A lead missed the consultation. What should your team do?

First, find out whether the meeting happened

Check the meeting, read what the lead was told and ask what stopped them if contact is allowed. Fix any error on the firm’s side before booking again. Get an agreed next step. Then check whether the new meeting was held. A new booking is not a held consultation.

Start with the attorney or closer who had the slot. Did they speak by phone instead of video? Did someone move the meeting before it began? Did the firm cancel? Check the call record and last messages with them. Use only records your firm permits staff to review.

A time that has passed on the calendar does not prove a no-show. If staff cannot tell what happened, mark the outcome unknown and ask the person who had the slot to check. For a late arrival, follow your firm’s rule rather than choosing a new grace period each time.

Keep five outcomes apart: held, prospect no-show, canceled or moved beforehand, firm-side failure, and unknown. A prospect no-show means the person did not attend an agreed meeting and the firm was ready to hold it. It does not tell you why they missed it.

Read what the person was told

For a meeting that did not happen, read the booking exchange. Did the person agree to that date and time zone? Who was meant to call whom? Which link or address did they receive? Check their last reply, any request to cancel, and any need for language or access support.

Check the firm’s part too. Was the closer in the right place? Did they make the promised call? Did the details sent to the lead match the calendar? A lead waiting for a phone call and a closer waiting in a video room can each think the other failed to show.

Keep what the record proves apart from what the person says happened. ‘Reminder sent’ is a record. ‘I forgot’ is a reason the lead may give. The first does not prove the second. No answer means the reason is still unknown.

If the booking call left the time or format unclear, use the intake script to improve that part of the call. For language support or questions that need an attorney, use the intake handoff guide. Intake and the consultation team should settle open slots directly; the owner does not need to pass times between them.

Match the next step to what you find

When the records do not explain the miss, intake can ask through an allowed channel: ‘We did not get to speak at [agreed time]. Was there a problem joining, or would you like to discuss another time?’ This is sample wording for your firm to adapt. Check the contact limits first. Do not use it when you already know the firm caused the problem; name that error instead.

Use the reply to choose the next action below. Intake handles new-lead booking within the firm’s rules. Case-specific questions and reported deadlines go to an attorney. Existing-client work belongs to the legal team. A missed meeting does not tell staff whether legal duties have ended or whether a deadline can wait.

Follow one missed call through to the next meeting

Fictional example: inquiry N-014 has an appointment marked ‘missed.’ Intake thinks the lead ignored the call. But the confirmation says the firm will phone at 2 p.m. Eastern. The closer’s calendar says video. No phone call was made.

The record shows a firm-side scheduling failure. It does not show that the lead forgot or lacked interest. Intake checks the closer’s real open times, then sends this correction through the agreed channel:

‘Our message said we would call you, but we had the meeting set as a video call. I’m sorry for the mix-up. Would you like another time? We can offer [actual approved slots, with time zone].’

The lead chooses a time. Intake and the closer agree that the firm will phone, then intake confirms that plan with the lead. They have a commitment from both sides. A task that says ‘send booking link’ would not show that the lead had agreed to attend.

Keep the old event as a firm-side failure. Create a linked event for the new time. In this fictional case, the closer later confirms that the new meeting was held. There are now two events for one inquiry: a failed first meeting and a held second meeting.

One corrected record tells you what happened to this lead. It does not show how much revenue was recovered or explain every missed call. Once a meeting has been held, use the consultation follow-up guide for open questions and the next hiring decision.

Use the sheet on your next missed consultation

Ask the intake lead to complete this sheet for one recent missed meeting with the person who had the slot. Use inquiry and event IDs in the review. Keep private details in the firm’s approved system. The filled column continues the fictional N-014 case; its dates are examples, not a follow-up schedule.

The first review is done when the status has evidence and the next step is agreed, declined, or still open with a real person due to check it. Sending a message is not the same as getting a reply. A booked replacement stays open until its outcome is known.

Count missed calls and later attendance separately

Have the intake lead report appointment events whose scheduled time has passed in a fixed period. Each event appears once in its own period. Keep moved appointments linked to their replacements. Do not overwrite the missed event when someone books again.

Use the five outcomes below. These are working definitions for this review, not an industry standard. The whole table matters: leaving out firm errors and unknowns can make a weak process look better than it is.

• For this review, no-show rate = prospect no-shows ÷ (held + prospect no-shows) × 100. Here, 3 ÷ (12 + 3) × 100 = 20%.
• Five events sit outside that rate: two canceled or moved, one firm-side failure and two unknown. Show them beside it. The unknowns mean the picture is incomplete. Future bookings do not belong in this count.
• If held + prospect no-shows is zero, report the rate as N/A. You cannot divide by zero.

• Follow the same group through the wider intake process

Check how many people came back and attended

Now follow those same three prospect no-show events. Count each original event at most once for rebooking and once for later attendance, even if several replacement slots are made. Set a review date and keep any future replacement marked pending.

In this fictional group, two of the three have a replacement booked by the review date. One of those replacements has been held; the other is still ahead. Rebooking is 2 out of 3. Later attendance is 1 out of 3. These are linked measures, so do not add them together. The held meeting is already part of the two rebooked cases.

Use the counts with a group this small. One more held meeting would change the picture a lot. The firm-side failure in N-014 is separate from these three prospect no-shows. Neither a held meeting nor a rebooking proves that someone signed or paid.

At the next review, the intake lead should bring one repeated problem supported by the records. If callers misunderstood the booking, change that part of the script. Give intake the wording, answer their questions, listen to later calls and give feedback. If the firm missed calls because the closer had two meetings at once, the manager and closer need to fix the calendar conflict.

Compare later records using the same rules and the same amount of time to see whether replacements were held. Show the counts, firm errors and unknowns each time. Note other changes, such as new lead sources, fees, staff or meeting format. Ask whoever handles ads about a change in lead sources; do not assume marketing caused the misses.

A small before-and-after change does not prove what caused it. First check whether the specific fault stopped happening, then check attendance. If you want help putting the changes in place, see Intake & CRM setup. BDI engagements start with a two-week audit from first contact through payment, before setup or coaching.