Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- How do Total Attorneys' call center services work and what questions do call center agents ask when reaching a Prospect?
- What is the appointment time and how is it scheduled?
- What is a hot-transfer and what happens during this process?
- Where can I view my Prospects?
- Is there a way to print out a list of the Prospects that I've received from Total Attorneys?
- How can I notify Total Attorneys that I've already spoken to a Prospect?
- What can I do if I receive a Prospect outside my service area?
- What constitutes a fraudulent Prospect?
- Who is responsible for disputing Prospects?
- When and how may I dispute a Prospect?
- When and how am I billed?
- How can I edit user information and privileges within my account?
- Are Calls Still Transferred When I am Out of the Office?
- I received a Prospect whose number is disconnected. Why has it not been disputed?
- How do Total Attorneys' call center services work and what questions do call center agents ask when reaching a Prospect?
A Prospect interested in speaking with an attorney can submit his information one of two ways: by filling out the form on a specific practice area website or by calling us toll-free. As part of the support services we provide to your law firm, our call center agents will call those Prospects who submit an online form within five minutes of receiving the form. Usually, we make contact sooner.
If our agents do not reach the Prospect during this initial phone call, or the agent reaches the Prospect but he is unable to speak with you at this time, the TA program will automatically generate an appointment time at which we'll attempt to connect the Prospect with your office. However, if an agent reaches a Prospect during the initial call and he is able to speak to you at that time, no appointment time will be scheduled. Rather, the agent will attempt to hot-transfer the Prospect to your law office.
When speaking with the Prospect, our call center agents will confirm the information that he or she submitted in addition to confirming whether the Prospect wants to get in touch with an attorney. Our call center agents will also explain to Prospects that we are not a lawyer referral service.
- What is the appointment time and how is it scheduled?
The appointment time is a pre-scheduled time slot during which one of the call center agents will attempt to connect you with the Prospect by telephone. This scheduled follow-up call usually occurs one day after one of the agents has made an initial unsuccessful attempt to connect with the Prospect (shortly after he or she filled out our evaluation form). After a Prospect fills out our online form, our call center agents will immediately receive his information.
At this point, one of our call center agents will make the initial call to the Prospect in an attempt to connect him to your office. Numerous things may happen at this time:
- If our call center does reach the Prospect and he can speak with you, he is hot-transferred to your law office and an appointment time is not scheduled. You will receive the initial email for this Prospect at the time of his hot transfer. This email will provide you with case details for this Prospect.
- If our call center does reach the Prospect and he cannot speak with you at that moment, the call center agent will ask what time he would like us to call him back to attempt to connect him to your law firm. The agent then selects that appointment time.
- If our call center does not reach the Prospect, the call center agent clicks on a button that will cause our system to automatically choose an appointment time. The agent will provide the Prospect with that appointment time in a voicemail message. In addition, the Prospect will also receive an email informing him of this appointment time.
Once the appointment time is chosen, the initial email will be sent to you; it will include the time of the scheduled phone call.
- What is a hot-transfer and what happens during this process?
The hot-transfer process consists of our call center agents attempting to connect Prospects with your law office. Agents make up to five calls over a period of approximately one week to every valid phone number submitted to us. In other words, if a Prospect submits valid phone numbers for a work, home and cell phone, we will place up to 15 calls in an effort to connect the Prospect with your firm. In order to optimize the likelihood that our agents will reach the Prospect on your behalf, we will stagger these calls over the next several days at different times of the day. If our call center agents detect fraudulent information as submitted by the Prospect that renders the Prospect invalid, we'll automatically dispute that Prospect on your behalf.
Once a connection has been made with the Prospect, our agent will attempt to hot-transfer him to your office. On reaching your office, our call center agent will let you know that we have the Prospect on the line for you, provide you with the Prospect's name, confirm your name and ask whether you're ready to speak with the Prospect. Once you're ready to talk to the Prospect, our agent will let the Prospect know that we have you on the line and then connect you with him. Our agents will wish you both a good day, sign off and put the Prospect in your hands.
- Where can I view my Prospects?
When you log in to your account from the Total Attorneys home page, you will be automatically taken to the "Dashboard" tab of your account. You'll see your most recent Prospects and what time they were received. To view all Prospects, you can access the "Prospects" tab and sort your lists in various ways from the dropdown menus as well as organize them into different categories.
- Is there a way to print out a list of the Prospects that I've received from Total Attorneys?
There sure is. From your account's "Attorney View" default page, click on the "Prospects" tab. Simply click on the 'Export to Excel' icon. You will be able to select which information columns to include.
- How can I notify Total Attorneys that I've already spoken to a Prospect?
From the "Prospects" tab, locate the name of the Prospect(s) you have spoken with directly. You will see an “actions” drop-down on the right-hand side of the Prospect line. Select "Remove From Call Center". You will receive a confirmation message verifying that you are aware our call center will cease all further follow-up. Select "OK".
Once this is done, an icon will appear next to the Prospect in the "Prospects" tabs. This indicates that the Prospect has been removed from the call center. This action will not only help you better manage your Prospects, but will also allow our agents to keep track of your Prospects and remove those you have already contacted from our queue. This ensures that our agents will not inundate your office with unnecessary calls attempting to connect you with Prospects that you've already spoken to, and it will prevent us from unnecessarily bothering your potential client!
Removing a Prospect from the Call Center confirms that they are valid and billable to your account.
- What can I do if I receive a Prospect outside my service area?
