After Hours© 015: How to pitch to clients

If you're a creative freelancer or business owner, you've probably sent a cold email, message or pitch to a client you want to work with at least once.

If you are shaking your head and saying you've never done that, then all I can say is, you should be.

Today's topic: How to make, use and appropriately send a cold pitch

Estimated read time: ~4 minutes (Skim time: 90 seconds)

What kind of problem is this?

Sending a pitch is a clarity and confidence problem.

You need to know how to effectively organise, write, export the pitch and also have the confidence to send it off.

What is a pitch?

A pitch, also called a pitch deck, is a sales presentation you give to a potential client to win their business.

It covers who you are, what you do, how you work, what you can do for the client, and what working with you looks like. You can also include case studies, testimonials, your process and your pricing structure.

A pitch is more personal and persuasive than a services guide, more tailored than a portfolio, and more casual than a proposal.

You can send it warm or cold.

Cold: Sent to a dream client you haven't spoken to yet.

Warm: Sent after an enquiry or brief conversation.

In most cases a pitch will be used cold so it needs to have a strong impact.

Why not just send a proposal instead of a pitch for a warm client?

A proposal will be more about a tailored project you're working on and should be sent after you've discussed the scope of a project.

A pitch is selling you.

Pitch → client says yes to working with you, then Proposal → client approves the scope → Contract

How to send a pitch?

Your pitch should include who you are, what you do, how you work, case studies and/or testimonials, and how you can help the potential client.

Step one: Research

So you've found a client you'd love to work with and you can see how you can help them.

Things like:

• Outdated or just bad visuals
• Useless UX/UI on their website
• Inconsistent TOV across their brand
• Poor quality social media videos
• No presence on relevant platforms

Any kind of gap you could fix is what you're looking for.

Step two: Tailor your pitch

Once you have a framework for the pitch, all you will need to update is the section that explains what you can do specifically for the client. This is important and should be detailed, factual and researched.

Many people send cold pitch emails or messages and you can tell they're cold without any regard or effort to the client. And these will be absolutely useless in landing a client.

Put in a bit of effort and you're 90% more likely to get a reply (this isn't a real fact but I think it would be close to this).

Step three: Send a good email to accompany your pitch

Once you've exported your beautiful pitch into a PDF, send an email to the client that says something like this:

Subject: We'd love to work with [Client Name]

Hi [Client Name], We came across [Client Name] and noticed [a gap/an opportunity e.g. your branding isn't reflecting the quality of what you're building].

We're [Studio Name], a creative studio specialising in [your services]. We've worked with [client/industry example] and [result e.g. helped them land three new enterprise clients within a month of a rebrand].

We think we could do something similar for you. Attached is a short deck on who we are, how we work, and how we'd approach [their specific challenge].

Would love to hear your thoughts. [Your Name] [Studio Name] [Contact Details]

Step four: Follow up

Email follow up:

Subject: Following up [Studio Name]

Hi [Client Name], Just wanted to follow up on the deck I sent through last week. Happy to answer any questions or jump on a quick call if that's easier. [Your Name]

LinkedIn / DM:

Hey [Client Name], I sent through a deck to your inbox last week about potentially working together. Just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost. Would love to connect if you're open to it.

Step five: Rinse and repeat often

Landing clients isn't easy. But if you make it known that you can actually help a client, it will be easier.

It's a numbers game but if what you're putting out is trash, you'll get no bites. Give potential clients the good bait. They'll bite when you can actually help them.

Pitching isn't scary when you're selling a real solution to a problem.

Stop sending cold emails that look like spam. They're useless.

Act and look professional. Put in a small amount of effort because all you need is 5 minutes when you've got your framework ready.

Focus on how you can actually help the client instead of pushing out cold emails that say nothing.

If you want done-for-you frameworks for your entire client process, CBOS is ready for you. 

Chat soon,

Penelope