The end of the year is approaching and it’s time to think about how to thank your customers for the year that has been. Some businesses will opt to ignore this while those who truly value their customers will likely set up a good “thank you” initiative to remind their customers how precious they are to the business. Probably the best and widely-practiced initiative is to hold a an End of Year Thank You function for your most valuable customers.

Below are our own proven steps for you to have a guide and implement them yourself:

1. The first step is to work out what type of budget you have for your ‘event’.Think about how many guests and staff you want to invite along.

Here’s a checklist of what you need to think about:

• Budget- How much are you willing to spend or allocate for this?
• Invite List- Listdown ahead those customers who you would like to thank for their loyalty.
• Venue – synergy to your business or message, budget, menu, availability
• ROI for the investment of the function – how will you measure it?

2.  Write up a guest list, and categorise them into A B C D lists. This is created according to the level of importance and how much business your customers give you. Remember, for whatever reason, all the people you invite will not be able to come, so you need a backup plan of who are those you can add to the list instead of the initial customers you’d like to come.

3. Once these details are all done, send out a ‘save the date’ notice about 8 weeks out. This will then help you when it comes to the RSVPs.

4. Six (6) weeks before, send a teaser email/card – it could be to do with the view, theme, date, something to get them excited and realise that your event is NOT TO BE MISSED.

5. Four (4) weeks out, send the invitation – something that is a little bit different, not just an email but maybe a video, or something delivered to their office that matches the theme to the event.

6. RSVP is 3 weeks out. Why so early? This gives you time to start inviting your B, C & D lists without them realising they’re on a lower preference list.

7. Be sure to gather any dietary requirements at RSVP so the venue can take care of this for you – after all this will be a reflection on you and your business.

8. 48 hours before the event, send a personal reminder email to each person attending, if they need to cancel, this is the time to do it, you can then extend an ‘extra person’ invite to someone who is already coming, no doubt you’re going to pay for that person, so you might as well have someone there to:

This guide is to help you organise your End of Year thank you function, but if you decide to do individual functions for each customer, then you’ll simply replicate this many times for each event. Or maybe you’ll do one gala affair, whatever is best for you, your business and the customer.

Entertaining your clients throughout the year and at the end of the year will have them understand the importance you place on the relationship. You’re not just spending money on them, you’re investing in the connection.

As what we’ve always been sharing with our readers, sales is all about building long-term relationships with your customers. If you’re intrested how to maximise your efforts in sales or selling, don’t hesitate to talk with us and maybe we can help through with it.

About @ETIQhour:

Rebecca Wiles of The Training Establishment Pty Ltd shares Business & Sales Etiquette tips and techniques through the ever popular hour of @ETIQhour (Etiquette Hour) Mondays 8pm Eastern Australian Time.

If you’re the Next Generation of Leaders, starting out in business, need some etiquette refresher or just want to know more about the right etiquette in business which can help you to impress your colleagues and clients – join our Facebook Group @ETIQhour which has been a secret weapon to success.