Office Management

Where a lot of law firms fail in their marketing is in creating credibility with its clients. Law firms can lose credibility very easily and it can be done in a multitude of ways. The problem with losing credibility is that once it is gone, you will be hard pressed to ever get it back. So it is important to make sure your law firm is taking a proactive approach in maintaining and building its credibility with its current and potential clients.

What, were you talking to me?

Many law firms don't realize that their policies and attitude could be misconstrued as indifference. One form of indifference that most law firms are guilty of is not returning correspondence in a timely manner. This is especially true when it comes to returning phone calls. It is common in the business world that phone calls aren't returned for days at a time. In the world of law, this is unacceptable. When people are injured, they don't have time to wait days for a phone call from their law firm. Your clients, frankly, don't care how busy you are or how important your other clients' issues are. They need answers and a resolution to their case immediately. Instituting a policy where all phone calls are returned the same or by the next morning in the event of an after hours call would minimize the indifference some may feel from your law firm. This will keep your law firm in your clients' good graces and will show that your firm cares, which builds credibility.

Transparency = credibility

While transparency has turned into a buzz word due to social media, that shouldn't diminish its importance to your business. Being 100% honest with your clients about the status of their case and the expected outcome is crucial. If your law firm does a poor job of managing expectations, your law firm will lose all credibility when the client doesn't receive the outcome they expected with their case. Thus, it is important to always be honest with the client about their case even if it isn't something they want to hear. This means you should tell them that you haven't had time to look at their case if they call and ask if there is anything new to report on their case. People appreciate honesty. But this honesty needs to start well in advance to actually obtaining cases.

Transparency during intake

Your intake specialists need to be well versed in the types of cases your firm does and does not handle. They should also know who to refer cases too in the event that your firm doesn't handle specific types of cases. Being able to answer someone's questions and do the right thing builds credibility for your law firm. If you were to take a case that your firm doesn't specialize in and botch it, your firm loses all credibility. If your firm just ignores people who have cases your firm doesn't handle, you are missing out on an opportunity to build credibility. This is very basic but many law firms don't use intake as an opportunity to build credibility and build their law firm's brand.

Transparency should be a cornerstone of your law firm's brand. People can see right through brands that aren't being genuine and will call these firms out in public. With the proliferation of social media, this is more true than ever and it stays online forever. Make sure your firm is building a credible brand. People like talking about good experiences with brands and your law firm could be the beneficiary of this positive word of mouth by remembering to build credibility every step of the way during a client's life cycle. Contact Network Affiliates today to learn about more ways to build a credible brand.