Best Bankruptcy Marketing - Blog #how to

How to Get More Reviews for Your Law Firm

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:53:00 -0700

It should be no surprise that positive testimonials and online reviews about a law firm significantly improve the number of inquiries the firm receives. It’s a proven tactic to ensure a firm stands out among the competition. There are three main important points to focus on with review marketing or "online reputation management."

1. Consumers typically use two or more sites to check business reviews: 36% of consumers use two review sites when deciding to use local businesses, while 41% of consumers use three or more sites.

2. According to a 2023 study, nearly 84% of study participants said that a law firm would need to have a review score of 4 stars or higher before they would hire that firm.

3. A sustained influx of reviews over time is preferable over, say, a large influx at once and then no updates. This clearly indicates the importance of including review management in your standard marketing.

Building a portfolio of reviews is a vital marketing strategy and requires an ongoing commitment to collecting new reviews. Bankruptcy and probate client generation experts LeadQ certainly know the importance of excellent reviews for their client campaign pages. "[Reviews are] the most vital part of creating a new campaign. We've seen over the years that longer reviews that mention the attorney by name are a marker of success over and over again." says LeadQ founder Jim Rauch.

Here are six ways to work review collection into your bankruptcy law firm marketing strategy.

1. It all starts with the client experience

The first step is to ensure every client’s experience is as streamlined as possible. Be it in-person, on the phone, via email or text, every contact with a client is an opportunity to make a good impression. The best way to do this is to set up standard operating procedures, SOP, for as much client interaction as possible. Ensure the phone is answered the same way every time, and all staff is well trained to speak with clients in their designated role.

For solo practitioners, automating procedures like appointment setting and email will ensure things are easy for clients. It also means face-to-face time will be valuable and free from administrative issues.

2. Include review requests in follow-ups

Upon the conclusion of every case, ask clients both verbally and via email to share their thoughts about their bankruptcy experience. An automated email with links to review sites including Google, Facebook, Yelp, and AVVO, makes things easy for clients.

3. Guide their review with positive questions

Leaving review topics completely open-ended can be risky and often leads to vague comments. Include simple questions in a testimonial request email to guide the process. Change the questions as needed to prompt a review on a specific topic. Here are some good questions to encourage positive reviews.

What was your situation before you contacted our firm?

What results did you get from your case resolution?

What did you like most about working with our law firm?

Would you recommend our firm to others? If so, why?

4. Keep your review sites up to date

Business profiles on important review sites including Facebook, Yelp, and AVVO should be fully set up and well maintained. Make sure they are informative and don’t leave empty sections. During the search process, potential clients see these sites as an extension of an attorney’s website and ultimately the firm’s commitment to their clients.

5. Follow up

If a particularly important client has not left a review after an initial email, consider a quick individual email to ask them again. This personal touch may inspire them to write something. It may be easier for them to reply to a one-on-one email rather than go to an online review site, so invite them to do just that. These stand-alone reviews can be posted to a website or used within a marketing campaign.

For a more informal addition to the review collection process, the next time a client gives in-person/phone compliments or thanks, ask if they can provide the same feedback in an email or online review.

6. Responding to negative reviews

Negative reviews always require a response. According to Google, responding to reviews can boost local SEO. They encourage businesses to “interact with customers by responding to reviews that they leave about your business. Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback that they leave about your business.”

In responding, stay calm and professional. It may not be possible to change that person’s mind, but a professional response reflects well on a firm’s client service. Review site GatherUp has a great post about the best ways to respond to negative reviews.

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Building profiles on review sites and consistently collecting testimonials can be a rewarding experience. It will not only encourage more potential clients but is an excellent morale boost for any firm. The more comprehensive a firms marketing structure, the easier it will be to collect reviews and see the results and growth they bring.

We'd love to hear from you about your experience getting and using reviews in your marketing. Which platforms do you use? How do you ask clients to review you? How have you handled a negative review? Please share in the comment section below.

