If you’re like many NYC event planners, you got your start planning family events such as weddings, birthday parties, and bat mitzvahs. There’s plenty of satisfaction and event business opportunities to be had in making life’s special moments unforgettable, too. But the approach for landing corporate event clients requires a different playbook. And NYC event planners know that breaking into corporate events is key to leveling up their business. In this article, we share seven proven ways event planners can get more corporate clients.
1. Understand Corporate Event Needs and Pain Points
Focus on solutions for your corporate clients that will help them reach their business-related goals. Corporate clients are different from your private clients. Whereas private clients are interested in creating special memories for important life events, corporate clients are focused on building their businesses. Corporate events help them do this in a number of ways, such as building brand recognition, acquiring leads, or improving employee retention.
2. Create Corporate-Centric Content
When corporate leads encounter you on your event planning website or through social media, will they be able to tell that you curate corporate events? You won’t inspire trust in your corporate event planning abilities if your website and social media posts focus solely on private events. Create corporate-specific content, even if you haven’t landed your first corporate client.
3. Look and Act Like a Corporate Player
It goes without saying you should have a more professional vibe when meeting with a corporate client than, say, a parent throwing a Sweet 16 party. In addition to dressing professionally, you should come with a vision and detailed plans for the event. Be prepared with tech-savvy solutions, a marketing plan, a detailed budget, and a post-event survey.
4. Focus on Measurable Results
Make your corporate client’s primary goals the focus of your pitch. Anticipate how your corporate client will measure the event’s results, and tailor your presentation accordingly. Corporate clients look for measurable results from their corporate events. Develop ways to measure items such as brand recognition, employee satisfaction, and customer engagement. Be prepared to outline the ways your event planning business will increase ticket sales, develop quality leads, or meet fundraising goals.
5. Create Customer Touchpoints with Corporate Event Clients
Make your cold leads warmer by creating customer touchpoints with corporate clients. Connect with decision-makers and related industry groups on LinkedIn. Comment on their content posts and engage in conversations within the groups. Create a Google Alert for the company name, and reach out with a congratulation or other appropriate message. The idea is to create customer touchpoints so that you’ll be a familiar — and trusted — voice when you reach out with a pitch.
6. Build Your Corporate Event Prospect Network
Start hanging out in places where the corporate decision-makers are. Networking is about creating a web of professional relationships to support your success. You won’t come away from most of these networking events with new event clients booked. But over time, you’ll nurture relationships that will lead to corporate event clients. Scour professional networking events, invite contacts out for lunch, and always be ready to wow your listener with an elevator speech tailored for corporate event clients.
7. Reserve Your Booth at The Event Planner Expo
An event trade show is a hotbed of quality leads. Businesses routinely send their decision-makers to trade shows to learn about corporate event trends, find new products, and connect with corporate event planners. And that’s why you can’t miss out on New York’s most important event industry conference, The Event Planner Expo 2025. There, you can build your corporate event planning street cred by attending dozens of speaking presentations. You can be inspired by the latest event planning tech and trends. And most importantly, you can wow corporate prospects with a captivating exhibitor booth. Learn even more about exhibiting benefits and reserve a booth for The Event Planner Expo today.