Client Pitching: A Fine Art

Pitching is the only way to connect with potential freelance writing clients. Here’s how you do it right.

Everything in freelance business is about how you pitch your proposal to prospective clients. Simply put, one can’t get off the ground without it. And while there’s no typical pitch that will work for all freelance writers, great pitches do include some common elements listed below:

• A description about who you are and your background as a writer
• An summary of why you’re the ideal candidate to help them with their content
• Details about your work, such as links to your writing samples and portfolio

First, begin with a great opener. You tend to lose someone’s attention if you can’t capture them immediately with something that’s appealing to them. A lot of freelancers start off with something that’s generic.

Next, move into showcasing your talents — that’s your exclusive value proposition which makes you unique from other freelancers. For the description of your background, review your writing resume and think about past experiences with clients with examples that stand out for you. Describe about your best experiences with clients and who would you love to work with again? Include those into your current pitch. Try to be results-focused when writing these facets of your pitch, such as:

• I make sure that I deliver on time, and it’s why most of my clients hire me again.
• My clients tell me that my work jumps off the page, and that’s my fundamental goal in each project I work on.

And, finally, while it is likely to get potential clients to hire you instantly, it’s far more likely you’re going to have to prompt them to take some further action, like responding you or accepting your request or opening your samples.

Your pitches must contain all three things in the right order and in the right amount of depth. A couple of paragraphs are sufficient. Always remember, your prospective clients are busy and won’t care or have time to read a long letter.

Look out for those clues

While you craft your pitch, try to read between the lines to judge what a client wants. You may not be able to do this all the time, but you can always look for clues.

Especially on freelancing sites or even in a LinkedIn message, a client will tell you about what exactly they need and how they might have had a bitter experience in the past or share other concerns they have about the process. Any time you can use this type of information to your benefit, it is extremely constructive to do so.

While most of the times, you may not have much information about the client, reviewing their company and asking questions will surely help you figure out their hesitations. On your phone call with a client, he is very likely to drop clues. For example, if they tell you that they’ve previously worked with a writer who missed deadlines, this is your right chance to talk about your own reliability.

When you pick up on one of these clues in a job board post, in an email conversation, or on a phone call, work it into your pitch so the client can start to picture what it must be like to work with you.

Finding your own unique value proposition

Your UVP is something what you and only you can bring to the table. Your UVP matters because it sets you apart from everyone else, especially when you are working with warm leads from freelancing sites.

You also want to make sure that  your UVP should be woven throughout your pitch so that people know why they should consider working with you and the main benefits of choosing to outsource to a freelancer overall.

If your pitch is missing your UVP or you are talking about someone else’s UVP just because you copy and pasted somebody else’s pitch, it’s definitely not going to convert for you because you are enticing ideal clients who are interested in that person’s success, not yours.

Here are a variety of UVPs that might apply to writers who are looking to pitch for a gig as a book ghostwriter:

• I’ve been published in Writer’s Digest and Business Insider and I know what does it take to get an editor’s attention.
• I’ve written about 16 books of my own.
• I’m an academic researcher and a skilled person with projects that require a lot of research.
• My last client increased their sales threefold because of the rewrite I accomplished of their landing page.
• I’ve been in this field for about ten years and have a firm grasp of industry trends.
• As a former investigative reporter, I can surely help you write this book by using interviews, transcribing them, and weaving them into a story.