The previous few months of the 12 months are a useful alternative to say thanks to shoppers, have fun the season, and strengthen neighborhood connections. It’s a possibility to foster belief and remind folks of the worth you carry as a neighborhood professional and a considerate useful resource, spurring repeated referrals and long-lasting relationships.
From consumer appreciation presents and native household gatherings to VIP events and neighborhood workshops, there are various methods to create a vacation season stuffed with significant experiences that make a long-lasting impression. Planning and executing these experiences takes time, which is why Charlotte Savoy and The Savoy Staff at The KW® Collective market heart in Maryland make it a precedence to fulfill each November to debate their annual occasion plans for the 12 months forward.
Charlotte Savoy’s Seven Steps to Profitable Occasion Planning
Charlotte’s seven-step course of for creating profitable occasions helps her workforce execute a number of each single month. However, she says, when you’re not able to construct out a complete 12 months’s value of occasions, concentrate on the fourth quarter – and comply with these seven steps that can preserve you high of thoughts along with your shoppers through the vacation season and past.
Charlotte Savoy’s Seven Steps to Profitable Occasion Planning
1. Plan Occasions in Advance
2. Take a look at Previous and Future Occasions
3. Determine Theme and Funds
4. Section Database
5. Join With Distributors
6. Set Objectives
7. Execute Calendar in Advance
Step 1: Plan Occasions and Consumer Presents in Advance
Your vacation occasion plan can take many types. At its core, the plan ought to articulate the kind of occasion, the timeframe, the target market, and your funds. It must also define your communication and advertising technique, in addition to the theme, expertise, actions, presents, giveaways, and any taking part companions or distributors.
Like Charlotte, Tanya Kerr, founding father of T. Kerr Property Group on the KW Realty Lone Star in Georgetown, Texas, views the fourth quarter as important for her enterprise momentum. She refers to this era as her “vacation blitz,” a rigorously curated marketing campaign designed to create a number of touchpoints all through the quarter.
Tanya’s workforce kicks off the marketing campaign in October with a family-friendly “Trunk or Deal with” occasion. Some years, they’ll host informal and kid-friendly Halloween-themed neighborhood gatherings referred to as “Boo Bashes.” This 12 months, they gave away canine bandanas.
November facilities on gratitude and togetherness, with a particular concentrate on their shoppers and farm. The workforce begins with mailing gratitude playing cards – handwritten, customized notes with details about their upcoming December occasions. Later within the month, Tanya hosts a celebration at her dwelling with the assistance of her stager. She encourages everybody to carry a pal, with the aim of cultivating a snug occasion setting whereas including to her sphere.
December is a busy one. The workforce hosts “Fristmas,” an adults-only occasion that’s enjoyable and purposeful. Donations are collected over the course of the occasion and later given to that 12 months’s chosen charity. Their family-focused Christmas occasions function pictures with Santa, face portray, wreath-making, and music, and so they additionally hand out customized ornaments with branding on the again. Relating to constructing digital connections, social media performs an enormous position within the success of their gingerbread contest. The workforce delivers gingerbread homes and asks shoppers to share their distinctive decorations on-line. “This makes nice social media content material and engagement,” Tanya says.
Tanya’s vacation blitz results in $50 million in quantity yearly, she says. “By beginning our 12 months in October, we super-charge the gross sales pipeline and explode into the promoting season.”
Step 2: Take a look at Previous and Future Occasions
Throughout their annual planning course of, Charlotte and her workforce take time to debate the earlier 12 months’s occasions. “We have a look at what went properly, what didn’t go properly, what themes labored, what occasions labored,” she mentioned.
The Savoy Staff has the advantage of a full 12 months of occasions to replicate on. When you don’t have a historical past of occasions simply but, consider the actual property occasions you’ve attended and ask your self the identical or comparable questions. Contemplate reaching out to an expert occasion planner. Supply to purchase them espresso in alternate for some speed-dating-style mentorship on creating and executing memorable occasions.
Step 3-6: Determine Theme and Funds, Section Your Database, Join With Distributors, and Set Objectives
The perfect occasions prioritize the expertise over instant gross sales. Nonetheless, setting clear objectives is important. Are you aiming to extend referrals or develop your database? Select one to a few objectives to concentrate on this vacation season.
Subsequent, section your viewers. Is your consumer base primarily households, younger professionals, retirees, or a mixture? Tailor your occasions and presents to resonate along with your essential goal demographic.
Finally, you realize your corporation greatest – your lead technology objectives, your very best consumer, your database dimension, and its demographics. Your occasion and gift-giving technique ought to help your objectives and affect your entire expertise.
A former lawyer and inside design fanatic, Meg Daday of KW® ONEChicago loves bringing folks collectively for distinctive, curated occasions. All year long, she hosts smaller, high-quality occasions tailor-made to high shoppers. Her micro-events embrace actions like wreath-making and mixology nights, every designed for about 20 visitors. “It’s actually extra of a VIP expertise,” Daday explains.
For Erica Deuschle of KW® Major Line in Pennsylvania, larger is healthier. Though her essential occasion is in Might, not the vacations, Erica’s Might Soiree supplies the chance for shoppers to carry mates, mingle, and store from amongst 25-30 vendor cubicles – lots of whom are shoppers themselves.
Erica markets her massive occasion by social media first. Because the occasion date will get nearer, she reaches out with a private telephone name or group textual content message in a TCPA-compliant approach. “I believe it really works as a result of it’s private. There’s a lot noise on the market. Present individuals who you might be and convey folks collectively and be that connector,” Erica mentioned.
Harrison Beacher, one in all three managing companions of Coalition Properties Group with Keller Williams® Capital Properties in Washington, D.C., is equally obsessed with creating connections in his neighborhood. At any time when there’s a gathering of individuals, he recommends asking how one can vertically combine it into your larger mission for your corporation, your shoppers, and your neighborhood
”Our shoppers and our neighborhood wish to assist us stay out our mission. Giving again is on the core of what lots of people wish to do. And in the event that they may give again whereas attending a lit, superb occasion with scrumptious meals whereas assembly new folks, it makes it that significantly better,” Harrison mentioned.
Step 7: Execute Your Calendar in Advance
Relating to planning prematurely, The Savoy Staff exemplifies excellence. They begin getting ready six weeks earlier than every month’s occasions, making certain they keep away from last-minute pricing and logistical hiccups. Mapping out each e mail, social media publish, and communication prematurely is essential to an outreach marketing campaign that drives occasion participation and engagement.
Small Gestures, Huge Impression
Creating memorable vacation connections doesn’t all the time require intense planning or an enormous funds – particularly if actual property occasions are new to your corporation technique. Even small, considerate gestures can create vital impression. Whether or not it’s a handwritten be aware or a customized decoration, the essence of your outreach ought to replicate your model values and resonate with the neighborhood you serve.
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