The Most Underused Business Development Tactic: Walk and Talk Meetings

For professional services firms, most business development related conversations happen in predictable settings: boardrooms, cafés or over video calls. They’re typically structured, often rushed, and framed by time constraints that subtly shape how people interact.‍ ‍

But some of the most effective business development conversations don’t happen sitting down at all. They happen when you are out walking.

The “walk and talk” meeting is one of the most underused tools in professional services. It strips away formality, changes the dynamic of the conversation and, done well, can lead to more open, honest and commercially meaningful discussions.

So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I take a look at creating the right conditions for better conversations – when you walk and talk.

Why Walking Changes the Conversation

There is something fundamentally different about walking side-by-side compared to sitting across a table. In a traditional sit-down meeting, the structure is clear:

• There is an agenda.

• There is a start and end.

• There is often an implicit expectation to “get through” topics.

This type of structure can be useful, and it certainly has its place in your business development arsenal; but it can also limit the quality of the interaction and conversations your having with clients and referrers.

When you walk with a client, referrer or prospect, the dynamic shifts. The conversation becomes less transactional and more natural. Without the pressure of eye contact across a table, people tend to speak more freely. There is less interruption, fewer formal pauses and more space for ideas to develop.

In business development, this matters.

Because the goal of business development is not just to exchange information, it’s to truly understand what is really going on behind the surface of a client’s needs. It’s about gaining the trust of the other person in the conversation. And there really is no more natural way of doing that than going for a walk with them!

Better Conversations Lead to Better Work

Most professionals assume that business development success comes from better proposals, sharper pricing or stronger credentials. The reality is those things matter far less than the quality of the conversations that happen before any proposal is written.

Walk and talk meetings create the right conditions for:

• Clients to share concerns they may not raise in formal settings.

• Early identification of risks, frustrations, or internal pressures.

• More candid discussion about budgets, expectations and constraints.

• A clearer understanding of what “success” actually looks like for the client.

• A more informal environment to talk through career moves or advancements.

These are the insights that help you win work.

By the time a formal request or proposal stage is reached, the firms that have had these deeper conversations are already ahead. They are not guessing what the client wants, they already know.

Removing the “Meeting Fatigue” Barrier

There is another, more practical reason why walk and talk meetings work. People are tired of meetings.

Calendars are full, attention is fragmented and another “catch-up” often feels like an obligation rather than an opportunity.

But suggesting a walk reframes the interaction. It feels:

• Less like a meeting

• More like a break in the day

• Easier to say “yes” to

For time-poor clients, that small shift can be the difference between a delayed conversation and one that happens this week. And in business development, timing really matters.

When to Use Walk and Talk Business Development Meetings

Not every conversation should happen on the move. But there are specific situations where walk and talk meetings are particularly effective. They work well when:

• You are building or strengthening a relationship (not pitching)

• The conversation is exploratory rather than transactional

• You want to understand broader business challenges, not just a single matter

• The client is someone you already have a level of rapport with

They are less effective when:

• You need to review detailed documents

• Multiple stakeholders are involved

• The discussion is highly technical or requires visual material

• The client prefers formal settings

Like any business development tool, it is about choosing the right approach for the objective.

How to Structure It (Without Over-Structuring It)

The mistake many professionals make is trying to turn a walk into a “mobile boardroom.” That defeats the purpose.

Instead, think of it as a lightly guided conversation. Have a direction, not an agenda. A simple structure might be:

• Start with something broad: “What’s been taking up most of your time lately?”

• Let the conversation flow naturally

• Ask follow-up questions that explore impact, not just facts

• Only introduce your perspective where it adds value

The goal is not to “cover topics.” The goal is to uncover insight.

A Different Kind of Visibility

One of the recurring challenges in professional services is what might be called the visibility gap: capable firms lose work not because they lack expertise, but because clients don’t clearly see their value early enough.‍ ‍

Walk and talk meetings are a practical way to close that gap. They create space for:‍ ‍

• Demonstrating how you think, not just what you do

• Positioning yourself as someone who understands the client’s broader context

• Building familiarity and trust outside of formal deliverables

This is the kind of visibility that matters.

Not visibility through marketing activity, but visibility through meaningful interaction.

