Turn your next client event into real business

Part party planning, part marketing 101

Are you looking for a great way to meet new prospects? How about sharing your expertise and ideas with a select group of potential customers? Or, gaining more business with current clients? You can do all three by hosting a successful client event, says Charlotte Landram, a highly successful leader of sales organizations, professional coach, and founder of High Impact Systems in Phoenix.

“All sales professionals struggle from time to time with finding efficient and effective ways to identify prospects…and nurturing relationships with current clients,” Landram says. “These are critical components of marketing yourself and your business. Special events are a great tool to utilize – if you plan for success…before, during and after the event.”

Here’s a sure-fire, step-by-step approach to planning and holding a successful client event – and using that event to put yourself in front of your prospect list, recognize customers, and even gain new business from your best clients.

Create the right environment. If you’ve ever planned a child’s birthday party, thrown a bridal shower or arranged a golf outing for coworkers, you know about party themes and setting the right tone for a gathering. Planning a successful client event involves some of the same upfront considerations: What do I want to accomplish with this event? What message do I want to send with my invitation? What do I want people to do after they attend?

How can you create the best environment for building business with your event? By recognizing it’s a marketing event – not a sales event, Landram says.

“Your client event should be all about creating awareness around you and your business, meeting people you really have an interest in meeting, highlighting the strengths of your company’s product or service lines, and starting conversations that will lead to mutual opportunities,” Landram says.

“Think about some of the events, trade shows, and seminars you’ve attended, the mood the organizers established, and how you felt as an attendee. What things piqued your interest? What made you comfortable, open and engaged? Were there conditions that made you want to find the nearest exit?

“Strive to create an environment that helps you achieve your objective – whether that’s identifying new business prospects, sharing news about just-introduced products and services your company offers, or thanking existing clients for their confidence in you,” Landram adds.

Campaign for success. Take a lesson from candidates running for office and establish a campaign of information and excitement around your event, Landram suggests.

“You must think about a series of messages to prospects and clients,” Landram says. “Develop a systematic plan to market your event, and give yourself enough time to carry out the plan. This is no time to think you call pull off a successful event on really short notice -- with a quick call to a group of people you’ve never talked to before.”

Instead, Landram counsels, manage your event campaign in stages: Secure enough help from others in your office or from other supporters; gain the necessary awareness with your target audience with a series of communications over a reasonable time; and devise a thorough follow-up plan.

“You can’t afford to waste any momentum once your event planning is in motion,” Landram says. “This includes working out all details and contingencies at your event venue, ensuring invitations are printed and distributed according to plan, addressing questions and issues immediately, and having a detailed plan to follow up with all attendees after the event.

“Remember that everything surrounding your event is a reflection on you, your brand and your business -- especially the small details,” Landram adds.

“You don’t want to stumble at any point during your campaign.”

Convey a sense of urgency, exclusivity. Even if you can give people a month to accept your event invitation…and you really have seats for 150 people, it’s very wise to convey a sense of urgency and exclusivity with your initial communications and invitations. Set a sooner rather than later response date, and stress that seating is limited: “We’d love to see you at our next event; please let us know your availability by Friday.” Heighten the “special” part of your special event: “You’ll be the first to learn about these new services…”

“There’s both an art and science to extending and accepting invitations,” Landram notes, “and you can find lots of information and tips in business etiquette books if you need extra help.

“And, I always suggest to people they ask a couple friends or coworkers to review their invitations before they go out. Get some feedback. Will your invitation get opened? Would others accept your invite? Does it include all the necessary information? What expectations have you set for the event?”

Be a detail devil. The devil is in the details when it comes to managing registrations, confirmations and event reminders, Landram says. Not surprisingly, how you carry out this portion of your event plan really sets the stage for a successful turnout and outcome. Be a well-organized and conscientious devil…and be ready to welcome a roomful of engaged prospects or grateful clients!

