Dear Advisor:

What if you moved comfortably along through a world filled with fun, engaging, meaningful interactions with your top clients and their friends…?

Things like private tours at the art museum. …Fly-fishing in the mountains…Skybox nights at the stadium…PGA outings…Broadway shows…Sunset cruises…Jazz concerts …Or simply an intimate dinner in a private room at your favorite Italian restaurant?

And what if, as a natural course of things, these fun, energizing and informative outings always led to you adding new clients to your business—people very similar to your top clients…In fact, their friends?

If you could achieve this happy state of things—a type of "prospecting-client-service-Brand-You" nirvana—you'd have arrived at an admirable place in your professional life.

Indeed, you'd have reached a level of mastery that is the essence of being a pro…

Not some mark you hit once and then drop back from, but a sustained level of engagement with your clients and their broader social and professional networks.

I'm talking about the kind of "year-in, year-out" achievement that we've all seen painted large by the media as they chronicle our favorite athletes, performers, actors, entrepreneurs, and leaders.

It's a zone that makes achievement look nearly effortless. People operating at the top of their game—the natural byproduct of hard work and a commitment to excellence.

Advisors in the Zone

I'm always interested to hear about advisors who've reached this level of mastery in their businesses. This ability to mix client service and prospecting together in a way that gives their businesses a steady and consistent growth pattern.

There are certainly plenty. Thousands, really. Yet they represent only a very small percentage of the total world of financial advisors. And that's what troubles me.

You see, many of these advisors who are extremely successful in growing their businesses using client events aren't really much different from the rest of the advisor world as a whole.

They just do some things a tiny bit different. But those differences, bit by bit, add up to a great difference over time.

That's what I want to talk to you about right now.

Sean M. Bailey

My name is Sean M. Bailey and I'm the editor-in-chief at Horsesmouth. For more than a decade, we've been helping a wide range of financial advisors and their clients succeed in achieving their goals. (Horsesmouth is a service exclusively dedicated to the needs of financial advisors.)

That's why over a year ago we did a survey of more than 1,800 financial advisors. We quizzed them about their client-event activities. How many did they do? How much did they spend? What kind of results did they achieve?

Some pretty amazing details emerged from that research.

We found that 80% of advisors have tried holding client events and 74% reported getting at least a few quality introductions.

But only about 10% reported getting numerous quality introductions all the time as a result of their client event strategy.

The rest said they've only gotten a few quality introductions, or none, from their events.

Take a Look at the Difference

Here are a few data points about the difference between advisors who are hugely successful with client events and those who are not:

• 46% of top performing advisors have held more than 20 client events, but only 16% of advisors as a whole have held that many.

• 43% of top advisors hold client events at least once a quarter. Only 22% of advisors as a whole hold them that frequently.

• 60% of top advisors are very satisfied with their client event strategy, but only 28% of advisors as a whole feel the same way.

• 69% of top advisors say, "I do them well; they're successful" compared to 27% of all advisors surveyed.

That was all the evidence I needed to know that we had to do something to help advisors get a lot better and a lot more effective with the client event strategies.

We could see from the survey that advisors needed assistance coming up with inspired ideas for their events, procedures for organizing and hosting events, and, most importantly, a disciplined and smart approach to the all-important post-event follow-up.

That's when I called in Nicole Coulter.

For more than 10 years, Nicole's top professional challenge has been to help advisors grow and manage their success. She's interviewed hundreds of advisors and written dozens of case studies and analyses of how top advisors run their business.

Nicole Coulter

Her hugely popular special report "Lessons Advisors Learned in the Crash of 2008" was downloaded more than 50,000 times after it was released. Nicole knows the ins and outs of advisor operations and that's why I'm pleased to inform that you she's been heading up our Secrets of Successful Client Events project

Nicole examined all the research data, conducted dozens of interviews with advisors and top experts in the field—all about the crucial role that client events play in running a successful, growing financial advisory practice.

In a minute, I'll tell you more about the fruits of Nicole's research. But first I want to speak to the many advisors out there who have struggled with their businesses since the market collapse of 2008.

Demonstrate Quiet, Confident Leadership
That Reinforces Client Loyalty

It's imperative that you connect and re-connect with your clients, especially as we work our way through the global financial crisis. Surveys show clients are less trusting and less willing to bring new assets to advisors in the wake of the market collapse of 2008.

