How are you today? I know I’m by no means the first to say this but: where has 2024 gone?! I can’t believe it’s almost the end of October. My Mum even messaged me the other day asking about Christmas plans. Madness.

Generally, I’m not too concerned about the passing of time – I feel like this year has been a brilliant year and I’ve achieved a lot (if I can say that without sounding boastful!) and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year brings!

How I got a $9.2k USD commission from one cold pitch:

Some background context:

I mostly work with travel clients on a long-term, retainer basis. In October last year I lost two big clients within a two-week period, due to budget cuts. I’d worked with both of these clients for 2.5 years, so it was a big shock.

It meant I had to start turning up my pitching dial again, but I used my tried-and-tested method to replace both of those clients with higher-paying ones within a month.

It really dented my confidence.

For those first two weeks before I replaced the first client, I fell down a hole of wondering if I should just quit writing altogether and get a ‘real’ job instead. It really reminded me of the importance of building up a business owner mindset.

And then I started seeing results.

I used the same pitching framework I’ve used for years as a freelance writer. It includes four things: a pitching spreadsheet, a consistent block of time per week, a good understanding of your ideal client and someone/something to hold you accountable.

My pitching process goes like this:

I populate my pitching spreadsheet with around 50 new brands within my niche. Then I pass over the sheet to my VA (you can also do this step yourself obvs) who populates the ‘email’ and ‘Linkedin’ tabs.

Then I set aside time each week to send my pre-written pitch template out to the world. If needed, I use my follow-up template around 5-10 business days later.

The crucial thing here is the understanding of your target client:

f you’re pitching ‘travel brands’ or ‘fashion clients’ you’re going to get lost in the millions of brands around. And then you’ll probably get frustrated and stop, or you’ll pitch using weak messaging that’s not targeted enough and doesn’t get you new clients.

When you’ve got a super clear idea of who to pitch (e.g ‘luxury tour travel companies based in the UK’), you can tailor your pitch script so it speaks directly to that person, which means they’re more likely to respond. 

Then, it’s just a case of personalising each email with one or two lines and sending it out 50 times. Will you be using this framework? Let me know below!