Hey!

Thanks for taking an interest in the article on the perfect pitch email.

As promised, below I’ve included a couple of examples of successful pitch emails I’ve
sent for different reasons. I’ve added just a little bit of information in on the pitch
emails so you know the situation.

Important Caveat​ - These are not templates for you to copy and paste. You need to
do the research and find how you can best optimise your emails for the people you’re
reaching out to.

Cold Pitching
Cold pitching prospects is a bit of a crap shoot. You’re basically hoping the content of
your email is going to catch the attention and build enough trust for a complete
stranger to consider hiring you.

And that’s not easy.

So, there’s something I like to do with my emails. I don’t use a templated email that is
the same for every potential lead. I customise the beginning section of every email so
it's specific to the person I’m emailing.

Doing this shows the recipient I’m not just a scummy internet marketer spamming their
inbox. I’ve taken the time to research who they are and how I could genuinely help
them.

Opening with a relevant example and reference to their brand and actions turns the
cold email into a warm email. you’re talking about something specific and relevant
which will grab more attention than simply saying “I am a writer, hire me”.

Let’s look at some real life examples.

This first is a cold email I sent to a European based company offering a service for
eCommerce stores that improves conversions. I’ve done a lot of work in the Conversion
Rate Optimisation (CRO) sector so had the expertise to help them.

However, I needed an in. When researching their website, I noticed a typo.

I used that typo as a reason to contact the marketing manager. It gave me a reason to
reach out with something useful and helpful and immediately established me as
someone who could help.

This one email eventually led to projects totalling over $10k dollars and a job covering
their conference in NYC.
It’s a little longer than the 200 words I’d recommend (it’s 289) and, if I were to do it
again I would cut it down a little.

The reason I was able to get away with it is because I offered something of real value
to the brand. I brought their attention to a typo on their site which could, if left
unchecked, damage their image and cause them to lose sales.

The example is by no means perfect, but it worked. I’ve used the same method of
finding something wrong with a site and used it to establish an immediate connection
numerous times to open a dialogue.

However, be careful if critiquing content or written work. You don’t know if you’re
emailing the author and if you tell them it’s basically crap, they could take offence.
Word your email carefully

The next example is another cold email I sent, and I’ve included it for a very specific
reason.
There’s a lot of advice online where you’re advised to follow the template to the letter.
Open with a specific icebreaker, lead into your samples, explain what you can do etc etc
etc.

Those specific pieces of advice are sometimes a stumbling block. If you can’t find a
specific icebreaker or anything to give you an in, it can feel like there’s no hope. But, as
you’ll see from the below, you can actually be incredibly vague with each area and still
see success.

This prospect simply looked at an article of mine on LinkedIn. He didn’t like it or

comment.He only viewed. And his site was very thin on information so I had very little
to go on.

Still, I attempted to reach out and you can see from his response that he was
impressed with the cold email copy. At the time of writing this, I’m scheduled to meet
this guy in a few weeks in San Diego where we’re not only going to get together for
coffee, but he’s also introducing me to a huge figure in the industry.

All from a view of a LinkedIn article.

Cold emailing is a numbers game. you’re going to have to send a few dozen before you
can judge if what you’re sending is effective.

But don’t let the articles online that tell you you have to have X, Y, and Z to find
success put you off. All you really need is the balls to send the email and an analytical
eye to try and find something to break the ice.

And that something doesn’t need to be super specific. The most important thing to do is
start.

The Follow Up
Just because a lead has gone cold or haven’t responded in a while doesn’t mean you
should just give up.

Many leads, whether you’ve worked with them before or not, are simply too busy to
reach out to you and respond to every enquiry. If you make the effort to keep in touch
with them and offer your services, then you could find yourself landing new clients with
very little effort.

The below is an email I sent to an editor I’d worked with in the past. At this point, we
hadn’t spoken in over a year. I sent the below and it lead to a six month contract with
minimal work that amounted to $750 per month. That’s $4500 total for what amounted
to ~3 days per month!

As I already had an existing relationship I didn’t feel the need to sell this editor on
rehiring me. She knew my skill set and what I was capable of.

All I was really trying to do was rekindle an old relationship. It just so happened she
had work that I could help with and, as we had a good working history, she decided to
offer me a position on the team.
The next email was a super simple follow up I sent to a potential client.

I originally reached out to him as a cold lead. In that email I thanked him for sharing an
article I had written before pitching my services. He was responsive, but said he
couldn’t right then as he was doing a fun site redesign.

We agreed it could work, but the timing wasn’t right. So I made a note in my calendar
for three months down the line before reaching out again. I sent the simplest of emails
and this is the response I received.
Even after a three month gap and using a super simple email, it still led to an offer of
work. Perhaps not the initial job we discussed, but still something well within my
wheelhouse.

When chasing up existing contacts and leads, don’t overthink things. Just explain how
you think you could help and see what they say.

The Break Up Email

Sometimes a lead goes dead.

You might have worked together in the past or you could be following up on a few
emails that haven’t been responded to.

Whatever the situation, you shouldn’t just walk away. Often, the right prompt can
cause the user to take action and give you a definitive answer.
Here’s an example from a potential client I ended up not landing. We spoke through a
few emails then jumped on a call to discuss the details of what was needed.

I mapped out a potential plan and told the client for the full service it would be $2500 /
month. Turns out this was out of their budget.

However, I wouldn’t have known this had I not chased it up. After sending my initial
quote, the client went quiet. At that stage I expected a response within a few days, but
after two weeks to get no response I knew something was up.

Rather than simply send an email saying “I’m just checking in to see what’s going on” I
offered a soft ultimatum.

The email you see below basically says that I’ll end things here as they’re obviously not
interested. That soft ultimatum gets a response out of the quiet client 80% of the time.

If they’ve been responsive up until this point then they were obviously interested.
Threaten to take any potential for working together away and they usually get straight
back to you with a response.

There’s two things to note on this email.

1. I didn’t close the door completely or shoot myself in the foot by being
unprofessional. Sometimes things don't work out, but there’s no need to say
things you’ll later regret and burn your bridges. It’s always worth ending on a
positive note and keeping the door open for future work.
 2. I didn’t land the gig. And that’s OK. Sometimes, the response you get won’t be a
“work for me now!” type thing. But having a definitive response is a win in and
of itself. From the above I know that I might have to reduce the service fee I
charge to people in similar industries to this client. I learned something so it
wasn’t a wasted effort.

Summing Up
So there’s a few successful emails I’ve implemented in my business. Don’t think that
these are all one offs though. I’ve used very similar emails to these countless times to
improve my email marketing effectiveness.

Each one I send though, is very different. Be sure that you’re not copy and pasting
what I’ve said above. The only way these kind of emails will work for you is if you
customise them to the business you’re approaching.

If you have any questions owned anything else clarifying, feel free to drop a comment
either on​ ​have-a-word.com​ or on the​ ​Facebook group.

Speak soon,

Pete