How to generate more conveyancing work and make it more profitable for your law firm

How do customers choose which law firm to work with?

First things first, let’s take a step back and look at how potential clients make their decisions about which law firm to use when they are looking to buy or sell a property. Some of the latest IFF Research findings shows us that:

• 25% of people use family or friends to “Recommend” a “Trusted” solicitor or law firm.
• 27% of clients are happy to place their trust in an Estate Agent “Referral” to decide which law firm they should use.
• 34% of clients will use a comparison site and instruct a firm based on cost, or perceived value for money.

Let’s explore the market share we can more easily control, and the one we should aim to actively penetrate: the recommendations and the estate agent referrals section. This accounts for over half the market!

Generating more “Family and friend” referrals

When clients come to a law firm without being referred, as you’d expect, around 86% rate price as a key consideration, while 82% cite “conveyancing specialism” as a key factor in their decision-making process.

When clients are referred via a recommendation from a friend or family member, these figures change – price is a key consideration for just 32% and Trust comes top for 84%. Figures aside, let’s look at some of the key ways you can generate more conveyancing work via referrals: 

1. Make sure you deliver a really good service

Yes, it’s a given that your service has to be great, but make sure you ask your clients for feedback. If there’s an element of your service they were unhappy with you may even be able to rectify it in the feedback stage!

2. Ask for a referral

Be sure that you actually ask your clients to recommend you to friends and family – you can even incentivize them to do so with discounts for them and those they recommend.

3. Put customers first

When generating conveyancing work via referrals, it's very important to consider what key aspects of service delivery customers are looking for in a law firm. These will likely include: 

• Transparency when it comes to pricing (make sure your pricing is 100% clear at the point of quotation and you keep your clients updated with any additional costs).
• Communication regarding the accessibility of, and updates on, key milestones. This is where technology, such as client portals, can really help your service delivery – it’s not possible to be all things to all people. If you can give your clients access to key information, secure messaging and reduce the faff of endless calls, this will ensure a more streamlined and less stressful process.
• Technical ability is crucial for many customers, and so too is a law firm's ability to translate the technical side of transactions into a more easily digestible process. Don’t bombard your clients. Give them an idea of the process and an idea of what happens and when.
• Speed of transaction. Nobody likes a long-drawn-out transaction, especially when mortgage agreements are at stake. Again, technology and digital communications will help to speed up transaction times. Conveyancing workflows within a case management system which are linked to a conveyancing search provider, such as Legal Bricks, can really help speed up the process.

Generating more work from estate agent referrals

We surveyed 50 estate agents and the number one reason that they stopped working with a law firm: “Lack of communication and a perception of the process being harder than needed”.

It’s imperative to build relationships with estate agents to keep you and your firm are front of mind. It will give them the confidence that you can support them and their clients through the transactional process from start to finish.

Some of the key areas that law firms need to excel in in order to maintain and gain those all-important estate agent referrals, include: 

1. Embrace Technology

Simplify the journey from quote to completion. Of the 50 Agents we surveyed, 72% believed technology wasn’t used enough in the conveyancing process.

2. Help your partners to understand when the key milestones are met or achieved

Of the 50 Agents we surveyed, 68% wanted a clearer understanding of what stage you were at in the transaction, without having to chase for updates.

3. Be clear and concise with your communications

Of the 50 Agents we surveyed, 53% wanted a simpler way to communicate with the law firms they worked with. This is where client portals could greatly benefit firms and estate agents.

How to convert leads and follow up with clients effectively

Another key aspect which conveyancing firms must think about is conversion rates and the need to follow up on the enquiries your firm receives.

Many firms simply don’t know what their conversion rate is. So by conversion rate, we mean how many requests for a quote are actually converted to winning work and proceeding with the transaction – the estimated rate is around 40% according to Lara Squires from Consortium - more than marketing. But why is it so low and how can it be improved? One of the first things to look at is how initial enquiries are handled and then the all-important follow-up.

How to handle conveyancing enquiries to improve your conversion rates

1. Establish rapport

It sounds basic, but people buy people – it’s likely that your enquiry will be coming from a customer who has a few people to call to get an idea on price and the process – the more of a rapport you develop, the more memorable you’ll be and the more likely that person is to use you. Show an interest in the property they are buying and impart some of your knowledge about the area. Make sure you are an active listener who can then adapt your service offering to the needs of your customer. Conveyancers get to be involved in one of the most important and (nicest) life decisions – so a personal approach really works here.

2. Demonstrate value

It’s useful to remember the old L’Oréal slogan “because you’re worth it” and apply it here! Don’t be apologetic about your pricing. As consumers we all realise that we pay more for certain things (if you travel on peak time trains you’d expect to pay more, for example) – we just need to be made aware of this. So don’t be worried if you are more expensive that others, be confident in the quality of your work and your true worth. We’ve already heard how important recommendations and referrals are in getting business, so support your marketing efforts with strong testimonials and case studies – ask for Google Reviews for free or use a platform like Trustpilot or Review Solicitors.

3. Ask for the business

Lawyers traditionally are excellent at giving detailed information, but asking for the business will quite possibly fall outside of their skill set. It just feels a little bit too much like selling. One of the first things to do is shift this mindset – it’s not selling, it’s offering great customer service and it’s making your clients life easier. After all what’s the worst that could happen?

4. Agree follow-up

When we take an enquiry there are couple of housekeeping points that will help the follow-up stage flow more smoothly. Always ask for contact details of the enquirer, agree when you will follow-up with them (if they are not looking to make a decision there and then) and be sure to add their details to your CRM system (or as a prospect in your case management ). After all your marketing has worked this far as they’ve approached you – so be sure to take it to the next level – if you don’t win the work this time you can always keep in touch and help them in the future.

5. Follow up!

The follow-up is absolutely key – you’ll have agreed when to follow-up on your initial call/enquiry so you need to make sure you do what you promised! Even if you don’t end up securing the business, this will be such a good opportunity to gather some intelligence. If the enquirer has decided to use another firm, who was it – is it an online provider who can do the job more cheaply, is it a firm recommended by their estate agent? Information on pricing, competitors and what’s going on in your local market is key to helping you keep up to date and your offering competitive.

Some fun facts on follow-up

A recent research report from Insight6 highlights some surprising follow-up facts.

The follow-up from telephone enquiries received was just 7% (this is down from 23% in 2019).
Web enquiry follow up stands at 3% and webchat 10% (how crazy is this when we consider just how much firms invest in their websites!)

So imagine what a huge possible opportunity there is in the follow-up! It often gets put to the bottom of the to-do list and time is especially precious in the conveyancing world – make sure you offer your team training where needed so it can become a natural part of the process.

How Access Legal and Legal Bricks can help

As we’ve outlined above, getting referrals and recommendations, following up and using technology are all key to generating more conveyancing work and making it more profitable for your law firm. Legal Bricks and Access Legal have used their extensive knowledge of the property market to build technology to manage the referral process, convert more work, manage quotations to clients, digitally onboard clients and enable all those involved in the transaction to be kept up to date and access key information throughout the process.  

*All information from an independent survey of 200 home buyers or sellers (2020). 

This article was written as part of a live webinar delivered on 3rd March 2022 titled 'How law firms can make conveyancing more profitable' and included expert speakers Wayne McGhan (Legal Bricks), Lara Squires (Consortium - more than marketing) and Rob Hailstone (Bold Legal Group). Watch the full webinar for further insight.