I Pitched Over 64 Clients in One Month — Here’s What I Learned
Wondering if this is normal…
I’ve sent emails and job applications.
I challenged myself to get one client (or job position) with my outreach strategy. So, I prepared a cold email template, created a spreadsheet of prospects, and sent about 10 to 20 emails every week. I also sent job applications to multiple job boards.
The result? All the job applications I sent rejected me. As for the emails, a lot got opened, which was nice, but only 1 person responded.
I want to tell you about my experience in more detail. And please let me know what you think I’m doing wrong or right because I need advice.
Why am I pitching these people?
I want to make money writing goddamn it!
I’m 5 years into my writing experience. I’ve made very little money. Many professional writers call it shameful to think about money when you’re starting out, saying things like: “You have to love what you do. " “The money will come,” “You should just do what you love and things will work out, eventually. "
F**k that!
I’m tired of that nonsense. It’s hard to write and see your efforts go to waste. Money motivates me to work harder. I always do good work when I know I’m getting paid, even if it’s a low-paying gig because a lot is at stake. My reputation is on the line and I want to give it my all to get more work.
Please tell me I’m not the only one.
Ever since I’ve taken a cold emailing course, my dream was to get clients whenever I felt like it. A superpower. I’m envious of writers who talk about how they always get high-paying clients from their cold emailing outreach. For me, it proved extremely difficult, and I still do not know why. That’s the worst part.
Let me tell you about my process.
Steal the template and process I use to pitch clients
I have a website that showcases my writing skills and portfolio.
I use it to show that I’m a professional business owner and not just a random writer on the internet. I pick 5 business owners in the marketing, coaching, or fitness space. I check their social media platforms to see what they’re all about. I read their blogs and/or watch their reels and YouTube videos. The idea here is to write a personalized email to avoid being spammy. Very important to get people’s attention.
Then, I write a short email where I tell them about who I am and what I can do to improve their online business. Take a look:
Most of my emails get opened, which I think is a good signal.
But, the response rate is at an all-time low. Extremely frustrating. I understand businesses don’t have time to respond to every submission. Or, the timing could be inconvenient. There could be a gazillion reasons why someone wouldn’t respond to emails. I get that. It’s still frustrating. You put in a lot of energy to send dozens of emails.
It always “feels” like you did everything right, but no.
This is the template I usually use, although I didn’t apply it in the above emails
Hi John,
Hope you’re doing well! I recently came across the X EdTech Company Website (love your logo and how it incorporates your company mission!), and I thought I’d reach out and make an introduction.
I’m a professional education technology copywriter, and I specialize in content marketing for EdTech companies. I’d love to help X EdTech Company with content marketing. I write white papers, email newsletters, website content, blogging, and more.
I worked as a teacher for 7 years before I started writing, so I’d be a great fit to create content for your target audience. You can check out this page on my site to see past client testimonials and learn more about the results I’ve
helped companies achieve in the past.Do you have time for a quick call this week to talk about your content marketing?
Hit reply and let me know — I have some ideas for X EdTech Company that I’d love to discuss with you!
Mehdi Jouay/ Copywriter- Content strategist www.rebel-writing.com
My cold Loom technique
I always include this in my pitches.
I tell clients if they don’t have time for a quick call, I can send them a 5-minute Loom video where I record what I want to do for them. This way, it’ll help both of us see if we’re a good fit. Unfortunately, I have never closed a client.
Out of the 100s of clients I contacted, only 3 were curious enough to hear my offers.
Note: The Loom link is an affiliate link. Loom is free to use. New users get a 14-day free trial of their business tier, which includes unlimited video recordings and unlimited recording length. I get a 15% commission for every signup. Thanks for the support.
There’s got to be something wrong with my pitches
Because this is not normal.
I’ve been sending emails for years. Literally. I know dozens of writers who get consistent work through their cold emails. They make it look and sound easy, too. I shared my whole process here. If you’re an experienced writer and cold emailing is part of your outreach arsenal, let me know what I’m doing wrong.
If I could guess, I would say it’s one of these:
- My portfolio: maybe it doesn’t have the results clients want (KPIs, sales, conversions, etc).
- The clients I’m pitching: maybe I’m not pitching the right people. Or, like Grant Cardone always says, “the client either thinks I can’t bring them the results they want”, or “they don’t think it’s going to work”.
- Bad timing: Could just be the timing of my pitches.
- My writing: I’m not as good a writer as I thought I am?? If that’s the case, I want to know.
- Other: This is probably the worst one simply because I have no clue what it is. Maybe it’s something I’m not even aware of. You can’t fix what you don’t know.
My plan to turn things around
I underestimated Medium.
I have a lot on my plate. Between a full-time teaching job and academic research to conduct, it’s hard to carve out time to focus on content, but that’s what I need to do. Write more. Focus less on clients. I’ll let them come to me. Recently, I read how many beginner writers found work from posting regularly on Medium. They didn’t have to do what I did.
Posting content is another way to attract clients. Because content is a magnet.
It brings eyeballs. The more of it you have, the stronger its magnitude gets. Even if you’re a bad writer, quantity improves quality. Your writing will get better because you produced so much of it. My strategy now is to go full in on writing articles and publishing them everywhere.
Wish me luck!
