Catchy ideas for attracting new clients?

July 24, 2013 6:42 AM

I'm a creative freelancer and am currently working on building up my business by attracting new clients. (Well, like all freelancers I'm always working on attracting new clients.) I'm looking for some ideas for how to structure my emails and what sort of wording might be appropriate, particularly in closing the email, and would love to hear your tips.

I am writing very brief messages to introduce myself, explain how I personally can help them (eg if their business works with freelance gardeners, I am telling them why I am the right gardener for them), and then I want to sign off with.. with what? A call to action, sure, but I'm not going to offer a free sample lawn-mowing, and "I look forward to hearing from you" is just lame.

A few points:
*These are personal emails to individuals, it's not spam;
*I'm not going to send hard-copy letters or promotional items. I'm just working on text here;
*I'm not asking you to do my work for me. I just need a bit of a push in the right direction, and it's hard to Google this kind of thing.

Thanks!

posted by rubbish bin night to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

If your service is one where a meeting or phone call to discuss your specific qualifications would be appropriate, I'd suggest ending with that. "If you would be available on DATE or DATE, I'd be delighted to drop by your firm to discuss how my gardening skills could help advance your goals." "I'd love the chance to speak with you this week about how my lawnmowing skills could take your lawn's positioning to a whole new level." Don't sell your lawnmowing directly -- sell a meeting or phone call where you can sell your lawnmowing in person.
posted by pie ninja at 6:49 AM on July 24, 2013

I would try various things to see what works best. And keep in mind that this kind of sales effort is always going to be a numbers game. Possible ideas:

Let me know if you think I might be able to help make your life easier.

Please let me know if you think there's anything I can do to help you.

Contacting me for more information carries no obligations.

If you don't need my help right now, please let me know if there is a specific future date on which you'd like me to check back with you again.

I'm good at what I do - please let me know if if I can help you.

I hope we'll have the opportunity to work together.

I have a lot of happy clients and I look forward to you becoming one too.
posted by Dansaman at 7:03 AM on July 24, 2013

PICTURES!!! Pictures of your work, pictures of you gardening & looking happy... pictures pictures pictures!

Say you work on a sliding scale or negotiable to the person's budget? Ideas that you already have based on your knowledge of the person and their lawn? "I noticed you have great hedges, let's meet to discuss how I could shape them to really enhance your building!"
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:05 AM on July 24, 2013

I sign off on these sorts of emails with a simple "I look forward to the opportunity to work together." Maybe it's a bit NLP-y, but I think it frames the situation as if it there were no question that we will be working together in the future: no "I hope," no "let me know IF," just straight-out "this is going to happen, and I'm looking forward to it." Variations include "I look forward to meeting your [type of service] needs," or "I look forward to solving your [type of service] challenges."
posted by drlith at 7:20 AM on July 24, 2013

Pictures of your work, pictures of you gardening & looking happy

I'd love a link to a website where I can read more about what you do first before I'd want to follow up with you. So current photos of what you do, who you are, what your experience is, a few testimonials from people in our mutual area.

I get a lot of not-spam emails from people asking me to check out their stuff (usually people who have self published a book and think I am some sort of super librarian) and the emails I like are

- to the point
- honest (people who say they've seen/loved my site but offer no specifics bother me)
- have links for more information
- do not send attachments
- seem friendly and sincere
- have seemed to have done other work besides their email campaign (have a website or a facebook/twitter that I can check out)

And as far as signing off "Thanks for considering this, please contact me for a free 15 minute _______ and a quote" or something. Like not a coupon but some sort of "We can talk briefly for free so you can see if this is something you'd like" and then if I don't contact you, don't follow up as if I've conferred an obligation just by reading your email.
posted by jessamyn at 7:39 AM on July 24, 2013

ABC - Always Be Closing! In this case, the close you want is a chance to talk. Finish with something like, "Do you have 10 minutes available next Thursday or Friday for a quick chat to explore if I can help you?"
posted by COD at 7:43 AM on July 24, 2013