6 Steps to Planning a Successful Business Mixer
The Amy Jones Group
Every Quarter, The Amy Jones Group puts together a successful Business Mixer for local businesses and companies looking to partner with us for our Vendor Program! We LOVE connecting with our community and sharing each others stories. When we partner with a Vendor, they are highlighted on our website, blogs, promotions and gets a chance to go LIVE with us on our monthly What's Up Southeast Valley Broadcast on Facebook. Below are some tips to planning a successful business mixer for your own company and how to connect with us and attend one of ours.
Plan Ahead
Time to plan! Head to your favorite coffee shop, grab a coffee and sit down to figure out how you want to plan your business mixer. Give yourself at least 2 months before hosting for your first event, so that you have enough time to book a venue and invite guests. Decide if you want to hold the event quarterly, monthly or yearly. You can always make changes as you go along!
Consider a Co-Host or sponsor to plan with you and help pay for the event so that they can share their business, network and connect as well. Success is all about connection, networking and communication. The more people you have to help and be a part of the team, the greater reach you will have out into the community!
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Create a Guest List
Who are you looking to connect with? Clients? Friends? Local businesses? Partnerships? Take a look at who your Clients are and who they would benefit most with to connect with through your business. The Amy Jones Group is a Real Estate Team with Keller Williams Integrity First. Directly, our past and current Clients have bought and sold homes with us. We want to be their Real Estate Team for life and provide connections and services to them even after they have bought and/or sold their home with us.
For us, the guest list consists of local businesses and services that are all home related. Once we partner with a local business, we want to meet them, get to know who they are and spend time with them to see if they would be a right fit to partner with and share with our Clients. Once we partner with our preferred business, we can directly provide our past and current Clients with referrals and discounts on services that they need. It's a win win for everyone!
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Pick The Venue & Time
Picking the venue is another partnership opportunity. Promote the venue along with the invitees and promote the venue as well. Give out coupons and gift certificates to the venue at the event to bring them more business!
You want to select a venue with a big enough space to hold the amount of people that you are inviting. Even if every person on your invite list does not come, that's okay because it is better to have more room than less if you end up having more people than expected. The more the better! When the weather is nice, always go for a great atmosphere and patio seating.
The best time to have a business mixer is towards the end of the week in the afternoon. Happy Hour is a great time to promote for the venue and for the attendees. Most businesses are done for the day or week and attending an event with free appetizers and drinks will sound very appealing!
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Send Out Invitations & Follow Up
Make sure to send out your invitation by email or mail and ask for an RSVP date. The most important part to sending out invitations is that you are following up with who you would like to see attend. Choose an email or mail service that also sends reminders to RSVP and then reminders of the day & time of the event. Most importantly - Personally call each invitee after sending out the invitation. This adds a personal touch that anyone can appreciate and it's always helpful to send and share reminders. We are all very busy these days and multiple reminders and invites will keep your event top of mind.
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Provide The Food & Entertainment
Anytime you want to host an event or business mixer, make sure to add value! Even though local business connection is valuable for all of us, also adding incentives will ensure that your guests will attend and stay for all of the fun! Provide the food, appetizers, drinks and entertainment for the afternoon. Entertainment can be anything interactive. At the Amy Jones Group, we love to involve everyone with an icebreaker and share who we are with each other. Shake hands and exchange business cards to get the conversation going!
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Prepare Goodie Bags or Raffle Items
As part of the entertainment, have everyone take out their business cards and add one to the raffle bowl and also to hand them out to everyone else at the event while talking about their business. Make it a game!
Put together goodie bags for everyone with usable items branded with your business. Add a starbucks gift card or food voucher from the venue you are attending.
Most of all - Have fun!
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