How many people should I invite?

Q: How many people should I invite?

Two to three times the seats you have.

How to run a retail producer dinner that fills the room

A wholesale producer's playbook for dinners with retail producers: picking the city and line, the guest list, invitations, confirmations and follow-up.

The short answer

Pick a city and a line you want to grow, invite the retail commercial producers who write it plus a few principals, send short personal invitations with two follow-ups, confirm details and remind the day before, then follow up with your appetite guide.

Why dinners work

A dinner with your brokerage team is an easy yes for a retail producer: it's a relationship, not a pitch, and it puts your underwriters and producers in one room with theirs.

1. Pick the city and the line

Choose a city where you want more submissions and the line you want to grow. The guest list follows from that.

2. Build the right guest list

Invite the retail commercial producers who write that line, plus a few agency principals. Aim for two to three times the seats you have.

3. Send personal invitations

Short, specific and from a person: who's hosting, where, when, and why them. Follow up twice, then stop.

4. Confirm and remind

Confirm details with everyone who says yes, answer questions like "who else is coming," and send a reminder the day before.

5. Follow up after

Send each guest your appetite guide for their line and a direct contact for submissions.

ProducerSpark builds the guest list, sends the invitations and reports who replied. Ask it: "Invite the retail commercial P&C producers in San Francisco to dinner with our brokerage team. Set up the invitation campaign."