June Week 2: Planning lifestyle events

IN Practice appears on the web and in IN Daily every Monday. Comments and questions are welcome at IN Editor@InvestmentNews. Week 1: Identifying the interests of your top clients Week 2: Planning lifestyle events Week 3: Creating a lifestyle event communications program Week 4: Delivering an effective event and following up Now that you have identified several lifestyle event topics, it’s time to start planning for the event itself. Many events fall short because advisers don’t know where to start or what resources they need to plan, deliver and follow-up on their events. Most advisers feel their team and resources are already stretched thin, so adding even just one or two events can be overwhelming. How can an adviser create, execute and maximize the effectiveness of lifestyle events without neglecting other areas of the business? The solution: Put a process in place — in which you follow the templates we’ll provide and delegate the administrative tasks — so that you can spend your valuable time meeting with clients. This week: Planning lifestyle events Lifestyle events create a personal connection and show that you care. This week, we will outline a few types of seminars and provide checklists from successful advisers who have put on these seminars. Advisers have found the most success with events that combine interests and are targeted by age. Here are a few combined interests that work (we will provide additional details for each of these events in the coming weeks): Clients over 50 • Retirement tax planning • Gardening is golden Clients with children • Saving for college using 529 • Landing your first job Business owners • Preventing business identity theft • Maximizing your employee retirement plans Professionals • Annual 401(k) rollover plan check-up • Gourmet cooking made easy Event planning checklist 1 month ahead  Confirm your topic, presenter, and venue (confirm the food, time, and audio-visual needs).  Send out or e-mail invitations to your clients and their guests, including a catchy message on the envelope. See the invitation sample below. 2 weeks ahead  Create an agenda (see the example below)  Be sure any PowerPoint presentations are approved by compliance.  Confirm your meeting details, speaker’s presentation content, and audio-visual needs.  Call all invitees, especially the ones who have not responded. 5 days ahead  Confirm each guest’s attendance and encourage each attendee to bring a friend.  Prepare nametags or table tents and print agendas.  Re-confirm final details with your venue. Follow-up plan  Have two email follow-up letters all prepared (one for referrals and one for clients) with your action plan and send it out first thing the following morning. This can be set-up ahead of time by setting your email delivery day.  Call each attendee within 48 hours and schedule follow-up meetings with referrals. Sample invitation Please Join Us for an Evening of Gourmet Cooking The Healthy Way with Charlie Smith If you have a passion for healthy gourmet cooking (as many of my clients do), please join me at a special gourmet cooking event I’m hosting at the Charlie Smith Gourmet Cooking School. You will meet Charlie, join with him in preparing one of his favorite Italian appetizers, sample unique wines from northern Italy and hear a brief presentation on international investing strategies. I hope you can join me for an evening of cooking and conversation. Host: Tom Smith, XYZ Firm Guest Speaker: Name Position and Firm Location: Charlie Smith’s Gourmet Cooking School Address Phone number Concise directions with valet or parking suggestions R.S.V.P. to Mary Jones by (date) at #000-000-0000 P.S. Please bring a friend or family member who also enjoys gourmet cooking. Sample Agenda XYZ Firm Charlie Smith’s Gourmet Cooking School Agenda for Tuesday, Date, XXXX 6:00 – 6:30 PM Welcome and Refreshments Tom Jones XYZ Practice 6:30 – 7:30 PM Gourmet Cooking Made Easy Charlie Smith Demonstration and Dinner Owner/Chef 7:30 – 8:00 PM Investing in Europe Overview Mike Brown International Specialist Next week: Creating a communications program to go with your lifestyle event. Maureen Wilke has helped thousands of advisers increase the value of their businesses. The founder of Wilke Associates Inc. (www.connectedadvisor.com) in Glen Ellyn, Ill., Maureen has spent nearly two decades in executive positions in wealth management, sales and training. She has been associated with several highly regarded firms, including Nuveen Investments, and currently advises many product and advisory firms on issues of practice management and adviser productivity. MONDAY: IN Practice by Maureen Wilke WEDNESDAY: OpINion Online by Evan Cooper THURSDAY: IN Retirement FRIDAY: Tech Bits by Davis. D. Janowski