Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
When I go through all the new cases that come into our firm, and we don’t do as many now, with the changed law, as we did before 2008, I see what works in attracting new clients. What works better than anything else is ultimately word of mouth.
The vast majority of our referrals come from people who have been previous clients or know previous clients of us. Sure, they hear the adverts, they know our adverts and you are familiar with them, but in a time when many of our competitors are sending around touts to people’s houses to sign them up, it is very helpful to be able to rely on word of mouth. As a result, the clients that we have are typically a lot more sophisticated than firms of attorneys who use touts more extensively, because the more sophisticated people are less susceptible to touts. A variety of promises are made to people, and we certainly come across people who are with other attorneys who were induced to sign up with them, by those attorneys claiming that they either work with us or that we represent the Road Accident Fund and they will represent the client, but settle the case with our firm. In other words, they blatantly mislead and lie to the clients in order to sign them up. Touting is considered unethical by the legal profession and can lead to considerable trouble for an attorney if they are exposed for this type of behaviour.
Another risk that these attorneys take is that many of the touts are involved with selling fraudulent claims to one firm after another. Those attorneys that do work with touts expose themselves to the risk of dealing with these fraudulent cases including the loss of money that they invest in medico legal reports, etc for those cases, not to mention buying them.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Friday 09-Feb-18
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Comments
Sinead said:
on Friday 02-Mar-18 03:46 PM
I must agree with you 100% Also, word spreads like wildfire.
Not everybody listens to the radio or watches TV anyway. No app or technological invention works as effectively as word of mouth
courtney said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 04:39 PM
Word of mouth is definitely the best advertising. I always go to places people prefer me to.
Cornelie said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 01:54 PM
If you treat your clients with utmost respect and give them what they need and want you can be best assured they will spread the word for our services to be used again. It goes for any companies places.
Prishani said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 05:16 PM
I remember studying about this very topic at University and its true, without a doubt that word of mouth is the best, cheapest form of advertising. If I am looking for a service personally I always tend to ask friends or family members for referrals on service providers they have used. I just feel more comfortable with the fact that someone else has tried and tested and they are happy with the service.
Joyce said:
on Wednesday 21-Feb-18 04:58 PM
I think word of mouth is the best advertising, if existing clients are happy the more referrals the company gets.
Bianca R said:
on Tuesday 20-Feb-18 10:29 AM
Word of mouth is really the best advertising that one could have, you must know that if you are being recommended to a firm/company by someone who has had first hand experience of the service provided by the firm or company, that the service really is good! It is extremely satisfying to hear that clients are so impressed that they would refer their family and friends to the firm, that for me is really rewarding. On the other hand though, I am always quick to spread bad experiences with service that I have had, this is the kind of advertising one would not want but also sticks with people for life.
Thabitha said:
on Monday 19-Feb-18 09:01 AM
That is why it is so important to treat people with respect and professional because the word of mouth is so powerful
Jolene said:
on Friday 16-Feb-18 04:47 PM
I couldn’t agree more, word of mouth is the best advertising. My previous employer always said he doesn’t believe in advertising, your work will speak for itself.
Ashleigh said:
on Friday 16-Feb-18 09:14 AM
Of course it would because these people have experienced it or heard from people who have had experiences with the firm. I must say, with TV Programs, Radio Stations, Google, etc... You are not guaranteed that you will be happy with the company or product you choose. There is just too much competition in everything and you really just don't know what to choose. Word of Mouth seems to seal deals from that persons experiences and thoughts.
Liz said:
on Friday 16-Feb-18 07:47 AM
Word of mouth is truly the only way to go, most of our clients have been referred by someone else and this adds a personal touch to it. People are always promised many things on television and the internet but in the end what one can really rely on is personal experience.
Lucretia said:
on Thursday 15-Feb-18 05:53 PM
I am a firm believer that word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising - it can also be the most damaging and that is why it is always important to put out a good message as the one advertising.
Henrietta said:
on Thursday 15-Feb-18 10:00 AM
I have always been a firm believer that word of mouth is the best advertising, cheapest and realest. It more honest than promises on TV especially if you know the person. I also believe that word of mouth can either break you or bring you greatest happiness therefore it is so important to always be on your best foot. People like to gossip.
Jadine Richards said:
on Tuesday 13-Feb-18 03:54 PM
I agree that word of mouth works best. In this crazy world, people are now even more dependent on a trusted referral. I always feel better to use a company or product based on personal referrals as it at least gives you peace of mind that somebody else has tried the product or service out for themselves and if they can still say something nice about them, they surely then must be the best!!!
