Customer care is an essential aspect of any business. But for Hilltop Law Firm, helping clients isn’t just part of the job—it’s a guiding principle. Since joining her husband’s practice as VP of operations 2021, Sam Hainey has used her 20 years of experience in customer service to uplift and empower each client who reaches out for a consultation.
“What we look forward to in our business is helping people,” says Hainey. “So at the end of the day, what’s our main goal? It’s to help others, and to do so with an integrity-driven mindset.”
Blending kindness with casework
Every case that Hilltop takes on comes with its own unique challenges. But despite their different needs, Hainey understands that each client still expects the same level of personalized service:
“When you’re talking about dealing with clients, you need this high level of customer care,” she explains.
Fortunately, Hilltop has gained a reputation for exceeding service expectations—one that was keeping Hainey and her team’s hands full with new client requests. Eventually, Hainey realized she needed a provider to help answer incoming calls without sacrificing the quality of service that Hilltop is known for:
“We were looking for a service that could basically be an extension of us,” she says. “We wanted a company that would really be able to listen to people, listen to their issues or concerns and then take it from that and build it out.”
Teaming up with service experts
Before Hainey came on board, her husband had used other client communication providers before finding the right solution in Ruby. However, Hainey was interested in exploring other services as she settled into her new role:
“We started working with an advertising company who threw it in as kind of like a freebie to work with a different service,” she explains.
But that provider ended up falling far short of expectations—to the point where it was affecting their bottom line:
“[There were] so many issues and errors. It was like I was spending all my time managing that vendor and dealing with the repercussions of losing clients, honestly.”
That’s when Hilltop decided to partner back up with Ruby. And according to Hainey, the difference was night and day:
“Ruby is 100% different. They can set it up for us. They can set up a consultation through our Calendly. If I'm not able to get the phone, I have peace of mind that Ruby's going to be able to take that client, or that potential client to the next level for us. And that's a win. That's a win-win.”
Growing their business—and their free time
For Hilltop Law Firm, returning to Ruby has done more than keep their existing clients happy. It’s also helped them grow their business as they take on new cases:
“As we grow, we had to have Ruby in place; otherwise, we knew we’d be missing calls,” explains Hainey. “And that first call is the most important. They need that warm, friendly person, or else they’ll just go to the next one.”
It’s also given Hainey and her husband more time to play as hard as they work for their clients:
“We can actually have a life now,” says Hainey. “We don’t feel 100% connected to the phone because we know that Ruby’s going to take the right message or take the right step to make sure that we don’t lose that client.”
Peace of mind pays for itself.
When it comes to client communication, Hainey says it’s worth the investment—not just from a financial standpoint, but for the peace of mind that 24/7 expert service provides:
“I think that most lawyers tend to think about the bottom line. They want to have some sort of return. Well, peace of mind is one return that isn’t monetary—you can’t see it,” while also adding: “If you get one client out of a consultation that a receptionist books, then that pays for the service right there.”
