While asking people to hire you can feel a bit intimidating and even scary to some at first, this is also the lifeblood of your new endeavor. In other words, this part is a must – clients won’t just come to you. You have to find them and reach out to them.
So how does one go about pitching for work? After you’ve qualified the person or business that you’d like to work with (after all, you don’t want to work with just anyone), the next step is to reach out via email.
Here’s an example of a pitch email you could send:
Hi [Name – always personalize this whenever possible],
I came across <insert company name> via <how you learned about them> – congratulations on your success! I clicked through to your website and found <insert something to make an authentic connection and share why it resonated with you>.
On the chance that you’re looking for <insert service offering> help as your company continues to grow, I thought I’d reach out and offer my support.
<Insert a paragraph or two about why the service is important, why they might need it, and what it might look like to work together>
If this is something you’d like to chat further about, just hit reply.
~Your Name
PS: You can learn more about me here. <Insert link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one>
Of course, you can (and should) modify this to reflect your personality and style.
As you’re pitching clients, here are some things to keep in mind:
Start now. Don’t wait until you have every last detail attended to (you never will). Just get to work pitching and the rest will fall into place as you learn more and build your business, promise.
Come up with a subject line that will get your email opened. Remember that business owners are often very busy people who get a lot of emails every day. Try something like: [Person’s name], you and I would make a great team!
Timing is everything. If you come across someone via social media, a posted lead, etc, who looks like they could use your help jump on it – don’t wait.
Make your pitch about them – don’t go on and on about why you’re the right person for the job. Remember that you’re getting your foot in the door to start a conversation. Keep it brief, to the point, and relevant. No one wants to read a monstrously long email. Ever.
Pitch at least once a day. It will get easier with consistency and practice. Pitching also tends to have a ‘snowball effect’ and build momentum. You may not see results right away, but if you keep at it, you will. Remember that pitching is a numbers game – the more you do it (consistently), the more likely you’ll see results.
Follow up with your pitches. This is so important. So important, in fact, that if you’re not following up you may as well not be pitching. Send a follow-up email 5-7 days after your initial pitch, one another week later, then one a couple of weeks after that, switch to once a month, etc. until you hear a “thanks for following up with me, let’s talk” or a “no thank you.” Clients are most often landed because of follow up.
Don’t give up. Remember that you’re sowing seeds. All of your efforts are important and add up to a bigger picture of results, even when you don’t hear back from pitches right away or even ever. It’s all learning and experience and it’s good information so you can continue to refine and grow. Also – keep in mind that it’s really not unusual to hear from leads you’ve pitched months, even a year later (it happens all the time, in fact).
