How many inquiries can your firm work to a decision each week?

Method

Every result is arithmetic on the seven inputs. Nothing is estimated, weighted or drawn from outside data. The formulas use these letters:

• H: intake staff hours available per week for new inquiries
• c: average minutes per first contact
• f: average minutes of follow-up per qualified inquiry
• q: share of inquiries that qualify, as a decimal (20% is 0.20). Enter it in the planner as a percentage: 20, not 0.20.
• R: records requests per week the team can handle
• A: attorney review slots per week
• N: current inquiries per week

Intake minutes per inquiry

T = c + q × f. Every inquiry takes a first contact. Only the share that qualifies takes follow-up. The same staff do both, so both draw on one pool of 60 × H minutes a week.

Max inquiries first-contacted per week

C = 60 × H ÷ T. This is the most inquiries the team can contact while still reserving follow-up time for those that qualify. A team doing nothing but first contacts could reach 60 × H ÷ c, but no qualified inquiry would then be followed up.

Max qualified inquiries followed up per week

F = C × q, which is the same as 60 × H × q ÷ T.

Ceiling at each constraint

Each constraint is converted into inquiries per week, the unit marketing controls. Intake time allows C. Records allow R ÷ q. Attorney review allows A ÷ q. The planner counts one records request and one attorney review slot per qualified inquiry.

Ceiling and binding constraint

K = min(C, R ÷ q, A ÷ q) inquiries per week. In qualified inquiries worked to a decision, that is K × q = min(F, R, A). The binding constraint is whichever sets K. When intake time binds, the planner names the larger of its two uses: contact time if c > q × f, follow-up time if q × f > c, and both if they are equal. Constraints that set K together are reported as tied.

Utilization at current volume

U = N ÷ K, shown as a percentage. Within half a point of 100% it is shown to one decimal and rounded away from 100%, so only an exact match shows as 100%. Below 1% it is also shown to one decimal, and a positive figure below 0.05% reads as less than 0.1%. Each constraint's own utilization is what reaches it divided by its capacity: N ÷ C at intake, min(N, C) × q ÷ R at records and min(N × q, C × q, R) ÷ A at attorney review. At or below the ceiling these equal N ÷ C, N × q ÷ R and N × q ÷ A, and the binding constraint has the highest. Above it, a saturated stage passes on only what it can work, so a later stage receives less than N × q and its figure can fall below U. An earlier stage can then show a higher figure than the binding constraint, which is still the first to saturate as volume rises.

Headroom before saturation

K − N inquiries per week, or (K − N) × q qualified inquiries. A positive figure is room on weekly averages; waiting time rises before it is used up. A negative figure means inquiries arrive faster than the team can work them to a decision. Where the excess waits depends on the binding constraint. If intake time binds, C = K and all N − K inquiries a week join a queue at intake. If records or attorney review binds, intake still works up to C inquiries a week, so inquiries that do not qualify still reach a decision at intake. The queue is then (min(N, C) − K) × q qualified inquiries a week waiting at records or attorney review, plus N − C inquiries a week at intake when N exceeds C.

From the ceiling to spend

Subtract the inquiries that arrive without media spend (referrals, organic search, repeat contacts) from K, and multiply the rest by your cost per paid inquiry. The result is the weekly media spend at which volume reaches the ceiling, provided the cost per paid inquiry holds as spend rises. The planner has no input for either figure, so this step is worked by hand. Above that spend, added inquiries begin to queue. If intake time binds, they wait at intake. If records or attorney review binds, their qualified share waits at that stage, and once volume passes the intake time ceiling C, added inquiries also wait at intake. The cost per signed case model works monthly from the same cost per inquiry: multiply weekly figures by 52 ÷ 12 to compare them.

Worked example

The inputs below are illustrative, chosen so the arithmetic comes out in round numbers. They are not typical figures and not a benchmark: H = 30, c = 12, f = 90, q = 20%, R = 15, A = 10, N = 40.

In this illustration, more intake staff would not raise the ceiling. Attorney review sets it. Until review slots grow, inquiries added beyond ten more a week are still contacted at intake, but their qualified share, one in five, joins a queue for attorney review. Above sixty inquiries a week, intake time saturates too, and the excess also waits at intake.

How to use this honestly

• Take the inputs from records, not memory. Minutes per contact and per follow-up should come from call logs and CRM activity across several weeks, not from a typical day.
• Count available hours, not hours spent or people. Enter the hours available for new inquiries after existing clients, signed matters and training. Hours spent at today's volume measure today's workload, not capacity: entered here, they show the team at its ceiling whatever slack it has. Headcount times forty counts time that goes elsewhere.
• Use the qualified share you have. Measure it against the same written criteria your reviewers apply, not the share you would like to see.
• Plan below the ceiling, not at it. As arrivals approach capacity, waiting time rises sharply, so callbacks slow before utilization reaches 100%. The planner does not choose a safety margin for you; that depends on how much your weekly volume varies.
• Read the binding constraint before buying media. If records or attorney review bind, added inquiries are still contacted until volume reaches the intake time ceiling C, but their qualified share lengthens the queue for records or review. Above C, added inquiries also wait at intake. If intake time binds, shorter first contacts or less follow-up per qualified inquiry raise C directly. Change c or f in the planner to see by how much, and compare that with the effect of raising H.

Assumptions and limitations

This is a steady-state weekly model. Follow-up minutes are counted in the week an inquiry qualifies, even when the work spreads over later weeks; at a steady volume the weekly load is the same. The planner assumes every inquiry receives a first contact, one records request and one attorney review slot per qualified inquiry, and the same time for every qualified inquiry. It treats intake hours, records capacity and attorney review as separate resources. If intake staff also send records requests, that time sits in H and would be counted again in R. Count it in follow-up minutes instead, and enter as records capacity only the limit set elsewhere in the records process; if nothing else limits records, enter a figure above your attorney review slots so records cannot bind. It ignores seasonality, after-hours coverage, the mix of case types and expert consultation lead time. Where outside experts gate review, count their weekly availability inside attorney review slots. The planner does not estimate signed cases, case value or revenue. It is a tool for comparing scenarios, not a forecast.

Related

• The intake capacity ceiling: why birth injury marketing stops producing cases before it stops producing inquiries.
• Cost per signed case model: from monthly spend and stage rates to a fully loaded cost per signed case.