There's simply no doubt the toxic cocktail of mortgage crisis, banking collapse, stock market dive, and the Ponzi schemes have severely eroded public confidence in the investment profession—even though your clients may view you positively as a person.

Everyone knows clients need more communication than they get and a good, intimate client event with you is the sort of re-affirming, trust-strengthening activity clients need.

Creates Opportunity to Foster Friendships

For anyone not familiar with the investment management business, it might seem peculiar to hear an advisor tell a story about how his clients were calling to check on him or her during the market collapse in 2008.

They had genuine concern and interest for the well-being of their advisor, who they knew was facing an historic professional challenge. Sure, they had concerns about their portfolios, too.

But here's the thing: They think of their advisor as part of their personal network—like a friend or family member. And in many cases, there's simply no doubt that advisors are friends with their clients. A well-done client event, especially an intimate one, gives you the chance to really get to know your clients, share fun, poignant or meaningful stories—see the "real you" behind the image of trusted investment advisors.

It's a Highly Replicable Marketing Tactic

Many advisors try something once or twice and then move on to something else. It's one of the biggest marketing mistakes advisors make.

But once you've got your groove down with a successful client-event approach, you can roll it into your marketing schedule and count on it year-in and year-out.

That kind of consistency builds credibility with your clients and prospects and delivers both primary benefits (immediate contact with good prospects/reinforcing loyalty with existing client base) and secondary benefits (logical reason for follow-up with past warm prospects). And it's highly scalable (you can do more of the same for more of your clients and prospects). That means you can really leverage the benefits of a well-done client event strategy.

Plus, the invitation process alone becomes another touch with your client and prospect base. Clients like hearing from you even if they can't make the event. So holding client-events fits hand-in glove with your client communication program.

It's a Critical Success Skill
That Should Be Learned, Practice, Polished

Top performing advisors hold more client events per year than average advisors. That's what our survey of 1,800+ advisors showed and it's really not a surprising result when you think about it.

These advisors have discovered a key secret about how to grow their businesses.

Interaction with top clients and their best friends and colleagues in a setting and format controlled by you gives you all the advantages of conveying your value: the wisdom, insight and professionalism that amount to your personal brand.

Thaws Icy Client Relations

Let's face it. Many advisors have not done a good job of staying in contact with good clients. The reasons can be many. It's easy to tie oneself in a pretzel about this sort of thing. But here's the thing to consider:

How many times have you walked around with a negative notion in your head about another person that was wrong or exaggerated?

Then you have an encounter with that person—either planned or unplanned—and you walk away feeling much better about the person! You wonder what all that angst and anxiety before was all about.

The act of contacting that client you've fallen out of touch with and inviting them to your client event changes that "frozen" dynamic.

And if they attend your well-planned, low-key and enjoyable event, the lingering issues melt away and are replaced by something much more positive—an imprint of you as the confident, helpful, insightful advisor they've smartly hired to guide them to their goals

Provides Marketing Discipline

Having a client event strategy allows you to get more organized and then scale up your business. Consistency is really important in the game of seeing real return on investment for any marketing strategy.

Because advisors are very time-pressed, they have an extreme bias in favor of "new tactics" at the expense of being strategic. That's understandable.

But that same quest for "new tactics" often means they try something once or twice and then stop or move on to another marketing tactic. The essence of a good client-event strategy, as we've seen with our survey analysis of top performing advisors, is consistency and frequency.

Advisors who say they get lots of referrals and good prospects from their client events also happen to be the advisors who've done more than 20 client events. By doing a regular series of client events, you're polishing your skills, getting more efficient, and improving the ROI on your client event strategy.

What Elite Advisors Say About
Their Client Event Strategies

The results of our Client Event Survey were hugely illuminating about the power and effectiveness of pursuing this type of client service/prospecting approach. I want to share them with you because I think it's important to hear what top advisors said in our survey when we asked them to talk about their experience using client events as a key marketing effort and their plans to keep using them:

• "With all the revenue that comes in from our clients, how often do we have a chance to give something back to them?"
• "My book is as full as I want now."
• "There's no better way of generating qualified prospects than spending several hours with a group, them having a great time and establishing that you're the smartest advisor in the room!"
• "There's more opportunity out there but you must plan properly to make it unique."
• "I thoroughly enjoy them and I plan on getting better with experience."
• "Practice makes perfect."
• "We've made client events a core part of sales and service model. Just makes sense."
• "The ideal group is under 10 people…We're selling a very high level of service so how can one expect to have their prospects/clients get that feeling of being special in a large group? These smaller events are less time-intensive to set up and less costly as well. In a small group, one can really get to know each other."
• "My events are well-received and well attended. Clients are attracted to them because we don't push products or sales during those events.

