Non-business lunches are a great way to schmooze clients and COIs. Your first objective is to get to know them on a more personal level. What do they do for fun?  How are the kids? How is their golf game? The second objective is uncovering their connections. Who else played in that tournament? Does your sister still live in town?

Hosting small events for clients, prospects, and COIs is a great use of marketing dollars. Done properly, you can impact 10-20 people for what you’d usually pay for a nice dinner for four. Consider investing in monthly events like backyard BBQs, shooting clinics, or a day on the boat. If you think creatively, you can even find friends or clients with a unique talent they can share like fly tying or cake decorating. These can make for fun and inexpensive events. 

Depending on your location, sporting events can be great for interaction. Get a couple extra tickets or plan a tailgate party for people you know will be in attendance. This makes for a very natural introduction to friends of friends. “I have a couple extra tickets for this week’s XYZ game. Do you think you and your buddy Tim would want to come?”

Reading through the newspaper, you can often find community events to leverage.  Getting extra tickets for music festivals, wine tastings, or art gallery tours are often an inexpensive way to congregate with clients, prospects, and COIs. The price is usually reasonable and the logistics couldn’t be easier. You’re not renting a tent or finding a caterer, you’re simply calling around to gather a group for an event.

Finding opportunities to surprise and delight clients is a great way to stimulate positive word of mouth influence and engage the law of reciprocity. This is sending a sweatshirt when junior gets into college, bringing over a travel guide when they’re planning a big vacation, and so on. Most advisors get this principle, but put very little structure and money towards it. To be clear, it isn’t about spending money on any one individual gift.  It’s about budgeting money for the process – consistently engaging in this behavior throughout the year.