Shared Experiences Build Stronger Client Relationships
Clients rarely remember another coffee meeting. They do remember shared experiences. Discover how creating memorable interactions can deepen trust and strengthen client relationships.
Ask a law firm partner what business development they did last month, and a top answer will be “having coffee | lunch with a client”. While there is certainly a place for the strategic coffee and lunch meeting, more often than not they go nowhere.
So, in a market where it’s ever more difficult to stand-out from the competition, what can you be doing to be memorable?
As it would happen, that is the topic for this BD Tips Wednesday post: creating shared experiences with clients.
Why Experiences Matter More Than Meetings
Business development is wholly about building trust with your customer. And trust is almost never built through formal presentations across a boardroom table. As one of my clients said to me in the days when I used to pretend to be a lawyer: “trust is built in the trenches” - it's built through shared moments.
When clients and lawyers participate in small close-knit activities together, the dynamic changes. Hierarchies flatten. Conversations become more authentic. People reveal more about themselves and what's important to them.
This is where real relationships and trust begin.
Some Examples of Shared Experiences
Pizza-Making Classes: Pizza-making is inherently collaborative. It involves creativity, teamwork, and shared outcomes. There is something powerful about creating something together from scratch. It naturally encourages conversation, humour and interaction. Unlike formal meetings, participants are relaxed. Barriers drop quickly. These environments often lead to the kinds of conversations where clients reveal real business challenges, future plans and concerns: all valuable insights that rarely emerge in structured settings.
Escape Rooms: Escape rooms are very effective for building trust with clients as they simulate problem-solving under pressure. Clients get to see first-hand how you deal with pressure as participants must communicate clearly, think strategically and collaborate efficiently.
Rock Climbing: Rock climbing introduces an element of trust that few other activities can provide. Climbers literally rely on others for safety and support. This creates immediate and meaningful trust connections.
Whichever you chose, clients often remember these experiences vividly and associate positive emotions with the experience.
Why These Activities Are Powerful Relationship Builders
The delivery of professional services is often intangible. Clients cannot easily evaluate quality until after the work is delivered.
Shared activities allow clients to observe how you work and your thought process up close. They get to see:
How you and your team communicate
How your team supports each other
How your team handles challenges
This builds confidence in you and your team – and confidence is the pathway to trust.
Takeaway: Memorable Firms Win More Work
When technical capability is similar, clients often choose service providers they like working with and trust.
But at the end of the day, whether good or bad, memorable firms stay top-of-mind. Again, shared experiences – good or bad - create stories; and stories create recall.
So ask yourself: Do you want to be the firm that stays top of mind because
“that’s the firm that helped us escape the escape room”; or
“that’s the firm that sent us a 30-page generic capability statement.”
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Add the personal touch to your business development with a handwritten Christmas card
In a digital world, handwritten Christmas cards remain a powerful way to strengthen client relationships and demonstrate genuine appreciation.
There are few more personal ways to thank a person for the support they have shown you and your business over the past 12 month than to send them a handwritten Christmas card.
Unlike e-cards, which to be honest I have never been a massive fan of (but can see both the financial and ecological savings if you are sending several hundred/thousand), a handwritten note in a Christmas card adds that personal touch to the message that, to me, enhances the gratitude being shown.
Some tips
If you're going to send a handwritten note in a Christmas card to a key contact or referrer this year, make sure to:
Provide context: to why the card is being sent. For example: "it been a pleasure working with you over the past 12 months and we look forward to supporting you in the future".
Personalise it: include a private note about something that happened this year.
Keep it professional: remember, it’s a Christmas card to a client/referrer, so be personal but keep it professional - no saucy joke cards you can find in some stores please!
Keep it brief: again, it's professional, so keep it brief. The recipient of the card doesn't have a lot of time to read this card and probably has a few more cards than just yours to read, so make sure to keep this to a couple of well-thought-out sentences at most.
The simple, relatively inexpensive, gesture of sending a handwritten Christmas card can leave a lasting impression on your client. It could well be the small differentiator that you are looking for to stand your business out from its competitors!
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.