The gap between trust and new work

Being well liked is not the same as being the first person called when work appears.

That gap comes up often in our Accelerator.

As a lawyer or consultant, you are well connected. You have warm client relationships and people genuinely like working with you.

But when a new issue appears, the work still goes somewhere else.

The client may trust you, but still not connect your expertise to the problem sitting on their desk right now. And that is where opportunities get lost quietly.

So, the next step is becoming commercially clearer.

In practice, that means you have to show where your expertise fits by naming the client problem you solve and always making the next step obvious.

Think about your next client conversation. What is one sentence that connects your expertise to a current business issue?

For example: “We’re seeing [specific issue] affect teams in your situation. It may be useful to compare notes on how you’re currently approaching [relevant area].”

Simple, relevant, not pushy.

It shows where your expertise fits, names a problem they may recognize, and makes the next step easier.

That is how warm relationships start turning into commercial momentum.

 Best,
Anja Kreutzahler
CEO & Founder of peakleap

P.S. Warm relationships are valuable. But in professional services, value grows fastest when trust becomes a next step.