How to send pitches

“If you ask a prospect if he or she has time to talk and the answer is ‘Not really, but tell me what’s on your mind,’ DON’T!

Do not make your sales pitch while they’re red.

Do not talk with them when they’re yellow.

Wait until they’re green, very green. (If you ever want to see any green coming from them, that is.)”

• Leil Lowndes, How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships

I met a founder with an AI product, who wanted to get in touch with a key influencer in his industry who would publicise his work beyond his wildest expectations.

I asked him what he’d done so far:

“I’ve Tweeted at him a few times but he hasn’t replied or acknowledged it”.

That’s not how you send a pitch.

A pitch needs to be short and demonstrate you know them, be specific, explain the value you can add, and a provide an easy way for them to find out more.

I’ll provide some real-life examples and then break it down.

I wanted to write an article about sobriety after Dry July for an alcohol-free beer store -

Hi ,

I’m Luke, a digital marketer who enjoys buying things from your shop. I noticed your blog is fairly new, and I’d love to write an article for you about sobriety options after Dry July.

You’ll get some fresh content you can put up on your socials, and share some useful information for people who are sober-curious alongside your product. I can send an outline or draft for feedback if you like?

Thanks,

-Luke

I wanted to deliver some online workshops for an association that serves a lot of not-for-profits -

Hi ,

I noticed you’re offering a number of online workshops to your members. I’m wondering if they could benefit from a few of these topics that I can speak to?

The topics are:

• Beginning your automation journey

• Creating repeatable online content

• Producing online video on a budget

Would you like to jump on a call and see if we can work together on this?

Thanks,

-Luke

You’re going to make a lot of written pitches - they need:

A short paragraph.

Nobody likes reading walls of text, and it’s more than likely it will be viewed from a smartphone the shorter the better without losing the necessary details.

Who you are and how you know them.

Identify who you are and provide a specific and memorable detail about how you know them. The latter helps you stand out and then some. By adding a manual detail it shows you’re genuinely reaching out because you’ve done your research and want to add value. This sets you apart from the near-infinite amount of spammers who have bought a list, paid for an automation tool, or done something else that demonstrates they have no real interest in the person they’re contacting.

Declare the value you’re bringing.

In the first example I mention why a fresh blog article is useful and have mentioned I’m a digital marketer. The second example is less obvious but I knew those topics were of value from working with other not-for-profits. A quick sentence on what they’ll get out of it works here.

Make it easy to say ’yes’ to.

Questions like “got any feedback?”, “what times have you got that are available?”, or “let me know your thoughts” are conversation killers.

Replying to them sounds like work, and there’s no guarantee the exchange is going to add value if its already sounding like work. Instead go for a question that is easy to say yes to. You don’t have to make the sale, close the deal, or get the collaboration from your email you just need to move it forward.

This can range from things like:

• reply with a “sounds good” and I’ll shoot you a draft
• I’ll shoot an invite over for 4pm next Wednesday, and if the time is no good reply no
• should we jump on a call?

This kind of brevity is more rare than you’d think, and with practice becomes an unfair advantage for getting to anyone if you have a good enough reason.

Jump into another channel.

I’m sure there’s data on this, but anecdotally this just works. Move the conversation into another channel. Chatting in DMs? Move to email. Just had a phone call? Drop them a text. Just emailed? Offer to jump on a Zoom. Something about this deepens the relationship from cold to not-so-cold.

Coming back to the Twitter example at the start - a good way to do it would be Tweeting them with the value you’re offering, and then link to that Tweet in another channel with the specific ask.