0:00:00.1 Tyler Carlson: Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us for this month's webinar for ARAG Network attorneys titled, Make your Attorney Profile a Must-see with Clients. I'm Tyler Carlson, I'm a senior writer here in the marketing department at ARAG.
0:00:12.0 Sarah Zwiefel: And I'm Sarah Zwiefel, a senior attorney advocate on the attorney experience team.
0:00:16.6 TC: Together, we'll walk you through some quick tips and examples to give your ARAG attorney profile and the accompanying bio a boost.
0:00:23.9 SZ: We understand your ultimate goal is to attract more clients and get more referrals, and it starts with that first impression you create for members who are online or calling you looking for legal help.
0:00:34.4 TC: It's very true, Sarah. So let's take a look at an ARAG attorney profile the way a member sees it, and then we'll take you behind the scenes to look for areas of improvement.
0:00:44.0 SZ: As we see here in this example, the profile has the potential to make a great first impression. In fact, your ARAG profile has over 40 data points a potential client can reference. Part of our job is to help you work on your profiles and look for ways to maximize the information it provides.
0:01:01.1 TC: Remember, it's also important to keep in mind that the way that clients see the profile here is much different than how it looks when you input all the data.
0:01:09.5 SZ: That's right. Here's how it looks behind the curtain on the attorney side. As you may recall, to edit your profile once you log into the attorney portal, you'll click my profile at the top, then click view/update profile on the left side of the homepage. Then you will see all the pieces you can add. One area that I feel is really important is profile pictures.
0:01:31.9 TC: Then you just click edit to upload the pictures, logos, etcetera, and there are several ways you can enhance this part of your attorney profile. Isn't that right Sarah?
0:01:40.4 SZ: That's right. Some attorneys don't have a head shot of themselves in their profile. I would suggest spending the money on a professional head shot. It really doesn't cost that much, and it really gives your profile a solid appearance. Having a blurry, pixelated or old photo of yourself just gives off a vibe that's just vague and unfinished.
0:02:00.2 TC: Sarah, the same goes with your logo. I mean, you would never put a grainy, stretched out or weird colored logo on your firm's letterhead. So why would you put it on your website? So take some time to properly size and save your logo, so it looks like you intended it to.
0:02:14.0 SZ: I also encourage you to add a picture of your office and logo. You can also list any additional counties you serve, any additional languages you speak in your office. These are small things that don't take much time and effort to add to your profile, but they really add a lot of depth and information which could give you an edge when clients are measuring up your profile against other attorneys.
0:02:36.2 TC: Now, let's talk about something you may not be real comfortable with talking about yourself in your bio.
0:02:43.2 SZ: That's right. In my work with network attorneys, I feel like sometimes they just copy and paste the bio from their website and call it good. Well, there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, I encourage you to go back and review what you have included. In most cases, it's things like how many years you've been practicing, where you went to law school, the degrees you've earned, and essentially a laundry list of your practice areas, professional accomplishments, or a combination of both.
0:03:09.7 TC: So let's take a look at a sample of a network attorney bio, some of the info has been changed to protect the innocent, and I'll just read through it real quickly. 22 plus years of experience with high ratings and reviews from ARAG clients in family law, divorce, contested uncontested child custody, alimony, post-decree, pre and post-nuptial agreements, estate planning, speaker and panelist at numerous state and national bar association conferences and webinars, received highest AV attorney rating from Martindale-Hubbell, prompt consultation and cost-effective services. Our goal is to help your legal experience be as smooth as possible. Specific areas of practice, family law, divorce, estate planning. Convenient download... Excuse me. Convenient downtown location with free ramp parking available, evening and weekend appointments also available in our office or your home. Can provide counsel and services over the phone, email, Zoom and Teams calls. Now, as we look at that bio, not that there's anything necessarily wrong with it, listing those attributes and the experience is necessary, probably even essential, but do they tell your client a story and do they say what makes you different from other attorneys? Does it talk about how your unique skills are going to help them resolve their issues? And finally, does it tell what your brand is, what does it say what compels you to practice law?
0:04:29.3 SZ: Because in the end, the client is really wondering, Is this attorney going to be able to help me or not? So put yourself in the client's shoes for a second. They may have never worked with an attorney before, they're probably a little skeptical and even a little intimidated by turning to someone for help on a legal matter.
