Nothing against kids’ birthdays and golden anniversaries, but corporate event planning is where it’s at. When your client list moves from Garden City to Wall Street, your event planning income moves up as well. Turning your first few corporate events into long-term client relationships is key to firmly establishing yourself as a corporate event planner. We share the strategies for earning repeat business from big-name brands.
Measure Customer Satisfaction
By the looks of it, your events go off without a hitch, and your corporate clients seem happy. But looks can be deceiving.
Corporate clients are busy professionals. Instead of dishing out hard truths about your performance, they are going to look elsewhere for their next event.
It’s common for corporate clients to give a new event planner a trial run with a smaller event of less consequence. The big events you want go to tried-and-tested event planners who shine during this trial run. If you don’t make the cut, there isn’t an exit interview. There simply isn’t a callback.
Performing customer satisfaction research regularly can help you uncover areas where you can improve and wow those hard-to-please corporate event clients. Use these tips when sending customer satisfaction surveys.
- Keep it short, so that it takes less than 10 minutes to complete.
- Provide at least one open-ended question.
- Always include the stand-by NPS, “How likely are you to recommend our event planning services to your friends.”
- Offer an incentive to complete the survey.
- Follow-up with customers after they complete the survey.
Personalize Your Marketing and Engagement
From Netflix recommendations to the products we see when we open Amazon, we encounter personalized marketing every day. And it works. McKinsey reports that 78% of consumers are more likely to make repeat purchases from companies that personalize their marketing.
- Segment your email list and send personalized content based on clients’ industry and goals.
- Create a personalized event package with special pricing.
- Set up a Google alert on the company, and send congratulatory messages. If appropriate, include a soft sell for planning a celebratory event.
Nurture Event Client Relationships
Personalized messaging is a powerful tool for how event planners can retain clients. Nurturing your relationship with corporate clients goes a step further. And it starts with the premise that people do business with people they like.
Cultivating the relationship refers to connecting with people on a personal level. You do things to make them feel special, appreciated, and seen. Nurturing the relationship signals that you see your clients as people, rather than just a sell.
- Actively listen and respond with clarifying statements.
- Respond to emails and messages promptly.
- Send handwritten birthday cards and thank you cards.
- Get to know them – and make a note of details that you can refer to during later conversations.
- Let them get to know you by sharing casual details, like where you last went for vacation or where you grew up.
- Freely share your knowledge and advice.
Meet Your Next Corporate Event Clients at The Event Planner Expo 2026
You could spend years hopping from one networking mixer to another and still be unable to get in the room with big-name corporate decision makers. Or you can exhibit at The Event Planner Expo. It’s the three-day extravaganza where corporate heavyweights go to find the best event planners in NYC. Stay tuned for speaker announcements, and don’t miss your chance to be in the room. Reserve your booth!