If there's one message I derived from our client-event research, it's this: Top-performing advisors do client events often because it pays them dividends in so many different ways. They couldn't really imagine being in a growing financial advisory business without doing client events. It's just that elemental to their success.

10 Reasons Client Event Mastery
Gives You Prospecting Autonomy

Now Is the Time to Strike

Many advisors observe that clients and prospects are a bit cool now because of the economy and what has happened to their portfolios.

But that's exactly the reason you want to get in front of your clients in the context of a client event. When you ask your top clients to invite a friend or colleague, they may very well bring along someone whose advisor has not been out there with the type of contact and communication a financial crisis like this demands.

By holding client events now, you're increasing the chance that the prospects you ultimately meet and cultivate, view you more favorably than their own advisor who's not holding client events.

So the contrarian in you should be urging you to more client events…

Introducing "Secrets of Successful Client Events: The Complete Guide to Fun, Easy, Low-Stress Ways to Connect With the People Who Keep You In Business"

ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

Nicole Coulter, has pulled together the ultimate client event resource package for any advisor looking to improve his client event strategy.

There's never been a client-events advisor resource that is both so thorough, so easy to use and so profitable for advisors to follow…

The heart of this is Nicole's Secrets of Successful Client Events: The Complete Guide to Fun, Easy, Low-Stress Ways to Connect With the People Who Keep You in Business, a 174-page spiral-bound action research report. It includes 15 step-by-step chapters; checklists; master event list; FAQs; sample invitations; and four advisor case studies. Plus, real-life insights gleaned from more than 1,800 advisors surveyed about their client events. Here's a look at what you'll find inside:

The Power of Client Events: Get It Right Now—Collect Your Fun and Profit Dividend Forever 

• Why good events are cost-effective
• The seven secrets of client event success
• Treating prospects like clients
• How to deftly combine prospecting and client service.
• 3 keys to prospecting and client service goals.
• 10% of elite advisors report gaining numerous quality introductions from each event. How do they do it
• How elite advisors leverage their events, including an all important follow-up systems.
• How to brainstorm with clients about potential invitees using a client network map.
• What if you turned small gatherings into your own personal Chamber of Commerce?
• Key aspects of the follow-up systems of top advisors.
• Why gaining a reputation for hosting quality events will grow your business.
• The all-important benefits you gain by building a reputation for hosting quality events.
• Seven steps to utilizing events that will gain prospects while still keeping your clients in mind
• How going that extra mile with your client event will ensure a fun and memorable journey with your clients and prospects
• Clients will enjoy any fun event you plan, right? Wrong! Why tracking client interests will guide some event decisions.
• WARNING! Choose an event that you personally will enjoy. Staring at the EXIT sign too much might cause your prospects to walk right through it!
• The secret to successful "friend-raising"…How to further cultivate prospects already on your list
• The quickest, easiest way to gauge your clients' loyalty level.

What Elite Advisors Do (Repeatedly) to Sharpen Their Client Event Skills—You Need to Do This, Too

• Key differences between client education events and seminars.
• Why elite advisors have twice as much success spurring new business from client events as the general advisor population.
• Key ingredients elite advisors use to spur client events success.
• How to foster an "exclusive club" factor in your client events.
• How an $1,100 event costing $60 a person delivered $6 million in new assets.
• The one key impression you want to convey at your client event.
• The large events paradox.
• Remember: When you host a certain type of client event it becomes a vehicle over time to allow you to know who can help you grow your business.
• The small event advantage.
• Why becoming "good at it" is critical to your success.
• Why client events are like violins.
• How to create your own "good ole boy" network.
• The 80-20 client event rule.
• The affinities invite approach.
• Understanding network mapping in building invite lists for your client event series.