Heed these tips from Landram:

■ Ensure complete venue information is included with your invitation (map, driving and/or public transportation directions, parking information, venue accommodations and details, etc.). Also prepare this information in formats for follow-up mailings, faxes and web site postings.

■ Acknowledge registrations immediately. This communication helps build attendance commitment, and enables you to begin a personal dialog with prospects. Ask registrants to contact you if their plans change unexpectedly and they have to cancel.

■ Deliver reminder notices about midway through your event timeline to anyone who has registered. This, too, helps ensure commitment, alerts you to any significant rsvp changes, and signals to your invitees that (again) you’re looking forward to their attendance.

■ If you haven’t heard back from people by your deadline, by all means follow up and re-issue your invitation. Think of an additional incentive you can offer to encourage attendance. Maybe you’ve just secured another speaker…or are offering copies of a just-released book to all participants.

■ Make personal phone calls to every registrant 24 hours prior to your scheduled event. This contact gives you the opportunity to review all event logistics and answer any last-minute questions. If you’re not able to reach your invited guest, ask them to return your call if they’ve been forced to change their plans.

■ Make every effort to complete the registration process prior to the event so you have an accurate attendance count and complete contact information in-hand. If you do welcome at-the-door attendees, work out a plan to efficiently collect all necessary follow-up information. You don’t want to be scrambling at the end of the event to collect business cards or phone numbers.

It’s showtime! You’re wearing your favorite suit…your hair looks great…you’re expecting a great group of people…your presentation is ready…you’ve even rehearsed a tasteful opening joke. Take a couple deep breaths, smile, and get set to have some fun.

“Spend as much time as possible with everyone,” Landram says. “It’s imperative that you personally greet and meet everyone – or if your event is being hosted by several people, make sure your day-of staffing allows everyone to share this responsibility. There’s absolutely no harm in having an attendee meet all hosts; you just don’t want anyone to miss a personal welcome and introduction at the door.”

As an event host, Landram suggests you have available cards all attendees may fill out with comments, individual questions or specific requests.

“Encourage people to fill these out and provide a bit of information about themselves and their needs,” Landram explains. “These cards (or information sheets if you’d rather) will be very helpful as you make follow-up calls and visits with prospects and clients. Asking people to share information this way also helps ensure you remain focused on your primary topic and agenda during the event – and enables you to be fully prepared with information your guests may have requested when you make your follow-up calls.”

The day after. You undoubtedly expended a great deal of energy preparing for and hosting your client event – but today is not a day to roll into the office at mid-day. You have some critical work to do today – and you need to be at the top of your game.

“A huge success factor for your event is how you manage the contacts you just made,” Landram says. “Here’s where you can really demonstrate your professionalism and follow through, and make a strong impression with prospects or solidify relationships with existing clients.

“Send an acknowledgement to everyone who attended your event,” Landram suggests. If you held the event as a group, divide up this responsibility. These acknowledgements can be sent by e-mail, postal mail, or done by phone – whatever method is reasonable based on your numbers and resources.

“Your objective here is to capitalize on momentum you established during your event,” Landram adds. “Don’t risk wasting opportunities you created. Thank people for attending, and remind them why their attendance was important. Ask for feedback. Ask to do business with them.

“From this day-after follow-up you can create a systematic plan for ongoing communications and working with your new prospects and current customers,” Landram says. “You may even generate ideas and begin earnest plans for your next client event!”

Be the host with the most…sales opportunities to follow up on, that is!

“So often I’ll hear stories from sales people on how they planned a great client event and even had lots of people attend,” Landram says. “Several days or weeks later they’ll ask me, ‘What happened? I thought I had a good group of prospects, but very few are returning my calls. I’ve only set up a couple appointments. I feel like I wasted my time and money…’

“What these sales professionals are wasting, unfortunately, are some golden opportunities,” Landram says. “It’s so important to use the momentum generated by the client event itself and follow up immediately with prospects and customers.

“It’s the perfect time to elaborate on material presented during the event, do some fact finding, answer questions, share your expertise, and leverage these newly formed relationships,” Landram stresses.