This is the cold email plan we'd run for a speaker placement agency that books executives onto conference stages in one industry. Conferences publish their calls for speakers with deadlines. That gives each email a real date to point at.
Your market is every executive in your industry whose visibility helps sell. Founders and partners and heads of product. The email goes to the person you'd book.
These are the signals worth looking for.
Sessionize and PaperCall list conferences with open calls and their deadlines. Group the list by deadline.
Search last year's agendas. An executive who spoke two years ago and nothing since has the appetite and no one booking them.
Competitor executives on this year's conference agendas are standing in front of the same buyers.
An executive who writes well on LinkedIn has talks waiting to happen.
A company that just published research has a ready talk. Conferences want fresh data.
The email goes to the executive directly. At bigger companies copy the head of marketing or communications.
Fifteen conferences in their industry with open calls for speakers and the deadline for each.
It works because it is a plan with dates on it.
Walk through it on a 15 minute call. Only they know which rooms their buyers sit in and which dates they can travel. The next step is someone writing and submitting the applications.
A ready to submit talk abstract built from their LinkedIn posts or their latest report.
It works because it shows them the talk already exists in things they have said.
Read it with them on a call before it goes anywhere. It goes out under their name and a few words will change once they hear it read back. Submitting it is the easy part.
Write and submit their first applications free. Pick the conferences together and they approve each abstract.
It works because an acceptance email is proof they can forward to their team. The retainer covers the rest of the calendar.
It starts with a 20 minute call to pick the conferences and the topics. Submit before the nearest deadline.
Each segment gets its own email because a specific email gets more replies than a general one. Split each segment by sub-industry too so the examples in the email fit the reader.
Keep each email under 100 words with one reason for writing and one line of proof and one offer and one question. The proof lines are examples of the kind of result to use. Swap in real results of your own before anything goes out.
Lead with the conference and the date the call closes. Offer the abstract.
Hi {{first_name}},
{{conference}} closes its call for speakers on {{deadline}}. Your post about {{topic}} would make a strong talk there.
Wrote the abstract to show what I mean.
A client we submitted for last season was accepted at four of the six events we applied to.
Want me to walk you through it?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the competitor on the agenda. Offer the calendar.
Hi {{first_name}},
{{competitor_exec}} from {{competitor}} is speaking at {{conference}} this year.
We book {{industry}} leaders onto stages. Pulled 15 events with open calls where you'd fit.
A leader we started with this year has spoken at five industry events in seven months and met two new clients at them.
Want me to walk you through the list?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with their last talk and offer the free applications.
Hi {{first_name}},
Found your talk at {{last_event}} from {{last_talk_year}}. Couldn't find anything on the stage since.
Happy to write and submit your next applications free. You'd approve each abstract first.
The first three applications we sent for a returning speaker got two acceptances.
Interested?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with their best post and the talk it could become. Ask for a call directly.
Hi {{first_name}},
Your post about {{post_topic}} had more to say than plenty of conference talks I've sat through.
We get {{industry}} leaders onto the stages their buyers sit in front of. A client who had never spoken before gave three talks in the first six months with us.
Worth 15 minutes to see which stages would fit you?
{{sender_first_name}}
Send two follow ups in the same thread three to five days apart.
Each reply should end in a booked meeting that actually happens. The lead magnet and the offer get delivered on that call and never go out as a file to read later.
The replies below cover the three ways people say yes.
They asked for the abstract. The call makes it sound like them.
Hi {{first_name}},
Happy to. It goes out under your name so I'd rather read it with you and change anything that doesn't sound like you. Fifteen minutes is enough and we'd still make the {{deadline}} deadline.
Does Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They want the free applications. The call picks the conferences and the topics.
Hi {{first_name}},
Great. I need 20 minutes with you to pick the conferences and the topics you want to speak on. The first applications go out before the nearest deadline.
Does Thursday at 11am or Friday at 3pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They said yes to a call. Tell them what they'll leave with so they show up.
Hi {{first_name}},
Perfect. I'll bring the events your buyers attend and the two talks I'd pitch first. You'll leave with a speaking plan for the next six months.
Does Monday at 1pm or Tuesday at 9am work?
{{sender_first_name}}
Results aren't guaranteed and nobody honest can promise a number before the first emails go out. A few things decide how a campaign does.
The first few weeks show how the market responds. The list and the copy and the offer get sharper from there.
We build and run this campaign for one agency per industry.
This page is a starting point and a strategy we'd happily test ourselves. Working together gives us more context on your agency. That context lets us add better strategies and build better lists and offers and automations for you.
Thirty minutes on your market and how we'd reach it.