Brainstorming Fun, Original Ideas:
The 7-Question Process

• Understanding the need for showing appreciation
• Why engaging a niche make sense.
• How helping a charity can be part of your client event strategy
• Solving client problems as the path to interesting events.
• Satisfying your curiosity and pursuing your passions as way to fuel enthusiasm
• Extensive Client Profile Questionnaire
• Sample Client Database List
• The birthday approach—why it makes sense
• The role of customization and client profiling
• The seven question process for making event planning a fun and personable process for you and your clients
• What do American Idol and The Human Society have in common? They're just two ways to brainstorm a unique and successful client event
• What's the average income of fly fisherman? How to make the demographics work for you at your next client event

Smart, Effective Low-Stress Event Planning: Remember You're an Advisor and This Is Not Your Wedding

• Should you use a marketing partner?
• Best way to invite people
• When to use an event planner or caterer
• Handling food and entertainment
• When and how to use a photographer
• How to do media outreach in the right circumstances
• When and why to use door prizes and gifts
• Compliance issues to consider
• Client Event Planning worksheet
• When to line up a caterer and when to use an event planner
• Best way to invite people
• How to handle the all important thank-you note
• How to move beyond the stress and make your client event fun and profitable
• STOP! Before you start planning, make a list of desired outcomes for your event
• Three crucial factors to keep in mind when choosing the right venue
• Seven signs of a good wholesaler who will work with you, not over you!
• CAUTION: When booking entertainment, always arrange a sneak preview performance before the event!
• Five keys to a compelling and useful presentation!
• PLUS a Client Event Planning sheet to organize and determine your objectives
• PLUS a Sample Press Release designed to advertise your event and summarize the purpose of your event for the media 

The No-Surprise Invite: Warming Up Your Attendees With the Touches That Count

• Five essential details every guest should know two weeks before the event!
• Warming Up Attendees: The touch that counts
• Three key phases for any event
• The six step warm-up process to inviting your clients in a friendly but urgent manner
• WHAT'S THE BUZZ? Why you should spread the word before the invitations even go out!
• PLUS an Alternative Invitation Strategy to keep your prospects in the loop

How to Work Your Event: Suave, Smooth,
Relaxed and Organized

• 5 Key rules for you and your staff to follow during a client event
• How to work the room at a client event
• When you should bring up business at a client event?
• Learning Sorority Rush: The 3-step cheerleading process
• How to chat briefly and sincerely with clients, then move on
• Four ways to convey your value at a client event
• How to construct a value statement
• How to do a mini-infomercial
• Five key take-aways you want to convey
• How to construct a well-practiced, well-delivered professional story
• When and how to use stories with different audiences: casual acquaintances, prospects, centers of influence
• Seven key things to ask on an event evaluation form
• How to handle event evaluations: guest-clients vs. guest-prospects
• Remember: personalize the event evaluation forms with guests' name, address and phone number.

Event Follow-Up: The Must-Do,
Make-It-Happen Now, Client-Event Payoff!

• Four things elite advisors do after events that most other advisors never do.
• Seven essential follow-up steps
• How to ensure your follow-up doesn't lead to "dry-up" following an event.
• The first-meeting warm up process for post-event prospects
• The key to forging new relationships fast
• Three penetrating questions to pose to prospects on the first post-event meeting.
• The amazing "Drip Schedule" trick that lets your prospects feel like real clients!
• Your prospect already has an advisor? How a little competition can be beneficial!
• RA! RA! How your client associate can double as your cheerleader!
• PLUS a Follow-Up Checklist and Prospect Log that guarantee none of your guests will be overlooked when the party's over.

Benchmark Your Event: Measuring Hard and Soft ROI

• Tracking your event statistics
• Three main criteria to gauge the overall effectiveness of your event.
• Hard vs. soft returns of your event: Both are important
• 24 event success stories from advisors who made prospecting power work for them!
• Getting better by learning from mistakes
• What you want to avoid: examples of bad events
• CAUTION! How to anticipate and avoid event disasters with a solid backup plan.
• PLUS an Event Benchmarking Worksheet to establish where your client event fit in terms of costs, prospects and assets.
• PLUS a comprehensive Event Survey to keep your efforts in check.

Wine Events: A Simple Approach to a
Simple Result—Relax 

• How to host a wine event that will make your clients smile and think of you next time they have a glass of wine!
• The four characteristics of wine lovers: Learn which clients and prospects get the most enjoyment from wine events.
• WARNING: Don't let your wine event become stale and predictable. How to make your event stand out from the pack!
• What does a blindfolded wine tasting have to do with money managers?
• How a stuffed animal can be the perfect companion at a wine event.
• Why you should never send invitations on corporate letterhead.
• More guests mean more prospects, right? Wrong! Why a smaller guest list is more beneficial to you and your prospects.
• The three best days to host a client event. Be considerate, and make your event "client convenient."
• CAUTION: Have no more than six wine samples available. You don't anyone getting drunk. You just want them relaxed.
• Four thoughtful gift ideas and one good impression for your guests to take home with them.
• Three surefire ways to brush up on your wine expertise before the event.

