Dec. 8, 2025

This piece is sponsored by Amy Stockberger Real Estate.

By Amy Stockberger

This year marked the 20th annual turkey giveaway and Santa photo client appreciation event at Amy Stockberger Real Estate — an event that has allowed us to give out more than 6,000 turkeys in the past 20 years.

Of all the events we host each year, this one’s the crown jewel — the one that fills our hearts and brings our amazing community together in the most meaningful way.

With 20 years of experience, we’ve learned so much about what it takes to turn one-time clients into lifelong relationships. Here’s what we’ve discovered.

The emotional ROI: Priceless

We had the honor of hosting more than 1,100 of our wonderful Forever Clients through our doors and handed out about 500 turkeys. Hundreds of kiddos showed up — split down the middle between completely thrilled and absolutely in awe. This magical tradition is a beautiful reminder that when we show appreciation, we build something lasting, and that’s exactly how we nurture lifelong relationships in our community.

At this event, there’s no pretending. Life shows up exactly as it is, no filters, no scripts. We celebrate new babies, engagements, retirements and all the joyful moments. And we also hold space for the harder stories: illnesses, losses and the challenges life brings.

We have clients who come back year after year, including my very first client I ever served, who got to enjoy his 20th turkey.

We get to watch our clients’ families grow, babies born, kids heading off to college, marriages and entire life stories unfolding right alongside us.

We also hear the hard stories, the ones that leave us quiet for a moment. The parent who won’t be there this year. The child who should have been. The diagnosis that changed everything. And yes, I find myself tearing up every year because being part of our clients’ lives for so long means holding space for all of it.

This is what a true relationship looks like. This is the emotional return on investment that can’t be measured in numbers.

From gift cards to connection

Let’s take a step back. At our very first turkey event, we tried simply handing out grocery store gift cards. Our clients appreciated it, but there was no memorable experience, no real connection that made us stand out. That was when we realized we needed to do more than just give a gift — we needed to create a tradition that people would remember.

For a few years after that, we tried standing in grocery stores with banners offering free turkeys to our clients, even tossing in free market analyses thinking that would stand out. Spoiler alert: That’s really just part of what we do every day. Not a true point of difference, such a miss on our part. Plus, standing by the store doors in November in South Dakota in dress shoes wasn’t exactly the warmest plan!

Systems that serve

In those early years, planning our events was a jumble of Word docs. Now, we use Monday.com to keep all our operations running smoothly. It has become the backbone of how we coordinate not just events but all the moving parts of our business.

And when it comes to the event itself, that same system helps us track every RSVP, cookie count and detail so we can continuously improve the experience for everyone. For those of you who run your own business, you know how much difference that level of organization can make. Our beloved chief operating officer used ChatGPT to predict all the goodies inventory and ended up with only 20 cookies left. For a competitive team like ours, that was a fun win. 

After our guests check in, we make sure to tag them in our system so we can follow up easily and keep track of who attended. We used ChatGPT Agent Mode to help tag and organize everything this year — huge time-saver, zero drop-off, total system win. Because in the end, data is king when it comes to nurturing those long-term relationships and keeping our community strong.

Marketing your event is more than sending a pretty postcard 

One of the key lessons we learned is that inviting people to our events isn’t just about sending a single notice, it’s about creating a full-on campaign. We use a multilayered outreach approach to make sure everyone knows what’s happening and feels excited to join in. From postcards, emails, SMSes, private Facebook Group posts and voicemails, we show up consistently across multiple platforms to ensure no one misses out and everyone feels personally invited.   

Pre-planning isn’t optional — it’s a power move 

We never leave our client events to chance. We plan each one a full year ahead of time, making sure that before the new year even starts, we’ve already mapped out all the key details. That way, everything runs like clockwork, and we’re always prepared.

This long-term planning also makes our post-event wrap-ups incredibly valuable. Within a week of each event, we bring the team together to go over what worked and what we can improve for next time. This is an absolute nonnegotiable and part of our core value of continuous improvement, always finding new ways to wow our clients next year.

At that same meeting, we also lock in next year’s date while everything is still fresh in our minds. Plus, we send out a save-the-date invite at the beginning of every year detailing all our upcoming events so our clients can mark their calendars early. That way, we’re not scrambling later or waiting until annual planning to revisit the details; we’re always thinking ahead.

And, of course, the event itself is where the magic happens. But it’s the systems we have behind the scenes that keep everything running like a well-oiled machine and let us deliver that magic efficiently.

The magic of Santa — yes, the real one

Five years ago, we decided to add a special guest to the event: Santa himself. It completely transformed the experience. Now, our clients bring not just their kids but their extended family: new grandbabies, nieces, nephews, and even the big kids get in on the fun. Everyone loves the magic of that jolly old St. Nick, and we’re honored that our clients share these moments with us.

But here’s where it gets deeper. 

A few years back, a longtime client shared a story that truly touched our hearts. They had just lost their dad, and the grief was still fresh. While they were in line with their kids waiting for a Santa photo at our event, Santa looked up, called their brother by name, a name no one else had mentioned, and asked him what he wanted for Christmas. They froze. They felt like it was a sign that their dad was still with them. It’s moments like these that remind us how much these traditions mean to the families we serve.

We always add something new

Every year, we add a new little surprise to keep things fresh. Our clients never know exactly what to expect, but they always know it’ll be just a bit better than the year before, even if it’s just by a sliver.

This year, we introduced our first Holiday Guide for our clients. We also had some fun extras with Thanksgiving sides and letting clients roll dice for a chance to win a $20,000 holiday spree. If you’d like to get your own copy of our ultimate Holiday Guide, just check out the link here!

We also added a rolling camera setup with a sign that simply said, “Tell us what you’re thankful for.” The stories shared were real and raw. Gratitude is one of my favorite emotions, and this year it was overflowing from every corner.

I will forever love this

Every single year, without fail, clients wait in line — often for quite a while — to tell me personally how much they love our real estate agents. I never get tired of hearing it. They tell me about the extra time that was spent, the care they received, how much they appreciate our events and the way our systems made their lives easier. It is delicious. 

This year, I took a moment to pause. I looked around at all the smiling clients, our team laughing and hugging, the cider, the sound of babies and bells and pure joy in the air. I felt completely overwhelmed with gratitude.

Twenty years of moments like this. Twenty years of service. Twenty years of building something that means something.

This isn’t just about real estate — it’s about being part of real lives and real moments. We’re incredibly grateful to share in that journey.

Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling, want the inside scoop on the Sioux Falls market or are a local business excited to team up and serve our amazing community — reach out. Let’s connect, collaborate and make something awesome happen together.

Book a consultation with our team to explore how we can support each other locally. We can’t wait to connect with you!

Check out my guide to selling a home this winter.

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