Can Your Law Firm Intake Service Undermine Your Law Firm's Success?

Marketing may get the phone to ring, but intake decides whether your firm earns the case or loses it before it even starts.  Intake services begin the client experience process and your law firm needs that service to be on point.

Marketing establishes the brand – your visuals, your message, your authority.  Business Development gets that message out – your speaking engagements, your networking, your attorney bios.  Intake – the evidence that what was said, pitched, shared, promoted does what it says it does – your credibility that your operations can handle the case, your human and you care, your professional and polite.

Mess the law firm intake service part up?  You lose the lead, the referral source, and all the marketing efforts become meaningless.  It’s called The Client Experience or The Client Journey for a reason. It starts the moment they connect with your intake team member. 

 

Why Intake Matters to Your Law Firm

1. They are your sales team

a. Internally handling incoming leads or potential new clients (PNC) moving through to the consultation step or following up from it.  They have to be engaging, warm and know how to ask the discovery questions with an ease that will not alarm the lead. 

b. Internally calling back missed leads to keep them engaged in hope to retain the law firm.  They can’t just call or email once – it must be a connection.  Use automation or not, the intake person has to be involved and be the “human” to that end.  Don’t call back and your law firm gets a bad rap, and can land you a negative review!

2. They are your empathetic ear

a. Potential new clients need to know your staff is credible, personable and knowledgeable about their legal crisis – even if it turns out to not be one.  Intake needs to care.

b. They could interface with the PNC more than once because they built trust from that first interaction.  Earning them a position in a review if this part of their skill set is on point

3. They enter the initial client data – REFERRAL SOURCES

a. Can I use all caps here?  That is how important their data entry, discovery questions and getting the referral source information is!  It is the beginning of your return on investment outcome. 

b. If your intake team does not have the right referral source fields to chose from, or even what they mean, that is poor management right there.  Get it done or your marketing budget is skewed, your business development efforts (& budget) is off-base and your attorneys, or you, will be wondering how you can get referral sources to send you better leads.  (oh, there’s more on this…trust me)

4. They have the front-line 411 for better content marketing efforts

a. They hear the pain points that your marketing and business development team needs to provide the message and the collateral on.

b. They know what lead generation source is sending you duds. 

c. They know if that referral partner you think is so great is actually sending you business or not.

d. They know what referral partners you need to have if people are calling in and need another type of law firm.

5.  When they know how vital their role is to the client experience and ROI impact – their sense of ownership can take your law firm growth to new heights.

a. A happy intake team member means a happy, retained client

b. A happy intake team member means you have more budget money to allocate where it is most needed

c. A happy intake team member means you are going to be growing – so hold on and get ready to expand your intake team, your attorneys and maybe a practice area or new geography.

This position is not to be taken lightly.  It isn’t to be micro-managed to death either.  Oh, please watch out for setting up those absurd KPIs!  At one law firm I worked at (see case study below), it was to their detriment.

2 Case Studies that show a right way and a wrong way to handling corrections in your law firm's intake department:

Case Study 1 : Misuse of Intake Department KPIs at a Personal Injury Law Firm

Background

A prominent personal injury law firm focused on car and truck accidents and other areas of injury law, experienced rapid growth and increased its staff significantly in recent years. As the firm scaled, management began to prioritize aggressive key performance indicators (KPIs) for the intake team, which led to serious operational and cultural challenges.

The Problem: KPIs Over Empathy & Effective Training

Management instituted daily meetings where intake staff were berated for failing to meet unrealistic targets, such as assessing the value of a lead within 15 minutes and automating the intake process. The expectation was that customer service would handle follow-up, but this approach misunderstood the importance of the intake experience—intake is the first and most critical touchpoint for clients. Customer service should be the follow-up, not the primary contact after a rushed or impersonal intake.

Impact on Employees and Clients

· High Turnover: Staff felt overwhelmed, unsupported, and unappreciated. The constant pressure and lack of empathy from management led to burnout and high turnover rates.

· Lack of Empathy: Employees became desensitized to client needs. For example, during a recorded sales call with a potential sexual assault victim, the intake team member was callous, impersonal, and unrelatable. The team member blamed other staff and tried to end the call quickly, even as the lead struggled to articulate her experience due to emotional distress.

· Lost Opportunities: Cases that the firm could have taken on were lost because intake staff, under pressure to meet KPIs, failed to build rapport or provide the necessary support. The firm’s reputation for caring and winning big cases was undermined by these negative experiences.

· Stressed and Angry Employees: Staff reported feeling scared, stressed, and angry due to the hostile work environment and unrealistic expectations.

· Damaged Brand Authority: Your brand will lose its validity when the messages listed on your website or other marketing collateral do not match the initial client experience with your intake team.

Management’s Response

Instead of addressing the root cause—unrealistic KPIs and lack of training—management simply fired employees who failed to meet targets. There was no meaningful training or process improvement. Management remained fixated on hitting numbers, ignoring the human element of intake and the importance of empathy in building trust and rapport with clients.