Golf Events: Fun on the Links
That Grows Business, Too

• How to demonstrate client appreciation and attract new prospects through a day on the golf course
• How to tee off your golf event with enticing and descriptive invitations
• Are you combining your tee time with tea time? Prepare a luncheon before the game to discuss the market conditions
• The secret of turning a follow through into a follow-up! How to keep in touch with prospective clients when the game's over.
• WARNING: Avoid off color jokes or comments! When it comes to prospecting, golf is not a game.
• Why you can't walk through your partner's putting line—Don't be caught not knowing your golf etiquette.
• Four subtle yet crucial prospecting questions to ask between putts
• When playing with a guest, it's polite to let them win, right? Wrong! Learn why throwing your game could also throw your prospecting chances.
• Six tips to a victorious charity golf event that both attracts potential clients and serves a worthy cause

Sports-Themed Events: New Way
to Build Team Spirit 

• How a sports-themed event allows you to connect with clients in a relaxed setting away from the office
• 11 nontraditional sports events that break the mold in advisor/client bonding
• BETTER THAN BOXSEATS! How to keep your event fun without the frills in these difficult times
• How to strategize your own prospecting game plan while conversing with your clients
• The easiest way to host a game night when your favorite team's away

Holiday Events: People Want
Reasons to Celebrate

• How to host a holiday event that brings good tidings to your clients and prospects
• What to do when your guests are all booked for December, so your party plans aren't let out in the cold
• Are you tired of the same old holiday parties? Read 25 unique ideas that say ‘tis the season to be original!
• Client events can only be held at banquet halls, right? Wrong! There's no place like home for the holiday client event!
• BETTER THAN CANDY CANES! How to say thank you with the perfect client gifts
• Four easy and productive ways you and your clients can remember those less fortunate this holiday season
  

Client Workshops: Build Loyalty,
Credibility and Attract Prospects

• How to host a workshop that speaks to your clients' concerns and reminds them of your value
• 10 financial workshop ideas customized to keep your clients informed and ease their fears
• 10 lifestyle workshop ideas that show your knowledge extends beyond the boardroom
• The surefire "First 20" trick to get your clients to RSVP ASAP!
• CAUTION: Don't talk over your client's heads. Your knowledge should say more than you do.
• NO SALE! Remember to peddle advice instead of products
• WARNING! Talking in a boardroom…may just lead to a bored room. How to brainstorm creative event locations

Events for Women: An Under-Served Niche 

• How to position yourself as an advisor who understands women's unique financial needs
• 11 examples of events with that special feminine flair
• You have to be a woman to host women's events right? Wrong! Learn which niches male advisors often specialize in.
• 5 reasons widowed clients look to advisors in their hour of need
• The secret to working with women…what they want most in an advisor/client relationship
• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARRIAGE. What women don't know could cost them their financial future.

Cultural Events, Dinners, and Lunches

• How an upscale event is just a fancy way of saying your clients won't be forgotten in these difficult times.
• A three-year client appreciation plan that pays off for a lifetime!
• PRESTO! Learn how a magician can make prospects appear before your very eyes!
• The incredible "stranger party" trick to attract clients (and their friends) to your next event!

Special Resources

• Appendix A: Ultimate Client Event Checklist
• Appendix B: Master Event List
• Appendix C: FAQs
• Appendix D: Sample Invitations
• Appendix E: Case Studies and Additional Reading including: How a Stogie-Loving FA Smokes the Competition; Single-Malt Scotch: A Primer for Advisors; and Hosting an Antiques Roadshow-style Client Event.
  
  

Client Events Toolkit: Everything You Need
to Get Prepared and Stay Organized

CD-ROM RESOURCE

Not only do we explain to you all the ins and outs of putting on successful client events, we also provide you with more than 13 different checklists, templates and forms that you can use and re-use throughout your career hosting great events. Here's what you get on the CD-ROM: 

Ultimate Client Event Checklist: This detailed checklist includes all the tasks you need to perform before, during and after your client event, divided by specific time periods from "90 Days or More Prior" to "One Week After the Event." Also includes a list of supplies, such as name tags, cameras and door prizes.

