As a freelancer, not all your leads will be inbound, i.e. they come to you via your SEO-optimized website, blog posts, referrals, and content marketing efforts.
At certain times, you’ll likely also need to approach potential clients who’ve never heard of you before. This is known as cold outreach, and one of the ways to do this, apart from picking up the phone and calling them (which might not be convenient), is via email.
Here are 4 cold email outreach tips for freelancers.
1. Do your research
Before you reach out to potential clients, it pays to do your research. You don’t want to be cold emailing clients who aren’t in your niche, wouldn’t need the services you offer or can’t afford them. What’s more, you’ll want to contact the right person in the organization who has the authority to hire you.
Part of your research will also be identifying clients who are the right fit for you, those brands that inspire you, or those with a culture or reputation that you know you’ll also enjoy working with and align with your values.
Your research should also ideally identify any relevant company news, trends or recent hot topics in the industry that might be useful to mention.
While it’s pertinent to have some standard wording or even a template for your cold outreach email, ensure it’s flexible enough to be customized so you can add a personal touch and change it depending on who you are writing to, as obviously, not all clients are the same.
This is especially the case with the email subject line, which you can personalize and mark for the relevant person’s attention and make it compelling so the email doesn’t get lost or deleted.
The email subject line is doing all the heavy lifting, so if it’s not relevant or doesn’t pique the receiver’s interest, your email will not get read. However, ensure it doesn’t come across as spammy either, which brings us to the next point.
2. Be clear and concise
Show you value your prospect’s time by making your message concise and clear and getting to the point quickly.
You don’t need to use fancy language to say what you do either; make it simple so there is no confusion. If your prospect has to wade through a load of text before getting to your message or is confused about what you do and how you can help – then you’ve already lost their attention (and their business).
Instead of using corporate speak, come across as a human being. After a short intro, compliment them on their business, mention a news item you’ve read about them or a blog post by them, or say you’re a fan of their brand.
Just make sure you are sincere. It’s a nice way to break the ice and show you’ve done your research.
3. Make it about them
Rather than over-focusing on your skills and accolades, make the email about them.
You can display how you help by mentioning the type of clients you’ve helped previously and the positive transformation and outcomes.
You want them to picture themselves getting similar results by hiring you. Of course, you need to outline your service and offer but make it focused on them. You could even link to a short case study or name-drop other relevant brands you’ve worked with.
At the end of the email, ensure you have a Call To Action (CTA) telling them what they need to do next, i.e. what to do if they want to proceed, where to go to find out more information or ask them to confirm that they are not interested.
4. Follow up
Schedule a time in your diary to follow up if you haven’t heard back from them within a reasonable time. Just because they haven’t responded yet, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Your follow-up email may be the nudge they need. How many times you follow up is up to you, but it shouldn’t be excessive. The key is to be polite and mindful of their time.
Depending on what happens next, note down all relevant prospect information on a spreadsheet or CRM tool. For example, it might be that they don’t have any work for you at the moment but have put your details on file until a later date.
Make a note of any conversation or correspondence you have with them and any other pertinent details. For example, if you did get a response, did they talk about an issue they were facing, an event they were thinking of attending, or even something non-business, such as a recent vacation? You can use this information when you follow up to reconnect in a friendly way.
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When your prospect decides to become your client – thanks to your compelling cold email skills – and you send them your quote, you can speed things up with Invoice Ninja’s “Approved Quotes Auto-Convert to Payable Invoices” feature.
When you email quotations to your clients, they can “Click to Approve” the quote, which converts it into a payable invoice!
Invoices can then be paid online with 1-click, and your account documents all steps!
Making the whole process simple, quick and hassle-free.
If you haven’t already got Invoice Ninja, then try it for free here.