Customer appreciation events can be powerful relationship building and referral developing opportunities, as I’ve reported in the past. ?Thank-you dinners, parties, and the like fuel goodwill and connections and often invitations from current clients to do new work. If you encourage your clients to invite friends, you also can snag some pretty powerful referral business.
The “Mystery Gift” may be a good way to attract attendees
There is another advantage of these events. With a simple video camera (and perhaps a little beer or wine to encourage participation) you can use the opportunity to collect plenty of video testimonials, which you can post on social media and your website.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing writes:
Once a year or so hold a client appreciation event to say thanks and create a networking event for your clients and prospects. Hire a video crew for the event and, after a few bottles of wine have been emptied, ask some of your clients to talk about their experience with your firm on camera. Then also let them record a five minute commercial for their own use too.
This is a great way to get lots of testimonials and case studies in one day and your clients will get very engaged in swapping stories and selling each other on the benefits of working with you.
Well-done these events are certainly not inexpensive, allowing for the catering, venue and communications/marketing costs to set them up. However, I’ve heard stories of businesses pulling hundreds of thousands of dollars in business from a single event, so they are well-worth planning and co-ordinating.
