November 17, 2020
Ever wonder what the HECK to say when you reach out to someone via email wanting to work with them in some capacity? Whether you’re reaching out for a partnership, a collaboration, wanting to work with them, wanting to offer your services to them, etc… HOW you go about doing it can be the difference between them saying yes to you or them deleting your email thinking it’s spammy.
This episode is a MUST for ANY business owner because when running a business – it’s essential to network, create relationships with fellow entrepreneurs, as well as reaching out to partner, collaborate, and work with someone in any capacity. Maybe you’re a small shop owner wanting to know how to email influencers to get them to collaborate with you. Or you’re a photographer wanting to know how to email other photographers in your industry to second shoot for. Or you’re a web designer cold emailing creative entrepreneurs and offering your services to them. Whatever the reason, it’s essential to know the art of what to do and what not to do when writing an email pitch. So enough yappinnnn let’s get straight into it!
You are wondering how to write an email pitch? How to make those connections and secure those business deals?
Even if you are reaching out to multiple people for the same thing DO NOT make it sound like a copy and paste template. Use their name. Tell them why you reached out to them specifically. Make SURE as heck you’re following them on IG before emailing them.
A personal example is the amount of times we get emails (collaborations, partnerships, etc…) that are OBVIOUSLY copy and paste emails – we delete immediately. Don’t even respond. Especially if there is no personalization whatsoever and super standard. You know it’s a copy and paste email when it is sent and not even accurate to what you do. We get emails from fashion companies that are wanting to collaborate saying, “We reached out because we love your fashion and lifestyle blog…”. It’s flattering, but we don’t think what we do is fashion and you know when you have that spammy feeling.
Make sure you are personalizing the email and doing your research.
What is their actual name? Do the research! It shows that you have put in intentional time and effort and you care about THAT person who you are reaching out to. MAKE SURE, we cannot tell you how important it is to personalize your email pitches and do your research ahead of time. Double-check that you are accurate about who they are, what they do, names, etc. It can either put you in the trash or get you a reply. Do not neglect that.
Personalize it not only to what you are going to get out of the situation, but what you can offer as well.
If you are going to say that you follow them or like their work, make sure that connection is there and established.
Or if you say “I love your work”, don’t leave it there. Tell them exactly why you love their work, why you are reaching out and use something personal. It shows you are not spamming them, that it is a genuine email. Nine times out of ten you will most likely get a response and more percentage closer to a yes to working with you if you put that work in the forefront.
Don’t write your entire life story and put your entire bio from your websites. No one wants to read an entire novel word document about your life and who you are. Keep it short and simple but give them something. They don’t need WORK to figure out who you are and where your website is. Offer links to your website, past work, reviews, stats, etc. Whatever is relevant. Don’t make them dig. Hand it to them. You want to make this email as easy as possible.
Make it short and sweet. In a short paragraph explain who you are, your business, idea, etc., and show the VALUE or AUTHORITY you bring to the situation.
Be bold here. If you’ve built a successful business then say it. If you’re just starting, then say it. Don’t beat around the bush. Offer all relevant information DIRECTLY upfront. People will respect that and in return will open more doors than smoke and mirrors ever will. Be upfront in the season that YOU are in, this helps the person reading the email grasp who you are and what you are wanting to bring to the table.
Trust us, they will appreciate the honesty in that moment rather than trying to pretend you are something that you are not.
Whether you are a person or company reaching out, we’ve received collaboration emails from a company and they don’t say what the company is. They include no links as well.
Or if someone asked to come on the podcast and they don’t explain who they are and make us work to find out the information. If we have to dig for that information I am not going to want to work with you because you are not making it easy for me. You always want to make it easy for the person you are reaching out to.
The first section of the email is starting with personalized information about why you want to work with them, why you are reaching out to them, and who you are. The second is going to be what you are bringing to the table, who you are and any relevant information you can offer. Finally, what is the scope of the project, idea, pitch that you are asking for? And what are you asking them to do or provide? Then what are you providing of value in return?
Again, offer any relevant links here. Whether that’s inspiration boards for the project/pitch, past examples of your work or similar projects, inspiration boards, the items or services from their site or blog that you love, etc. Put any links here to give them ALL the possible information they might need!
