Best Practices for Following Up After an Event

The chefs have packed up, the drinks have stopped flowing, and the masses have dispersed. Finally, your client event is over and you can get some rest, right? Wrong! One of the most important aspects of client entertainment is the event followup. You want to make sure your clients had a wonderful time and remember just how wonderful you are. If you continue to engage with them, your clients feel appreciated, which in turn makes them more likely to remember you. Here are some of the best practices for following up after a client entertainment event:

Plan ahead for event followup

The most simple step is to think about how you will follow up with clients before your event even occurs! You don’t want to be scrambling to get in touch because if you do a sloppy job, it will seem insincere. The easiest way to do this is to curate your invite list so you know who you’re thanking. In addition, as Kapow’s Director of Business Development Dave Chookaszian states, the more prep work you’re willing to put in, the easier following up becomes.

Your follow-up process shouldn’t take more than a week. Getting in touch with your clients 2-3 days after your event is ideal, but any contact within a week is great. Setting a schedule can work wonders on your ability to do this, as will making sure you have a system in place for following up with attendees, no-shows and non-responders.

Send out thank you letters. Emails are ideal, especially with new and prospective clients, because you’ll then have their email for later use! But for a small event with top clients and the vendors who helped you at the event, a physical note or card is a tangible representation of your appreciation that is much more meaningful. In addition, you’ll have an easier time curating VIPs if you clue in your stakeholders into your planning process.  They’ll have valuable insight about who you should really turn the charm on for and what talking points will go far. 

Other best practices for following up

If you had photography at your event, be sure to share them with everyone who was there! You can include these in the thank you email, or send out a separate email after the thank you; this way you can remain on your clients’ minds for an extended period.

For those clients that you actually speak to during your follow-up, be sure to bring up specific conversations or things that happened during the event. These personal connections will prove that you care about your clients, and more importantly, can keep them happy. As always, the more research you do prior to your event, the easier these personal touches will be to make.

If you really want to keep your clients engaged, be sure to remind them about any client events you have planned in the near future (if you really want to keep your clients happy, you should have at least prospective dates for an upcoming event or two). To make sure you get the most out of your event before and after the fact, check out kapow.com to start planning and securing your future event schedule!

Need some tips for how to be successful during your event? Check out these tips and tricks from our in-house networking expert.