Takeaway

‍Most lawyers and law firms are not short of business development things to do. They attend events, send updates and prepare proposals.

What they often lack are the kinds of conversations that actually shape client decisions.

Walk and talk meetings are a small shift, but one that can materially change the quality of those conversations.

Next time you are scheduling a catch-up with a client, consider a different approach. Don’t default to a meeting room. Suggest going for a walk.

Because sometimes, the most valuable business development conversations happen when you stop sitting across the table and start walking alongside your client.

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.

Shared Experiences Build Stronger 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

1. “that’s the firm that helped us escape the escape room”; or

2. “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.

The Importance of Anticipating Common Client Objections

Most lawyers prepare extensively for their pitch, proposal or client meeting. They refine their capability statements, polish their pricing and rehearse their value proposition. Yet many are caught off guard by the most predictable part of the conversation: objections.

Objections are not barriers, they are signals. They indicate that the client is engaged, thinking critically and assessing risk. The rainmakers who consistently win work are not those who avoid objections, but those who anticipate them and are able to head them off before they are even raised or asked.

So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would take a quick look at 5 of the most common objections and how you can fend these off.

1. Pricing Concerns: The Most Predictable Objection

Pricing objections are almost never about the number itself. They are about uncertainty. Clients are worried about:

❌ Unexpected cost overruns

❌ Paying more than necessary

❌ Not receiving sufficient value

If you wait for the client to challenge your pricing, you're already on the defensive. Instead, address pricing proactively. Explain how your pricing works. Clarify what is included. Provide examples of outcomes and value delivered. Where possible, offer structured pricing models that provide predictability.

2. Timing Issues: The Fear of Delay

Clients often worry that engaging you will slow things down rather than accelerate progress. They may be thinking:

• How quickly can you start?

• Will this delay our internal timelines?

• Will we need to manage you closely?

You address timing objections by:

• Demonstrating readiness and structure

• Explaining your processes

• Outlining key milestones

• Showing that you have a clear plan for delivery.

When clients see that you operate with discipline and predictability, timing concerns diminish (although don't usually disappear altogether).

3. Quality Assurance: The Fear of Getting It Wrong

Many clients have had poor experiences with other service providers. They worry about rework, errors and inconsistency. Quality concerns are best addressed through evidence, not promises. This includes:

✔️ Relevant experience

✔️ Case studies and examples

✔️ Demonstrated processes

✔️ Clear review and quality control steps

Clients trust providers who can show, and not just claim, that they deliver high standards.

4. Competitor Comparisons: The Invisible Benchmark

Even when clients do not explicitly mention competitors, they are making comparisons. They are evaluating:

❓ Why choose you instead of someone else?

❓ What makes your approach different?

❓ What reduces the risk of choosing you?

If you do not articulate your differentiation, the client will default to safer or more familiar options. Anticipate this by clearly explaining your approach, your experience and your unique strengths.

Clients do not always choose the best provider. More often than not, they choose the provider they trust most to deliver the outcome they want or need.

5. Trust: The Objection Behind Every Objection

Most objections are not technical, they are emotional. Clients are asking themselves:

❓ Do I trust this person?

❓ Do they understand my situation?

❓ Will they follow through?

Trust is built through clarity, consistency and confidence.

When you anticipate objections, you demonstrate empathy. You show that you understand the client’s concerns before they have to voice them.

Takeaway: Anticipation Creates Confidence

The most effective rainmakers do not wait for objections; they design their conversations to address them naturally.

👉 They explain pricing clearly

👉 They communicate timelines confidently

👉 They demonstrate quality through evidence

👉 They articulate their differentiation

👉 They build trust through clarity

When objections are anticipated and addressed early, they rarely become barriers later. The client no longer feels they are taking a risk. They feel they are making a safe decision.

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.

Conversations, Not Presentations: Where Business Development Really Happens

Most business development efforts follow a similar tired format:

👉 A polished deck

👉 A rehearsed pitch

👉 A “let me tell you about us” monologue

Afterwards, we tell ourselves it was a “good meeting” because the client seemed engaged and we covered everything we wanted to say. But weeks later, nothing has changed. No follow-up. No new work. No deeper relationship. No momentum. Just another presentation delivered into the void.

