Best Practices for the Highest ROI on Client Hospitality

Posted on July 29th, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi

julieEntrepeneur/marketing consultant Julie-Woods Moss, who's part of our first Relationship Masters Academy class, recently wrote about client hospitality on her blog, and in doing so articulated what I'd call a couple of solid best practices for good ROI in the arena. Her focus was on big-ticket corporate hospitality, but her advice applies to any entrepreneur or professional ready to invest in strengthening his or her network.

1.    Identify shared passions to create a truly memorable experience. She writes, “My former boss at BT is a concert jazz pianist and so when BT got involved with the Montreaux Jazz festival it really paid back to host a small group of clients who shared the CEO’s love of jazz.”

2.    Find a way to offer your guests an experience that money can’t buy – and be creative. Julie talks about IBM taking top clients behind the scenes at Wimbledon one year, and also relates the experience a CMO at Formula 1 once gave her: “Knowing my passion for technology - he gave me a behind the scenes tour of the F1 broadcasting pod. It is world class and completely mobile - getting built and rebuilt every two weeks. I could really see how that experience alongside the track event would work with some of the CIOs I know, who are real petrol heads. Nothing wrong with being a petrol head, by the way, I married one."

Julie also shares some creative, low-budget ideas to socialize with clients and colleagues – including naked sauna in Finland. Read it!

What’s the most creative or effective event or offering you’ve given to a client to strengthen the relationship?

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