Answering and intake are separable. Some firms buy a general answering service and keep intake in house for the calls that qualify; others buy one provider that answers and runs the whole questionnaire. Bundling is usually cheaper and simpler, and it concentrates a risk, so the choice is worth making deliberately rather than by taking whatever the first provider quoted.
The case for one provider
A single provider means one script, one handoff and no window in which a caller is transferred between two outside companies. It is cheaper, because the second company is not repeating the greeting and re-establishing who is calling, and it is faster for the caller, which matters most on exactly the calls worth keeping. For most small firms this is the right answer and the split arrangement is over-engineering.
The case for splitting them
Splitting makes sense when intake quality is the firm's competitive edge and the volume justifies specialists. A dedicated intake operation can employ people who do nothing but this, measure conversion from call to signed matter, and iterate the questionnaire against that number. A general answering service in front of it costs little and filters out the calls that never needed intake at all: existing clients, suppliers, cold sales. The cost is a transfer and a second greeting.
Where a bundled arrangement fails
Almost always at the boundary between answering and intake, when the operator has to decide which one this call is. If that decision is left to judgement it will be wrong regularly in both directions. The fix is the same as everywhere else in this market: one opening question that separates an existing matter from a new enquiry, and a default that sends anything ambiguous into intake, since over-capturing a supplier costs a few minutes and under-capturing a client costs a matter.
What it costs either way
Intake calls run long, so per-unit pricing dominates. Two providers here publish per-call rates that do not move with length, at seven dollars and eleven dollars fifty, and five publish per-minute rates from a dollar fifty four to two ninety nine. For a bundled arrangement running a full questionnaire, the per-call providers are the ones to price first. For a split arrangement, the front-of-house service can sit on the cheapest per-minute plan, since its calls are short by design.
Questions people ask about legal intake answering service
Should legal intake and answering come from one provider?
For most small firms, yes: one script, one greeting, no transfer between two outside companies, and it is cheaper. Splitting makes sense when intake is your competitive edge and volume justifies specialists.
Where do bundled arrangements go wrong?
At the boundary, when the operator must decide whether a call is intake. Fix it with one opening question separating existing matters from new enquiries, and default anything ambiguous into intake.
How is a bundled service priced?
On the intake calls, which run long. The two per-call providers here publish seven dollars and eleven fifty a call and do not rise with length; five publish per-minute rates from a dollar fifty four to two ninety nine.
Can a general answering service do legal intake?
With a script your firm wrote and tested, yes. What it will not do is recognise an unusual or time-critical caller unless your script named the words to listen for, which is the risk you accept by keeping the design in house.