In today's spotlight, we're joined by Sarah Busch, an expert in the legal field, as we explore the strategic use of Google Reviews to propel your law firm's online presence.
Get ready to unlock the full potential of your firm with actionable insights and proven techniques.
1. In the heart of our discussion lies the powerhouse—Google Reviews.
We discussed how Sarah Busch strategically navigates this digital realm to amplify her law firm's reach and impact. From harnessing positive feedback to addressing concerns with finesse, Sarah's approach is a blueprint for any business looking to flourish in the online sphere.
2. Strategies for Maximum Impact
Dive into the nitty-gritty of leveraging Google Reviews effectively. From encouraging satisfied clients to leave reviews to addressing negative feedback with grace, we'll uncover a comprehensive strategy to boost your online presence.
3. Sarah Busch's Success Story
Embark on an inspiring journey with Sarah Busch as she shares her firsthand experience leveraging Google Reviews for growth. Learn about the specific tactics she employs to turn feedback into a tool for building trust and credibility in the legal industry.
Google Reviews can transform law firms' online presence. Armed with Sarah Busch's expert tips, you're ready to navigate the dynamic world of law firm SEO. Implement these strategies now to not just grow but thrive digitally.
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Welcome to the six figure business mastery podcast, where every week,
Speaker:Kirsten and Jeannie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business
Speaker:growth from copywriting to course creation, mindset to video marketing.
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Speaker:Hello everyone.
Speaker:We are grateful you chose to spend a little time with us today.
Speaker:And I'm really excited to introduce our amazing guest.
Speaker:Her name is Sarah Bush.
Speaker:She's from Injured Workers Law Firm, and she's the marketing coordinator
Speaker:for Injured Workers Law Firm, and it is a workers compensation
Speaker:law firm in Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker:And today we're going to talk about the importance of getting
Speaker:reviews for your business.
Speaker:Welcome, Sarah.
Speaker:Before we jump into this, because I know you've got like a great
Speaker:process and lots of things to educate everyone about on how to get reviews.
Speaker:Tell us a little bit about how did you end up going to work at the law
Speaker:firm and what do you love about your job as the marketing coordinator
Speaker:at Injured Workers Law Firm?
Speaker:So I went to school to be a teacher and I quickly found out
Speaker:that's not what I wanted to do.
Speaker:So basically my sister was at the law firm at the time and she
Speaker:was going on maternity leave.
Speaker:Michelle, the Wayne gave me another opportunity to do more marketing and
Speaker:she started sending me to conferences and going with her to meet with other
Speaker:lawyers, entrepreneurs in the community.
Speaker:And so that's how I got involved and I've been doing it.
Speaker:For four and a half years now.
Speaker:What do you love most about it?
Speaker:Probably, I really like going to conferences and just learning, especially
Speaker:since we're so industry specific with a law firm in Virginia and specifically
Speaker:workers comp and just learning how other workers comp law firms all across America,
Speaker:how they, for example, get Google reviews.
Speaker:It gives me ideas or how they market to their clients and potential clients.
Speaker:It really, that's what I like most is just learning how someone in
Speaker:California who does workers comp.
Speaker:And just exchanging ideas.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I'm a conference junkie.
Speaker:I like traveling all over.
Speaker:I love going there.
Speaker:I love the atmosphere.
Speaker:It's exciting and it's fun.
Speaker:And it's like you said, you learn a ton by just meeting people there.
Speaker:It's really great.
Speaker:One of the things I was impressed with last time you and I spoke is that the
Speaker:law firm has over 300 Google reviews.
Speaker:That's impressive.
Speaker:So I don't think you're going to share with everyone your process,
Speaker:but from your point of view, why do you think it's important?
Speaker:To get Google reviews.
Speaker:Especially for law firms.
Speaker:It's very different because we're not restaurants.
Speaker:We're not like a clothing brand.
Speaker:And so it's honestly the whole, uh, marketing strategy of law firms getting
Speaker:reviews is that it's a newer thing.
Speaker:It's probably five years.
Speaker:I feel like law firms just started stepping up to that.
Speaker:Like they didn't think it was important as much as a restaurant
Speaker:is having reviews on Google.
