With the pandemic constantly changing, it’s likely your firm has had to make many adaptations to find a “new normal”. One of these may be having more virtual meetings with clients, rather than meeting in person. While on these video calls, it’s important you still represent yourself and your firm in a respectable manner, just as if the meeting was happening in person. Next time you have a video call with a client, try using these tips:

• Test your wireless connection before the call. Don’t further delay a meeting by finding out your internet connection isn’t working while you’re supposed to be on a call. Instead, test your connection before the scheduled call time. You may also want to test the video call application you are using beforehand. If you have any troubles, you can easily change platforms or fix your connection before the call even begins.
• Check your background. You don’t want to have anything distracting or inappropriate in your background, especially if you are working from home. If you are a Social Security disability attorney, you may even want to consider changing your background to something neutral or blur your background. This can help those with lower vision see you better.
• Find a quiet place. Whether you are home or at your firm, you should find a quiet place to take your calls. If you have a loud background, it can be distracting not only for you, but also for your client on the other end of the call. Some clients may also prefer you are in quiet place away from others to keep details of their claim confidential.
• Silence your email and phone. Turning off notifications from your email and phone can help cut down on the number of distractions. In addition, if your laptop sends push notifications, your client may be able to hear the ping going off as a new email comes in.
• Look into the lens. By looking straight into the lens and not at yourself on the screen, it will seem as if you are looking into their eyes, not down. This can help make you seem more engaged as well as help engage your client more.
• Wear work appropriate clothing. This should go without saying, but dress as you would dress if you were meeting your client in at your firm. This includes your pants. If you are working from home, it may be tempting to just wear sweatpants, but you never know when you may need to unexpectedly stand up while on a video call.
• Try closed caption calls. If you are disability attorney, this may help set you apart from the rest. It’s likely you may have clients that are hard of hearing or rely on lipreading to communicate. If a video skips or you are too far away from the camera, then it may be difficult to communicate during the call. Instead, try using a program that will automatically caption your calls. Many services like Skype, Zoom and Google Meet all have options to set up closed captioning for your calls.

These are just a few tips to help with maintaining productive client meetings, even when you need to work from home. Continuing to ask for feedback from your clients on what may make a video call more comfortable for them can help your firm continue to make clients comfortable during virtual meetings.