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Most people think of events as a great way to show appreciation to clients, keep in touch with your sphere, and perhaps bring past clients back into the fold. But team leaders on Wednesday’s Team Exchange panel at Inman Connect Las Vegas said they’re using them to expand their presence, facilitate lifelong connections within their communities and recruit like-minded agents.
Events are also a great way to get business. As Compass’ Gretchen Cooley said, 48 of her team’s 264 deals last year came directly from team-hosted events. She was joined onstage Wednesday by moderator Keller Williams’ Julia Lashay Israel and Reserve 76 Realty’s Heather Shimala, who had a bottle of bourbon in hand.
Getting started
“My husband and I are huge bourbon fans, and we had a situation several years ago, where we were like, huh, like-minded people like like-minded people. And it kind of evolved into a social group that evolved into this massive group of people that get together every month,” Shimala said.
“We have dinners; we do tasting events and barrel picks. And so this is one of our barrel picks,” Simala said, holding up the bottle of bourbon.
“I wanted to kind of show you how we use it to connect with people. It’s been fun because now people are reaching out to us, asking us to do events at their restaurants, at their bars, and so, talk about being hyperlocal. It’s been a great opportunity for us to get to know business owners around us, as well as people that just want to kind of be part of it all.”
Agents want to join the team because they want to be part of something fun that they can use to connect with their sphere and clients — or even people they want to get to know better — and then those people become part of the community, Shimala said. Her team says they enjoy attending and having the ability to tap into those events to help grow their businesses.
Whereas Shimala has bourbon, Cooley started out with a YouTube series called “The Best of Raleigh Living in Raleigh,” which has since turned into a podcast. These popular platforms led to Cooley’s team’s slew of events.
In addition to regular client events, they also do curated events for like-minded people, such as those who are into watches, cars, etc.
One of the more unique events, according to Cooley, is their vendor events. They invite all the vendors they send referrals to and who send them referrals and their entire companies so that they can all get to know each other.
They also do “Neighbor to Neighbor” events, where they invite all of the neighboring retail tenants into their office every 90 days for a live event with music, cocktails and advertisers. It’s a great way to expand contacts, get to know local businesses and deepen relationships.
Hosting without being overly salesy
At these team-hosted events, the goal is to not only connect with attendees but also to connect attendees to one another.
So, before events, Cooley says she likes to sit down and figure out who’s in the room, and who needs to meet whom.
“I think about, how can I make sure those people make not only a connection to me but a connection with someone else in the room, right? Because the memories that they take away when they leave that room are what they remember you for. And every time they see that person, or they go to that business, they think of you.”
Cooley says that’s how they manage to expand their brand and avoid being pitchy or salesy. This strategy is working to help grow the team’s brand presence because they’re now known around town as the connectors.
Hitting the easy button for agents
But hosting events of this magnitude and frequency is no easy lift. That’s why Cooley tries to do all of the planning, down to the invites, the text messages and emails agents send, and the scripts they read on calls.
“It’s a huge piece of recruitment. We’re going to do all the work. We’re going to fund all the costs. All we need you to do is come and bring your people, and bring the people that they know as well. And we’re going to help you get more business,” Cooley said as if she were speaking to her agents.
Not everyone can come to events because everyone is busy, and often people have to make choices about which events they attend and which they don’t.
That’s why “it’s all about the invite,” according to Cooley. Whether they come to the event or not, those invites are great touch points that carry through your business throughout the year and a great way to stay in front of your clients and provide them exceptional service.
Of course, follow-up is a big part of making these events work in your business. Shimala said it’s crucial to spend time directly after the event making notes and inputting them into the CRM and then to call and thank attendees. It’s also critical to call those who didn’t show up to the event and let them know they were missed, sometimes while the event is still happening.
Giving back
Both team leaders spoke of the importance of linking it all to giving back. Cooley works closely with Realtor Giving Network, and Shimala is on the board with Mission Moms.
“We’re very fortunate. We’re very blessed with this business. You can do quite well. And I feel like [if] you’re not giving back, you’re probably not being as genuine as you need to be. And I feel like we’re gonna talk the talk, then walk the walk,” Shimala said.
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