Speaker:And it started to get, especially in these conferences I was going to,
Speaker:that's all people were talking about.
Speaker:And so it really got ramped up and it's just so important with, especially in
Speaker:May 20, there was the Google vicinity update, which made it so you're not
Speaker:going to show up in, for example, we're in Richmond, we're not going
Speaker:to show up in Fairfax unless we have.
Speaker:Reviews talking about Fairfax and like how important it is for local and just
Speaker:Google really makes it so people don't have to leave Google to call you.
Speaker:They want you to stay on Google.
Speaker:And so that's another reason reviews are like your content on your website.
Speaker:It's like your articles, your blogs.
Speaker:And so having tons of reviews that talk about your services, how good you
Speaker:are, even if they, some people will talk on about how we help them and
Speaker:literally be real what we did for them.
Speaker:And so that's like a blog.
Speaker:That's like an article in itself.
Speaker:And makes it so the next person that comes along on Google, they,
Speaker:it helps their decision process.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And I hope that's great.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And I hope people understood that you were talking about Fairfax,
Speaker:which is not far from Richmond.
Speaker:Sarah was saying that the surrounding areas you'll be found
Speaker:easier if you have more reviews.
Speaker:So it doesn't, you're getting a Google review from like Virginia Beach,
Speaker:Virginia, or you count Roanoke, Virginia, that helps you with SEO for people
Speaker:who are in those areas that are lucky.
Speaker:And that's really powerful.
Speaker:So that's amazing.
Speaker:Now, in order to get those 300 plus reviews, I was over 350 now.
Speaker:What did you do to help make that happen?
Speaker:Because I know when we spoke earlier, you said it wasn't all just to you.
Speaker:You really got by the team.
Speaker:How does that work?
Speaker:So just to touch on law firm specifically, one of my, he's a friend of mine.
Speaker:He's in Fort Lauderdale and he's a criminal defense attorney.
Speaker:And he has over 500 and that's criminal defense.
Speaker:The bad guys that are stealing, drunk driving, committing big crimes
Speaker:and he represents them and he's getting them to even leave reviews.
Speaker:That's what I use to let people know that it's not impossible
Speaker:for law firms to get reviews.
Speaker:He's getting criminals to put their name on Google and tell
Speaker:them what they did and how.
Speaker:Adam Rawson is his name, how Adam Rawson helped him.
Speaker:Now I'm possible, and I think that's important to know as well, just
Speaker:because you're a law firm and you're like a service industry and law firms
Speaker:just to be really, with marketing, I just feel like always behind.
Speaker:And now I feel like we're starting to step up for the past five years.
Speaker:I'm going to get on with the rest of other businesses, especially like
Speaker:restaurants I always compared to.
Speaker:But what you said about, you asked about how we did it.
Speaker:I used Adam Rawson as this isn't impossible.
Speaker:People who have been injured at work in Virginia will share
Speaker:their experience with us.
Speaker:Let's start up with the buy in.
Speaker:How did you get the buy in from the employees to actually?
Speaker:It's not just you make where the entire team makes the effort, but
Speaker:we offer very specific incentives.
Speaker:So if their name is mentioned, they get a certain bonus.
Speaker:If they.
Speaker:If they're just asked for the review and they leave a review, they get a bonus.
Speaker:But the big thing is getting their name mentioned.
Speaker:What I said about user generated content.
Speaker:They're basically, you can go on our Google reviews and just
Speaker:read a bio about our paralegals.
Speaker:Because people mention paralegals names and what they do and how.
Speaker:Also, incentives are a big thing.
Speaker:I also will hold a review training.
Speaker:I've done it twice now.
Speaker:We haven't necessarily had to do it every quarter, but depending
Speaker:on like how many new employees are here, I'll hold a review training.
Speaker:I just have a six slide show and I go through that and I just
Speaker:talk about why it matters and I make it in a really big point.
Speaker:I say why and I say that clients Some have already made a choice are looking
Speaker:to validate it before hiring us.
Speaker:And then some are using reviews as part of the decision making process.
Speaker:And then I list the importance, like, how I did on here about
Speaker:the relevance and trust.
