A prospective client asks for a consultation through a firm's website. The request says only "I need to speak to someone about my situation." The firm has to reply to find out what the situation is, which team should handle it, whether there are deadlines and whether it can act. Days pass. The person books with another firm that asked the right questions at the start.
Consultation requests are where enquiries become clients. Capturing them properly speeds everything up.
Step 1: explain the consultation first
Before asking for anything, explain what a first consultation involves: how long it lasts, whether it is in person, by video or phone, whether it is free or charged, and what the person should bring. This answers the most common questions and sets expectations. Fee clarity is covered in fee questions that decide which firm gets the client.
Step 2: ask for the practice area
Knowing whether the matter is family, employment, property, wills or something else lets the firm route it to the right person. Use plain language: "What do you need help with?"
Step 3: ask for a short summary
A few sentences are enough. Encourage the person not to share anything they would prefer to discuss in confidence at this stage.
Step 4: ask about deadlines
Some matters are time-sensitive, such as court dates, limitation periods or completion dates. Asking about deadlines lets the firm prioritise.
Step 5: ask for the other party's name
This supports the firm's own conflict checks before a meeting is confirmed. The assistant does not run the checks; it simply captures the name for staff.
Step 6: ask for preferred times
Capture two or three preferred times, and whether the person prefers to meet in person or remotely. This avoids back-and-forth once the firm is ready to confirm.
Step 7: capture it automatically
SpideyChat for law firms can ask these questions in conversation, at any hour, and create a request for the right team. It answers questions about the consultation process and fees from your own pages. It does not give legal advice and does not confirm appointments; staff do that once they have checked they can act.
Visitor: I'd like to book a consultation about a property dispute. Assistant: Of course. The first consultation is explained on the consultations page. So the right person can contact you, could you share a short summary, any deadlines you're aware of, the name of the other party and two or three times that suit you?
Garages capture repair requests the same way, as described in repair quote enquiries captured with the right details. The principle carries across: gather everything once.
Step 8: confirm quickly
A captured request is only valuable if someone confirms it. Set a response target and assign ownership. The cost of slow follow-up is covered in what a missed legal enquiry costs a small firm.
Step 9: reduce no-shows
Once a meeting is confirmed, send a reminder with the time, location or video link, and what to bring. People who know what to expect are more likely to attend.
Lessons from clinics
Clinics offering consultations face similar challenges, as covered in how med spas book consultations with a chatbot. Clear expectations and complete details work in both settings.
Setting it up
Train the assistant on your consultations and fees pages and set the questions you want it to ask. The guides to installing the widget and training your bot explain how.
A consultation request that arrives complete can be confirmed in one reply rather than five.