And that's because - surprise, surprise, presentations don’t build relationships - Conversations do!

So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I'm going to run through a high-level overview of where business development really happens: In the conversations you have with your clients.

Presentations Feel Safe; Conversations Create Value

Presentations are a comfortable place for many professionals. They’re controlled and they let us stay in familiar territory and show how capable we are.

But they’re also one-way. A presentation broadcasts information.

Conversations are tough. For start, we have to engage with the other person and build a repour. But, conversation uncover insights that presentations never will. And that's because:

👉 clients don’t build trust in you because you have showed them 25 slides about your experience

👉 they build trust in you because they have felt heard, understood and respected. That only happens when the meeting is designed to learn, not perform.

In short: A presentation is about you; A conversation is about them.

The Real Shift: From Impressing to Understanding

As I have said several times on BD Tips Wednesday posts, real business development starts when you stop asking:

“How do I impress this client?”

…and start asking:

“How do I understand this client?”

Understanding goes far deeper than stated needs. It means being curious about:

• The internal pressure they’re under

• The risks they’re quietly managing

• The trade-offs they’re forced to make

• What “success” really looks like inside their organisation

• What internal KPIs they are being measured against

• Whether they like the person they are reporting too!

None of this shows up on a slide deck. It only comes out in conversation.

Why Conversations Change Your Positioning

Presentation-led meetings keep clients passive. They listen politely. They nod. They ask safe questions. Then they go home.

Conversation-led meetings make clients active. They think out loud. They test ideas. They reveal uncertainty. They explore risk.

That’s the moment your role shifts.

You stop being “a supplier”. You start becoming a thinking and trusted partner.

And that shift is where real business development leverage lives. Its not only where you sell, it's where you upsell and cross-sell.

Listening Is Not Soft, It’s Strategic.

The strongest business developers are rarely the loudest or most polished speakers in the room.

They are:

• Comfortable with silence

• Curious without being intrusive

• Patient enough to let the problem surface

• Confident enough not to rush to the solution

They don’t dominate the agenda. They adapt to what emerges.

That’s not passive behaviour. It’s deliberate positioning.

Listening signals confidence. It signals commercial intelligence. It signals that you’re not desperate to sell, which paradoxically makes clients more willing to engage and trust.

Conversations Create Momentum

Presentations create awareness. Conversations create movement.

When a client feels understood, they initiate next steps themselves. They follow up. They introduce colleagues. They ask for your perspective on adjacent issues.

The relationship starts moving without you pushing it.

That’s when business development stops feeling forced and starts feeling natural.

Takeaway: The Question That Actually Matters

So the real question isn’t:

“How good is your elevator pitch?”

It’s:

“How good is your listening?”

Because the best opportunities don’t come from what you present. They come from what you hear and - crucially - what you do with it.

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.

The P | A | S approach to building trust in your solutions

In his book Persuasive Business Proposals, Tom Sant sets out his P | A | R approach to writing case studies.

Here, P = Problem (set out the problem that needs solving); A = Action (action you needed to take to resolve the problem); and R = Result (self-explanatory).

I like Sant's work a lot and as with most authors whose work I like, I adapt their approach if I think it fits nicely with a business development tactic/initiative.

So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would introduce you the P | A | S approach to building trust in your ability to solve a client's problem.

The P | A | S approach

P = Problem

First of all you need to identify a problem that your client or target client either has or may have. This could be a compliance issue, the consequences of a change in legislation, etc.

Whatever it is, there needs to be a problem that needs solving.

A = Articulate

Second, you need to be able to articulate what the problem is in a way that your client or target client understands. This means, don't over complicate the issue - follow the KISS approach!

S = Solution

Lastly, you need to provide what the solution might look like. Again, you need to articulate in easy bite-size pieces how your solution will tackle or solve the problem in a way that means the client or target client choses you over your competitors.

Bringing it all together

Now you have a P | A | S structure to evidencing how you can solve your clients' problems, the next time you sit down to write a piece of thought leadership or marketing material, take a few minutes to write down on a piece of paper: "Am I addressing the P | A | S issues?".

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.