Why It Matters if Your Clients Actually Like You

Think about the last time you needed to find a new hair salon, dry cleaner, or wanted to find a restaurant for dinner. For many of you, when you don’t have a personal recommendation to go on, you look at Google reviews. 

Nowadays, the local legal landscape allows our clients a variety of law firms to choose from. How are they going to choose? Some will simply choose based on an advertisement they saw on social media or the billboard they pass by every day on their way to work. But what about everyone else?

Getting 5-star Google reviews should be a priority for all firms. Your expensive ad campaigns and impressive attorney credentials don’t look so hot next to your 2.5 Google rating. Clients will inevitably leave Google reviews. Why not have them work to your advantage? I can’t count the number of times clients have told me they picked my firm over another because I had the best Google reviews.

Take some time to really think about your firm’s client satisfaction philosophy. Is it working for you? Are there things you can do to improve? Look at the employees who always get rave reviews from clients. What are they doing differently? As you create your action plan, make sure it is both cost effective and realistic.

Prior to opening my own law firm last year, I was the managing attorney for a mid-size disability firm. For the last three years of my tenure, I was required to personally bring in 100 5-star Google reviews per year. I was able to surpass the quota every single year. Six months ago, I opened my own solo law practice. In that time, I have been able to obtain 26 5-star Google reviews.

I have made a short list of steps that are easy to implement across all practice areas and firm sizes:

Address your clients formally, using their last name.  

This immediately creates professional interaction between the two of you. By maintaining the formalities, the client is more likely to keep in mind you are on their side even when you are having to deliver bad news or explain why your strategy may be better than what your client has in mind. Sometimes, being addressed formally by someone they view as important can simply feel nice.

Always be on time. 

Never keep a client waiting, even for a minute. It shows the client you respect their time. However, don’t ever let the client think you are rushing them off the phone. I always keep a 30-minute buffer in between each of my appointments, just in case one appointment runs over.

Be transparent. 

It is probably the first time your client is going through this process. Many times, our clients come to us because something bad has occurred in their life. The legal process can be long and confusing. Your client should have at least a basic idea of what is going on in the case, what to expect next, as well as a broad overview of the process and time frame, generally. 

Here is a list of more involved steps that can be implemented over time:

Conduct regular client satisfaction trainings

Keep in mind, everyone in your firm interacts with clients in one way or another.  Make sure the staff understands the importance of client satisfaction and your expectations. Your intake team is likely the first point of contact for new clients. Pay special attention to make sure each individual staff member meets your expectations.

Incentivize your staff to bring in Google reviews. 

When an outstanding review comes in, send it around to the whole firm. When a bad one comes in, spend time debriefing on it. Figure out what happened and how it can be corrected in the future. 

Sometimes, even with awesome client service, some people are just going to remain unmoved. And that’s ok! There are enough other clients out there that will be happy to leave you 5-star reviews.