In this episode, we sit down with Skylar Worthington from Lex Reception to discuss how managing your law firm's intake can dramatically impact growth. Skylar shares stories and insights on converting more leads into clients by having dedicated experts handle your calls, appointment setting, and follow-up. Discover how outsourcing these key tasks can give you back valuable time while boosting your firm's revenue and reputation. 

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MPS: Hey law firm owner, welcome to the Your Practice Master podcast. We're your hosts. I'm MPS.

Richard James: And I'm Richard James and we're going to have a fantastic conversation today MPS about the law firm Inside Workings. And you've had a chance to talk with Skylar. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what we're going to learn today?

MPS: Yeah, I have. First off, Skylar, excited to have you on today and we're going to discuss how managing intake can really impact the growth of a law firm.

So Skylar, I'm excited to have you here.

Skylar Worthington: Yes, thanks for having me.

MPS: Absolutely. Skylar, one of the things we like to do is kick things off with a bit of an icebreaker.

So what's something that maybe not everyone knows about you?

So since then I've been fortunate to grow through incredible opportunities and supportive leaders who believed in me.

So it's been an amazing journey with people just taking chances on me and taking the leap.

Richard James: Skylar, I have no doubt, I can tell by your voice and the way that you smile, I can hear your smile on the other end of this podcast that you were probably really good at being a receptionist.

Do you remember any particular practice areas that you liked answering for over others? Or did you like them all equally?

I think that is really like what made my day, and I felt fulfilled when I signed out at work.

Richard James: Yeah, that's awesome. I agree that, you know, I oftentimes say this, that lawyers, I say that they do god's work, right? Because they're helping people in some of their deepest, darkest moments and they're helping them really overcome real life challenges.

So tell me a little bit about your journey in this. So you started as a receptionist. Now, what do you do with Lex Reception?

Skylar Worthington: Yes. So, my main day, I could say, is the ability just to make an impact with our team and with our clients. And an impact in the world is kind of what I'm looking for or inspiring to me.

They're like, one second, I got a call. One second, I got a call and you can just see how fast paced their day is. So, you know when they partner with us, we help them grow their revenue and strengthen their reputation because it is such a big responsibility.

And hearing the success stories is what makes it all worth it. So if I could share a story with you, is that okay?

Richard James: Please. Yeah. Because I was just going to ask you about this idea of, okay, well, how do you grow the revenue or can you share an example or how do you grow the reputation?

So I love it that you have a story. Please do.

Skylar Worthington: Yeah for sure. So, one story that stands out to me and he'll laugh when he watches this is a particular guy and we had a so many conversations and he was very stuck.

He's like, this is how I want my calls and you're going to do it this way. And I'm like, but like, we might not be successful here because we're not a lawyer. Like we're not someone in your office.

So I'm just going to try this out. I'm like, can I ask you something? He said, yes. He said, would you want me to go into court and argue a case for you? And he's like, No, absolutely not. I wouldn't want you to touch anything.

I'm like, yeah, exactly because that's your expertise and mine is helping you with your script. What are associates who take your calls are trained on and what really is going to work for you.

So please trust me, I know like your reputation is important we're your first impression. And I know you spent your whole life building up this firm. But if I'm wrong, we can revert your script back immediately to how you want it and I'll give you credit.

He can take a vacation. It's just stories like that and they're just highlights for me. And now whenever I see him, it's just so funny because it was a hard like one to get through.

Richard James: So skylar, I love that conversation. I love that story. Thank you so much for sharing. Here's the reason why I love that story so much for those of you that are listening.

So, maybe you're out there at two o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, maybe it's, Friday and you realize, oh my gosh, I'm going to have to work all weekend, whatever it is, you're frustrated, you're tired, you're overwhelmed.

And maybe part of the reason why you are so overwhelmed is there's not enough revenue. There's not enough check at the end of the month. per se, right?

Well, the experts are where they can make a difference. They can step in and go, okay. Listen, I appreciate what you've been trying to do, but you've been trying to do it like this.

