The four numbers

You'll be able to: read the four numbers that tell you whether intake is working.

You do not need a dashboard full of charts. You need four numbers, every week, by practice:

1. Inquiries: how many people contacted the firm.
2. Time to first reply: how long until a person (not just the automatic reply) answered. Look at the median and the worst case. The worst case is where consults die.
3. Consults booked, and consults held: of the inquiries that cleared the conflict check, how many booked, and how many showed up.
4. Retained: how many signed.

Each number points at a different fix:

• Inquiries low: a marketing question, not an intake one.
• Time to first reply long: an intake question. Look at what hour the slow ones came in. Usually it is evenings and weekends.
• Booked low: the reply or the follow-up is not converting. Read the threads.
• Held low: reminders, or the source is sending people who are not ready.
• Retained low against consults held: the consult, the fee conversation, or the agreement process.

An illustrative week for a PI solo: 24 inquiries, median personal reply 2 hours, worst case 19 hours (a Friday night inquiry answered Saturday afternoon), 9 consults booked, 7 held, 3 retained. The worst case is the first thing to fix.

Do it in LegalCRM

1. Open Reporting and find time to first reply, by practice.
2. Find the funnel: inquiries, booked, held, retained.
3. Filter to last week. Write down the four numbers for each practice.

Ask the Guide

Paste this into the AI guide, without client names or matter facts:

"Here are my four numbers for [practice] last week: [numbers]. What would you look at first?"