4 Ways to Improve the Client Intake Process at Your Firm

When you're onboarding a new client, the client experience relies heavily on the client intake process. This process is about more than just gathering a bunch of information from your client. 

Importance of a Smooth Client Intake Process

Once the hard work of marketing is done, you have to gear your business to onboard potential clients. A smooth process is important to:

  • Qualify leads. A good intake process should tell you whether the prospective clients are a good fit for your brand. 
  • Establish your brand. The intake process says a lot to clients about the way you conduct your business. A smooth process gives clients peace of mind about dealing with you. 
  • Launch your client's lifecycle. That first inquiry a client makes about your services or products is the first step during the client's lifecycle. If this happens smoothly, there's a better chance of a repeat customer. 

Streamlining Initial Contact for Efficiency 

Your first point of contact needs to be painless yet productive. Make it easy for clients to contact you through various channels such as phone, online chat services, online forms and email. Once they've made contact, you can further streamline the process through automation services.

Our agents are trained to assist clients on several different platforms. By using custom scripts tailored to your brand, we're able to work through the client intake process effortlessly. 

Gathering Comprehensive Information Upfront

Your client intake process should start at the very first point of contact. A client reaching out to you to inquire about products or services is already in the first stage of buying, which means that the sales cycle has already started. It's important for you to close this loop by gathering the right information about your client. 

Information gathering can save you time and effort down the line, and here's how: 

  • Integrated automation. At Blazeo (formerly ApexChat), we offer tools such as BlazeoChat or BlazeoVoice, which allow you to prompt your clients to get them to the right division or staff member quickly. Record the information on the CMS to help qualify the lead. You can also automate these services with the help of scripts and prompts. 
  • Qualifying and disqualifying. While you might be tempted to turn every query into a conversion, some clients may never convert. This could be for several reasons, such as affordability, the wrong service or product type or the inability to match a competitor's product.
  • Choose your lead parameters. Tailor your client intake process to your business to ensure you're not wasting time on information irrelevant to your business or your client's needs. For instance, law firms could use scripts or prompts during their legal intake process to determine whether a prospect needs assistance with a civil or criminal case. If they don't offer one or the other, they can let the client know upfront.  

When used correctly, a client intake process that ticks all your company's desired boxes can be the difference between spinning your wheels chasing loss leaders or finding clients that offer a higher case value. 

Using Tools to Make Things Faster and Easier

Your client intake process is a golden opportunity to get a lot of the sticky admin out of the way. For instance, letting clients read and accept the terms and conditions of the service provided. For attorney and accounting firms, this could also include a retainer service. 

A retainer service allows customers to pay an agreed amount upfront, either monthly or once-off to secure a professional's services in the future. At Blazeo (formerly ApexChat), we offer a retainer signing service to ensure clients are able to get them signed quicker. These contracts contain all the legal finessing you may need to onboard a new client. You can also customize these to use different languages, fonts and case types to suit your brand aesthetics and business needs. 

Our agents are trained to walk clients through the contracting process and terms and conditions. They can answer the questions using the provided frequently asked questions document to ensure a smooth onboarding process. The full conversion process takes place during these calls, as clients can accept the offers digitally or telephonically. 

You can also allow customers to work through the paperwork at their own pace through your client intake forms. Just include all the relevant information you may need, specify the payment plan and define the terms and conditions of the retainers. You can then automate sending the terms and conditions and contract to the client using the contact details provided. 

Improve Client Communication for Better Engagement 

It's important to make it as easy for your clients to deal with you as possible. By creating automated, seamless contact points for your client, you're able to onboard new clients faster and get sufficient information upfront to help close the sales cycle. At Blazeo (formerly ApexChat), we know what goes into an effective client intake process. Want to see more? Get a demo today.

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