0:04:44.9 TC: Clients want to know if they can work with you, if they can trust you, and confide in you. Take, for example, this quote from Founder and CEO of LexBlog Kevin O'Keefe. The public is not looking for a profile that reads like Martindale-Hubbell. People wanna know how accessible you are, how they can connect to you on social media, and whether they can read non-legalese items authored by you that demonstrate your passion and care.
0:05:09.5 SZ: You also wanna make sure the process of selecting an attorney, preferably you, is as smooth and inviting as possible to clients. So to do that, think about not just all the experience you can offer, but what kind of experience you want to create for that client. This means drafting a bio that tells clients right upfront how you're going to make life easier for them. So let's take a look at a couple of two great bios we can take some cues from. First, there's Jennifer Dickquist, founder of JD law. Jennifer is an attorney who believes in fair, equal and non-discriminatory representation for all. Despite being a Syracuse native, being... Having attended Le Moyne College for undergrad, she found her home and fell in love with Pittsburgh while attending Duquesne Law School. After graduating in 2013, she began her career in family law, passionate to help others. In addition to her dedication to all of her clients, she also volunteers at non-profits throughout Pittsburgh, including serving as treasurer of the board of directors at Focus on Renewal, and participating in the city of Pittsburgh civic leadership program.
0:06:17.3 SZ: When she isn't in court, at a meeting or attending a concert, you might find her featured in one of the many publications or podcasts, such as Brava Podcast, Drinking Partners podcast or Rest a While podcast. Jennifer prides herself in providing quality representation to individuals from all walks of life within a budget they can afford, and will never discriminate based on ethnicity, race, religion, country of origin, sexual identity, gender identity, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, or disability.
0:06:51.7 TC: So Sarah, let's take a minute to break this bio down and just see how Jennifer presented herself. Right from the first paragraph, I get a feel for her areas of law she practices, where she's from and where she studied, but not in a laundry list. It's all woven together, like the beginning of a good story.
0:07:09.4 SZ: Yes. Also in this bio, Jennifer does a great job of balancing the human element with her legal credentials. For example, she mentions her personal interests in the same line she talks about her podcast appearances. Plus she weaves in her value prop, as in what she's going to do for you, throughout her bio. For example, fair equal and non-discriminatory representation for all in the beginning and providing quality representation to individuals from all walks of life, which if I'm reading that bio as a potential client, that means to me, Hey, I'm one of those people she'd represent.
0:07:46.0 TC: She also includes customer focus phrases like passionate to help others and dedication to all of our clients. If I were a potential client, I think here's an attorney who cares, who's going to listen and who's going to go to back for me.
0:08:00.2 SZ: Absolutely. So let's take a look at another bio this excerpt from Christa Hermans of Hermans Law. As an attorney with two young children, Christa has had first... Has first-hand knowledge and experience to understand how important planning is for young families. Estate planning can accomplish so many of your wishes to ensure that if something happened, your kids would be legally protected the way we want. All families should have some sort of legal estate plan. She also enjoys helping families to create a specific estate plan to fit their unique needs, providing parents with this peace of mind knowing they have a plan in place. Her goal is to create lasting relationships with her clients and to always be available to help them in the future. Christa is very passionate about helping children and is involved in many charities, and on a personal note, Christa has two daughters, Sarah and Sophia. She lists her favorite mom activity, she also lists her hobbies and dream vacation.
0:09:00.1 TC: So while this bio is pretty long, it does cover all the bases, both professional and personal. But most of all, it gives you a clear, compelling reason why she practices law in the field she's chosen. For example, first-hand knowledge and experience to understand how important planning is for young families, and all families should have some type of estate plan.
0:09:20.8 SZ: She also does a great job with her personal info, highlighting her admirable volunteer work and not just merely listing her activities.
0:09:27.7 TC: That's right. Christa also gets extra credit for her creative touch. While it might not be for everyone, again, consider what your brand is, the photo of Christa and her children, as well as the caricatures is a fine engaging addition. Again, she specializes in helping families, so this makes total sense to include this.
0:09:46.0 SZ: And keep in mind, the bio for your profile is only a thousand characters long, which seems like a good amount, but if you think of it in elevator speech terms, it's only like 15 seconds, so if you only have 15 seconds to sell your client on why they should pick you instead of another attorney.
0:10:03.6 TC: So make sure that you put your pitch or your value prop upfront. Make it simple, beneficial and powerful, make sure you tell them what's in it for them. For example, in the movie, Pulp Fiction, Harvey Keitel says, I'm Winston Wolfe, I solve problems. Now, as a licensed and accredited attorney with ARAG, you may not wanna solve problems like Winston Wolfe does, but you get the picture. Let your clients know how you're there to help them.
