ROI

I hope you are enjoying your summer so far. Today I wanted to reach out with another leadership idea. As usual, my leadership tips are based on real-life situations that my clients are experiencing.

 

So let’s talk about client appreciation parties. I love these parties. They are a great way to market. IF you use it as a marking tool and understand what your ROI is going to be. 

What’s an ROI and why is it important?

 

ROI stands for Return On Investment. It compares how much money you put into something with how much money you get out of it. You calculate your ROI by following this formula:

 

(Total Profits Made – Amount you spent) Amount you spent. Then Multiply by 100 to get a %

 

For example, (break out your trusty calculator) if you spent $500 on fliers for your business and that brought in 5 new clients who each spent $5,000, your ROI on those fliers would be 4,900%. Let me break that down for you:

 

($25,000 profits – $500 investment) = $24,500

$24,500 $500= 49

49 * 100= 4,900%

 

Knowing your ROI for any event or marketing campaign is essential to your business’s long-term success. Knowing your ROI helps you know if your event or campaign is effective and “worth it”. You can see real numbers that tell you if your client appreciation event was a success. Knowing this can help you decided how you want to proceed in the future.

 

Keep in mind that you have a process in place before you do the event or marketing that will tell you what your ROI was. Putting something out there and hoping and praying that it works is not a marketing plan. You need to think ahead and make sure that you have a way to measure if the marketing plan was successful. 

 

Example 1- Let’s go back to the flier example. How can you know that those fliers are making any difference? Try placing a QR code or a website url or a specific phone line for just those calls. This will help you identify which clients came from that particular flier. Then you can identify the sales that came from that particular flier and start calculating the ROI. 

 

Example 2- You place a billboard and want to know if it is driving traffic to your office. Add the phrase “Mention this ad” or “ Use the code ___”. Now you can identify which people came to you as a result of the billboard. Add up those sales, subtract the cost of the billboard, divide that number by the cost of the billboard and multiply that number by 100. (Or if math isn’t your thing, you can find free ROI calculators online. I like https://www.calculator.net/roi-calculator.html)

 

How do you maximize your ROI?

 

There are two key elements that need to be present to successfully reach your ROI goals and maximize results. First- participation. I’ve said it a million times if I’ve said it once- you can’t close deals if you don’t have sales conversations. Sometimes, “butts in seats” is the first step.

 

When you are doing an event like the client appreciation party, make sure to add in something that will incentivize current clients to bring in potential new clients.  Maybe it is a drawing for some sort of prize. You can tell them that for every friend you bring that meets your ideal client profile, they will get their name entered in for a drawing. For example, for every friend you bring that is between the ages of 11-17 and DOESN’T already have braces, you get an extra entry to the drawing. 

 

Holding a client appreciation day where the only people who show up are existing clients does not yield a high ROI. It becomes just “I”. Money goes out and nothing comes in to offset it. If you’re just holding an event where parents can come drop their kids off while you babysit and feed them, that will not suit your company’s needs. Not using the event as an opportunity to meet new potential clients is a costly mistake.

 

Second, you need to follow up with your potential clients. It’s great if you go to a convention and get 100 new names. If you never follow up or contact them, they will never become clients. The idea is that you not only have something on the front side to get people’s information but you also need to have a good backend process. 

 

Make sure as you are going about these events and marketing campaigns that you know what your ROI goal is. Then make sure you analyze the results. If you achieve or exceed your ROI goal, awesome!! Celebrate and consider repeating sometime in the future. If you did not meet your goal, it’s time for a pivot. Examine what didn’t work, what did, and what you want to change in the next marketing campaign.