Speaker:But then at the end, I say, and why should you care about our Google reviews?
Speaker:I say, because one, you care about Entry Workers Law Firm reputation
Speaker:and you care about your clients and then thirdly, you get a bonus.
Speaker:So I make it so people know those three things, why it's important.
Speaker:So that's how we get their buy in.
Speaker:And I think it's also exciting and can let people like our employees brag about it.
Speaker:It's not to be conceited, but when you see your name mentioned, and saying
Speaker:how nice you are, and how awesome you are, like, it feels really good.
Speaker:And I think sometimes staff feels underappreciated, and again, you guys
Speaker:do a lot of things to appreciate your team and staff and everything, but And
Speaker:a really busy law firm go all the time and it's very easy for people to not feel
Speaker:like what they're doing is really shining or people aren't really noticing it.
Speaker:So like you said, it feels amazing to get a review talking about just
Speaker:how much the client enjoyed working with you and how much you took care
Speaker:of them and how caring you are.
Speaker:That would definitely make a person feel valued and appreciated because
Speaker:there's only so much an employer can do.
Speaker:Actual clients give you value and appreciation is huge.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a lot why we do it too.
Speaker:And I tell everyone, it gives you bragging rights.
Speaker:And a lot of the times they're mentioning paralegals and legal
Speaker:assistants names more than they're mentioning their attorney's name.
Speaker:Probably deal with the paralegals more, I hate to say it, just because
Speaker:there's paperwork and there's little details of things, emails and yeah.
Speaker:So that makes sense.
Speaker:Total sense.
Speaker:What I think about too, when you talk about that is I think about
Speaker:your law firm is a female owned law firm, which I think is amazing.
Speaker:If you think about it, sometimes in the past you think about, and I know this
Speaker:is not all attorneys, but sometimes when you think about attorneys, you think
Speaker:about big egos or it's all about them because I feel like the marketing of
Speaker:the past has been those big billboards.
Speaker:It's all about that person or just seems like it's always been about them.
Speaker:So I think it's so amazing that your law firm is understanding that.
Speaker:In order to close a case, it's about the entire team, and so it's great when
Speaker:an attorney gets a positive review, but it's also awesome when the paralegal
Speaker:and legal secretary gets that review, because again, it's showing that everybody
Speaker:in the firm cares about them and the end result, not just the attorney.
Speaker:That's another something, again, that's on like how we incentivize it is.
Speaker:If someone leaves a review mentioning your name and one of our core values that you
Speaker:exemplified, that's an even bigger bonus.
Speaker:So we have five core values, and so that's a big thing.
Speaker:One of them is empathetic.
Speaker:So if someone says that Jane was very empathetic, that means she is exemplifying
Speaker:a core value that showed so much that it also Showed to a client, not just like
Speaker:our team internally, that's a big thing.
Speaker:And like you were saying, lawyers, I feel like the stereotypical
Speaker:with their egos and stuff can be.
Speaker:I think they thought maybe they were too good or, Oh, I don't need to do marketing.
Speaker:And I don't need to worry about Google.
Speaker:I don't need to worry.
Speaker:I'll just do my billboard with a hammer and call it a day.
Speaker:But that's what I've been saying about about four to five years ago.
Speaker:I think Google was like, no more, you gotta put in some work to
Speaker:your Google business profile.
Speaker:So if you had some points or tips for everyone who wanted to
Speaker:implement a process, what would your tips be for doing that?
Speaker:The big one would is the buy-in.
Speaker:You can't expect people to do it unless I personally think
Speaker:you, you got it incentivized.
Speaker:I've heard from other lawyers that are in some marketing groups I'm in, they
Speaker:can struggle with getting their team to wanna do it and then once they do it,
Speaker:it doesn't necessarily have to be money.
Speaker:Maybe your employees at the time, maybe they like.
Speaker:A day off or half a day off, or maybe they like free lunch or
Speaker:maybe they don't like a car wash.
Speaker:I don't know, but it does have to be just like a bonus on the paycheck.
Speaker:That's just what we do.
Speaker:It works for us.
Speaker:And then I would say definitely just a lot of training and
Speaker:helping people understand why.
