially rewarding things you can do to boost your revenues in 2014.