Conclusion

The misuse of KPIs at this personal injury law firm led to a toxic work environment for their intake staff. Causing high staff turnover and a loss of the firm’s credibility as a caring, client-centered law firm. The focus on automation and speed at the expense of empathy and quality service resulted in lost business. To restore its reputation and retain talent, the firm needs to rebalance its KPIs, invest in staff training, and prioritize empathy and client support at every stage of intake. Unfortunately, this was not going to happen under the current operational leadership team and so the turnover continues. Law firms - don't ignore your intake department. They are the first impression a potential new client has and that impression is priceless to your law firm's growth.

Case Study 2: Referral Source Data Project at an Insurance Law Firm

Background

A leading insurance law firm, focused on maximizing client acquisition and optimizing marketing spend, faced significant challenges with its intake processes and referral source tracking. Despite the firm’s investment in digital and traditional marketing, its case management software lacked the necessary tools to accurately capture and analyze where new clients were coming from.

The Problem: Incomplete Referral Source Options and Lack of Action

The firm’s intake system offered a limited dropdown menu for selecting referral sources, omitting many key marketing channels. This oversight had never been addressed by intake management or law firm leadership. As a result, intake staff had no accurate way to record the true origin of each case. Generic reporting was created manually with the use of a spreadsheet and pulling what was believed to be accurate intake data, as well as, based on attorney consultations and opinions.  Factual data was not a reality, so data-driven decisions were not being made, making it impossible to determine the return on investment (ROI) for any marketing effort.

Impact on Employees, Reporting, and Marketing – Operational Marketing

· Inaccurate Data Entry: Intake staff wanted to select the correct referral source but were constrained by the system’s limitations and management’s lack of oversight and understanding that there was a problem.

· No ROI Tracking: The firm was not pulling reliable reports to identify top-performing or underperforming referral sources, making it impossible to assess the value of marketing spend.

· Wasted Resources: Marketing efforts were not properly tracked, leading to continued investment in ineffective service providers and channels.

· Employee Frustration: Intake staff expressed frustration at not being able to accurately categorize leads, undermining their sense of contribution and job satisfaction.

Management’s Response

Initially, management was unaware of the extent of the problem. When the issue was brought to their attention, they were shown to have the inability to provide actual referral source data. Intake staff were eager for a solution but did not know how to address the correction.

Solution and Implementation

· Collaborative Project: The project involved the case management software’s account manager, intake staff, and an attorney to identify the best workflow for data entry and referral source categorization.

· Expanded Dropdown Options: The intake system was updated to include all relevant referral sources, including digital and traditional marketing channels.

· Integration of Marketing Data: All marketing sources were categorized within the intake program. Call Rail’s program was purchased and integrated and service providers were notified to create accurate referral source labels.  This resulted in a much easier workflow process for intake’s data entry efforts.

· Staff Training: Intake staff received coaching on proper data entry and the importance of accurate referral source selection. This resulted in their sense of ownership in the accuracy of their actions causing marketing to produce accurate reporting and impacting the law firm’s budget and revenue growth.

· Management Engagement: Management was kept informed, their insights were utilized in the change management of the project, and they were shown the value of accurate data for decision-making.  This produced more confidence from management and brought positive momentum to the law firm’s desire to increase market share with more strategic lead generation partners and business development efforts.

Conclusion

The successful implementation of the referral source data project transformed the firm’s intake and reporting processes, as well as, the law firm’s budget spend. Accurate ROI could now be determined through proper reports, allowing marketing to demonstrate the value of each referral source. Contracts with underperforming service providers were ended, while top-performing sources received increased attention and budget. This led to more quality cases and better service provider contracts. By addressing the root cause of inaccurate data and involving intake staff in the solution, the firm improved both employee experience and business outcomes. Law firms must ensure their intake systems are equipped to capture and analyze referral source data; this is essential for effective marketing and business growth.  This is operational marketing in a nutshell.  The silos of marketing and operations have to speak to one another both with the personnel and with their respective technologies.

How Fisher Marketing Helps Makes Winners Out of Your Intake Team

Coaching isn’t about hype, or boring lectures. It’s about real world talks and conversations, along with education.  Most people want to be successful at their jobs, especially when they know there could be advancement, advantages and rewards.  Setting up your intake service for success will only win you the law firm culture that you want for your law firm’s growth.

Growth requires coaching.  It may be a time issue you have in not being able to get to it, but that’s where we come in.  Collaborating with you and your staff to achieve higher standards, fix their pain points and teach them autonomy will only serve that growth momentum you have been looking for.  Perhaps you are not even aware of their pain points?  So, this option can help you uncover it, understand it and find the solution to it.

It isn’t a long-term ordeal; it is a simple project.  But, one you cannot ignore or think doesn’t exist.  If your leads are not quality, if your frustrated at the lack of leads converting to consultations, then your are at a perfect place to talk with Fisher Marketing and get the solution that will help fix it.

Your law firm intake services are essential, marketing is essential, business development is essential – but they all need to be operating at their peak performance levels.  Let us show you how!

Interested in learning how these strategies can work for your firm? Contact Fisher Marketing Services for a tailored consultation and discover how to build an intake department that increases your competitive advantage.

I'M INTERESTED

Julie Fisher is a Fractional CMO specializing in marketing and business development for solo and boutique law firms. With over 30 years of experience and a proven track record of delivering measurable results across legal practices, she helps firms develop comprehensive marketing strategies that drive growth and enhance operational efficiency.