Lawyer Ratings: A Client Development Tool Waiting to Go to Work
It's just a fact of life in the 21st century -- consumers
have come to expect access to independent information by which they can
evaluate products and services, from restaurant ratings on Yelp to car reviews
on Yahoo! In fact, a Nielsen consumer survey found that a whopping 70% of
consumers trust consumer opinions posted online1. This same expectation extends to providers of
professional services, including lawyers.
Of course, lawyer ratings are nothing new. For many years,
Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review RatingsTM have been a standard in
the legal industry, allowing attorneys and judges to provide feedback on other
attorneys in the profession. Because of evolving market demands, a second
rating service, Martindale-Hubbell® Client Review, was established a few years
ago. Client review ratings enable clients who have hired individual attorneys
or law firms to provide feedback about the attorneys they have retained
themselves.
Both peer and client ratings are important because they
provide prospective clients with a more complete picture of a law firm's
professional capabilities. They validate a lawyer's credibility, highlight
his/her skill sets and areas of expertise, and authenticate a lawyer's
marketing claims about important things such as a commitment to client service.
Unfortunately, many lawyers leave
their rating sitting on a resume or a paper certificate somewhere in their
office, instead of putting it to work as a tool for generating new client
opportunities. This is a wasted marketing resource. Nearly 6 in 10 consumers seeking an attorney
in the past year checked ratings and online reviews; of those, 65% state ratings
and reviews were influential in their decision process2.
To provide law firms with simple and cost-free ideas for how
to leverage their lawyer ratings, LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® has created a
handy tip sheet with 5 easy steps for
turning lawyer ratings into a lead generation strategy. Please download the
free piece today.
Lawyer ratings shouldn't be viewed as the culmination of
doing good work for clients, but rather should be seen as just the beginning of
how to reach out to new clients. By taking some basic steps to promoting lawyer
ratings and managing client reviews, lawyers and law firms can put them to work
as a powerful marketing tool for client development. If you would like to connect with a law firm
marketing specialist to discuss further ways to promote your ratings and
increase visibility, contact us.
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