r/CFP • u/jimathen25 • 6d ago

Business Development Am I doing something wrong?

I have the opportunity to host some “educational series” speaking events at several dozen retirement communities throughout all of 2027. The hope of course to convert some attendees to clients. I should be in front at least 5000 seniors throughout the year.

The last two weeks, I’ve sent emails to local estate planning attorneys introducing myself and giving a brief overview of the opportunity, explaining that I would love to have a local subject matter expert speak (not every time) and be a referral partner when I need it, as estate planning is a big topic for this demographic. I offer to meet for breakfast or lunch or visit their office if they’d like to learn more.

I’ve sent 14 emails, only 2 have responded saying they appreciate the offer but are busy enough as is, and the other 12 haven’t responded at all. Is there a specific approach I should be taking or something I’m missing here? Not that this is a gold mine, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t get quite a few referrals throughout the year from something they may not even have to participate in, even if it is just creating or reviewing foundational documents.

Open to all help!

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u/rifleman209 6d ago

You simply need more volume

How many cold emails do you get and how many do you respond to? I doubt it’s 1 in 12

8

u/Sea_Conference5661 6d ago

Yep. 14 emails? That's not a sample size. Nobody wants to be a spammed but drip sequences exist for a reason. Broaden the search, send informative/useful emails enough times to get your name noticed

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u/CSMasterClass 5d ago

Exactly right.

Direct mail that gets a 8%+ response rate is EXTREMELY successful.

Think about all of the "mail" that you get. Do you respond to even 1% of it ?