Clients hire professional service company from a referral because a referral conveys the trust needed to be involved in a business’s most valuable asset, information.
If you are in the professional services business, new business depends on strong relationships with your trusted referral partners. Strong relationships take time to develop the trust to know each other well enough to be top of mind. Strong relationships aren’t created by occasionally meeting over coffee. One way to do that is to do interesting activities together. For example, go for a hike, attend a social event, or do a hobby or sport such as squash, hiking, tennis, flying a drone.
Here’s a list 40+ 1-on-1 ideas curated by me and my referral partners.
- Go for a long walk
- Attend a social event together
- Go on a bike ride
- Go to Prison (PEP.org)
- Go on a hike
- Tango Dancing
- Road Trip
- Fly Fishing
- Share a hobby together (i.e., Music Jam, fly a drone)
- Travel together
- White Water Rafting
- Skiing
- Meet for a beer, coffee, lunch, or happy hour
- Never Eat Alone
- Do a Jazz Crawl (or Blues, or Rock, …)
- Go out on a double date to listen to live music
- Take them to a networking event
- Axe Throwing
- Escape Room
- Entertain at home, such as a dinner party
- Wine tasting event
- Help someone with their charity
- Golf event
- Motorcycle ride
- Go to a shooting range
- Deep sea fishing
- Copartner on an event together
- Scotch, wine, or tequila tasting
- Movie
- iFly
- Art exhibit
- Comedy club
- Drag Race
- Go to trade show together
- Dog day
- Go to the theater together
- Go to a professional ball game together
- Rodeo BBQ
- Trail ride
- Bible study
- Book club
- Beer Crawl
- Charity Long Distance Bike Ride
- Client Appreciation Event
- Folk concert at home
What are some 1-on-1s you have done?