Event Master List: The ultimate event master list, you'll find more than 169-event ideas covering such topics as: Art Events, Barbecues & Outdoor Events, Boating Events, Book events, Breakfast events, Charity Events, Cocktail Events, Coffee Events, Cooking Events, Cultural Events, Dinner Events, Game Events, Golf Events, Guest Speakers, Holiday Events, Lunch Events, Miscellaneous Events, Sporting Events, Wine & Spirits Events, Women's Events, and Workshops & Seminars.

Mapping Social Networks: Now you'll have a systematic way to build out your knowledge of your top clients' personal networks. This template helps you keep track of your clients' connections, categorized by relationships: Family Relationships, Social Contacts, Professional Contacts, Community/Volunteer Affiliations and Relationships with Other Professionals.

Event Theme Brainstorming Worksheet: If you want to do something different or unusual, use this worksheet to help you devise new themes for events such as: Hobbies and Passions, Curiosity, Client Challenges, My Favorite Charities, and Potential Niche Markets.

Client Profile Questionnaire: Thinking about client events is something you should start on early in any client relation. This questionnaire for clients is designed to make sure information is up-to-date and to ensure future events are adapted to fit the clients' interests. Question topics include: Personal/Family Information and Personal Preferences.

Segmenting Clients Example: Spending some time reviewing your existing client base is essential to divining possible new client events. This Excel spreadsheet helps you get organized by: Name, Income, Net Worth, Portfolio, Company, Hobbies & Interests.

Client Event Planning Worksheet: When you're ready to begin planning your client event, simply pull out this worksheet to start the process. It helps you start with the high-level view and then go from there. Helps you envision your next client event, including: Objective, Marketing List and Event Parameters.

Sample Press Release: If your event requires wider publicity than just your client list, then this ideal press release model will help you or someone on your staff easily get out a professional press release.

Retirement Readiness Survey: Follow-up after a great client event is crucial. This easy-to-complete Retirement Readiness Survey can be the ideal complement to your event. It asks some very simple questions that give you a clear view of top concerns people have and offers you the opportunity for natural follow up.

Client Event Follow-up Checklist: Successful client events all come down to follow up. If you follow this checklist, it guarantees that you'll do all the right things to maximize the potential of your client event. Guides you through Thank You Note, Phone Call and Next Meeting.

Prospect Log: If you don't keep a Prospect Log, this form will get you started. Log your prospects' Personal Information and Financial Concerns to create a more comprehensive profile.

Event Benchmarking Worksheet I: It's essential that you track the cost of your client events and your return on investment (ROI). Follow Event Cost, New Prospects, New Assets to get your ROI benchmark.

Event Benchmarking Worksheet II: Take this evaluation survey after talking with clients, staff and strategic allies to determine how helpful and enjoyable your client event turned out. Benchmark measures include: Pre-Event Planning & Communication, Event Hosting & Follow-up and Overall Response.

Golf Tournament Checklist: A good time on the fairway provides excellent opportunities for advisors looking to connect with clients and prospects. There are many ways to do this. This checklist runs you through: laying the groundwork, joining forces with a charity, finding the course, finding participants, lining up sponsors and arranging promotion.

Relax With Clients and Prospects:
Great Client Wine Event Guide

BONUS #1

Printed Report

A small, intimate dinner and wine tasting can be just the right approach to meeting with clients and prospects. Here Nicole Coulter has produced a step-by-step guide for just such an event with your best clients and their friends and explains how a Great Client Wine Event can both reassure clients and appeal to prospects in a pleasant and personable manner. This 9-page report includes:

• Preliminary Planning: budget, scheduling, and materials needed, and reserving the right place for the event. Plus, what to consider on getting a wine expert.

• Extending the Invite: What to consider when inviting clients and prospects, plus thoughts "Centers of Influence."

• Hosting the Event: An outline of the night's events from the wine tasting and meal to the market discussion.

• Delivering Your Value Proposition: How to position yourself and your business just right.

• Your actual presentation should summarize the current situation in the marketplace and your recommended course of action. At the end, offer your guests various gifts (such as wine, chocolates or golf items) and the Retirement Readiness Survey.

