Attorney and intake expert Gary Falkowitz reveals how to make the phone ring, get retained and resolve cases at their highest values. What you will discover: - Why we lose clients that we want to sign - Get the right people on the phones - Convey the appropriate message - Get your attorneys involved - Establish strict procedures - Track everything! - 10 Must-Do’s About our presenter Gary FalkowitzGary is an expert on creating, utilizing and maximizing the intake process. He has worked with managing partners, associates, paralegals and all other support staff to assist law firms in improving their process and, importantly, increasing their conversion percentages. Based in Long Island, New York, he creates customized programs to improve leadership, time management, project management, delegation, prospective client relations and sales skills. Gary earned his Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University in 2002 and his Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University School of Law in 2005, where he served as a member of the Moot Court Honor Society. Upon graduating from law school, Gary: - Served as an Assistant District Attorney at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office where he focused on the prosecution of criminal matters. - Transitioned to the private sector, representing hospitals and doctors against medical malpractice claims at the law firm of Martin, Clearwater and Bell. - Began litigating mass torts cases at Parker Waichman LLP in 2009. He was quickly promoted to a Managing Attorney role within the firm where his primary responsibilities included strengthening the firm’s brand, increasing the firm’s conversion percentage and growing the firm’s referral business, among other responsibilities. - Serves as the Principal at The Falkowitz Law Firm and as a Village Prosecutor in East Hills, New York. - Is the CEO of Maximum Intake Consulting, Inc.

1. Soaring Profits Through
Intake and Conversion
By Gary P. Falkowitz, Esq.
Presented by The National Trial Lawyers

2. Larry Bodine
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• Attorney & Journalist
• Editor
• The National Trial Lawyers
• Lbodine@TheNTL.org
• 520.577.9759

3. Gary Falkowitz
• Founding Attorney at Maximum
Intake Consulting, Inc.
• Managing Partner at The Falkowitz
Law Firm, PLLC
• Former Managing Attorney at
Parker Waichman LLP
• Gary@Maxintake.com
• (844) 629-4682
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4. 4

5. Want Sustained Success?
1) Make The Phone
Ring
2) Get Retained
3) Resolve Cases At
Their Highest Values
5

6. Goal:
Sign more cases
Without spending
One more dollar
On marketing!
(Yes, you read that correctly)
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7. Firm Responsibilities
•Marketing
•Managing Advertisement Campaigns
•Tracking ROI and KPIs
•Communicating with Vendors
•Supervising our Intake Staff
•Managing Referral Process
•Speaking with Clients
•Spokesperson on TV
7

8. Why Do We Spend So Much On
Marketing?
1)Our ability to earn a fee from a
retained case is very high, and
2)Our fees can be huge!
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9. Our Personal Investments
• Hire advisor
• Track certain metrics
• Get alerts
• Assess comparable data
• Constant review
9

10. Why aren’t we treating our
law firm’s investments the
same
(if not better)
Than we treat our
Personal investments?
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11. Average Conversion Percentage for
most mass torts cases:
60 – 65%
If your average fee is $10,000…
# of Additional Cases Signed Potential Increase in Revenue
10 more cases $100,000
50 more cases $500,000
100 more cases $1,000,000
200 more cases $2,000,000
500 more cases $5,000,000

12. Reasons Callers Give For Not
Signing With Our Firm:
• They’ve hired another law firm;
and
• They claim that they no longer
wish to pursue
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13. 90% of the cases we want and lose
are retained by another law firm.
Why?
1)We are not the only firm that wants
them, and
2)Claimants know that they have
options
13

14. What are the
Real reasons
that claimants
Are choosing
Our competitors
Over us?
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15. 5 Reasons
1.Wrong Person On The Phone
2.Wrong Message Conveyed
3.Inadequate Attorney Involvement
4.Inadequate Procedures
5.Inadequate Tracking
15

16. I. Wrong Person On The Phone
16

17. 71% of customers buy because
they like you,
trust you
and
respect you.
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18. Personality Traits For The Ideal
Intake Specialist
•Good Listeners
•Empathetic
•Likeable / Charismatic
•Superior People Skills
•Confident
•Organized
•Do they have Sales Experience?
•Do they have Phone Experience?
•Do they have Customer Service Experience?
•Listen to their calls!

19. II. Wrong Message
Conveyed
19

20. Basic Tools
•Do they have authority to
make decisions?
•Do they know how to brag?
•Can they sell?
•Do they have sufficient
information about your firm,
attorneys, recent news?
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21. III. Inadequate Attorney
Involvement
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22. Attorney involvement
•For All Wanted cases!
•Ideally – at the sign up.
•Open-Door Policy with intake
•Communicating with Referral Firms
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23. IV. Inadequate Procedures
23

24. Need Procedures for:
•Follow Ups
•Scripts
•FAQs
•Referrals
•Sign Up Methods
•Wanted criteria
•Refer Out Rules
•When/How to get an attorney involved
•Calendar Reminders (must be in a place where
others can hold them accountable) 24

25. V. Inadequate Tracking
of KPIs
(Key Performance Indicators)
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26. What Needs To Be Tracked
• Leads
• Scheduled Sign Ups
• Wanted Cases
• Method of Sign Ups
• Referral Sources
• Conversion Percentage
• Unanswered Calls
• How quickly inquiries are
being responded to
• Review of Daily Decisions
• Any Follow-Ups not
handled appropriately
• Referred-In and Referred-
Out Cases
• Advertisement
Campaigns
• Hourly Call Patterns
• How long are cases in
certain statuses?
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27. Intake Pitfalls To Beware Of:
• Putting your intake staff on other
projects
• Long lasting calls for claimants you
do NOT want signed
• Assigning too many cases to your
specialists
• Not meeting with them
• No Open-Door policy 27

28. 10 Things Your Firm MUST start
doing:
1. Listen to Calls (again and again and again…)
2. Track (the important stuff)
3. Review the Decisions Made
4. Enforce Strict Procedures
5. Have Attorneys Get Involved
6. Improve/Strengthen your Intake Packet
7. Hold Frequent Intake Meetings
8. Hold Refer-Out Firms More Accountable
9. Show appreciation to your intake staff (make it fun)
10. Manage / Supervise / Lead (be All-In) 28

29. Statistics To Consider When
Evaluating Your Intake
29

30. Only 10% of Sales People
Make More than three
contacts
30

31. 80% of Sales are Made
on the Fifth to Twelfth
Contact
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32. 91% of customers say they’d
give referrals.
Only 11% of sales people ask
for referrals
32

33. Only 13% of customers
believe a sales person can
understand their need.
33

34. 30% - 50% of Sales go to the
vendor that responds first
34

35. If you follow up with web
leads within 5 minutes,
you’re 9 times more likely
to convert them.
35

36. Visuals are processed
60,000 x’s faster in the
brain than text.
36

37. Personalized emails
including the recipient’s
first name in the subject
line have higher open
rates.
37

38. The Optimal Voicemail
message is between
8 and 14 seconds.
38

39. 80% of calls go to voicemail
and 90% of first time
voicemails are
never returned.
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40. Questions
• Founding Attorney at
Maximum Intake Consulting,
Inc.
• Managing Partner at The
Falkowitz Law Firm, PLLC
• Gary@Maxintake.com
• (844) 629-4682
• http://maxintake.com
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Gary Falkowitz

41. PRIORITIZE
PRIORITIZE =
PRIORITIZE
SCRUTINIZE
MAXIMIZE
(844) Max Intake
gary@maxintake.com
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