Tamaryn said:
on Tuesday 13-Feb-18 12:10 PM
Whenever I'm looking around for something I tend to ask around first. Google and websites are generally only my second port of call. I like to hear the first hand experience first, and then do my research from there. Most long surviving businesses made themselves a success through word of mouth.
Michelle D said:
on Tuesday 13-Feb-18 08:30 AM
Word of mouth is exceptionally important, especially in a country like South Africa where access to information resources is scarce. Word of mouth instills trust in clients more so than any other means of advertising.
Sarah said:
on Monday 12-Feb-18 03:57 PM
Word of mouth can make or break a business. People influence each other without them even knowing. If you hear about one firm the whole time you will land up using them
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Monday 12-Feb-18 12:49 PM
No matter how sophisticated technology gets the absolute best type of advertising is word of mouth. Anything I need done or interested in I would 100% rather go with a company that a friend or family member has used. This is why it is important to treat your clients well from start to finish.Word of mouth can make or break your business!
Megan said:
on Monday 12-Feb-18 08:47 AM
Word of mouth is the most truthful review as the person has had first hand experience with the business or company but it doesn't hurt trying something yourself since we do not all have the same tastes.
Jadine E said:
on Monday 12-Feb-18 07:35 AM
People tend to find that firms they have heard of are much much more trustworthy than one they have never heard of especially from family members or friends (word of mouth).
Michelle said:
on Monday 12-Feb-18 07:32 AM
Word of mouth is definitely the best version to advertise. Most of the time I'm very sceptical to make use of a place, if I never heard of it or don't know someone who made use of it previously. The only problem is also that word of mouth can be your worst enemy, but obviously only if you are not a successful company. And one of the best things of a word of mouth is that, it’s an advertise method that is for free.
Mathilda Du Preez said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 03:00 PM
I must say if someone asks me where I work and I say De Broglio most if not all of them have heard of us or will refer to the advert on TV
I think the way you are advertising and also all our client that are happy with the service we deliver and actually getting good results will most definitely refer someone to us if need be
Word of mouth is very powerful, myself personally will much rather go to a new spa, shop etc. if someone said to me that they are really amazing
Daniella said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 02:00 PM
Word of mouth is always the best form of advertising! firstly it is completely free and secondly people tend to trust a brand/name once they have heard it from a trustworthy source and seen the results.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 01:50 PM
Word of mouth is always associated with a good reputation which we are proud to have! We cannot forget how many people within the population don't have access to internet and or other vices, hence word of mouth certainly expands further! Touting within the realm of personal injury law is fast becoming a problem and is tarnishing the reputation of those firms that don't engage in such unethical behaviour as all attorneys seem to be painted with the same brush, which isn't fair!! There should be harsher punitive orders against those attorneys.
Alexis said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 12:00 PM
Word of mouth is the best - and we offer the best service we possibly can and so I am not surprised - I get a lot of word of mouths and very few others. The best is when people call in asking if we tout - well offer their services for touting - as soon as I tell them whats what, most usually put the phone down in my ear
Bianca N said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 08:57 AM
Word of mouth is the best marketing there is, because people will more likely trust a person who has had a personal experience with a company that an ad on TV. That is why it is important that we give our clients the best service possible so that they will recommend us to friends and people they know.
Nina said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 08:50 AM
Word of mouth will always be the best way of "advertising". I think if you manage to get a lot of new clients by way of word of mouth, you are definitely doing something right.
Clare said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 08:20 AM
I for one think that the best why of advertising your company is by word of mouth, I know many companies so many products that have the best adverts to advise there products that are horrible. If I heard about a product by a friend or a Family member then I would try it on their Recommendations and I haven't be disappointed yet.
Sharne said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 08:02 AM
I do agree, When I hear a friend gives a good review of a place or product I'm also keen to try it. When I hear they have had a bad experience I wont waste my time thinking same will happen to me.
Zindy said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 07:42 AM
I think a company's reputation will invite clients to want to be apart of there success. To me touting seems desperate. To run to a hospital after a client has just been in a major accident to get the claim. Sometimes these poor clients put there trust in this person and then there claim does not even get lodged. Rather do homework and put your trust in a company you want to be with and not just settle for anything.
fikile said:
on Friday 09-Feb-18 07:22 AM
I think that it's best to let the client to come to you cause going to them is like you thinking about yourself and not the client, and in most cases as a company we always have to think about the client and make sure that they are always happy with us and what we have for them and what we can do to help them with what they are going through
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
