Ep. 020 How to Write a Cold Pitch Email that Makes Clients Want to Hire You!

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 This is your friendly reminder that you are in charge of your business and you should spend every day working for your dream clients.

I mean, do you ever scroll through Instagram, see an amazing entrepreneur, and think “wow, it would be so cool to work for someone like that.” Well, guess what? You can make it happen. Today I’m going to share some tips for writing a cold pitch email that you can use to reach out to your dream clients!

 A cold pitch email is an email to someone that you don’t already have a relationship with that you would love to offer your services to. While this might sound sales-y or spam-my, I truly believe that it can be one of the most genuine ways to market yourself if you do it the right way.  I’m going to take you through a 5-step process to identify and land these dream clients. By the way, before we dive in, I want to give a little disclaimer: there are laws about cold-emailing, especially in the EU, so make sure to do your research to keep your emails compliant. I’m not going to cover all of the legality today, so before you send anything out, check into the laws where you live.

Step 1: Identify Clients That You Would Love to Work With

This is the key to all of it, really. If you are sending out cold pitches to everyone you come across, the insincerity will definitely come through. Take some time to find people that are in perfect alignment with your skills, values, and interests. 

If you haven’t created your Ideal Client Avatar yet, now is a good time to do that. I have a template that can help in the Freebie Shop at thesupportsquad.com.

As you start to find these potential clients, keep track of them in a spreadsheet. Start with no more than 10 so that you don’t become overwhelmed. You’ll see why with the next step.

Step 2: Research, research, research

After you’ve identified potential clients and added them to your spreadsheet, you should research them, extensively. Subscribe to their newsletter, follow them on social media, read through their website. If they are a good fit for you and your business, this process should feel energizing and inspiring. As you research them, make note of any big launches that they have coming up, or any gaps that they might have in their social media or marketing strategy. Maybe they’re a photographer that hasn’t gotten set up on Pinterest yet. Or maybe they’re a realtor who has an inconsistent presence on Facebook. Make note of all of these things in your spreadsheet. 

Step 3: Pump yourself up

Yes, I’m serious. I want you to take some time to get your head in the right space before you reach out to potential clients. Don’t think of yourself as a nuisance. Don’t think of yourself as a cheesy salesperson.

 Think of yourself as a fellow business owner who is proposing a collaboration that will grow your potential client’s business. 

You are not begging them for money, you are offering them a valuable service because you truly believe in their business. You are not beneath them, you are an equal. Got it? Not yet?

Okay, close your eyes. Close them. And say these words to yourself “My dream clients want to work with me because I bring value to their business.” Repeat until you believe it. Then move on to step 4.

Step 4: Write your pitch

If you’re looking at me for a template right now, I’m going to have to tell you to look somewhere else. This is going to have to come from you or it’s not going to work. If your potential clients get even a hint that you’re sending them a copy and pasted email, they will 100% not read it. But I will give you some guidance around what should be included in the email.

• First off, keep this email very short! If your email is long-winded it will get deleted.
• Open with very specific and authentic praise about this person or their business. Tell them about a social media post they wrote that inspired you or an offering they have in their business that you relate to. Write this email the way you would write an email to a friend that has just done something awesome. Keep it casual. Keep it positive. 
• Then you will want to introduce yourself. But this is not the time to cut and paste your bio. They will not read it. You want to introduce yourself in a way that is relevant to them. If you have 15 years of customer service experience, but they don’t need customer service, than it’s best to just leave that out. But if you’ve helped grow an Instagram account to 10k and that’s something they might be interested in, then that’s the thing to mention. They don’t need to hear everything you’ve ever done, they need to hear why you want to work with them and the specific skills you have that can help. 
• It’s not a bad idea to mention some services that you think would benefit them, but keep in mind, that this is not the time to be critical. If you notice that they post on Instagram every other week, maybe don’t say “Hey I noticed that you’re super inconsistent on Instagram” instead, say something like “With some big launches coming up, social media management could be a great thing for you to outsource so that you can stay consistent for your followers without the headache.” See, what I’m saying? Keep it all very relevant to their business and address all of their potential pain points.
• Close with a link where they can learn more about you and a link to sign up for a discovery call. Then hit send! And we’re all done, right?

Wrong!

On to Step 5: Follow Up

This is a very, very key step. Your first email will likely be ignored. They might read it and think, hmmm, maybe later and then delete it or file it away. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve said no. I recommend sending a follow-up 1 week and then 1 month later if you don’t hear from them. The best way to do this is to hit reply to your previous sent message. That way the original email will be included and when it shows up in their inbox it will look like an email thread that they’ve already been engaging with. 

Follow these 5 steps, and you will be on your way to filling up your roster with clients that genuinely excite you! And trust me: it is way more effective to spend an hour researching and sending very personalized emails to 5 business owners that to spend 30 minutes copy and pasting emails to 50 business owners. In our high-touch, service-based business, connection is everything and authenticity goes a long way. 

And if you want to build more confidence around all things related to your virtual assistant business, make sure to sign up for the 5-Day Biz Confidence Challenge on thesupportsquad.com. You’ll learn how to build your confidence and you might even win a one-year subscription to The Support Squad membership site. And of course, you can always join us for fun and support in The Support Squad Hangout on Facebook. I’ll see you in there. Until next time, boss babe.

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