Are you a new attorney just starting out? A virtual phone system allows you to work from anywhere, even if your office isn’t set up yet. Find out how it’s done!
As a new attorney seeking to establish your own practice, you need to master more than the law. Like any small business owner, you will also have to manage the logistics of running an office efficiently.
Many new attorneys successfully work from home by taking advantage of the many cloud software services that allow them to send, receive and store documents as well as communicate with clients. They save money on overhead and provide more scheduling flexibility. However, if you choose this route, you will need to create a home office which will still convey professionalism to your clients.
A virtual phone system should be one of your first cloud subscriptions. It offers many advantages that can prove beneficial to your new law practice.
Here are 5 reasons why you need to make an automated phone and fax system one of your first steps in setting up your new office.
- You Are Always Accessible with a Virtual Phone System
When you are working on your own without support staff, what happens to your calls when you go out to a meeting, a court hearing, or to grab a bite to eat?
Missed calls, right?
Unless you’re working out of your cell phone, which is fine for your gardener, but not for an attorney.
A virtual phone system will ensure that you never miss a call from a prospective client. In legal situations where rapid response is crucial, a phone call needs to be picked up and returned immediately.
With these systems, a professional sounding Auto Attendant Menu will answer all your calls and then transfer the caller to you. You can choose to take the call or send it to voicemail. You will be immediately notified of any messages received in the voicemail system, allowing you to call back right away.
It doesn’t matter if all extensions transfer to you or if your name is the only name in the Dial by Name Directory. You caller won’t know it.
If a client is under arrest or under similar emergency circumstances, they need to know they can reach you no matter what. Otherwise, they may turn to another lawyer.
24-hour accessibility will heighten your appeal as a lawyer and reduce the chance you will lose clients to your competition.
- No Secretary to Pay
As an entrepreneurial lawyer with your own practice, you have to constantly decide between saving money and giving your office the most professional presentation possible.
In the business world, clients still expect attorneys to have support staff to answer their phones and take messages. Picking up your own calls may give the wrong impression.
Additionally, being constantly distracted by phone calls when you are working on a brief or negotiating a contract reduces your productivity.
Using a virtual phone system will save you the money you would otherwise spend on phone system hardware and an employee like a receptionist or paralegal. The costs are pennies (literally) compared to the payroll, taxes, benefits and the other overhead costs you would have to spend on hiring support staff.
- Some Clients Are Not Online
Many millennials rely on the internet alone for all of their information. You may think that if you have a great website to which prospective clients can send an email, you are reaching a wide audience.
However, 13% of Americans still do not have internet access. Depending upon your area of law, these people may be exactly the audience you are trying to reach.
If you serve older populations or people with lower incomes, you need to publish a phone number in the Yellow Pages so people without internet access can find you. Not all virtual phone number providers will list your virtual phone system phone number, so be sure to ask. If you practice criminal law, personal injury law, or assist people with social security or disability claims, you will want to establish yourself as someone people in need can reach by phone.
A virtual phone system will help you remain accessible to the people who still do not use the internet to find the help they require.
- Voice Is Better for Critical Negotiations
As much as business and law have increasingly turned to email and written communications, using the telephone is still an integral part of a successful law practice.
Whether you are negotiating with opposing counsel over custody visitation for your client or receiving a call from an anxious client, sometimes you just need to pick up the phone and speak directly to a person. And besides, talking on the phone is billable time, so why avoid it?
An effective attorney knows how to talk, so you need the right technology that allows you to control when and where you will deliver your message to its intended audience. While some industries have adapted to rely purely on online communications, reducing the need for the human touch, the practice of law still requires people who can take and receive phone calls.
If you are looking for ways to save money in your new law office, remember, you have only one chance to make a great first impression.
- Integrated Fax, Phone and Email
The rest of the world now views the fax machine as antiquated, but both the legal and the medical professions still regularly make use of this old-fashioned technology. In some jurisdictions, email signatures and electronic filings are still not accepted. As a new lawyer, your office still needs to be able to accept and send faxes.
Instead of purchasing one of these dinosaurs, a virtual phone system can give you a virtual fax sending and receiving delivery system. You send faxes from your computer and receive faxes through your email, which gives you the added benefit of filing this correspondence electronically too.
By combining all of these functions, you will save money, time and wasted energy by keeping track of email, fax and voicemail messages on one system. When you need to retrieve any of these messages, an automated phone system is sure to be faster and more efficient than if you had to depend upon filing cabinets and legal secretaries.
Automated Systems Offer Economy and Professionalism
Nothing will replace the person-to-person impact of talking directly to a lawyer about one’s legal challenges. However, as a new attorney starting out on your own, you need to be judicious with your time and your budget.
Use a virtual phone system to answer your phones, connect callers to you, take voicemail, deliver messages to you and track your communications.
It will free you up to do the work your clients really need you to do, and it will save you money to spend on other items which are essential for running an efficient law office.
Contact us today for more information on how this approach could work for your business needs.