Using Third-Party Leads to Enter a New Market or Case Type: A Personal Injury Go-to-Market Guide

Why is entering a new personal injury market so hard?

Because nobody there knows your firm yet. The brand, reviews and referral relationships that drive cases at home don't travel with you.

The usual options each have a catch. SEO builds an asset you own, but it can take a long time to rank — especially in a large, competitive metro. Broadcast television and billboards can work, but as the saying goes in the industry, you'd better have the dry powder to wait for it. Paid search is fast, but click costs in competitive personal injury markets can climb quickly. And referrals take years of local relationships.

That's the gap third-party lead generation fills. As Anthony Bux puts it, a third-party source can be an immediate turn-on — a way to start getting cases in the door while the longer-term channels build.

How do third-party leads fit a go-to-market plan?

The firms that expand well treat third-party leads as one phase of a plan, not the whole plan.

This approach works for established firms expanding into a new state or metro, and for newer firms that don't have the capital for a long SEO build or a broadcast campaign. Either way, the question is the same: what carries your case volume until your own brand can?

What should you check before using third-party leads in a new market?

1. Can your firm handle cases there?

Before you market in a new jurisdiction, confirm who will handle the cases and how. Advertising rules, practice requirements and any co-counsel or referral arrangements vary by state and need review by your own counsel.

2. Does the provider deliver in that geography today?

A provider may run national campaigns but produce very little in your target market. Ask for volume in the specific state or metro — and references from firms working it now, not a projection.

3. How do costs differ in that market?

Lead and retainer prices vary by state. Large, competitive markets such as California, Texas, Florida and Georgia tend to cost more. Budget for the market you're entering, not the one you're used to.

4. Can your intake cover it?

A new market can mean a new time zone, different peak hours and, in some areas, a need for bilingual intake. Your team still needs to reach every new lead within minutes and cover nights and weekends with live intake.

5. What case mix does the source produce there?

The case tier mix in one market can look very different from another. Ask what share of signed cases in that geography are higher-tier — serious injuries, commercial claims — and not just soft-tissue volume.

6. How will you measure the new market on its own?

Set targets for the new market and track them separately: conversion to signed case, cost per signed case, case tier mix and 90-day drop rate. Blending them into home-market results hides both problems and wins.

What about entering a new case type?

Adding a case type — commercial trucking, for example, or moving from mostly motor vehicle accident (MVA) cases into higher-severity work — raises a different set of questions.

• Define the cases precisely. "Trucking cases" isn't specific enough. Set the criteria your intake and the provider will both use.
• Update intake scripts and qualifiers. The questions that screen an MVA lead may miss what matters for the new case type.
• Check capacity to work the files. Higher-severity cases can take longer and need more resources. Make sure the firm can carry them.
• Choose a provider with a track record in that case type. Many providers are strongest in MVA. Look for evidence they already deliver the new case type, not just a willingness to try.

Which delivery model works best in a new market?

It depends on how much of the front end your firm can cover.

Web form leads keep the first conversation in your hands — the right choice if your intake team is ready for the new market. Live call transfers add the provider's screening call first. Signed retainers hand most of the front end to the provider's intake team, which can help when local intake is thin, but they cost the most.

Whichever model you choose, your firm still owns the relationship. A client signed by a provider's team in a market where no one knows your name needs to hear from your firm quickly — or they'll move on.

What are the most common go-to-market mistakes?

• Treating the new market like home. Costs, competition and case mix can all differ. Set expectations for the market you're actually in.
• Launching before intake is ready. A strong source into a slow intake process is budget lost to the firm that calls first.
• Having no plan beyond third-party leads. If your own channels never start building, you'll depend on paid sources indefinitely.
• Judging too early. A new market needs time to settle. Commit to a test long enough to measure case retention — see how to design a test.

How Sanguine Legal Solutions helps firms expand

Finding a source that works in your home market is hard enough. Finding one that performs in a market you don't know yet is harder. Sanguine Legal Solutions starts with where you're going — target geography, case types, volume goals and intake capacity — and looks for sources with evidence behind them in that market.

Our four-part model applies: Vet. Test. Deliver. Manage. We vet providers, test sources in real campaigns, deliver suitable sources to firms in our network and stay involved after launch. Learn more about how we vet and test lead sources, and run any source through the 8 questions to ask any personal injury lead provider.

Sanguine Legal Solutions does not sell leads. No leads pass through us. If your firm chooses a provider we introduce, you contract and work directly with that provider.