Private Client Events that Get Results

Key Takeaways

• Design client events by defining your key goals.

• Identify top clients, ideal prospective clients, and professional partners for your audience.

• Include a call-to-action that moves people to take the next step and want to work with you.

To build great relationships with clients, you have to deliver a service experience that impresses and excites them.

Going beyond the office environment and building meaningful relationships with clients in other ways can be extremely powerful. Private client events are among the best ways to build and reinforce your credibility with clients and prospects.

And yet, these types of organized events are too often overlooked or poorly implemented.

To make private client events work effectively, you need to understand how they are different from the more typical seminars or presentations you may be accustomed to. Private client events are designed to speak to a small group of select invitees who you have identified as your target audience. Presentations that are aimed at the public or large groups are not usually effective at delivering affluent clients, because affluent people generally aren’t attracted to big, public seminars. Events that are more intimate, feel exclusive, and offer a level of privacy, tend to be much more appealing for them.

For many top professionals, private client events have become a key part of landing highly desirable clients. From a marketing perspective, they can feel more more comfortable, making it easier for both prospects and professionals to connect.

With that in mind, here are some techniques to consider if you want to design and conduct high-quality private events — which we encourage you to do!

Start at the Finish Line

The first step is to think about your end game. Try to not lose sight of the key purpose of your events: to generate a stream of prospects, both prequalified and pre-endorsed. You need to think tactically so everything you do with, and at, your event has a purpose.

We have seen professionals spend a great deal of time creating inspiring content and lining up amazing speakers for their presentations, while completely overlooking the final component: the follow up — that effort that helps achieve the purpose of holding the event in the first place. You may have conducted a presentation only to feel a “post-seminar letdown”. Thought it felt like a successful seminar, after the warm glow of the event fades, it does not result in an increase of significant business. Why? Because, in all the attention paid to the planning, set up, and execution of the event, it is easy to forget that the effort should not end there. 

To avoid this classic mistake, plan out your marketing events 12 months in advance and then move backward to design the presentation. Your focus should be on a specific goal: getting qualified prospects to attend introductory meetings where you can evaluate their situation. Anyone who attends one of your events should be given your upcoming calendar. When they can see your future presentations and topics, your hope is that they might see another that they, or a friend, would also like to attend.

IMPORTANT: The odds of someone working with you on the strength of a single event are not great. But if you give people a list of your future events, they then have multiple opportunities to get to know you and feel

comfortable. Instead of being a one-and-done tactic, events become an ongoing strategy.

Know Your Audience

As you focus on the task of designing the event itself, keep in mind that at each event you will likely have three types of attendees for whom you should have specific goals:

1. Clients. Your goals with existing clients are to solidify those relationships and continue to reinforce yourself as the go-to expert for addressing their needs. You know the level of competition you face. Private events can function as a great tool for client retention.

2. Prospective Clients. Your goal with this group is to allow them to “test drive” you in a comfortable setting where no commitment is required.

3. Other Professionals. With strategic partners or members of your expert team, you have two goals. The first is to develop joint business opportunities. The second is to have them see you through the eyes of clients and prospective clients. You want to demonstrate the impact that your insights and communication skills have on attendees.

Market Intelligently

Send invitations to your events only to existing clients or to individuals who are qualified for your service. You have three sources to find these qualified individuals:

• Your existing clients. When you invite your ideal clients to your events, invite them to bring along affluent friends or other associates who they think might benefit from the services you provide.

• Your strategic partners and your expert team members. Their clients should also be invited to your events. Depending on your arrangement, invitations can either be sent out directly from your strategic partner or sent jointly. These clients should also be welcome to invite other friends and associates, as well.

• Affinity groups in your niche. Affinity groups are any associations, clubs, or other organizations of people who share a common interest or goal. The leaders of many of these groups are often looking for ways to add value to their members — something you can do through your events — and will likely be happy for you to invite their members.

As you create your invitation list for each event, remember that smaller is better. You do not have to do large events to facilitate your business growth. Plus, smaller groups feel more exclusive for the attendees. Therefore, limit your audiences to no more than 30 people to create an intimate, comfortable atmosphere. A smaller group will also provide more opportunities for you to address individual questions from the audience and make personal contact after the presentation. 

Create an Impressive Presentation

Include the concerns and issues of your audience in your content to capture their attention and demonstrate that you are THE expert for them.

In today’s environment, that may mean a presentation on the major areas that most concern affluent investors or their families — such as protecting wealth, enhancing wealth, estate planning, and charitable giving. Don’t use prepackaged seminars — even ones marketed to appeal to affluent investors. They often appear stale and impersonal, and are not likely to properly position you as an expert in your market. If you have written any white papers, create presentations using this content and even consider distributing them as your handout (further enhancing your credibility with your attendees).

Another way to ensure an impressive presentation is to encourage your attendees to take action. Have supplies available to all attendees to create summaries. As you present your content, encourage them to write down the actions they feel will best address their issues. This will create a road map for them to follow through on your invitation to meet with you. It also will remind them about how much they manage in their lives. Be sure to present yourself as the right advisor to help them with the tasks they have now identified.

Conclusion

Private client events are not the key to success for every professional service provider out there. But if you are someone who enjoys public speaking and working with a target audience that will attend those types of get togethers, you may find that private client events can help you stand out from the crowd while strengthening your position as a go-to expert with the people you most want to serve.