Background: This month, we’ve been concentrating on giving thanks by giving back. Our focus, specifically, is on holiday events that give back to your communities and demonstrate to clients that you really want to make a difference in their lives in these tough times. While planning holiday events that are different and meaningful, we also are mindful of how time-consuming event planning can be. For that reason, we’ve focused on tying whatever you do to an event or program already planned by a local charity or non-profit.
So far, we’ve focused on one adviser who takes his best clients to
volunteer at a local children’s cancer hospital and on an adviser who sponsors a
motorcycle ride combined with a family picnic.
This week: This week, we’re going to find out how a Chicago-area adviser combines wine tasting with an art show held at a local gallery. Doing a similar event would take five or six hours to plan and execute and cost about $2,000.
After assessing his
top clients’ interests, our adviser found that fine wines and art were favorites among both men and women. With that he mind, he identified two upcoming charitable art shows at a local gallery and asked for a private showing one hour before the gallery event officially opened. The gallery agreed.
The adviser decided to use the event to raise money for a local youth club. Specifically, the event’s proceeds were earmarked for new gym equipment.
During the one hour pre-show event, guests enjoyed wine-tasting tables and hors d'oeuvres while they networked and got to know each other. The gallery took care of sending the invitations, following up, setting up the room and arranging for a sommelier for the wine tasting.
The gallery was happy to do all this because they appreciated the adviser’s upscale client mailing list, which the adviser supplied electronically.
The twist was that after the event, the adviser coordinated volunteer nights at the youth club after the holidays, when volunteerism drops off. In that way, he kept clients connected and made a positive contribution to the community.
Event planning: First, check you local newspaper for upcoming art events that support a charity. Call the event sponsor and ask about the early preview option. If not, ask if there is a small ancillary space, or even a roped off area, where you can gather a small group that would later join the main event.
Our Chicago-area adviser sends his clients a reserve-the-date note, inviting them to the event three months in advance. But if you like this idea and want to implement it during this holiday season, you can call your best clients personally. The event coordinator for the charity should be able to take care of sending out formal invitations, tracking their return and making follow-up calls just before the event.
Plan to welcome your guests — clients and their invited friends — and make brief introductory remarks (about 10 minutes) at the event. Don’t use the occasion to discuss financial matters; that will come later. After your remarks, have the wine-tasting and hors d’oeuvres before the art show.
Follow-up: Have two follow-up e-mails prepared (one for clients and one for their friends) letting them know you will be contacting them. Send the e-mail early in the morning of the day following the event. Call each attendee within 48 hours and schedule follow-up meetings with referrals.
Next week will be a week off to give thanks and give back. We are no different. Our company and family support a local food resource center for families in need; we’ll be helping out there. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and take a moment to reflect and find one small way to give back.
In December we will focus on starting the 2009 business planning process.
Maureen Wilke has helped thousands of advisers increase the value of their businesses. The founder of
Wilke Associates Inc. 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.
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