It’s expensive for us, but worth it. We buy lists of people who are thought to be upper income, and mail them personalized looking letters inviting them to a free lunch at a relatively upscale local restaurant. We like targeting older people who may be in or near retirement who will probably be relying on their savings, and likely willing to listen to experts explain stuff about money and investing. Also, we figure retirees don’t have much to do all day. They are likely to be available for a lunch program, especially if there is free food, and also they are also likely to have money set-aside that we’d like to get our hands on, eh I mean manage on their behalf. Of course we hope to turn a good percentage of them into lucrative clients, and more-often-than-not, we do. There can’t be a better way to make money than managing it for other people. We take a small percentage of their nest egg every couple months, so small that it’s hardly noticeable (especially since we have very cool ways of disguising it). Those small percentages really add up very nicely for us.
The free lunch builds rapport and lower defenses. It makes people feel like they have to politely listen to our pitch while they’re enjoying the food that we’re paying for. That paves the way for us to offer things that we can call once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It also makes it easier for our lunch guests to sign agreements on the spot without eh, insulting us by insisting on reading the whole agreement.