Confirm the purchased stage and approved criteria
Name the tort and the delivery format first: traffic, raw leads, qualified leads, inbound calls, AI-qualified transfers or a retainer program. A campaign can use more than one format, but each needs its own scope, billing event and reporting. Keep calls, leads and traffic tied to the staffing or funnel need they are intended to solve.
Have the firm approve the screening questions, hard disqualifiers, geography and handling of uncertain answers. Record the criteria version and approval owner. State which facts are self-reported, which evidence is required with delivery and which work remains with the firm.
Agree on source and document requirements
Specify permitted acquisition sources and the process for material source changes. Confirm the campaign language, destination, required disclosures and evidence of permission with the firm’s appropriate reviewers. The requirements should be concrete enough that both teams can check a delivery against them.
For retainer programs, confirm the approved document, signature workflow and packet. For traffic, confirm the destination and attribution fields. For calls, agree on the screening context and connection record. Do not assume one format’s handoff requirements cover every other format.
Run a synthetic handoff through the receiving workflow
Use synthetic data to test the delivery path before paid volume starts. The person receiving the inquiry should confirm that required fields arrive, the campaign is identifiable and the next action is clear. Test the failure path too: an unanswered call, missing required field or delivery that is not acknowledged.
Match delivery hours, time zones, caps and concurrent-call limits to staffed capacity. Identify who can pause the program and how that pause is communicated. A daily cap does not protect live intake if the same volume arrives in a short window the team cannot handle.
| Check | Confirm with the receiving team |
|---|---|
| Routing | The correct destination receives the correct campaign |
| Required fields | Identifiers, screening context and agreed evidence arrive |
| Acknowledgment | Both sides can identify successful or failed delivery |
| Capacity | Hours, caps and concurrent limits match staffing |
| Exceptions | Missed calls and incomplete records have an owner |
| Pause process | A named contact can stop or adjust delivery |
Give finance the rules before it receives an invoice
Document the billable event, price, exclusivity or sharing terms, duplicate definition, credit reasons and review deadline. Agree on the evidence needed for a credit and who submits it. Separate delivery defects from later case review so finance is not asked to infer a contract rule from an intake note.
Use a delivery identifier that can connect the acquisition record, intake outcome and invoice. When those references align, a question can be resolved at the record level instead of restarting a broad conversation about campaign quality.
Set the pilot review before you start the pilot
Agree on the initial scope, the observation window and the information needed to make a decision. Track delivered, contacted, retained and accepted counts separately. Note unresolved follow-up or review so an immature cohort is not compared with a completed one.
At review, identify the constraint: audience fit, screening, delivery, receiving capacity, outreach or later evidence. Change the relevant part and document the decision. Expand when the agreed results and staff capacity support it; avoid treating higher volume as the default answer to every problem.
TortHarbor coordinates the agreed acquisition sources through one partner relationship. Bring the checklist to a strategy call or submit the campaign brief, and we can discuss the format, handoff and pilot scope that fits your firm.
Plan the next step with your intake team.
Turn your claimant profile into specific questions, acceptable answers and hard disqualifiers. A shared brief gives sources a consistent standard and helps keep your team from spending time on known mismatches.
- Identify exposure or product, relevant dates, reported injury, geography and representation questions.
- Separate information needed before delivery from evidence your team will collect later.
- Choose the format, distribution terms, budget, daily cap and staffed delivery hours.
- Name the people who approve criteria, receive deliveries and reconcile outcomes.
These describe different stages. Keeping them separate helps your team understand what it is buying and what remains to be done.
- Screened: responses have been assessed against the campaign’s questions and rules.
- Verified: specified facts have been checked against identified evidence; define which checks are included.
- Retained: the agreed retainer documents have been signed.
- Accepted: your firm has completed the review it requires to accept the case. Neither screening nor a signature guarantees that result.
Outcome feedback turns intake experience into acquisition decisions. Track the same group of deliveries over time so we can identify where prospects stop progressing and discuss changes to sources, screening or handoff.
- Keep delivered, contacted, screened, retained and accepted counts separate.
- Record why an inquiry did not progress, such as unreachable, screening mismatch or insufficient supporting evidence.
- Allow for your intake and records-review cycle before comparing results.
- Use reconciled outcomes to discuss source mix, questions, delivery timing and capacity for the next phase.
Questions before you start
What do we need to bring to the first call?
Bring the tort, claimant criteria, preferred formats, geography, intake hours, proposed cap and the people who approve spend and operations. Share business requirements rather than individual claimant records.
Can we test calls and leads together?
Yes, if each format has a defined scope and separate outcome reporting. Keep the criteria and cost definitions consistent enough to make the comparison useful.
How large should the pilot be?
Size depends on the campaign, budget and the team’s capacity to work and review deliveries. Agree on the learning objective and review window before setting a commitment; no single pilot size fits every tort or operation.