Let me show you how to do it like this. And Skylar, you know, you've probably seen this experience. Like lawyers are really intelligent. They're hardworking. They've got a lot of grit, they've obviously had to be who they are to get to where they are.

But they've never been taught, you know, basic business sales, appointment setting principles in law school. And so they weren't evolved into that world. And you are the expert at what it is that you do.

And so when they let you be the expert is when you can make the biggest difference in their firm. Is that a fair statement?

Skylar Worthington: Yes, I totally agree.

Richard James: Yeah, so that's the key. So the lesson for all of you that are out there, when you run into an expert, and of course, I know lawyers, you have outlier situations, and sometimes you have trust issues.

Hey, if you're looking to learn about how to convert leads in your firm over to paying clients, go to the LawFirmSecret. com. And you're going to figure out there exactly how to take the next step in your firm to start converting more of those leads into paying clients today.

So skylar what is the number one challenge that you find that law firms go through when they've got, don't have somebody answering their phones after hours during the day for rollover when they're busy, or maybe in general, because they don't have enough staff to answer their phones in general.

What's the number one challenge you find they go through?

Skylar Worthington: That's a great question. So, as someone who did take the calls if you aren't capturing that information right away, most of the time they're calling in the afternoon when they've gotten off of work, and so they're just going down the list of Google trying to find someone, and we hear that on the calls.

And so, really capturing it when they need it most, which is 24 7 on the holidays every day of the year. and so that's one challenge and also, even if you have someone who's intake inside your office, you're paying them a lot of money, with their salary, their vacation, their benefits, all of those things.

And what we could do is just send the calls that truly matter, we can qualify the people that you want to talk to. So you're spending your day talking to people who really need your help and we can take care of the ones who you know, might need to a referral or somewhere else at the time.

So, I think that's the biggest thing is spending so much time talking to people who aren't going to be or who aren't going to convert for you.

And that is a lot of time that you can't get back.

So, first and foremost, you said, PI firms are some of your favorites, we work with PI firms and family law firms and criminal firms and bankruptcy firms, immigration firms, estate planning firms, right?

So, a lot of fee based and some contingency firms, regardless, the cost per lead is somewhere between 50 and $500 for a PI lead in a big city.

And so, when the phone rings, if there's not somebody qualified to answer it, or it rolls to a voicemail or it goes to a paralegal who doesn't really know what he or she is doing when they answer the phone.

Then what happens is we take the real chance that we've wasted that lead. We don't contact their information. It was a very, very expensive phone call. You agree with that, yes?

Skylar Worthington: Yes. Very much.

And I know that your team is coachable. You'll follow any script they put together as long as it's in guidelines with best practices. And as you well know, we teach the 11 steps around here.

And so, the team can put together those 11 steps with you and they can actually go ahead and execute those 11 steps from your receptionist.

And what will happen is we'll get a better set rate. That is fundamentally that formula of the number of appointments that we set versus the number of qualified leads that we get.

One story that comes to mind, I remember years ago, Howard Snader originally started with me and he had nobody to answer his phones and he was just answering them on his own and they were going to his cell phone.

Of course, his cell phone was always, voicemail was full, right? If anybody tried to leave a voicemail, they heard, I'm sorry, this voicemail is full. Probably not the first time you've heard that story, right?

And so, Howard would try to call everybody back that was on his caller ID at night after court, and he couldn't obviously get everybody.

That's a game changer. I'm, assuming you see similar type results in your world, is that correct?

Skylar Worthington: Yes, very much. So, I know that what you teach is very similar. Like you see those problems that they're experiencing and it really is a game changer.

Like you said to not have to worry about all of the incoming calls because that's full time and doing that on top of all the other things like someone has to do in a firm is just to me overwhelming. I couldn't do it.

Richard James: Well, and the third thing that you said in there was that it's really possible that the attorney gets a bunch of calls that aren't qualified or non relevant or whatever.

Now they don't get really deep focus time to work on the legal matters they should be working on. And it's, not allowing them to put their highest and best use into play.

