A blueprint for a successful high-net-worth client event

Client and prospect events are a cornerstone of many advisory firm’s development efforts.

The pandemic threw a wrench in the effectiveness of these events. However, even before COVID-19, we were often asked for advice on how to do events well to garner new clients and referrals, especially when targeting high-net-worth (HNW) prospects and clients.

It’s always helpful to hear from individuals who are having real-life success, which is why I connected with Vern Montross, Western Division Managing Director at City National Rochdale (CNR). With over 30 years of investment experience, CNR, a SEI strategic investment partner, specializes exclusively in providing personalized portfolio management for high net-worth individuals, families, and institutions with over $1 million in investable assets.

For context, CNR put on 300 HNW-targeted investor events in 2022. Their average attendance for regional summits was 15 and Vern drove 92 attendees to one of his summits alone. Prior to joining CNR, Vern was an investment advisor at AllianceBernstein serving HNW clients. Over nearly 20 years, he has tested and refined his approach to events, and during a 45-minute conversation with me, Vern provided a masterclass in how to put on a successful event with tips for HNW prospects and clients. 

Here is a blueprint for a successful HNW event according to Vern:

Tip 1: Invite five times the number of attendees you want

No event is successful without enough of the right people. If there’s one tip you take away from this blog post, it’s this: you need to invite a lot more people than you’d think in order to reach your attendance goals. In general, the ratio of invitees to attendees to plan for is four or five-to-one. You need even more invitees for prospects.

For example: 

Depending on the venue and format of the event, consider the ideal number of attendees. More isn’t always better. For example, more than 20 or 30 attendees makes interaction more difficult. If needed, hold two smaller events in place of one large event.

Tip 2: Start the invitation process eight to 10 weeks before the event

To get 92 people to his event, Vern started sending invitations using the following process eight to ten weeks in advance. First, he and his team make five to seven touches per invitee to drive interest. Then, they follow up with and a couple confirmations to encourage registrants to show up. Driving attendance takes time and effort. If you use a campaign in your CRM and marketing email system, it can make this process easier.

Here’s a sample communications plan to drive attendance:

Tip 3: The format and topic of your event matters (hint: focus on relevant planning topics for HNW)

In Vern’s experience, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday tend to work best (but not Thursday evening).

Ideal days and times by HNW groups:

• HNW working professionals: 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday or Wednesday
• HNW service professionals such as doctors and attorneys: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday in the early morning, or opt for shorter events over lunch
• Retired or non-working HNW clients and prospects tend to be the most flexible

A two-hour evening event allows 30 minutes for registration and networking before the formal program begins, following with an hour and a half for dinner and presentation. Vern always coordinates with the venue on the timing and flow of the event to ensure that the meal service doesn’t interrupt the presentation. Build in breaks as needed. Do not run long. At 7:30 make sure the formal presentation is wrapped up, thank everyone for attending but invite them to stick around to mingle and ask any unanswered questions. You’ll know it went well when people stick around and there’s a line behind the subject matter experts you brought in.

Topics that resonate with HNW clients

Lean into planning topics—tax and estate topics are always relevant. Social topics such as wine and chocolate tasting have also gone over well in Vern’s experience. Avoid investment-heavy content.

Co-create on the topic

Tailor the content to address the concerns of your ideal attendees.

Back to tip 2, as you’re reaching out to targeted clients, professionals, and prospects to gauge their interest on the timing and topic, use this outreach as an opportunity to co-create the content with them so they have skin in the game. Just don’t forget—you’re the expert and you want to ensure you include your agenda. Vern and CNR have been focusing on business owner events, which tend to be attractive HNW, money-in-motion opportunities.

Partner for impact

Add value by bringing in outside experts such as an attorney, accountant, or other specialist that can deliver expert advice and answer questions. These are ideally partners you’d refer to or work with. For example, at SEI and CNR there are a number of tax, estate, investment, and business owner experts that support client meetings and events.

Sample HNW Events:

• The Markets Uncorked
• Brie our Guest - Cheese Tasting & Market Update
• Owners and Experts: Panel and Q&A on Selling Your Business (or Ownership)

The format and topic should be catered to your ideal attendee. 

Tip 4: Provide a next step and follow up

Getting attendees to the event is the hard part. These next steps are easy—give them a relevant and actionable next step, also known as a call to action (CTA) and follow up!

For example, if you host an event highlighting three tax reduction strategies for business owners in 2023, your next step may be to send in their previous year tax return to initiate an ongoing conversation if any of the strategies reviewed make sense for them to act on.

Sample follow-up:

• Email a follow-up within 72 hours of the event to attendees, thanking them for their time, and remind them of your CTA (to send you their tax return)
• For anyone who doesn’t send in their tax return send a reminder a week later
• A follow-up call or two to connect with any prospects who you haven’t heard from is also a good idea
• You may want to consider highlighting the event and planning ideas in your newsletter, a blog, and on social media to amplify your efforts

Have a follow-up plan before the event so you get it out quickly following the event. The longer you wait, the lower the chances of getting attendees to take action.

Tip 5: Going virtual

During the COVID-19 pandemic, advisors had to rethink in-person events and many were able to transition to virtual events successfully. While in-person events are especially good for relationship building, there is a place for virtual events. Virtual events are much more cost effective, accessible to busy or non-local clients and prospects, and are a good option if a subset of your ideal attendees are not comfortable being back in person.

Vern and his partners at CNR have held a number of virtual social events with their advisor clients over the past few years. They recommend, Arguax, a women-owned, California-based business that provides a high-end virtual tasting experience.

Tips when going virtual:

• Make sure you are very comfortable with the technology or have someone on call who can troubleshoot for you and attendees. Do a dry run to test that everything is working.
• Have a plan for the run of show, who is going to do what, when.
• Greet people as they join and consider having a prepared ice breaker question to get people to turn on their screens and start to engage early.
• Give attendees guidance on how to engage and use your webinar platform. Let them know if you want them to speak up with questions, raise their hands, wait until the end, or use chat. It’s often helpful to role model the engagement you want to get the ball rolling. For example, use the reactions or type questions, or notes in the chat.
• Make sure you have good lighting (natural light is the best but a ring light works too), camera (I love my Logitech Brio camera), microphone (podcast expert Matt Halloran recommends the Samsun Q2U microphone), and background. Be on early and test your devices in advance.
• Also, have your camera at eye-level and look into it so it looks like you’re making eye contact. Your head should not have too much space above or be cut off. 

Ready to get started?

1. Use SEI’s One-Page Marketing Plan to create and prepare for your event
2. Talk to your professional partners (i.e. technical experts and business partners such as your investment and custodial partners) to see who may be able to support you and your team
3. Follow the five tips above to make your event a success

Like any marketing initiative, your outcomes are amplified with a plan and a high-level of execution. When done well, events can help you get in front of the right new prospects, and drive client satisfaction and referrals.

Learn more about City National Rochdale and their strategic partnership with SEI.

City National Rochdale (CNR) is not affiliated with SEI or its subsidiaries.  No cash or non-cash compensation was paid for this article.  SEI bills clients for the services rendered.  For CNR managed clients, CNR’s management fee is paid by the client.  Neither SEI nor CNR believe there are any material conflicts of interest arising from this article.