For example, if someone reaches out and generally asks to collaborate or a sponsorship. My first response is what? What do you want? What are you asking for from me in specifics?
In their response email to you, minimize the number of questions that they have to ask in return. Make it so they don’t have to ask how long you’ve been in business or what exactly are you wanting from them. Minimize those questions in the first email and you will honestly be more likely to get a response that is a yes if it is the right season and fit.
Another section to add to this explaining is who else is involved in this project. Did someone that they know recommend them specifically? Put all of that information in this section because you want them to walk away from reading your email and catch them immediately with how personalized it is. Next, you catch their attention with who you are and why you are reaching out to them. Finally define the ask and define what you want from them, so then they can clearly say “Oh that’s within my capacity at this moment” or “Unfortunately I don’t have the capacity or ability to grant that request at this time”.
It provides them with clarity and will make them respect you and your pitch a lot more, rather than being sneaky and trying to hook them with “Hey, would love to work together!”. You’re making them go through so much more work and most are not going to do that.
If you’re wishy-washy in your email, they will automatically be thinking no. Even if they are needing your service but you make them work for it and not clear in your communication. They’ll be like nahhhh…..peace, bye!
Example One
A photo editor reached out and at the time I (Evie) already had one and wasn’t in search of another at the time. The pitch was paragraphs long of who this person was, what they brought to the table, and why they reached out to me. Gave details of what he offered, the rates, the turn around time, links to portfolio, and a free consultation. Uhhh yess, please! And he even offered to customize his packages to fit my needs and SERVE me. I immediately was very interested.
I ended up hiring him and is still on my team today! It goes to show you, even though I (Evie) didn’t consider this an open door at the time it turned into one. It shows you that a good pitch email could open a door that may not have been technically open.
This same editor reached out to Lindsey as well, and immediately she was like, “No, I don’t need that, I already have one”.
That goes to show timing is everything. You could do all of these things and it genuinely not be the best timing at that current point in time for them. So don’t get down on yourself if you receive a no or you don’t receive a response at all. Keep knocking on that door gracefully and don’t take that as a rejection of you as a person.
What ended up happening is I (Lindsey) deleted his email but he caught Evie’s eye. She raved about him at our next meeting and said she hired him, which made me want to get on the phone and talk to him!
Again this shows it might be the right season for someone and not for someone else. That doesn’t mean that you are a failure or that the email pitch you sent out was a failure.
But if you are sending an email pitch out saying, “Hey I am editor. I’d like to work with you. Bye”. Yes, that is a failure.
Example Two
When I (Evie) was in search to hire someone on my team, I received dozens upon dozens of emails. But one girl stood out to me because she sent me an email with a very personalized intro of who she was and why she wanted to work for me, how long she had been in my community and how it had impacted her. Along with that, she sent all the relevant information and links. AND THEN she filmed a personal video explaining why she wanted to join the team and what she could bring to the team with the specific task and area. It blew me away so much because out of all the other emails I was able to see someone’s face and hear their voice.
If you do send a video don’t make it a generic video. Make it very personalized. Use the person’s name that you are addressing at the beginning. Also, make sure it is only a few minutes long, don’t send a ten-minute long video. It may take someone a few days to get around to watching that, the shorter and sweeter the better. Under-five minutes but ideally between 2-3 minutes.
Don’t do a video instead of a written email. Include both. The major parts and relevant links are in the email as well not only explained in the video.
In conclusion don’t make them have to do ANY work to figure out who you are, what your business or company is, or if they wanna work with you. Offer it ALL on a silver platter!!!
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WASSUP FRIENDS. We’re Evie + Lindsey, co-founders of this wild partayyy called The Heart University. Our goal is to empower entrepreneurs to kick freaking BUTT in their businesses, dive down into the heart of their why and how, and serve you with all possible tools you’ll need to up-level your business game and CRUSH those goals of yours.
Whether you’re coming to an in-person workshop, joining our online course, or soaking up all the strategies via this blog or our podcast, we’re STOKED you’re here + can’t wait to see you out there kicking butt.
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