[1]Telephone answering specialist Moneypenny [2] has handled more calls for law firms in one day than ever before.
The company, which looks after telephone calls, either on an overflow or fully outsourced basis, for over 900 law firms of all shapes and sizes, has conducted its third quarterly review of 2015, taking a look at legal calls handled between July 1 and September 30.
Call data for the period shows that the latest three months have been record-breaking in more ways than one. On Monday, July 27 more calls than ever before were taken by Moneypenny’s legal receptionists as client numbers continue to rise, while Tuesday, September 1 was the busiest in the company’s 15 year history.
During Q3, more than half a million legal calls have been answered by Moneypenny’s dedicated legal call handling team, with July figures up on those in August by 12.6% and ahead of September by 4%.
In previous reviews, Mondays have been found to be the busiest weekday, however, over the last three months, a mid-week Wednesday proved to be the day firms needed most support. The hours between 10am and 11am, 11am and midday and 2pm and 3pm were again those receiving the highest number of calls.
For the first time, the review looked at the effect a Friday afternoon had on calls and whether there was any evidence of a `Friday feeling’. Call patterns showed that while figures remained buoyant until 4pm, numbers dropped by 11.7% when comparing the time window of 4pm to 5pm to the previous hour, with a further 60.3% drop post 5pm.
One particular Friday that stood out was September 18, the date of the Rugby World Cup’s opening ceremony and England’s first game. Call volumes on that day were down by 10.6% between 4pm and 5pm and 18.5% between 5pm and 6pm when compared to figures for the two preceding Fridays and the one immediately afterwards as rugby fans prepared to watch the tournament kick off at 6.45pm.
Bernadette Bennett, Moneypenny’s legal commercial manager, commented: “It has certainly been an active quarter for our legal receptionists and it’s amazing to have recorded not only the busiest ever day in our sector.
“Conveyancing calls tied in with house sale completions were notably high during the summer months and played the largest part in the figures recorded on our busiest legal day and indeed throughout July.
“We expected particularly large numbers of calls on September 1 as we always see a significant call spike immediately after a Bank Holiday, but we couldn’t have predicted it would be our busiest ever day!
“We tend to see call volume fluctuations at individual times, not only as a result of caller behaviour, but also as firms take advantage of the flexibility they have, knowing their Moneypenny Receptionist can take as many, or as few, calls as they need help with, at any given time.
“At Moneypenny we are continuing to grow at a rapid rate as more and more businesses recognise the value of engaging telephone answering support so they never miss a call, while making sure they are delivering the best possible customer service.
“It’s important that we always remain several steps ahead of client acquisition, so with this in mind, we are continually recruiting and always `overstaff’ to guarantee the quality of our service; whatever time of day, or night, we take a call.
“It’s a case of watch this space as, while these figures relate to our legal activity in the UK, we are also gaining a number of legal clients in the USA as our presence there grows, thanks to the opening of our Charleston office earlier this year.”