Before a Client Calls You,
They've Probably Already Met You Online
The first conversation with a prospective client may not be the first impression you made on them.
They may have spent ten minutes researching you before they ever picked up the phone.
A prospective client rarely tells an advocate:
“I spent 17 minutes Googling you before calling.”
But it happens.
Sometimes they were referred by a friend. Sometimes another professional gave them your name. Sometimes they saw you quoted somewhere. Sometimes they simply searched for an advocate dealing with a particular legal issue in their city.
And before speaking to you, they started forming an opinion.
Not necessarily a final opinion. But a first one.
What happens before the phone rings?
They may have:
- Looked at your photograph.
- Read your professional profile.
- Looked at your experience.
- Checked your areas of practice.
- Visited your website.
- Looked at your LinkedIn profile.
- Read something you’ve written.
- Looked for your chamber or office.
And then they called.
This changes the meaning of a website
Most advocates think a website answers:
“Who are you?”
A better website answers:
“Why should I understand this professional seriously?”
Those are not the same thing.
A page saying: “Mr. X is an experienced advocate practising in Delhi…” doesn’t tell me very much.
A well-structured professional profile helps me understand:
- What you actually practise
- What kind of matters you work on
- Where your experience comes from
- What you have written or contributed to
- Where you are based
- How to contact you
The difference isn’t decoration. It’s clarity.
There is another important audience
Advocates often think only about clients. But your digital presence may also be seen by:
- Other advocates
- Referral sources
- Corporate professionals
- Journalists
- Institutions
- Professional networks
- Prospective employees
A professional reputation travels through more than one audience.
That’s why digital presence shouldn’t be built purely around:
“How do I get more clients?”
It should be built around:
“What should a serious professional be able to understand about me within five minutes?”
That’s a much more durable strategy.
The five-minute test
Search your own name.
Now pretend you are a corporate counsel looking for a referral.
Can you understand your practice?
Now pretend you’re a prospective client who has never met you.
Can you understand your experience?
Now pretend you’re a journalist looking for an expert.
Can you establish your subject-matter credibility?
If every audience has to piece together your professional identity from five different websites, your digital presence is doing too much work for the visitor.
Your digital presence shouldn't make people investigate you
It should make it easy for them to understand you.
That’s the distinction.
And this is why Chamberly doesn’t believe that an advocate needs to become a “content creator”.
An advocate needs a professional digital identity.
Content can strengthen it.
A website can strengthen it.
Search visibility can strengthen it.
LinkedIn can strengthen it.
But all of those things should ultimately tell the same story.
The Chamberly perspective
Before someone speaks to you, they may already have formed a preliminary picture of who you are professionally.
You don’t control every part of that picture.
But you can make sure the information available about you is accurate, credible, current and consistent.
That is what a strong digital presence should do.