Intake
The first conversation a law firm has with a prospective client, before the attorney is involved. It explains the process, gathers facts and moves the caller to a consultation.
Intake conversion
The share of callers who go from first call to a booked consultation. Best measured by person and by lead source, not only as a desk total.
Consultation booking rate
Consultations booked divided by qualified calls taken. It depends on reliable call logging and a consistent definition of a qualified call.
Hand-off line
A fixed sentence intake uses when a caller asks a legal question. It names the question as the attorney's, promises it will not be lost and ends on a next step.
Held slot
A consultation time reserved for a caller who has not yet decided, with a deadline and an agreed follow-up call.
Follow-up completion
The share of callers who did not book who received a held slot and a same-day follow-up that was logged.
Call-review scorecard
A yes-or-no checklist of observable behaviors across the five stages of the call, scored on a recording, by person and by week. The method uses a 14-item card.
The five stages
Build rapport, ask questions, identify the need and establish value, ask for the next step, respond to concerns.
Intake ceiling
The level of booked consultations a person's habits quietly return them to, whatever the lead flow does.
Value statement
A plain explanation of what the consultation does for this caller, in the caller's own reasons, without promising an outcome.
Fee softening
Discounting, apologizing for or qualifying the consultation fee before the caller has reacted to it.
Price Softener
R2R archetype: avoids direct money conversations. On an intake desk, discounts or apologizes for the fee before the caller reacts.
Conflict Avoider
R2R archetype: avoids tension, sacrifices clarity. On an intake desk, ends calls with "let us know" to avoid a possible no.
Planner
R2R archetype: preparation replaces action. On an intake desk, collects thoroughly and never reaches the ask.
Back-Seat Agent
R2R archetype: defers authority to the client. On an intake desk, defers to the attorney or the caller and waits for someone else to close the consultation.
Texter
R2R archetype: avoids voice-to-voice contact. On an intake desk, moves callers into text, chat and email threads instead of a live conversation.
Reluctant Advocate
R2R archetype: avoids self-advocacy. On an intake desk, believes in the work and feels pushy recommending that anyone pay for it.
R2R Assessment
The assessment that identifies which of the 13 R2R archetypes a person runs under pressure, so coaching goes to the right moment.
R2R archetype
One of 13 behavioral patterns of avoidance identified by the R2R Assessment, such as the Planner or the Price Softener.
Unauthorized practice of law boundary
The line between explaining the firm's process, which intake does, and giving legal advice or evaluating a matter, which belongs to the attorney. Rules vary by jurisdiction and the firm should review its own wording.
Wording for any of these in a live call is set with the attorney and reviewed against your jurisdiction's rules. Scope, plainly: everything on this site concerns the conversation that turns an inquiry into an engagement. Nothing here is legal advice, nothing touches the legal work or the attorney's judgment, and any wording a firm adopts is reviewed by the firm against its jurisdiction's rules on attorney advertising, solicitation and fee communication before it is used.