Why Your Phone System is Your Law Firms Most Vital Sales Asset

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 10:34:09 -0700

Seven out of ten callers will hang up if they reach voicemail and move on to the next option. Let that sink in. That means for every three voicemails a receptionist picks up after lunch or an attorney has on their cell when they get out of court, seven people hung up and called a competitor instead. Setting up a comprehensive phone system may be the single most important thing a law firm can do for their business.

In this article, the experts at LeadQ share how their most successful law firm clients organize their phone system. LeadQ is a leader in qualified inquiry programs for bankruptcy attorneys. Their customized marketing programs offer potential bankruptcy clients both online forms and direct phone numbers to contact a local attorney. In 2019, 84% of all contact was via phone. This, and their unique program structure, means their employees hear hundreds of initial inquiry phone calls a month.

Here are four important points from LeadQ to keep in mind when setting up a law firm phone system.

1. Who answers the phone?

While not always possible, it is preferable for an attorney to answer the phone. This direct and personal contact sets firms apart from the competition and primes a trusting relationship with a possible client. It’s important that an attorney introduce themselves as such.

LeadQ says, “some lawyers don't say they are the lawyers right away. The caller says 'may I speak to the lawyer' and the lawyer says something like 'you're talking to them' which some callers find very embarrassing and then start apologizing before they've even had a conversation.”

If an attorney is not available to answer phone calls, it is less important who answers and more that the person is trained. Paralegals, office managers, and receptionists should all be trained to encourage appointment setting and be able to answer common questions.

2. Customer service training

Every customer-facing employee at a firm should be trained in basic phone etiquette and any standards and wording specific to each firm. LeadQ recommends a standardized, simple phone answering protocol.

Example - “Hello, this is [law firm,] my name is [name] [role] how can I help?”

An intake form for employees to use will ensure the conversation stays on track and that all necessary information is collected. It’s important to stay professional and refer to callers as Mr and Miss once they have given their last name rather than defaulting to first names right away.

The ability to professionally answer basic initial questions is vital. Employees don’t need legal training to answer questions about pricing and the next steps. Confidently explaining that they cannot give out pricing without an initial consultation is always better than feigning ignorance or avoiding the question. Anyone answering phones should also be able to explain the basics of what will happen at a consultation and any payment plans or $0-down offerings that may be applicable.

Rina K, LeadQ Call Specialist, urges firms to stay away from directories that require callers to press a number or extension. “It’s always better to have a person answer as quickly as possible, even if they need to transfer the phone afterward. We have so many people hang up before the extension options have even been explained.”

3. Voicemail messages

Even with the best phone set-up possible, some calls will inevitably go to voicemail. While this will lead to some callers hanging up, the length of a firm’s voicemail message has a significant impact.

According to LeadQ, messages less than 15 seconds long have a success rate of almost 70% with only 30% of callers hanging up. Messages between 15 and 30 seconds long have a steep drop with a 50%/50% call to hangup rate. Messages longer than 30 seconds have a mere 20-25% success rate with the majority of callers hanging up before the message has finished.

LeadQ best short message example - “You have reached [firm.] Your call is very important to us, so please leave a message with your name and number."

Rina K at LeadQ suggests turning off any automated message instructions. “I hear lots of personalized messages that end and then a recorded voice takes over and tells the caller to leave a message after the beep and then hang up, etc etc. This doubles the message length and everyone knows how to leave a message these days, so it's really not necessary.”

4. Answering services

Solo attorneys and firms with smaller staff may want to consider hiring an answering service for weekends and after hours. While answering services often cannot set appointments and typically only take messages, this is still preferable to a voicemail system when a call will not be returned immediately.

All answering service companies are not created equal and it is worth testing multiple companies to find the right fit. Give their employees a standardized greeting and question set, if possible, and ensure it is used every time.

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It’s clear that phone system organization is a key factor in new client acquisition. The experts at LeadQ have over a decade of experience in building bankruptcy marketing campaigns and helping attorneys optimize their intake process. To learn more about their unique performance-based approach, fill out the form below.

We'd love to hear from you about your experiences setting up a phone system, customer service training, and working with answering services. What have you found the most successful for your firm? Has this article encouraged you to change your voicemail? Please share in the comment section below.