• The Follow-Up Procedure: You've got to have smart, effective follow-up no matter how small and intimate the event. Here's what to do.

• Checklist for Client Wine Event: Everything you need to do from three weeks prior to the event to one week after it.

• Retirement Readiness Survey: The ideal, low-pressure, easy to complete, end-of-event survey reveals good follow-up items for both prospects and clients.

Professional Wine Reference Guide

BONUS #2

Printed Guide

Many wine events include a small gift for clients. It's a great send-off for a great night and the right gift can make a lasting impression.

So here's your personal copy to keep of the hugely popular Professional Wine Reference guide. Decide for yourself if you want to order more for your own future wine events.

The New York Times said this about the Professional wine Reference "Where the experts go for answers…A boon for both novices and collectors."

• Over 1,000 clear, accurate, and concise entries
• Pronunciation guides
• Fully cross- referenced to allow you to explore subjects
• Listings of the most mispronounced words, wine styles, and varietal wines.

Simple Lunch Prospecting: The 3-Hours-a-Week,
$100 a Month Campaign to Meet Qualified
Prospects and Strengthen Client Loyalty  

BONUS #3

Printed Report

Here's a fast, easy way to get started with a low-pressure, inexpensive way to deliver unique client service and prospect at the same time. Dan Richards, President of Strategic Imperatives, has crafted a lunch prospecting strategy in six easy steps that take a total of ten hours to complete over a month. This 17-page report includes:

• Getting Started: Planning for a successful Lunch Prospecting Event begins well in advance. Explains how to efficiently divide time between sending invitations and preparing your remarks.

• Preparing Your Market Update: Before making out your invitation list, you must first layout your event topic: Where the market has been, where it is going and the best forecasts on or the future. Then deduce which clients and prospects will most benefit from a discussion and Q&A on this topic.

• Lunch Invitation List: Keep an organized record of the clients and prospects you are planning to invite, plus their preferences for lunch and their specific questions or interests for discussion at the luncheon.

• Extending Invitations: Sample scripts for inviting clients or prospects by phone or email.

• Making the Lunch Happen: Everything you need to follow on the day of the event.

• Luncheon Evaluation Form: Use this worksheet to gauge the effectives of your luncheon.

• Lunch Follow-Up List: Use this follow-up list to guide your post-luncheon interactions with prospects and clients.

Secrets of Successful Client Events, Risk-Free GUARANTEE

Advisors who regularly socialize with top clients and meet the people in their clients' social networks enjoy greater success than advisors who don't hold client events routinely. That was the clear picture that emerged from Horsesmouth's client event research. That's why I urge you to obtain Secrets to Successful Client Events as your complete guide to developing your own, customized client event strategy. And that's why I can make this guarantee:

Use Secrets of Successful Client Events as your chief guide for developing a low-stress, fun, easy-to-implement client event strategy. Take a full year to implement the main approaches explained in Secrets of Successful Client Events. If after 12 months you don't feel that your client event strategy is measurably better than it is now, we'll completely refund 100% of your purchase price—guaranteed, no questions asked. Just call and tell us you're returning all the materials to Horsesmouth at: Horsesmouth, 21 W. 38th St., 14th Fl., New York, NY 10018. Phone: 212-343-8760, Ext. 1.

Order Secrets of Successful Client Events Now Before September 12th— Save $119

Now's the time to propel your business forward with a smart client event strategy. Given the after effects of the global financial crisis, there's no doubt that the period we are living in now is a once-in-a-lifetime prospecting opportunity for advisors. It's imperative you take advantage of this moment now.

Secrets of Successful Client Events: The Complete Guide to Fun, Easy, Low-Stress Ways to Connect With the People Who Keep You Business will guide you step-by-step through developing or vastly improving your client event strategy.

This action research report from Horsesmouth is designed specifically to help you and your staff get the job done and do it well. All you need to do is follow the specific advice described here to develop the kinds of client events that work for you-and get you in front of prospects who are eager to follow up with you.

Follow the process we lay out for choosing a type of event to hold. Follow the process for inviting the right clients and the right prospects. Follow the process we lay out for smart and effective follow-up. (And use all the templates, checklists, scripts and sample invitations included in the Client Event Toolkit CD-ROM that accompanies Secrets of Successful Client Events.)

You'll soon discover that the principles revealed in Secrets of Successful Client Events are now embedded in your own marketing campaigns and you'll be happy with new clients and reinvigorated energy and enthusiasm for your business among your existing clients.