Speaker:Personally speaking, obviously, I know why it matters, so I can't be
Speaker:the 1 to be seeing out these review requests and texting all these clients
Speaker:when I've never spoke to them ever.
Speaker:That's why it's important to get paralegals, legal
Speaker:assistants, receptionists.
Speaker:Our intake team is super on top of it, but getting them to know why it's important
Speaker:and not just because Sarah Bush wants it, or just because Michelle LaWayne wants
Speaker:it, but letting them know, like, why, not only for the rep I'd injure workers love
Speaker:for reputation, but also for incentives.
Speaker:Putting it in a part of the workflow.
Speaker:And so just make it what I say is it's baked into what we do.
Speaker:So it's not every now and then this client will get a review.
Speaker:No, every single client, obviously, unless it's like a outlier is going to leave a
Speaker:bad one, but it's baked into our system.
Speaker:So we have tasks that go through and task item will come up to the parallel
Speaker:that says send a review request.
Speaker:So make it really easy.
Speaker:Don't expect.
Speaker:your employees to just remember to do it.
Speaker:You have to set a reminder on their email or set a reminder on whatever
Speaker:case management software you use.
Speaker:Set reminders that you can't expect people to remember every single time.
Speaker:We would probably add it to our standard operating procedures.
Speaker:Just like you said, just to make sure that it's on that checklist,
Speaker:everything that needs to be done.
Speaker:And that's just one of the tasks that needs to be done every single time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We have a really lengthy, we call them how to's of how to send a
Speaker:review request, how to send it this way, how to do it that way.
Speaker:We also don't just send it to English speaking clients.
Speaker:We have about 26 percent of our clients speak Spanish, so we
Speaker:don't leave them out either.
Speaker:We definitely will send reviews requests to them.
Speaker:Another thing that for me that I don't talk to clients, I get reviews
Speaker:from vendors and from attorneys and from people I talk to, so that's a
Speaker:big thing too, is don't just rely on clients and potential clients.
Speaker:I remember one of our receptionists.
Speaker:A couple of years back got the UPS guy to leave us a review and
Speaker:I've had our guy that does our copier machine or maintenance
Speaker:on that, he's left us a review.
Speaker:All of our people who manage our website have left me a review, tons of attorneys,
Speaker:all their marketing directors have left me, all their intake people I asked.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be like a hired, retained client.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:So one of the things that you talked about was texting them and
Speaker:making sure you provide the link.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:But I know a lot of times clients will say really nice thing.
Speaker:Do you ever recommend that the legal secretary writes down the nice things
Speaker:that Bob said to her about the job and then say, Hey, Bob, when we spoke,
Speaker:you said blah, blah, blah about the lawyer or about our process here.
Speaker:Would you mind putting this in a Google review?
Speaker:Do you ever help write it for them or get them started on it?
Speaker:That's a big thing that we do.
Speaker:A lot of the times, especially with some.
Speaker:Elderly, they can struggle with pulling up Google or they don't want to do it
Speaker:on their phone and stuff like that.
Speaker:So what we do, and it's completely legal, is we just
Speaker:tell them what we want to write.
Speaker:They will say, oh, I, sometimes when we text them, they'll respond back with a
Speaker:review and we're like, oh, no, we wanted this, you have to click the link first.
Speaker:So we'll just be extremely transparent and be like.
Speaker:Sally, what you do is just click on this link and we'll say copy and paste
Speaker:what you just said, or we'll say like all you have to do is sign in this way.
Speaker:I'll even send a YouTube video link of how to sign in with Google.
Speaker:We make it so easy and I personally don't take, I will take no for an
Speaker:answer, but if one of our legal staff comes to me and says, I asked Mr.
Speaker:Smith and.
Speaker:He said all these nice things in an email, but he said he
Speaker:didn't know how to put it in.
Speaker:I was like, I'm, I will call him and I will walk him through it.
Speaker:I won't just because someone doesn't know how, doesn't mean it can't be done.
Speaker:I will walk them through it because sometimes our paralegals and legal
Speaker:assistants maybe just don't have time to sit there and walk someone through how to
Speaker:do it, but we really do make it so easy.
