Stephen Barrera is the owner of Barrera Defense, a criminal defense law firm in San Antonio, Texas. In criminal defense, a missed call can mean a missed client.
Challenge
Barrera Defense had staff answering phones during the day. But when calls rolled over, nobody picked up.
"I do have employees that answer the phones, but the rollover just wasn't being addressed," Stephen says.
For a criminal defense firm, every call carries weight. A first-time caller could become a retained client. "Making sure that I wasn't missing out on calls could make the difference between a good week and a bad week just in terms of income," Stephen says.
He tried to fix the problem with his phone provider's built-in AI receptionist. It didn't work.
"I tried to use that for a few weeks and I just realized that the receptionist that they offered was not going to help me at all," Stephen says. "It was actually a disaster."
The issues were fundamental. "It was glitchy. It wouldn't understand things that people would say. It would cut them off halfway through. It would disconnect from the call," he says.
With an unreliable system and calls still falling through, Stephen was stuck. "I was in a bit of a panic mode until I found Upfirst," he says.
Solution
Stephen reached out to Upfirst and noticed a difference right away.
"I called Upfirst, and they were very responsive. Right away, I was on a video call with someone. They walked me through the service," Stephen says.
The firm set up live transfers so new client calls go directly to Stephen or a staff member. Potential clients reach a person the moment they call in, instead of leaving a message and waiting for a callback.
"It was very easy to use," Stephen says.
Results
After switching, the contrast with his previous solution was immediate.
"The difference was night and day," Stephen says. "It was like the difference between driving an old car that you can barely start and you're worried is going to die at the stoplight, and then driving a high-performance vehicle where everything operates as it should."
The quality of the AI receptionist stands out most. "It's very responsive. It sounds natural. It doesn't sound like somebody's talking to a chatbot," he says.
Live transfers have a direct impact on revenue. "If it's a new client, we have it set up to where they're patched through directly to me or to a staff member, and so we're getting that live transfer, so I can get somebody as soon as they're calling, and that's a potential new client and a potential new fee," Stephen says.
For Stephen, the biggest change is peace of mind. "I just felt so much better knowing that I had a reliable AI receptionist that would get me the calls that I needed. I had that security of knowing I wasn't missing out on anything," he says.
"Upfirst is invaluable to my practice," Stephen says.