Back Office Betties is a reasonably-priced and charming boutique virtual receptionist service focused exclusively on attorneys. It is a great solution for solo practitioners and small law firms.
Back Office Betties Highlights
Betties Legal Academy. All future Betties are specially trained by legal professionals and must pass a 2-week legal training program before working with their attorney clients. “Betties Legal Academy” is taught by legal consultants and features courses focused on legal terminology and common legal issues—so the Betties can speak intelligently to you and your clients. Their Receptionists all pass this course with a 100% grade before they start working with attorneys. They also have to pass a quiz about your law firm and goals for working with Back Office Betties with 100% before they’ll start taking and making calls for your practice.
Your own team. We’re not talking about a cavernous call center here. Instead of a room full of people taking calls, you are assigned a team of no more than five receptionists. You will work with these five during your time with Betties, which allows you to get to know the receptionists, and for them to get to know you, your practice, and your clients on a foundational level. Like other virtual receptionists, Betties will sound to your callers like they’re sitting in your office, providing a personal and customized experience for your practice.
No charge for calls under 15 seconds. Like, not a penny. This means robocalls, wrong numbers, hang-ups, or quick calls won’t take away minutes from your plan.
Pricing
As with other virtual receptionist offerings, Back Office Betties calculates pricing on the number of virtual receptionist minutes you will use and the number of users on your team. Back Office Betties also offers custom plans based on your firm’s needs if you’d like additional administrative services included in your virtual receptionist package. If you’re interested in set plans, those start at:
- $279/month for 100 minutes
- $529/month for 200 minutes
- $989/month for 400 minutes
Each plan includes appointment scheduling, payment processing, client intake, and designated fees if you go over your minutes. The plans do not include the $99 setup fee, which covers an in-depth meeting with you to learn more about your practice then to develop a specialized training program for your firm’s team of five Betties.
Features
| Back Office Betties | |
|---|---|
| Website | backofficebetties.com |
| Starting price | $279/month for 75 receptionist minutes + $99 setup fee |
| Free trial | 7 days free |
| Live receptionist | ✓ |
| Customizable greeting/script | ✓ |
| Live transfers/call forwarding | ✓ |
| Takes messages | ✓ |
| Voicemail | ✓ |
| Call overflow | ✓ |
| Client intake | ✓ |
| Outbound calls | ✓ |
| Appointment scheduling | ✓ |
| Use existing number | ✓ |
| Free local or toll-free number | |
| Real-time notifications | ✓ |
| Additional languages | Spanish |
| Hours | 5am-6pm PT/8am-9pm ET Mon–Fri |
Things You Might Want To Know
Mobile Site. While Back Office Betties does not have a mobile app, they do have a mobile-friendly website where you can log-in to update your information and team preferences.
Administrative Staff. In addition to receptionists duties, Betties can also schedule appointments, handle payment processing through your LawPay portal, and tackle other administrative work you request.
Active (v/b)log. Back Office Betties also has an active blog that’s regularly updated with useful posts to help you improve your client service. It also has back episodes of its YouTube show/vlog, “Share the Law-ve” where attorneys and industry experts are interviewed on topics ranging from marketing, billing, and other lawyering lessons to help enrich the lives of solo and small firm attorneys.
Call Transfer. When an important phone call comes your way, a Bettie will call you. From there, you decide whether to take it. If you do, the Bettie will transfer the call to you, and you will hear a beep to confirm that you are connected. If you choose not to take the call, your Bettie will handle it according to pre-set rules or your contemporaneous direction.
If you receive phone calls after-hours, any voicemails will be delivered to your email in a .wav format so you can either listen to the messages there or call to an 800 number to retrieve your messages.
Integrations. Currently, Betties features integrations with Lexicata, Acuity Scheduling, Appointment Core, Calendly, LawPay, Microsoft Bookings, Setmore, and Clio Grow.
Hours. Back Office Betties is open from 5am-5pm PT / 8am-8pm ET Mon-Fri. Any after-hours calls are sent to your voicemail. Betties is closed on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve after 1pm PST, and Christmas Day.
Who Back Office Betties Is For
Given its personalized and dedicated touch, Betties is well suited for solo practitioners and firms with fewer than 10 lawyers. If you’re a larger firm or require round-the-clock receptionists—like many criminal defense firms—Betties probably won’t be a good fit for you without an after-hours answering service as backup.
If you’re starting or growing a small or solo law firm and choosing a new virtual receptionist service (or switching from an old one), you absolutely must join Lawyerist Insider. And if you’re interested in getting a powerful snapshot of your firm’s strengths and weaknesses right now, take the Small Firm Scorecard right away!