If you ever receive a Prospect from outside your service area, the TA system provides a quick and efficient way for you to transfer it to another attorney in our system and make sure that you are not billed. To begin the transfer process, click on the actions dropdown on the line of the Prospect you would like to transfer and select “Transfer Prospect”.
Clicking on this button will take you to a transfer request form allowing you to transfer the Prospect to another ZIP code and to provide reasons for your request. When you are finished with the request, select the "Confirm Transfer" button at the bottom of the page. If the Prospect is successfully placed in the new Zip Code, the Prospect will be removed from your bill.
- What constitutes a fraudulent Prospect?
In general, we consider fraudulent Prospects to be those with wrong or disconnected phone numbers, fake names, duplicate Prospects or those individuals who had already retained an attorney at the time they contacted us.
The following list provides a breakdown of when Prospects may or may not be disputable.
Prospects with Wrong or Disconnected Phone Numbers
- What is disputable: Any time all provided phone numbers are disconnected, or any situation in which a sponsor or call center agent is told by a person at all three numbers that there is no one there by that name.
- What isn't disputable: Prospects with working phone numbers that the sponsor has been unable to reach (such Prospects are considered part of the costs of marketing).
- A Friendly Reminder: Please keep in mind that a Prospect who you were unable to reach is not necessarily fraudulent and disputable. Often, a Prospect who filled out a form but was then reticent to speak with an attorney changes his mind once he realizes his situation has not changed. In fact, many of our sponsors have great success in follow-up efforts two or three months down the line.
Fake Names
- Prospects with fake names like "Mickey Mouse" or "John Doe" are disputable- unless valid Prospect information is also included.
Duplicates
- What is disputable: A duplicate is any Prospect who is listed more than once in your account. Such duplicate listings occur when a Prospect submits more than one form to Total Attorneys. In such situations, we will gladly remove one of those prospects so that the duplicate is not considered in your billing.
- What isn't disputable: Prospects who enter your account from Total Bankruptcy, Clear Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy.ME, if you own coverage in two or more of these networks.
Already-Represented Prospects
- What is disputable: A Prospect who had already retained an attorney prior to filling out our form is considered already-represented and is thus disputable.
- What isn't disputable: A Prospect who submits his information to you and decides to retain an attorney after the fact; a Prospect who submits his information and retains an attorney after that time and before you have the opportunity to speak with him.
- Who is responsible for disputing Prospects?
The responsibility of proving that a Prospect is fraudulent falls on you and not Total Attorneys. While we make every effort to administer the dispute process fairly, we urge you to measure the program based on your overall success and not evaluate the program based on the rejection or acceptance of a particular dispute. We attempt to be liberal in allowing disputes and we ask that our Sponsoring Attorneys similarly be conservative in exercising their rights under the dispute process.
- When and how may I dispute a Prospect?
On the first business day of every month following the close of a billing cycle, you will receive an email pre-invoice listing your received Prospects for the previous month. This marks the beginning of the Dispute Period, which lasts for 7 days.
Should you have any fraudulent Prospects on your list, you can dispute them during this time. When disputing a Prospect, please include any specific information regarding the reason for your dispute.
If you ever need to dispute a Prospect, here's what you'll need to do.
- Log into your TA account and click on the “Prospects” tab, and locate the Prospects you wish to dispute.
- In the actions dropdown on the Prospect line, there will be a ‘Dispute' option available during each month's dispute period. Click this option.
- On the "Confirm Disputed Prospects" modal, select a reason for the dispute and enter some notes for the Prospect that you are disputing. The more detailed explanation you provide, the easier time we will have evaluating the validity of your dispute.
- Click the "Confirm Dispute" button. You will then be returned to the "Prospect Listing" screen, where you can repeat this process if necessary.
- Please note that we are unable to accept disputes after the Dispute Period window has closed. The dispute feature will be disabled in your online account at all times outside of the Dispute Period.
- When and how am I billed?
You will receive your Final Invoice within 24 hours of the end of the Dispute Period. The amount on your Final Invoice will reflect any disputes that were accepted during the Dispute Period, as well as any other credits that may be due to your account. We will begin processing payments within 24 to 48 hours after your Final Invoice is emailed to you.
Forms of payment: We accept all major credit cards or ACH, which is the equivalent of an electronic check. An ACH payment would be automatically debited from your bank account. Please note that we may modify our billing process from time to time and that we will alert you to any changes before they occur.
- How can I edit user information and privileges within my account?
To edit the contact information of users inside your account, including such things as their primary information, username/password or account access, click on the account tab within the TA. From here, you will see a listing of all users within your account. Click the ‘edit' hyperlink to enter into their user details.
From this screen you can edit name, email, phone, office location, and username/password. Once you have edited all fields intended for change, click the ‘save' hyperlink at the bottom of the attorney to save changes.
- Are Calls Still Transferred When I am Out of the Office?
As we market on a national level, we are unable to "shut off" marketing for your law office. What this means is, you will still be receiving those who express interest in speaking with an attorney in your area, we will still be scheduling appointment calls and we will continue to follow-up with Prospects who have been assigned to your office.
Please contact your Account Manager for solutions on how best to handle calls while out of the office.
- I received a Prospect whose number is disconnected. Why has it not been disputed?
When following up with Prospects assigned to your office, we actively dispute on your behalf those that provide us with fraudulent information. If we are able to find that a Prospect number is disconnected, we will log it as such and schedule ourselves a follow-up call 3-5 days later. If, at this time, the number is still disconnected, we will dispute on your behalf.
Anytime we are able to dispute a Prospect, you will be informed via e-mail.