Remember, with Secrets of Successful Client Events, you not only get a step-by-step guide for all aspects of putting on a client event. You also get the Great Client Wine Event Guide, your roadmap for hosting an intimate dinner and wine tasting with your best clients and their friends (includes Wine Event Checklist; and Retirement Readiness Survey template).

And, of course, you get your own copy of the Professional Wine Reference Guide, a fabulous resource and good candidate to consider for your client gifting program.

Plus, you also get Simple Lunch Prospecting: The 3-Hours-a-Week, $100 a Month Campaign to Meet Qualified Prospects and Strengthen Client Loyalty by Dan Richards. This is an instantly viable prospecting strategy with all the details you need to get started tomorrow.

All told, Nicole Coulter has created the ultimate client event package for you and your team. It's all covered here—everything you need to improve or launch your client event strategy.

Turn $266 $147 Into $5,000—Or More

Every marketing effort you undertake should include a frequent analysis of your return on investment (ROI). It's a critical approach to running your business and as an entrepreneur in the financial services industry, I encourage you to apply an ROI analysis to all that you do. So consider this…

Take Horsesmouth's urging to heart and bolster your client event strategy starting today. Do more and better client events in the manner of top advisors. Follow all directions, tips, insights, templates, and procedures we've pulled together for you. And then look at your ROI in terms of your use of Secrets of Successful Client Events…

For the small investment of $266 $147 (plus shipping), you're getting the game plan that will lead to:

• New clients. If you increase the number of client events that you do each year, you're increasing the number of new prospects you convert to clients. How much is that worth? A typical new account average is $100,000 (and I know many, many advisors whose typical new account average is vastly higher). So gross fees in the first year come to $1,000. Let's say you get 5 new clients from your client event activities—I think you'll get more. That means $5,000 in new gross revenue on an investment of $266 $147 in Secrets of Successful Client Events.

• Increased loyalty and referrals. Beefing up your client events and getting back in front of clients with greater frequency re-cements relationships. It's a terribly important activity that also sets you up for more referrals. Your $266 $147 investment in your client event strategy is like buying a small insurance policy on client loyalty. Again, consider the ROI.

• Marketing discipline. If there's one key message to share with you about client events, it is this: Do them regularly and more frequently. By honing your skills and building the supporting infrastructure within your business and team, you're adding a very valuable asset to your business—core competency in a profitable and effective marketing strategy. The plan to do it, Secrets of Successful Client Events, is just a $266 $147 investment.

• Reduced stress. The amazing thing about a smart client event strategy how replicable it is. Once you and your team get in the groove of doing regular and more frequent client events, you'll be amazed that the stress levels previously associated with doing an occasional client event simply melt away. It becomes standard operating procedure and when you have a guide like Secrets of Successful Client Events, you never at a loss for direction or guidance. The price of reduced stress? $266 $147.

• More fun. Client events, for the most part, are meant to be chances for you interact with your clients outside the office setting. And they're meant to allow you to connect with people on a more personal level. They're meant to be fun and informative. Having fun in our business life is something we all strive for, but I can't think of too many professions that get the kind of opportunities for fun that are described for you in Secrets of Successful Client Events. And just for $266 $147.

Don't Miss This Opportunity—Order Before September 12th

I urge you to take control of your business destiny right now and commit to improving your client event strategy.

It just has so many positives built in for your business and really, no serious down sides. It helps you grow your business. It boosts your confidence in your own business and your clients' confidence in the value they're receiving from you.

It makes you a better advisor.

So please take advantage of this time-limited, risk-free offer of $119 off the list price of the Secrets of Successful Client Events package. You deserve all the benefits enjoyed by top advisors who've mastered the art of delivering exceptional client events.

There's never been a better time to improve or launch your client event strategy. Don't procrastinate on this risk-free offer. Go ahead and order yours now.

About Horsesmouth

Since 1997, Horsesmouth has been helping financial advisors succeed by providing timely guidance on key topics such as business development, practice management, financial planning and investment strategies.

Best,


 
Sean M. Bailey
Editor in Chief
Horsesmouth
21 West 38th Street
New York, NY 10018
888-336-6884 ext. 1

 P.S. Remember, you need to act before September 12th to save $119 off Secrets of Successful Client Events and save So place your order right now.

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