Generally speaking, what we should do in a law firm, this is our philosophy, not necessarily yours, but you've said it. So I'm going to say it a little differently is that we should take the top level skilled and licensed individual at the top of the pyramid, this case, the attorney or paralegal, and we should push down all the work that somebody else can do.

They should only do the work that's of their highest and best use. Pushing down sounds like we're pushing it to something lesser than we're not.

We're just moving it from their plate to an expert in your team. So like what you've said is if we can take what you shouldn't be doing and allow us to do it, you get to bill out at your highest and best use. And I think that's, we're both saying the same thing. Agreed.

Skylar Worthington: Yes, I totally agree. We're on the same page.

Skylar Worthington: , So I would say the next challenge we face is once we get through the sales process and you're getting on boarded you are going to hear somebody else take your call and it's not going to sound like you and it's gonna feel like a shock. You're gonna be like, wait, I would never say that or no, don't say that.

And we're not gonna know because we don't know what's individualized to your firm or what is working out for you?

So, there's going to be a lot of communication at the beginning, just understanding what you want. After you hear a couple of calls, then you'll be able to really share with us what you want us to say and what you don't want us to say.

Richard James: Well, I think that points to another challenge that I think attorneys struggle with.

So, law firm owner out there, listen up. I've been working with you folks for 15 years. I'm not a lawyer myself, so, but I do struggle with this problem.

You were probably the smartest person in your class in many ways. You maybe always got straight A's. Your law school taught you to get everything right. And so there's this feeling of it has to be perfect.

And while that may be true in your workflow and the legal process that you have in marketing and sales and lead conversion, a lot of times in the beginning, it's a little messy.

This is like what I told my kids when they were younger. In the beginning, you're going to be bad before you're going to be good, right? But in order to be bad at something, you've got to try it and practice makes perfect.

And so Skylar, it sounds like what you're asking attorneys to do, whether they do it with your firm or any other firm or any other agent that they have, it's not going to be perfect at first when they first hear somebody else answering their phone.

So, let's just try it a little bit, make a carburetor adjustment, try it again, make it a carburetor adjustment. As long as we're staying inside of their boundaries and they're staying inside of the boundaries of what best practices are to maximize their conversions, it's a win for everybody, right?

Richard James: Yeah. Well, that's the truth, right? Nobody else can give you, time is something we all have 24 hours a day in of, and that we're not going to get any more. And it's gone, it's gone.

Okay, so what's the next big challenge if you have one?

Skylar Worthington: I would say those are the two, like, kind of at the beginning. We do offer a lot of technical services, which are really great.

So, when you're first starting with the service, it's kind of could feel like information overload because you're trying to get your script right and just get the basics done but after getting integrated with lex and feeling out how you're liking the calls we can do so much more for you and what you're looking for.

So, for example, I have one client and they started off just with basic messaging for the first three months while they were, you know, getting used to us handling their calls for them. And then, they had asked us, like, could you schedule appointments with us?

So, we got that integrated and it just pushes into Clio under, you know, new client, existing client.

So, they're not having to do that and then we can also outbound call to some leads as well. So if you don't want your intake staff doing it, that's in house, you could say, Hey, call out to these people and try and get them scheduled with us. And we can do that too. We can also make it where once we hit the send button and send the call to you, we can send forms over to your new potential client. And then that way you don't have to do that step.

So, really exploring what those other features are that continue to give you that time back in your week.

And then when you're ready, we can add the 301 level and we can actually send documents to the prospects about that appointment, and we can integrate with your CRM, assuming we have a native integration with it, like Clio or whatever else they're using.

Is that an accurate statement?

Skylar Worthington: Yes, exactly. The only thing what they wouldn't be able to do is be your salesperson, but everything else we got you covered.

Richard James: Got it. Yeah. So a sales a little bit more advanced, but that's okay. This covers a wide variety. There are so many things that happens on the phones that can be managed by your team.

And so, for you as the law firm owner. Why this is important? And so, look, I'm a proponent, eventually as your team grows, you need to bring things in house.

