The Practice Doctor is IN

Al Depman, CLU ChFC CMFC BH

Celebrations are in the air!  Well, soon.

For many advisors, this is the time of year for great angst – cramming as much business through before year end, cajoling underwriters, getting last-minute signatures, placing cases and tallying up the 2007 totals in anticipation of a trip in 2008.  In my consulting business, this is a particularly interesting time for scheduling and rescheduling calls, as production priorities seem to dictate the advisor’s calendar.  As Michael Gerber in The E-Myth might say, the end of the year for the advisor is spent “working in the business, not working on the business.”

As a result, we reschedule for a calmer time to work on the business.

For a number of advisors, however, the holidays bring a time for celebration, especially for (and with) their top clients.  For this month’s column, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the many ways advisors show their clients how much they are appreciated.   I’ve been keeping a list of the various client events that advisors have held over the past few years and am amazed at the variety of venues that are being used. These are often known as “intimate events” if the group is small and select.  But mostly, the generic phrase “client appreciation event” applies.

Last month, we reviewed the general steps to take in preparing a seminar. Truth be told, the steps are very similar in planning a client appreciation event, so I won’t repeat them here.  There are two variations on the client appreciation event:

First is the celebrating your relationship with your client. Second is celebrating your relationship with your client and prospect at the same time.  This latter strategy is usually of the “bring a friend” variety.  Preferably, it’s a friend who meets a targeted profile.  Both approaches are legitimate and both have their place in your client management strategy.

Many client events are purely educational, such as a mutual fund manager discussing his strategy in choosing a portfolio or having an estate planning specialist explaining the value of a trust in the distribution of assets.

Many more client events are purely entertaining, like a holiday party or golf outing.

The most successful events seem to blend entertainment with a learning experience. Here are some of my favorites.

Sports

• A trip to the ballpark, with seating right behind the dugout and a private autograph-signing during warm-ups. 
• Sporting events held in sky-boxes or other luxury digs with catered food and drink, complete with limo rides to and from the facility.
• Golf outings with personal lessons from the local pro, dinner at the country club or prime viewing spots for a tournament.
• College alumni tailgating events and special seating at a basketball or football game.
• Sponsoring a talk by a local sports celebrity.
• Deep-sea fishing excursions.
• Fly-fishing tournaments.
• Hunting trips.
• A day of NASCAR racing which includes meeting a driver and touring a crew’s garage.
• Water-skiing, snow skiing and snowboarding, with lessons.

Entertainment

• Dinner on a yacht, cruise on the river or ocean.
• Whale-watching.
• A night at the casino with a show and a couple of rolls of quarters thrown in for fun.
• Family events with a child-focus, such as a day at the amusement park, picnic, visit to a farm, picking apples, choosing pumpkins, going through a corn maze or a Halloween haunted house.
• Private screening of a new film or renting out a theatre for a showing of a classic film.
• Attending a play with backstage access, meeting the cast and having dinner before or after.
• Attending a concert, meeting the performers and having special seating.

Food & Drink

• An advisor who loves to cook has quarterly specialty nights where he tries out new recipes with clients.
• Gatherings at a create-your-own-meal place.
• Holding cooking classes with a meal at the end.
• Dinners at various restaurants experiencing different cuisines, with special seating and a meet and greet with at least one of the chefs.
• Wine tastings and/or trips to a winery.  Beer-tastings, coffee-tastings and chocolate-tastings are also increasingly popular.
• Mother’s Day lunches or dinners with grandmoms, moms and daughters of clients. I haven’t heard of any Father’s Day events, come to think of it.
• An advisor says she just has “good old fashioned cocktail parties” for select clients.  (Don’t forget to supply a designated driver or some other transportation for guests that can’t or don’t want to drive.)
• Another advisor has a “mixologist” event at a bartending school.

Other Events

• One advisor has a neighborhood pet party, where clients bring pets in for grooming and games.
• Another advisor holds regular pinochle games – evidently he has a sufficient number of clients who know the card game and are willing to eat chips and drink beer.
• Linking an event to fundraising for a worthy cause is an excellent use of a client appreciation event.  Many advisors have specific charities that are near and dear to them and sponsor walk-a-thons, races, parties and other donation-oriented activities.
• Personal shopping events at a retailer before or after hours.
• Museum tours, with off-hour viewing of special exhibits.
• An afternoon at a spa.
• Jewelry shows and men-only personal shopping at a jewelry store.
• One advisor has regular “martini and manicure” events.
• Book-signings and a talk with an author.

Need I tell you that there are as many variations on these themes as there are advisors who utilize them?  I’d love to hear from you if you have held or participated in a client appreciation event not mentioned above.

A final thought on these events:  Be sure to bring a digital camera with lots of film.  Catch as many attendees as possible in a good light and send them their picture afterwards.  Also, collect these snapshots for an online album and send the link to your top clients. Local newspapers are often interested in these unique events, especially with some good photos.

So celebrate the loyalty of your top clients, and strengthen those relationships–having a client appreciation event once or twice a year could be the turning of good clients into good friends.

Until next month,

The Practice Doctor is out!

Al Depman , CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH, a.k.a. “The Practice Doctor”, is mitchanthony.com’s Business Practice Consultant. He is the creator of “The Practice Management Assessment” tool and materials and has authored numerous articles in professional publications on practice management. Al combined his Liberal Arts studies with 10 years of management experience with McDonald’s Corporation to enter the financial services world 22 years ago. Since then, Al has evolved from an MDRT-level sales rep into a full-time consultant specializing in helping others engineer their business practices to the next level. Contact him at al@mitchanthony.com .

© 2007 Al Depman