Client Appreciation Event Checklist

Pick a date that avoids local holidays, school breaks, and major sports events that drain attendance. Theme should match the season and your sphere — fall pie pickup, summer family BBQ, holiday photo event with a Santa booth. The team leader signs off on theme before any vendor outreach.

Industry benchmark is roughly $25-$75 per expected attendee for a casual event, more for sit-down. Budget gets approved by the broker or team leader before vendor deposits go out. Track against GCI — client events are a marketing line item, not a personal expense.

Open-house style at the brokerage office, private venue, restaurant buyout, or pickup-only (pies, pumpkins, photos). Format drives venue booking, RSVP handling, and staffing — a pickup event needs a tent and traffic flow; a seated dinner needs a head count by RSVP deadline.

Confirm capacity, A/V availability, ADA accessibility, parking, and a clear cancellation clause. Get the brokerage named as additional insured on the venue's COI if alcohol is served. Deposit comes from the marketing account, never an agent's personal card.

Filter past clients, current pipeline, and A/B sphere contacts in Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, or your CRM of record. Exclude active under-contract clients if their transaction is sensitive. Tag the segment as 'Client Event [Year]' so post-event nurture sequences fire correctly.

Bounced emails and dead phone numbers are the biggest invitation killer. ISA or admin runs a quick scrub — check for moved-out clients, deceased contacts, and divorced couples on the same record. Update the CRM as you go.

Expect roughly 25-40% RSVP-to-attend rate from past clients depending on relationship strength. Cap the RSVP list at venue capacity minus a 10% overflow buffer. Decide now whether plus-ones and kids are included — it materially changes head count.

Include brokerage name, designated REALTOR, and license number per state advertising rules. Avoid fair-housing-loaded language ('family-friendly', 'perfect for families') — even on a non-listing invite, keep advertising voice consistent with compliance training.

Use the CRM's broadcast tool (Follow Up Boss action plan, kvCORE smart campaign) so opens, clicks, and RSVPs track against the contact record. Avoid BCC blasts from personal Gmail — replies get lost and the data never makes it back to the CRM.

A handwritten card to your top 50 past clients lifts attendance materially over email-only. Use a service like Handwrytten or write them yourself; mail 4 weeks out so it arrives 3 weeks before the event.

Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn — branded graphic plus a short personal video from the team leader. Tag the venue. Do not run paid ads to a private client event; it muddies the audience and brings strangers.

Reminder to non-responders only — segment the CRM list so people who already RSVP'd yes aren't pestered. Last-week nudge typically pulls another 10-15% of total RSVPs.

Caterers typically need final counts 72 hours out. Pad by 10-15% over RSVP — walk-ins and plus-ones always show. Confirm dietary accommodations (vegetarian, gluten-free, nut allergies) captured from the RSVP form.

If alcohol is served, the venue or licensed bartender carries liquor liability — the brokerage should be named as additional insured. Confirm the COI is in the transaction file. Do not let agents pour drinks from a personal stash; that voids coverage.

Keep giveaways under $25 retail per recipient to stay clear of RESPA Section 8 issues if any guests are settlement-service contacts (lenders, title officers). Branded items with the brokerage logo are fine — gift cards over $25 to a referral partner are not.

Every agent gets an assignment: greeter, host table, photo coordinator, drinks, kid wrangler. Team leader runs a 30-minute pre-event huddle covering the run-of-show, talking points, and who works which past-client relationship. No agent prospects strangers at the door — that's the conversion-killer.

Check-in captures attendance against the RSVP list — this is the data point that drives post-event follow-up. Use a tablet with a sign-in tool (Spacio, Curb Hero, or a simple Google Form) so contact updates land in the CRM, not on a paper list that gets lost.

Mic, speakers, slideshow on a TV or projector, photo backdrop if you're doing a photo activation. Run the team-leader's welcome remarks through the mic before guests arrive — feedback on a hot mic kills momentum.

The greeter has the RSVP list and a tablet for walk-in capture. Use the guest's first name — past clients notice when you don't. Hand off each guest to the agent who closed their transaction whenever possible.

Two minutes maximum: thank guests, name a few past clients (with permission), say the team works by referral and would appreciate introductions, then get out of the way. Long speeches at a client appreciation event are a credibility tax — keep it short.

Designated agent or hired photographer captures candid shots and short BombBomb-style clips for the recap. Get verbal consent before posting anyone's photo on social — past clients in protected classes have privacy expectations you should respect.

Update each contact record with attendance status, any life-event notes the agent picked up (new baby, job change, considering downsizing), and conversation flags. This is the data the post-event nurture sequence runs against — skip this and the event was just a party.

Each attending agent writes their own past clients — generic cards from the team leader to everyone do not work. Reference a specific moment from the conversation. Mail within 72 hours while the event is fresh.

Carousel of photos on Instagram, a recap video on Facebook, a thank-you post on LinkedIn. Tag attendees who consented. The recap doubles as a soft-touch for invitees who couldn't make it.

Attended-segment gets a different sequence than no-show segment. Attendees get the 'great to see you' touch and a market update; no-shows get a 'sorry we missed you' note with the recap link. Run both through Follow Up Boss action plans or kvCORE smart campaigns.

Team leader reviews each agent's event notes for soft leads — 'my sister is thinking of selling', 'we might move next spring'. Assign owner, set a follow-up cadence, and tag the lead source as 'Client Event [Year]' so attribution makes it into the next GCI review.

30-minute team meeting: what worked, what didn't, RSVP-to-attend rate, cost per attendee, leads surfaced. Capture the numbers — next year's planning starts here.