Tips to help you connect long after your guests leave the event
Firms often host free seminars as a way to share their expertise with the community and connect with prospective clients. While attorneys spend a great deal of time fining tuning their talking points and Power Point presentations, they very often overlook the steps needed following the event – the almighty follow-up. If you’re hosting an event, consider the following connection tools which will help to create a relationship on the day of the seminar and long after it’s over.
Contact Registrants before the Event
Most event management systems, including Amicus Creative’s legal seminar tool, send an automated email to registrants after they sign up. These auto-generated emails often include details of the event and for the most part, they are rather sterile in nature. Whenever possible, have a member of your team personally reach out to attendees. In this correspondence, thank them for their interest and ask them what their primary concerns (or questions) are coming into this event. This can allow you to better tailor your presentation to meet your attendees’ needs and help to build a relationship before they ever step foot in the door of the venue.
To encourage registrants to sign up several weeks before the event, you might consider running an early bird registration offer. Advertise this on the home page of your website, in your email signature and in an e-blast to your contacts.
Offer a Special Rate and Make Scheduling Easy
If you’re holding an event to get your name out in the community and get in front of prospective clients, it’s important that you encourage attendees to schedule an appointment with your office following the presentation. A great way to foster that initial meeting following an event is to offer a special rate or free consultation for those in attendance. You may also consider having a member of your support staff on hand with a table set up for easy scheduling. Before attendees leave, they will have an opportunity to take advantage of this special promotion and schedule the consultation.
Provide a Resource Following the Event
A handout to accompany your presentation can be a great informational piece to send home with attendees but to encourage even more interaction, you might consider posting a special report or free kit for participants on your website. Tell attendees about this resource and provide them with an easy to remember URL where they can retrieve the information. Once they are at your website, they’ll likely take a look around and learn more about what you have to offer.
Have Each Attendee Complete an Event Evaluation
Following an event, most presenters want to see how they did. It’s not at all uncommon to distribute evaluations to attendees where they can share feedback. This evaluation is a great time to ask attendees if they would like to receive updates from your firm in the form of newsletters or weekly blog posts. By giving them the option to “opt in”, you can effectively keep in touch with prospective clients (or referral sources) and share your expertise.
Contact Registrants after the Event
Following the event, if at all possible, have the presenter contact attendees to thank them for their participation and see if they have any questions concerning the material covered. This personal email can help to keep the conversation going and give the prospective client some comfort in working with your firm before they even retain you.
Planning and hosting a successful event can take significant resources but it can also yield tremendous results. Amicus Creative Media’s event management tool is a great way to help manage your registrations and make sure that no stone is left unturned as you begin to plan your next big event. Contact us to learn more about this tool and our full suite of marketing resources to propel your firm to new heights!