Hey, welcome to the Summit Host Hangout Podcast where you'll learn how to host a high converting virtual summit that leads to your biggest signature offer launch yet. I'm your host, Krista from Summit in a Box. And I have a good one for you today. One of the questions that I'm asked most is how to make the best speaker pitches. And one of my top pieces of advice, there always involves having connections with the people you pitch. But even though those connections do make it easier, I send a lot of cold pitches and I think you should do it's a great way to get fresh faces into your summit summits are a great way to connect with new people African involve some cold pitching. So today I have got the perfect guest to walk us through what a cold pitch is and why you should use them. The top question that a pitch needs to answer for the person you send it to a step by step framework for a successful cold pitch, email and all kinds of good stuff. To give you some background information on this guest. She specializes in sending cold partnership pitch emails that get new clients and collaborations without being gross or turning into a big time suck on your end. Actually, four months after launching her business, she grew it by 14 100% inside the $20,000 client from just cold emails. And she has since helped her clients get their next big 10k 25k or even 42k clients with cold emails using her strategy called the relevancy method. And now she uses cold and partnership pitch emails as her number one marketing strategy. So much good stuff so much for us to learn from here. So without further ado, let's dive in and talk with Laura. low pitch. Welcome, Laura. I am so excited to chat about this with you.
Thanks, Krista. I'm really excited to be here. It'll be fun. Yeah, this is gonna be so good.
So tell us a little bit more about you and your business before we dive in.
Yeah, so basically, I started off, and I had no sort of referral network, no ad budget, nothing and a huge fear of cold calling. And I was starting off in a new industry. And so the only available kind of resource or skill I had available was I had a good ability to write, and a pretty good ability to write a persuasive email, I had been working in a law firm and everything is documented and kind of covered with if something's written down. So if you have a conversation with someone, it's good practice to send them an email to just kind of put it down so that there's no loophole that a lawyer can argue through later, right. They love to argue. So I had kind of fostered this this habit already. And once I quit my job in this like fiery rage, burned all the bridges, never going back. I'd already gone back once and I knew I was never ever going back again. I had to get clients quickly. So I spent a summer I call it the summer of hell. I spent like a summer cold emailing to get new clients for my copywriting business. At the time, I had like a client that paid 200 bucks on a good month. And my mortgage was definitely not $200. And I needed to make some money. So yeah, I started cold emailing. And by the end of that summer, I had signed what would become a $20,000 client. And then about a year or two, after that I had gone on my first maternity leave separated from the client, I was kind of on my own kind of back in that space again. And I realized what I had done a year or two before, was really unique. This idea of sending cold emails in an authentic non-sleazy human to human way, was a really unique way to do cold emails. And so I ended up starting to gain a lot of visibility and authority, I published what would become a viral posts on Copy Hackers about my method. And people started saying, Hey, this is really interesting. I would like to get results like that using this method. And so after a period of resisting, I finally was like, Okay, fine, I'll be known for cold email. And since then, I've added two more kids. So I have three kids total. And I have relied exclusively on sending these cold emails as my number one marketing strategy over the last seven years, because, number one, it's a small time commitment, which fits into like my business goals and where I want my work life business to be. And number two, it gets really good results. And so it's silly to stop something if it's getting really good results. So now I help people send those kinds of emails and actively pitch themselves, which can can be a little bit scary if you're not used to it.
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, while you were talking, I was just thinking, hey, we're literally sitting here because you sent a cold pitch email, like you're good at it. And that was like a no brainer for me. Usually, it's a no brainer for me to tell someone I don't know. No, but for you is the total opposite. So she's good at what she does everybody. Before we dive into some strategy pieces. Let's just like take a step back quick and define the term we've been using over and over What is a cold pitch email just in case anyone's not familiar with the term?
Yeah, I love that you're starting off with this foundation, because there's a lot of people who have kind of a mistaken idea of what a cold email is. So really a cold email lives under the umbrella of cold outreach. And cold outreach is basically you sending a message to a stranger, asking them to take a specific action, in a cold email is a specific method that you use to do that cold outreach. So cold outreach can look like cold DMS, you know, that kind of thing. But a cold email comes in an email format, usually. And I really like cold emails, because I don't know what the actual stat is. But something like 80% of us check our email the first thing in the morning, right? So it's almost a guarantee that your recipient, your reader is going to be seeing your email. I don't check LinkedIn often. I'm rarely on like the other media, the social media, whatever Twitter is calling itself, right? I don't check those spots. But in my email, oh, my gosh, I can't get my hands out of it. Right. So I really like cold emails, because you know that that person is likely 80% or something guaranteed to see your email. And so really, that cold email is you reaching out in an email form, to ask the other person a stranger, to take the action that you want them to take, whether that's speak on your Summit, or collaborate with you in some sort of other way, like maybe a workshop or you're asking to borrow their audience in some way, or you're asking to get them in front of your audience, right? So it's a lot of you want them to take a specific action, and the action that you want them to take not some other action, like delete or get distracted, that kind of thing. Preferably.
