Is Your Freelance Cold Pitch Working? How to tell, and what to do if it isn’t

Everyone and his uncle is in hoarding mode, and things are getting weird.

So far, I’ve seen the following shortages:

• Toilet paper
• Tofu
• Live magnolias in pots taller than 2 feet
• Plain white t-shirts in my size (and under $85)

While the tofu was a bit of a surprise, the white t-shirt was just madness. I’ve shrunk a full size. What I have now is too big. So if I can’t find a relatively inexpensive white cotton t-shirt in a few weeks, I may have to haul out the sewing machine and do some altering (and post photos so we can all have a laugh together).

One thing we freelancers aren’t hoarding right now: clients.

I had two potential clients in the last two months. As of yesterday, I confirmed both of those clients are not buying. Not yet, anyway.

The first one was down to the “Let’s do this” and the NDA was about to be sent when the budget was yanked. The last one — I knew it wasn’t happening. But I reached out because we were to meet at the trade show that didn’t happen this week.

The conversation started with me telling him I had a feeling his budget wasn’t there right now because of what’s going on. We had a good conversation. We vowed to meet on the other side of this current version of hell.

It’s what you do when you put people in front of business — you lead with compassion.

But we freelance writers still have to eat, so let’s look at how we’re attracting clients who are still there.

My favorite marketing method is a well-crafted letter of introduction (LOI). Note I said well-crafted. Sure, you could put anything out there and someone someday might decide to buy. It’s like hockey — if I shot a puck at the net all day long, even I could get one goal without the skills to do so. But we’re going to do more than just shoot randomly, right?

So let’s say the LOI is your favorite method, too. But hey wait, no one is answering any of your emailed notes. Not even on follow up.

A few things could be going on:

• They’re not interested and simply not into responding
• Your notes are stuck in the Spam folder
• They’re working from home for the first time in their lives with cats and kids and mayhem along with a full in box and a tense manager
• They have no money right now
• They never were going to hire you
• Any other reason known or unknown to you
• It’s the wrong way to reach them (this may be the case for phone calls to corporate offices right now)

I’m not sure it even matters why they’re not responding. What matters is how you get them to respond, and how you change up what you’re doing to get more responses.

Here’s what I’ve done to get more responses:

• Lead with compassion (yea, I’m repeating it because right now, that really matters)
• Ask directly — could you let me know either way so I’m not filling your in box with unwanted email?
• Try something new, like social media notes or mailed letters (again, right now, anything going to a closed office might be a bad idea)
• Deconstruct, then reconstruct that LOI

That last one is the thing that may be costing you clients during the good times, too. And since the other points are self-explanatory, let’s stick with this one.

Let’s take the following example of a freelance pitch that needed a bit of work before it went out:

Many industries have had to revise their business operations amid the COVID-19 crisis. Jane Doe built an entire organization during a financial meltdown.

Doe is founder of Communities First Association (CFA), a provider of business products for the nonprofit sector. Her entire business was built on the idea that companies can be social enterprises first, businesses second.  By combining a critical need with a community approach, Doe is able to bring stability to a segment of the market that was in desperate need. To date, the company has returned nearly $24 million to its investors and communities.

We would like to propose a contributed article, Community First: how CFA has built a community-facing enterprise (and how you can, too). The article will detail how Doe developed and implemented her successful business that serves many communities in the tri-state area. Doe will offer insights on creating value beyond product offerings, and how community-based enterprises are building stronger communities.  

The article will also show how organizations can remain flexible to respond to a rapidly changing landscape. As COVID-19 exploded in the US, CFA added services to help their communities, including free testing sites, increasing product offerings at the same price, and forgiving loan interest on amounts over $5,000.

About CFA: (four lines of press release-style boilerplate 411 info on the program, with one more mention of a new program implemented during COVID-19)

Hmm. A bit dull, no? The info was there, but can you see what the story is? Not easily. Seems this one had too many revisions or too few eyes on it.

Here it is, revised:

Dear Editor:

Many industries have had to revise their business operations amid the COVID-19 crisis. Jane Doe built an entire organization during a financial meltdown.

Doe is founder of Communities First Association (CFA), a provider of business products for the nonprofit sector. Her entire business was built on the idea that companies can be social enterprises first, businesses second.  By combining a critical need with a community approach, Doe is able to bring stability to a segment of the market that was in desperate need.

We would like to propose a contributed, non-promotional article, Community First: how CFA has built a community-facing enterprise (and how you can, too). The article will offer Doe’s insights on the following:

• Why social enterprises are critical, especially now
• How to create value first, product second and still succeed
• How that focus can help organizations pivot in rapidly changing environments
• How to make those changes smoothly

About CFA: (here there are two sentences on what the company is and its accomplishments).

The info is still there, but what’s missing: the oversell. And now you can actually see what the story is without having to dig through wordiness.

• Gone was the over-selling of how great the company is. It is a great company, but the editor wants to know what the article is about, not about who’s writing it.
• The main article points were pulled out and put in a bulleted list.
• The first line of the actual article description now contained the words “non-promotional article” to drive the point home.
• More meat was added to the pitch itself to address what this magazine’s readers might like to see.

This may not net any more of a response, but the information is now easier to find.

Look at your last LOI or magazine pitch. Using a highlighter, underline your main points. Now, using a pen, cross out phrases that add nothing.

What’s the result?

Writers, have you had success with revised pitches or LOIs? 
Have you had the opposite result?
How often do you review your sales pitches?