Deepen relationships by leveraging ‘micro events’ for clients

Transcript of video:

Jeff Benjamin [00:00:03] Now that we’ve got the office park sorted out and have a plan for employees, the final piece of the back to the office puzzle is probably the most important. How do you reconnect with your clients in person? Theresa Gralinkski from Hightower is here to give us a few ideas and ramp up this season of triple play.

Theresa Gralinski [00:00:22] Advisers are eager to get back to hosting client and prospecting events. It’s one thing to host an event, but to maximize your ROI, the goal should really be to leverage the event, to connect with your clients and prospects. To create this connection there are three things to keep in mind. First, it’s about them, not you. You may be eager to host an in-person dinner or happy hour to discuss mitigating taxes in twenty twenty one and to really demonstrate your value and your expertize. But that may not be of interest to them, much less a way to create a deeper connection. First, you have to remember that they may not be ready to meet in person when you are, and they may prefer the convenience of the virtual events they’ve become accustomed to in the last year. So make sure to provide options. You also need to be sure that the event is based on their interests, their hobbies, their passions. To do this, you need to rely on number two, which is make it personal. To pull this off you have to really know what your clients are into. And if you don’t know it’s OK, ask. Ask them what would be of value to them, what keeps them up at night, what are they passionate about? Do this before you even start the planning. If you don’t have a good sense. You may even stumble upon some key themes that you weren’t aware of that connect some of your clients together that you wouldn’t have normally thought would be some group that you would get together for an event. I have to say our High Tower advisors really know their clients. Before and during the pandemic they have had great success in creating smaller niche. We’re calling a micro events that gather clients and prospects around shared interests and life experiences like guiding kids and parents through the college application process, cooking classes, a private concert for music lovers, or private lessons and tips from a golf pro. Yes, you can do those virtually if you need to. There a great way to encourage your clients to invite a friend, which also fosters those all important referrals that everybody’s looking for. So clearly to do one and two well, it takes a lot of time, effort and investment, which none of us has enough of. And brings us to the third point. Make sure the engagement, your connection continues after the event. At Hightower, we’re creating ongoing content to help our advisors continue this conversation. So let’s say you hosted an event for guiding kids and parents through college applications. When you send the thank you note also include a timeline and action steps for pacing the process. So you’re not cramming it all in at the last minute and arguing with your kids during the stressful time. I know I’ve been through it. Follow that up with timely resources and guides at each timeline milestone. Perhaps you could host a second event later in the year on helping parents and kids work together to create the student’s college budget and understand the steps they need to take to begin to develop good credit and why good credit matters. When the students graduate, I would recommend sending out two cards, take the extra time and the extra effort effort to send one to the student, congratulating them on their graduation and their choice of school, and one on the parents congratulating them on getting their students through the process. In the card you may even want to include a sticker like I have on the back of my car that says Mizu Mom. Amazon makes all of these little extra touches really easy. If you take the time and effort to connect with your clients through events that are about them, that are personal and that continue to engage after the event, you’re going to really demonstrate your willingness to be their trusted partner and their financial success. And our advisors have found that you are able to interact with clients on a deeper, more authentic level. It’s worth the investment.

Jeff Benjamin [00:04:35] Thanks for watching. If you have a topic you’d like us to explore, just reach out to me on Twitter at @BenjieWriter. For InvestmentNews, I’m Jeff Benjamin.