Okay. And I feel like you might even just like hinted at some of this, but I'm going to ask the question anyways, in case you have like, even more to say, Why would you say cold pitch emails are so important to know how to use Well?
Yes, yes. And we have kinda like dancer on this hmm. So the reason why they're so important is because I think the reasons are actually twofold. The first reason is, you are taking action, going after what you want, either in your business, or who you want to partner with who you want to work with who you want to speak in your Summit, that kind of thing, you're not just sitting kind of by the roadside with your thumb out hoping that someone's going to come by and take pity on you, you're taking the action, which is super satisfying. And it builds confidence, because confidence comes from taking action. The second reason is that you have that power to pick who you want to work with who you want to collaborate. So it's kind of like that sub that sub reason kind of have that bigger reason, right? Like, imagine if you could work with have whoever you want to speak at your Summit. Now, imagine that you have that power, you could write out an email right now, you can probably find their email address, and you can send that and maybe they say yes, like that is I don't know about you. But that is like a really invigorating, highly motivating thought for me, like, I could create my own future. And I think that's, that's the biggest part about cold emails for me is this, this thought that like, I don't have to let it happen to me, I can go out and make it happen to me.
I love that. I love that. Oh, my goodness, when I think about it from the lens of a summit, like I would say pitching speakers is the thing that gets people most terrified and uncomfortable. And if I asked like, you know, what's your biggest hesitation? It's like pitching speakers pitching speakers. So like, knowing how to do this and feeling comfortable with this process is huge for what is usually the scariest part of you know, hosting a summit. What would you say is the most important part of a pitch email that makes someone say yes?
Yeah, that part is being super relevant to your reader. And Relevancy is a deeper motivator than say, personalization. Personalization is kind of like surface level. Like, hey, Krista, I love your Podcast, episode 360 was fantabulous. I don't even remember what that episode was. Do you even know the podcast name? Like come on, right? All surface level, like when you are relevant, you're talking more about like, your readers deeper motivations, their reasons for doing things like what is their goal? So if you're reaching out to someone to invite them to speak on your Summit? Have they been doing a lot of visibility work lately? Have they been prioritizing, wanting to be more in the spotlight with their business because that's exactly what you should say in that pitch email. Hey, Jane, I noticed that you've been really kicking up the summit. circuit lately, and I loved your talk that, you know, title of talk that I caught with this summit, especially that point about that agenda. Would you like to come and talk to my audience in my upcoming summit? On this date? I would love to have you I think it would be super valuable for my people to hear from you. How could you say no to that, like that, that speaks to the motivations that speaks to what they're currently doing? And kind of answers that question, what's in it for me for your reader, which is the core elements of figuring out what's going to be relevant to them.
I love that so much. And through that you said the word relevant several times. And I know that your method is called the relevancy method. And I'd love to hear more about that framework. So tell us about it.
Yeah, definitely. So the relevancy method is all about being ultra relevant to your readers, hopes, dreams, and goals. So what are they working on? And how can you basically help them get to that destination faster or easier. So if I know someone is wanting to get more clients, I'm going to, of course suggest you need to send more cold emails, because this is a way that I know will help them. Right. So if you can tie what you're pitching to one of those three things, their hopes, their dreams, or their goals, that's going to be a deeper motivator for them, because it's intrinsic, it's already inside of them. You don't have to use kind of those, those fake triggers, right, like the scarcity or the FOMO, or like, the manipulation or the pressure, because they're already motivated by this thing that's already inside of them. And so that's how you can get the yeses in a non sleazy way. And much faster.
Yeah, it will come across as coming from a place of service rather than, like, pressure.
Yeah, exactly that.
I love that. And I feel like, yeah, when you go at it from that standpoint, you both comes across from that place of service, but you feel like it's coming from a place of service. And I feel like maybe that's why people get so caught up with pitching for summits or anything is, you feel like you are making this big ask and kind of wondering why they would say yes. When if you go in knowing you're serving them well, with whatever it is, you're asking, of course that's going to feel better.
Right? Exactly. I always think of it like with movie recommendations, like if you're trying to get a date night with your husband, and you're like, I want to go to a movie hasn't been three years. I don't even know what's out in theaters. And you ask your friends like, Hey, have you seen a good movie lately? Of course, they're gonna say, Yeah, this one, this one, this one, this one. And they're not going to feel weird about it. Because your, this ties in with your goal to have a date night. So if you can think about your cold pitch emails in that light, like, this ties in with what they're already doing. This is like a natural way for you to help it like alleviate that pressure that you might feel about feeling gross or icky or weird about reaching out because you're not you're offering to solve a problem that they already have. And then all of a sudden, it seems like the pressure lifts when you try to write the pitch because all of a sudden, you're trying to answer that question like for them? What's in it for me like, Well, why should they say yes? Why? Why does this fit into their, their season, or what they're trying to accomplish with their business or what their current goal is based on what I'm seeing externally? And then all of a sudden, you kind of go to it from like a problem solving point of view versus like, help me out, please help me out. And then that's not like a good place to be in?
