Honey Legal is one of the fastest growing estate planning providers in England & Wales.
Today’s Wills & Probate spoke with some of the team to discuss the challenges they’ve faced in 2020 and their experience of working in the estate planning world.
“Moving from face to face to telephone and video so quickly presented a number of challenges. Fortunately, technology was not one of them as the business moved from being mostly face to face to an online and telephone orientated service almost overnight.”
Says Field Director Tracey Connell,
“Honey Legal have invested significantly in systems and processes that mean the transition from an operational point of view was relatively painless.
“We were, for example, already recording our client calls, but the inability to look into the whites of your client’s eyes meant that the whole rapport building part of the job became so much more difficult.
“That said, it presented a whole new challenge we didn’t necessarily anticipate. Our demographic are both susceptible to, and increasingly aware of, telephone scams and clients were understandably cautious about telephone calls.
“This is where our training and investment in technology kicks in, enabling us to demonstrate our professionalism and expertise to overcome the client’s nerves.”
Stephen Mills, a longstanding consultant with Honey Legal, chips in;
“We are also building up trust right from the outset. Clients engage with the Honey Legal brand and are qualified by our telephone team before a meeting with a consultant is confirmed, so we’re building up trust throughout the client journey.
“The Honey Legal website showcases our 4.9 stars out of 5 with a live count of reviews. We’re up to nearly 3,500 now.”
Christie Collins is a consultant who has balanced her home and working life whilst at Honey Legal. For her, the technology is an enabler:
“It’s not investment for investment’s sake. We’ve been working on this for a long time and we’ve really seen the benefit of that investment throughout 2020. Our digital offering had to be easy enough for our audience to embrace and the clients have adapted really well. All the documents are sent in digital format completely securely.”
Training has been important in the transition from face-to-face to telephone and video.
“Tone of voice, intonation, observing how clients respond to the video, taking the time to make them feel comfortable on the call; we’ve spent a lot of time supporting one another on best practice in a new digital way of working.”
Says Tracey Connell.
For Stephen, who is based in Norfolk, the move to digital has opened up a whole new opportunity for him and his wife, Melanie, who also works with Honey Legal.
“There are now no constraints as to where the work comes from. I could previously do around 3-4 appointments a day, including all my travelling. Now I can work from my home and do 6-7 appointments.”
This flexibility is important to Tracey and Christie too. As self-employed consultants, Honey Legal’s field-based staff enjoy the flexibility of working for themselves, with the reassurance of the infrastructure behind them.
“We don’t leave people to their own devices. Honey Legal is dedicated to bringing people together. We have regular training sessions for all staff, and we want everyone to succeed. It’s a very supportive, family orientated business.”
Says Tracey Connell
“Family” is a word that crops up time and again in the discussion.
“It’s not like any business I’ve worked in before”
says Stephen, whose background was in corporate in the city,
“from top down there is a team ethos where everyone pulls together and supports one another like a family.”
Christie agrees,
“the success of the team is based around the level of training we provide, the support for each other and above all, the expertise we provide. We have platforms to support all staff, from new recruits all the way up to our field directors. Everyone is invested in supporting the business grow.”
To continue their growth, Honey Legal are recruiting staff across the business from field consultants to solicitors and in-house legal support. For more information contact Honey – careers@honeygroup.co.uk or call 0800 9500 100.