0:10:29.1 SZ: And remember, you can easily put more personality into your bios by making them conversational, personal, impactful and relatable. So as our final assignment, let's take another look at the bio from before and see how we can ramp it up to make it stand out. The pros, it indicates several areas of law are covered, there is an impressive list of accomplishments and experiences. Promises fast-friendly service, free parking, evening and weekend appointments at home or in the office, all very enticing features. The cons, areas of law read like a laundry list, some of the bio is in all caps, which is kind of feels like you're deciphering a window sticker on a new car. All the good things, service-wise are buried in the copy, fast, friendly service. Our goal is to help your legal experience be as easy as possible, evenings and weekends. Most of all, the attorney doesn't say why they're practicing law or how they wanna help people. There's no personal information, so we have no idea what this person is like outside of their office. So let's see if we can spruce up this bio with some compelling detail and a little imagination. Hi, I'm Sarah, and for more than 22 years, my goal has been simple, help your legal experience be as smooth as possible, I promise fast friendly service whether you need something fairly straightforward, like a prenup or you're going through something more complex like a child custody dispute.
0:12:00.5 SZ: I'm happy to work in whatever way works best for you, whether it's over the phone, on a Zoom call, via email, in person or even over the weekend. I've been a featured speaker and panelist at several legal and business conferences across the nation, but what I really enjoy is traveling to state and national parks with my spouse and two kids and dog hiking, canoeing or just taking a break because courtrooms are hard. Receiving the highest attorney rating from Martindale-Hubbell is an honor, but what I'm truly proud of is helping people work through their legal issues so they can get back to focusing on their families and their lives. So all under a thousand characters.
0:12:43.2 TC: 965 to be exact. So good job Sarah. So keeping it real, as we focus on your value prop, while we're... The bio wasn't perfect, we were able to, number one, get the value prop in upfront. Sarah told clients what she'd do for them and why she enjoys doing it. Number two, she lists out the areas of law in a more conversational relatable way. You don't need to list them all. Just give the client an overview of what you do, for example, estate planning, wills, probate.
0:13:12.0 TC: She was able to balance the personal with the professional to give the client a clearer picture of she as a person, and then she worked it all a little humor/honesty. Hey, court rooms are hard. So some subtle humors, and appropriate quips can be endearing, engaging and give your client another glimpse of your personality.
0:13:30.3 SZ: That's right. So let's quickly review. The key to a good profile is making a complete, maximizing all the data points available so the client can get all the information they can to make a confident decision to select you.
0:13:45.3 TC: That's right. And the key to writing your good bio is to make it more personal, more client-focused, more direct. Don't forget to include your value prop/elevator speech up front. And please, don't bog it down with a laundry list.
0:13:57.4 SZ: That's right. So, now we're gonna answer some of the questions that were submitted by our audience here. So let me pull those up. The first question we have is, how do clients go see all of my information? That's a great question. So members have an access on the member portal to what we call the Attorney Finder. That is where they will go to pull up your profile. They can do a search on the Attorney Finder with the zip code, area of law, county search... And then once they pull up that list, they would click on your name, which expands to open up your profile, and that's where they will see all of the information listed there.
0:14:49.3 SZ: Next question. Can we see the reviews? Yes, you can. On the attorney portal, there is a ratings and reviews tab on the home page. You can click there, and that's going to show you your score, a breakdown of the ratings you've received and any comments that clients included as well. Can you briefly explain how ARAG provides attorney names and information to a member? Yes, absolutely. There's a couple of different ways that they can get your information. The first way would be to contact our Customer Care team, customer care is going to generate a list based off of visa code and area of law. They generate a list of six names to keep it manageable for the plan member, and then the plan member can call names from that list. Members can also go on to the member portal and use the attorney finder that I mentioned. And get your information there.
0:15:49.9 SZ: And next question, how does ARAG determine which six attorneys get placed on the referral list you mentioned? If there are more than six attorneys, how does ARAG make it fair to provide new names the next time a similar request is made? That's a great question. We have software behind the scenes that puts attorneys names on the list on a rotating basis. So, although your name might not be going out on every list, that is the same for each attorney on the network, we do give each attorney equal opportunity to get those referrals. So I think that was all of the questions that we had submitted today, I just want to thank Tyler for being my co-host today, and thank everybody for attending. We'll see you at the next webinar.
0:16:44.3 TC: Thank you.