Pretty much the title of the post, just curious.
What are the pretty standard things?
Is it normal to go above and beyond with things like sending annual Christmas cards to buyside clients that you’ve served or M&A lawyers you’ve worked with?
Also what does building the relationships look like? Do you just get talking to people at Borough Market drinks?
cheers
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On my side, I rarely do any of the cards to clients (and definitely not to lawyers or other advisors).
Unless the client likely has no fee potential in the future, we'll likely continue to meet either (A) in professional meetings which are either in-person or VCs where there might be a little chit chat at the start, but we get down to business fairly quickly; (B) for lunch / coffee / breakfast / a drink where there might be a bit of personal chat (usually more than (A)), but we'll still talk business for the most part.
Maybe others do it differently (honestly I'm not much of a talker and unless it's with a genuine friend, don't enjoy personal chit chat), but for me what is important is that (in my view) clients only value the relationship for the content you as a banker bring. You can't build a relationship (professionally) just by chatting about sports and travel (again, professionally). Clients will find it more a nuisance that they're sort of obliged to do.
Thank for the response!
One of the main metrics seniors are judged on (besides deals, which they may not have real control over) is number of meetings.
You are absolutely expected to meet with your clients regularly - whether just to touch base, pitching some deal, or just seeing what else they may need - BBs in particular expect you to cross-sell their other products like treasury and debt services
A lot of this is just old-fashioned in-office meetings. Lawyers are looking for money, they are not clients and you don't need to butter them up. But you definitely keep in regular contact with your coverage
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