Whenever I begin working with a new client, there's one thing I do before our first meeting.

I Google them.

Not because I'm trying to uncover something negative. I'm trying to experience their business the same way a prospective client would. It's a surprisingly revealing exercise, and one I think every professional services firm should do on a regular basis.

Many firms still believe referrals are enough. They assume that once someone hears their name from a trusted source, the hard part is over.

In reality, referrals have changed.

Today, a referral simply earns you a Google search.

Before someone schedules a meeting, they visit your website. They look at your LinkedIn profile. They search for interviews, videos, articles, and any evidence that reinforces the recommendation they just received. They're asking themselves one simple question: Does this firm look as credible online as the person who referred them?

Most of us rarely experience our own business from that perspective.

This week, I'd encourage you to spend just fifteen minutes doing exactly that.

Open an Incognito or Private Browsing window so your previous searches don't influence the results. Search your own name first. Then search your firm's name.

What appears on the first page?

If someone had never heard of you before today, would they immediately understand what your firm does? Would they see evidence of expertise, or would they find an outdated bio, a few directory listings, and not much else?

Next, click through to your website.

Give yourself thirty seconds.

Can you quickly answer three questions?

Who are these people?

Why should I trust them?

Why should I contact them instead of someone else?

If the answers aren't obvious, they're probably not obvious to your prospects either.

Finally, take a look at your LinkedIn profile. Not your feed. Your profile. Does it reinforce your expertise and make you memorable, or does it read like a digital résumé? Most professional services firms spend years building outstanding reputations offline while neglecting the place where prospective clients are actually validating those reputations.

One of the biggest surprises when I perform visibility audits is how often firms have all the right credentials but fail to communicate them. Their expertise is real. Their online presence simply doesn't reflect it.

The encouraging part is that these are usually fixable problems. Updating a headline, improving an About page, adding a founder story, publishing a few thoughtful articles, or simply making your website easier to understand can dramatically improve the first impression someone has of your business.

Once every quarter, block fifteen minutes on your calendar and conduct your own "First Impression Audit."

Search your name.

Search your firm.

Visit your website.

Review your LinkedIn profile.

Then compare the experience with one of your competitors.

You'll almost certainly leave with a short list of improvements, and those small improvements have a way of compounding over time.

Your next client may never tell you they Googled you first.

That doesn't mean they didn't.

That’s a wrap for now!