Client appreciation events are one of the most important keys to a successful internal marketing strategy. They should be fun and affordable, and marketing these events should be similar to marketing a massive open house. These events can help you network and engage with new clients as well as the awesome ones you already have!
Michael Hellickson details client appreciation events and what you need to do to market them
CLIENT EVENTS
Client events should be fun for everyone. Your clients didn’t come expecting an hour-long seminar about buying and selling homes. The event should be about THEM and appreciating their business. If you’d like to read about business-oriented client care, read here.
Client events should be held about once per quarter, and they don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. In our PDF download, we have tons of affordable ideas for fun events ranging from the kid-friendly to happy hours and the adult-oriented!
Remember, your clients will always be thinking “W.I.I.F.M”: “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?” So make the event ALL about them.
This download includes ideas for your client event, and what you should be doing BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER the event. Your event can be successful, you just need to follow the process!
Marketing
When marketing these events, you will want to take a very hands-on and aggressive approach. You want as many clients to attend as possible – make sure everyone knows in advance that it is FREE! In hosting the event, your tacit goal is to ensure your clients and others know that you’ll take care of them before, during, and after the sale, and make them feel secure in their choice of a real estate agent.
6 Weeks Before Event:
- Select a date and location & book the venue (if necessary)
- Identify which team member(s) will run the event (Assistant, team leader)
- Friend every client on Facebook (this should already be done!)
- Post on Facebook every 3 days! (Buffer can help schedule these)
- Run targeted Facebook ads to the emails in your database
- Video blog about the upcoming event, make sure this link is shared and boosted!
- Email the link to the blog to your entire database
Getting your event organized and your social media posts set up is the first step in getting everything together and ready to send to your clients.
4 Weeks Before Event:
- Call your clients: Let them know who, what, when, where, why!
- Email your clients
- Snail mail your clients (Postcard/Brochure)
- Post the event on your personal Facebook page and personally invite your clients.
- Text A+, A, and B clients to invite them to the event (video text is best!)
3 Weeks Before Event:
- Social Media Posting (every three days – keep it up!)
- Email a reminder to your database
2 Weeks Before Event:
- Email out ANOTHER reminder to your database
- Call your clients, to remind them of the event
- Snail mail a reminder
1 Week Before Event:
- Start confirming attendance, via phone and email
- Text your A+, A and B clients for confirmation of attendance (again, video text is best!)
3 Days Before Event:
- Confirm attendance once more via phone call
- Confirm attendance via text as well!
AT the Event:
When you are at the event, you need to take photos with EVERYONE. You should have photos of you with each client and photos of just the clients having a great time. You can use these photos in future marketing. At the event, distribute postcards or flyers for your next event!
AFTER the Event:
There are a few things you need to do after the event – because after all, the fortune is in the follow-up!
Those who helped set up and run the event deserve a personal, handwritten note.
Share the photos in your newsletter and on your Facebook! When sharing the event photos on Facebook, you need to spread them out over a week or more, to ensure that you get consistent traction on your posts. Tagging the clients in the photos will also help with this – get the conversation going about how much fun your event was!
Email your entire database pictures and links to the pictures so they can go look at what they missed out on – OR, for the clients that attended, to look back on how much fun they had!
Last but not least, call all of the attendees and thank them for coming to your event. This is also a great opportunity to mention your next event and personally invite them to it.
If you haven’t already, download the PDF, as it includes ideas for client appreciation events and a step-by-step guide detailing what you should be doing before, during, and after each event!
EXAMPLES:
Kathleen Beasley, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Free Movie Day!
Jeremy Mellick, Maple Valley, WA. Pictures with Santa!