Speaker:How to help them get in a review is.
Speaker:If the attorney has just talked to him, they just let them know,
Speaker:your settlement got approval.
Speaker:The attorney will usually let me know, or maybe the paralegal known.
Speaker:And say, Mr.
Speaker:Smith just said all these nice things, and so what I do is I will text them and say,
Speaker:Hi, I just got on the phone with Michelle.
Speaker:She said that you told us we were kind, compassionate, knowledgeable.
Speaker:You said that Michelle helped you settle your case in six months
Speaker:and that got all your checks paid and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:I'll repeat what the phone call was and what he said on the phone call.
Speaker:Or if it was said in the email, I'll repeat what was said in the
Speaker:email and say, Can you just copy and paste this into Google and...
Speaker:They almost always do.
Speaker:One of the things I love about you getting on the phone and helping someone who's
Speaker:not tech savvy is somewhat because I'm not super tech savvy as you ladies both know.
Speaker:People want to give.
Speaker:People want to be generous.
Speaker:They want to be supportive.
Speaker:And I find that a lot of times people, if you give them that
Speaker:extra time and attention, you're teaching them something new.
Speaker:They're excited to do it.
Speaker:And you're spending time with them.
Speaker:I feel like we live in a culture where people are desperate for that connection.
Speaker:So you're taking time to connect with that person and helping
Speaker:them get that review post in.
Speaker:And I'm sure that makes it a very personal experience for them.
Speaker:And like I said, then they're also learning something new and
Speaker:they feel like they contributed.
Speaker:And since we are a service industry, people will actually, since we provided
Speaker:value to them, the saying is, I was just at the conference I was at.
Speaker:providing 10 times more value than you expect to receive.
Speaker:So basically we're providing extreme value, like more than the
Speaker:next law firm down the street.
Speaker:And so that's why they're so willing to do it because we provided them value.
Speaker:They want to reciprocate that.
Speaker:And we get reviews from people that we never even represent.
Speaker:We get reviews from people that we have straight up told them, we are
Speaker:rejecting your case because we can't, unfortunately, you don't have a case.
Speaker:And they leave a review because we provided value by letting them know,
Speaker:like, why and letting them other options.
Speaker:And so that's a big thing is just providing that value.
Speaker:And the way we word it in our text too, I have it worded, is so
Speaker:good and people just eat it up.
Speaker:Wording is so important.
Speaker:Copywriting we've learned is so important.
Speaker:I know Sarah's talked about some amazing things today.
Speaker:We're gonna put some of the text that she's been talking about, how she asks.
Speaker:For those reviews, we'll actually put those in the show notes.
Speaker:So be sure and check that out below.
Speaker:Sarah, we have been so excited to have you here today.
Speaker:This has been totally awesome.
Speaker:I think getting reviews is so important for every business, but like you
Speaker:said, law firms sometimes behind with marketing and it's so awesome
Speaker:to see you guys are right up there.
Speaker:I know you're also doing video content and all kinds of amazing things.
Speaker:So you guys are going to continue to grow and just really build that business.
Speaker:And I love it.
Speaker:And we appreciate you just sharing with us, like how to do that.
Speaker:Cause I think a lot of people might see, Oh, there's great
Speaker:value in that, but what do I do?
Speaker:How do I do it?
Speaker:How do I get my team to, to want to help?
Speaker:Thank you so much for sharing all that with us.
Speaker:We appreciate you being here.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:Thanks, Sarah.
Speaker:Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker:It was definitely just the importance of them will help you grow your business
Speaker:so much and you will be getting tons more calls and visits to your website.
Speaker:The last thing I just want to say is the importance of responding to reviews.
Speaker:So don't forget to respond to all the reviews you get.
Speaker:And quality over quantity.
Speaker:Oh, I love that.
Speaker:She's dropping some knowledge bombs at the very end of this interview.
Speaker:That's so awesome, Sarah.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to the six figure business mastery podcast.
Speaker:If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video
Speaker:marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video podcast,
Speaker:then you need to check out the done for you and done with you program.
Speaker:at themarketingvaadvantage.
Speaker:com and take your business to the next level.