Facts, Feelings and Trustpilot

Written by Mumtaz Hussain

For my blog this month I knew I wanted to talk about Trustpilot. There’s even a starred hand-written reminder in my notebook prompting me that this is my chosen topic for my February 2022 blog. But what do I say? “Look at our Trustpilot reviews, they’re great, and we’re a great firm. Come to us for your legal concerns”.

Where Anthony Gold Solicitors is concerned, that certainly is accurate, it’s succinct and it gets the message across, but it makes for a very short blog, and even though the saying goes “less is more”, more is clearly the order of the day on this occasion.

Without going into a deep dive on what drives the “review philosophy”, it is worthwhile nevertheless to look at why websites such as Trustpilot, TripAdvisor and Which? exist and the benefit their communities gain.

At first glance it seems fairly understandable that a consumer of goods or services will use this type of platform primarily to express their feelings after an experience, whether positive or negative, has triggered them to share.

That briefest of foundational evaluations opens up a separate but related dialogue around how important feelings are in a professional services environment.

Who cares about feelings? After all, surely clients of a law firm are looking for analytical, data-driven problem solvers, who use their expertise to navigate complex legal frameworks, to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. Where in all of this do feelings come into play? If research, study and negotiation fall into the “hard skills” category, then how a person feels falls into the category of “soft skills”.

What are soft skills? When we talk about this type of skill, we’re mainly discussing things such as empathy, compassion, kindness, clear communication, influence and persuasion. These skills don’t come easily to everyone, but get them right and even where a client’s case doesn’t quite go in the direction they’d anticipated, they won’t feel hard done by. Instead, they will feel that you’ve tried your very best and they will appreciate that effort from you.

The truth of the matter is that all business interactions are founded upon relationships, and all relationships require soft skills. How a person feels after interacting with you is what is going to make the most memorable impact. People want to feel heard and seen. Often after suffering a life changing injury, the injured person, particularly if they had a full and relatively injury-free life beforehand, can feel invisible and lost. The landscape of their entire life is unrecognisable to them and there is no way to turn back the clock. The skilled solicitor will know how to communicate the technical legal aspect of a case effectively and thoroughly, while still taking all those feelings of loss and confusion into account, to deliver what can sometimes be difficult messages calmly and with sensitivity.

By way of example, because of the pandemic I, along with many others, worked from home for a long period of time before I went into our offices. It was great to be back in the workplace, and one of the things I noticed immediately was the high levels of understanding and empathy our solicitors applied when speaking with clients. It struck me that while their priority was fact finding, and structuring the best possible settlements, their matched priority was to allay their clients’ concerns and provide as much reassurance as possible that they were heard and supported. Their sensitivity and supportive approach were immediately apparent, and highly appreciated by the clients.

And that’s why I refer you back to the start of this piece and invite you to look at our Trustpilot reviews, they’re great, and we’re a great firm. Come to us for your legal concerns. We make it a priority to do our best, and we do it with an innate understanding of how our clients feel when dealing with difficult health-related matters that have changed their lives.