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 Investing in events is a good way to help keep existing clients
happy and find new ones, advisers say. Even in a Facebook world,
there's no denying the power of a handshake.
Adviser-sponsored cocktail parties and outings matter to clients. In
fact, clients ranked events close behind an advisers' knowledge and
honesty, according to a survey this year by Advisor Impact, a wealth
management research firm.
Most advisers tend to hold, on average, only one event per year,
according to a May survey by the FPA Research and Practice
Institute, a research unit of the Financial Planning Association in
Denver, Colorado. Some advisers, however, acknowledged they have
been remiss and wanted to beef up their plans.
Advisers who are new to events can start by planning something that
they would personally enjoy, said Valerie Porter, director of the
FPA Research and Practice Institute.
Wine-tasting evenings, for example, have been some of Porter's most
successful events, garnering a "wonderful" response, she said.
PARTY PLANNING
A first step for advisers is making sure to follow company policies
about client entertainment, said Cathy Vasilev, vice president of
Red Oak Compliance Solutions LLC in Fredericksburg, Texas. The rules
could impose a certain budget and require advisers to ask compliance
officers to review handouts, Vasilev said.
Advisers then need to decide on a goal for the event, such as
attracting new clients or showing appreciation for existing ones,
said Maribeth Kuzmeski, president of Red Zone Marketing in
Grayslake, Illinois.
It is possible to tackle both of those goals at one event, but
advisers must come up with a can't-miss opportunity to succeed,
Kuzmeski said.
“It’s got to be something that’s interesting enough so that clients
feel comfortable suggesting it” to their own friends and colleagues,
who might attend with them, Kuzmeski said. Examples might include
golfing at an exclusive club, a special tour or cocktails at a
unique venue, she said.
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David Edwards, president of Heron Financial Group in New York, held
a cocktail party for clients and prospective clients in January. The
venue was a hotel roof greenhouse, exclusively set aside for his
guests, with a breathtaking view of Manhattan in the falling snow.
“It was hospitable, gracious, really first class,” Edwards said. The
party was also fruitful because many clients wanted to bring
friends. Edwards thanked clients during a short speech. Some then
stepped up, unasked, to vouch for his good work.
The cocktail party cost about $3,000. That is a fraction of Edwards'
overall $120,000 marketing budget for 2014, or roughly 12 percent of
his revenue. He also pursues speaking opportunities and gives his
clients gifts.
He has increased his assets under management by about 50 percent a
year to $145 million. But there is another payoff, Edwards said.
“The amount of good will? Priceless!”
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist
for Reuters.)
(Editing by Suzanne Barlyn and Cynthia Osterman)
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