There's real advantages to having a culture and a team on the same page. I believe in using firms like Lex because in the beginning, when you're not big enough and you don't have enough revenue to support your own team, or you're just trying to scale your firm and you have opportunities to fill a space, but you don't need a full time person.

So, when you own the law firm, one of the keys is to outsource for experts. And so, now Lexis just told you they're not only experts in inbound and scripting and making sure the tone is right.

They're also experts in outbound. They're also experts in understanding how to integrate with your software. They're also experts in understanding how to send documents based on what you need them to send. They're also experts on making sure they can make outbound calls for your team.

So they've got a lot of levels of expertise that you can tie into, that would be a fraction of the cost of you hiring these individuals full time in your firm.

Now, if you're large enough and you can have these individuals, great, but maybe even if you have those individuals. Maybe somebody quits or retires or terminate them or whatever, and you need a quick fix.

Well, having somebody like Lex on your team gives you the ability to do that. You can dial it up, get them trained up real quick and have them take over whilst you go fill out that position.

Skylar Worthington: Yes, you got it.

Richard James: Good. I'm trying really, really hard to give them a picture of how they could leverage this, not so much as a pitch for Lex Reception.

And by the way, if you're listening to this going, Oh, well, they're just pitching Lex reception.

So, to be clear, we're somewhat agnostic on this concept, right?

So, to us, it matters that you work with a vendor that you can get results from. But really what I want you as the law firm owner to hear is that, having a partner like Lex Reception in your back pocket actually helps you leverage many different areas of your firm.

Mostly, it helps you convert more leads and get those leads to show up to the appointments they schedule. And if they do a good job and build a great rapport, they will also be more likely to retain the firm and if we can do that through all the aspects we've talked about today, they fundamentally make you more money and there's a return on investment for these relationships, not a cost.

Is that a fair way to position it Skylar?

Richard James: Can I ask Oh, maybe a loaded question or maybe an unexpected question for you.

Skylar Worthington: Sure.

Richard James: Okay, so, maybe you and Michael had the opportunity

to talk about this off camera, but my question for you is. You know, AI is around the corner, right?

it's here in some ways. In what ways are Lex starting to leverage that technology or offer advantages from that technology? Or what are you looking forward to with that technology to help augment the services that you offer?

Skylar Worthington: Yes. So, thanks for asking me that. I know AI is everywhere. Every conference I go, it's like pumped into the air about it. Everyone's talking about it.

I know we talked about earlier, where people are calling at the lowest time of their life or they're really in a place where they need help from someone.

And while I think we love technology and use it on the back end, and it's great to make your firm or your business a lot more efficient, just keeping the humans on the front end.

Richard James: Got it. So you believe that while AI is there and there's use for it on the backside of the whole process, building the human connection is really what we're after. And it's very difficult to replace that kneecap to kneecap, or in this case, ear ball to ear where we're building that human connection.

I don't think AI is certainly there yet. And if it does get there, we've probably got bigger problems.

Skylar Worthington: I would just say I continue to be excited about how we can help our clients capture more business and maintain an amazing reputation. That will always excite me and hearing about their feedback in the service just continues to help us grow. So I always look forward to those client conversations.

Richard James: Well, thank you so much for being here. Skylar, if people want to learn more about you or lex Reception, what's the best way for them to get ahold of you?

Skylar Worthington: You can Google us Lex Reception and we'll pop up for you and our number is right at the top. So you can give us a call and you'll talk to one of our amazing team members who can help you right away.

Richard James: No better way to find out how good your service is. Go ahead and call them and see how they answer the phone, right? That's a good first test.

Skylar Worthington: It is.

Richard James: Skylar, thanks so much for being on the call today. I really appreciate you. All you've done, all Lexis done for many of our members through the years, as well as for us.

And so thanks so much. Appreciate you. Look forward to seeing you again out there at the shows.

Skylar Worthington: Thank you. I really appreciate your time and expertise.

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Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you again the next time.