A couple of weeks back, I wrote about strategies to get prospects out to client events.One advisor responded that getting prospects out to client events isn't his problem - his issue is getting his top clients out. While he has no difficulty filling the room at luncheon workshops or appreciation events, he never gets many of his very best clients out.

There are three key steps to getting more of your top clients participating in your workshops and appreciation activity.

1 Ensure the topics are relevant and of real interest.

The next time you're meeting with a top client, consider giving him or her a piece of paper with a list of half a dozen topics with words like: "I'm going to be conducting some luncheon workshops for top clients later this fall. I wonder if I could run some potential topics by you and get you to tell me which of these you'd be most interested in?"

Or if it's an appreciation event you're considering, you could say: "I'm planning to invite some of my top clients to a special evening as a way to thank them and recognize them for their support. I've got a few different ideas I'm working on - could we take three minutes to get your feedback to some ideas for the evening."

2 Personalize the invitation

Once you've decided on the event, you have an opportunity to call those clients and extend a personal invitation. The most important part of that call is to link the event to the earlier conversation. For example, you could say: "Earlier this year, we talked about some ideas for luncheon workshops. At the time, you expressed interest in learning more about strategies for charitable giving. The reason I'm calling is to let you know that based on the feedback I got from you and other top clients, we have a luncheon session scheduled on that topic on Wednesday October 8. You'll be getting an invitation in the mail, but I wanted to touch base with you on this before the invitations went out to let you know that I've set aside a couple of spots for you and Joan, should this timing fit your schedules".

Presented in this way, it's much harder for clients to say no - after all, you selected the topic based on their feedback.

3 Keep events for top clients small

Whether it be workshops over lunch or recognition activity, research with top clients is clear: Many shy away from anything which they see as mass oriented, in which they'll be in a room with a large number of other clients. If you're targeting top clients, you're far better to keep numbers down and maintain an atmosphere of exclusivity.

Keep these three principles in mind the next time you run an educational workshop or appreciation event for clients and you too can increase the participation by your very best clients.