How To Pitch 5: Add Ons

We’ve talked about purpose, format and language. Now let’s talk about those add on with your pitch. I’m talking about things like FAQs, portfolios, testimonials, etc. Having a bank of these ready will save you significant time when pitching.

Like Always Wants Like

Attach 3 or 4 portfolio samples. Seriously we don’t need your whole life story when it comes to your portfolio! Something I know a lot of freelancers are guilty of. Someone in an industry will want to see you’ve worked in that industry, and a relevant sample. If you don’t have one then try and show a portfolio example where the business has had a similar problem to theirs, even if in a completely different industry. This is the reason its always good to try and work across a broad range of sectors so you’re more open to new work at the start.

Questions About What?

FAQs are one of my favorite tools, also called objection handling pieces. So this is any question you know you get asked a lot, even if it’s simple, that you put into a little document. This can save you a lot of time having to answer these questions over and over but even if a prospect understands what you’re telling them, what it does is show that you are thinking about them and their needs, and not just talking about yourself.

Rated Number One

Include some case studies or testimonials with your work. Testimonials are useful but I’m not sure how much faith people really have in them. I know from experience that prospects do tend to check out your clients page before buying so this would be a good place to put this and I would suggest several smaller quotes is better than a long one.

Format

Bear in mind that many company emails have a very limited ability to handle big files. Often attachments over 15mb might not get through. Think about ways you can get around this, you could host files and share links for example.

Details Details

ALWAYS be sure that on any pitch document, on every page there is a way to contact you on the phone, through email and if you have an office there too. Now if you’re pitching through some websites they will actively tell you not to include contact details as they want all communication to go through them, but where possible you need to include this. So often it’s just easier to pick up the phone to someone and have a chat than ping emails back and forth.