In almost every circumstance I’ve seen, client appreciation events WAY outperform other marketing or advertising activities. They build your brand, nurture your database, and allow you to meet new people, but they have to be marketed correctly.
Client Appreciation Events Are A Marketing Activity
Inviting someone to a party is the ultimate way to connect with the most important asset in your business, your DATABASE of relationships. The impactful marketing you can be doing in your business is nurturing the relationships you have in life because it’s a fact that over 70% of ALL agent business comes from people you know, not from technology or prospecting.
Having a client appreciation event is a marketing ploy to gather more referrals and repeat business if you do it right and consistently(1-4 times a year).
In addition think about all the excuses you have to “remind” your network that you’re in real estate or lending? You have email and direct mail invitations to send out. You also have social media images, events, and videos that can be created before, during, and after the event.
The entire “marketing” of the event allows you to make a HUGE splash telling everyone you’re in real estate without really telling them. This is what people remember. Plus it positions you as the expert. People who are having parties must know what they are doing right?
Who Do You Invite To A Client Appreciation Party?
Many realtors think their client appreciation event should only be for past clients? Everyone lives somewhere don’t they? This is mistake #1. Your friends, family, and past co-workers are future clients, unless you don’t expect them to use you when they are ready to buy or sell. They are also all referral sources because each of them has the ability to introduce your services to someone in their sphere(100% of the people you know, knows someone who is moving this year).
Inviting them to your client appreciation event allows them to see you in a professional light. They will see that you are more than their weekend buddy. This is what it takes to turn some people from “friend” into a referral source.
It’s only a matter of time until everyone in your network moves so the sooner the you program in their heads that you are their go to Realtor, the faster you will see their referrals and direct business.
I sold a house to a guy who came to my client appreciation event 4 years prior. When I asked him how he got my information he told me, “I was at your party dude, it was awesome”. I didn’t even have his email, he just remembered me and looked me up. That one deal paid for the whole event plus some, in addition to creating another client and referral source.
Client parties will bring you business and build your brand if you do them. The key is to not overthink it and brand them.
How Much Should I Spend?
As much as it takes. Yes, a client appreciation event can be expensive, but with a little creativity they don’t have to be. I used to do HUGE blow out parties and we used to spend $10,000-$15,000 on each event. The cost might seem high, but it wasn’t because we would sponsor those events out with our lender, closing attorney, and other strategic alliances. They were free to invite all of their database, which increased our overall attendance and impact.
I would also team up with my agents on my team and we would split the cost up amongst each other based on the total amount of agents participating to keep costs down. The end result was one bad ass party that people loved to attend. We used to average 400-600 people per event.
Client Appreciation Event Ideas
Rent Out A Nightclub/Bar– We would rent out a nightclub before they were open to the public from a 6-9 pm on a Thursday night and invite over 1,000 people through Evites, social media, email lists, and direct mail invitations. The reason we did a nightclub was because they had no kitchen,which helped lower the costs. The nightclub was also closed at the time we would do the event so it was a win win for both of us. We would do a 3 hour mega party, free drinks/food, host fundraiser, pictures, and even ice sculptures. The establishment monetized an early evening when they were typically closed.
After 6 years of doing this, it built a very solid brand.
Holiday Events– You can very easily host a “Pictures with Santa” or “Pictures With The Easter Bunny” for a client appreciation event. These are very inexpensive and an easy way for you to market your business and at the same time solve a problem many families face. As a father trust me when I say this, I don’t want to stand in line for 2 hours waiting for a 5 second picture with Santa.
You can do this in your office and totally sponsor the entire event out. Remember that the lines are super long at the malls and most parents just want the pictures so this is an easy way to get in front of them and brand yourself to remind people what you do for a living.
House Party– Have a party, yea at your house. Depending on your home set up, you may want to limit your invite list in this case, but just remember its the thought that counts. You can have a BBQ in your yard. This shouldn’t be too expensive and a great way to nurture your database. You can also host neighborhood BBQ as a farming technique to your community and sponsor your brand making it an event!
Fundraising Events– I love fundraising client appreciation events because it’s something most people can get around. I used to like raising money for foundations. A fundraiser can be less expensive because most of your sponsors should be donating towards the cause and your attendees should not have a problem paying some money at the door.
Your database will also appreciate what you are doing.
Local Events of Importance– What if your local sports team is in the championship? Have a viewing party of the final game for a client appreciation event. You could create an event very quickly just by hosting a viewing party at a public place or even your house. This may be more last second, but it’s the invite that’s most important.
Just don’t invite any Packers fans, lol.
Here are some other client appreciation event ideas from a couple of agents I know in California that were extremely creative and thought you would get a kick of these. Both of these Realtors understand the importance of branding their business within a client appreciation event and BOTH of them are Rockstars!
Meet David Serpa
David is a veteran and served our nation proudly as a marine. After he returned from Afghanistan he took up a career in real estate and has completely dominated his market in a very short amount of time. David understands the importance of building a brand.
David is a good man and gives back to his community and did a country music festival in Temecula, CA for his client appreciation event. Most people wouldn’t believe me, but watch the video and see for yourself. This is one of the best examples of client appreciation event I have ever seen.
I want you to take notice of how he branded the entire thing from the video to the stage. What a class act.
What If Nobody Shows To My Client Appreciation Event?
They will grow over time. I would market my client appreciation event to my database 3- 4 times the month of. At worst I was able to market my real estate business without having to talk about real estate at all. My first client event was only 40 people, but it was a starting point for me.
I collected all their names and addresses and put them all on my database that I systematically market to. The promotion of the event itself is a “sell without selling” marketing activity for your business!
As long as you invite your network it’s an excuse to touch base, reinforce the fact you are in real estate, and a way to humanize your brand.
TIP:The most important thing you can do to increase attendance is to make a phone call and give them a personal invite. I used to text and personally invite my most important contacts.
Hosting a client appreciation events are a way to build and strengthen your relationships with your network and will be the best use of marketing dollars that you can spend. I would recommend this over a Zillow zip code any day of the week, what you think?
If you like the information here check out the rest of the content on my channel.