No, that doesn't feel good to send that email. Yeah. And then like thinking about it from from the lens of like, you know, a lot of times we're pitching speakers who, it's great to pitch people who are on a summit circuit who will promote but a lot of times we're trying to look for people who aren't on that circuit. But like, for me, I'm spending money on ads all the time. If you someone pitched me and pointed out Hey, I see you running ads to this audience. I actually have something coming up with 1000s of people in that audience. You want to be a part of it. It's a pretty easy yes. For me. So like it's like another layer of research you want to do before making that pitch. You want to know the topic you're pitching them, but also why why do they want to say yes from the context of what you see them doing in their business, but it's so worth it to take that extra five, literally probably five minutes maybe to to figure that out and customize, you know, the first little bit of a pitch email. Yeah, definitely.
It's just like a little bit of like indulging your internet stalker. It's nothing like you haven't done before. It's just along those same lines only it's on someone that you you are trying to get to know.
Yeah. Okay. One other thing I wanted to talk about with you and this might be more of like a back and forth but a big part of pitching speakers who then go on to like, bring good results to the Senate as in, they deliver a good presentation on time that's valuable, and they promote a lot of That usually ties into having a relationship like usually your top performing speakers are going to be people you have some sort of relationship with. And with this method, we're going to be reaching out to people we don't have that relationship with. Do you have any tips for building those relationships with people after we're getting the initial yeses from them?
Yeah, I would say like, try to have them add you on LinkedIn. I'm actually part of a part of two upcoming summits at the time of recording this right. One person reached out to me via cold email. And I said, Yes, I don't didn't know this person beforehand. And then someone else who I connected with maybe two years ago, her name is Betsy Muse. She works with Copy Hackers. And that's how I know her. And I saw that she was doing a summit. And of course, I applied because I really liked Betsy, I liked the interactions that we had. But out of the two, I'm way more inclined to promote Betsy is because I am a little bit more emotionally invested. Like, I like her, I know her a little bit more. So I would say if you want to help your speakers, and kind of get to know them a little bit, connect with them on social media and start like promoting their their posts a little bit, start reaching out to them, like how would you make a new friends? Really? How can you start replying to their emails, maybe you sign up for their email list and you start like forging a relationship that way, maybe it's just you replying? And maybe they don't reply. But I guarantee you that they're seeing those emails, and they're seeing that you're reposting their content on whatever social media platform that they like to be on. So how can you a little bit support them before they support you a little bit of like, I'll scratch your back, and then you scratch my back, I would say that would probably be the best, the best method of going about kind of building a friendship, which is a little bit of a weird idea online, right? Like, but really treat others the way you want to be treated. How would you want them to treat you? Yeah, when
You were talking through that two people came to mind for me that I've participated in some of these summits or bundles, or both. Over the past year, Dolly DeLong. And Amanda stores both sent me cold pitch emails. And by the end of that, like they're some of my favorite people were in a Bible, like a business owner Bible study group together now like I love them to pieces. And it's because of things like that, you know, after they got the initial Yes, it wasn't just like transactional emails. From there. They were sending like voice messages. Dolly always sends videos along with her email. So like, you get to know her and just love her. They're both like sharing my stuff on Instagram before the summit starts. Like, it just makes it like, Oh, these people actually care. You know, like, it just makes it so fun. You get to make that connection. So yeah, I love everything you said in there. And it's like just ringing all the bells like, oh, yeah, that's why I'm friends with these people now. So
yeah, I love dolly as well. Yeah, she's awesome.
She's so good at that. Okay, so I don't know, you gave us so much good stuff today. And I feel like just with like, one simple tip, like, be relevant. You've made cold pitch emails, like significantly less terrifying. So I thank you for that. I'm curious to hear if you have like a biggest takeaway you'd like listeners to walk away with today?
Yes, the biggest takeaway is to send the cold email, your brain will talk you out of sending it. And that's what it's designed to do. It has to go back to that lizard brain, which is designed to keep you safe. And back in caveman days, if you weren't part of the group, then you weren't safe. It's like that saying, you know, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the slowest person. So you sending a cold email is you being the slowest person standing out from the group and your brain is determined to not let you get eaten. So it will talk you out of sending the cold email. Just hell it is normal. That's okay. Thank you so much for your input. But I'm going to send this cold email because I won't get a yes. Unless I send this email. Yeah. And so you just have to just recognize that the fear is part of the process. It's totally normal. Just say, Hey, what's up, and I'm gonna go do this anyway, and go and do it. Because that's the only way you get the yeses is if you make the ask.
Absolutely. You guarantee enough. You don't know until you ask.
What's that quote? I think it's Michael Jordan, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
That's it? That's it. Yes. I love it. Well, thank you so much for all this. This was wonderful. I know you have a couple of pitch templates people can grab. So I'd love to hear about that and where people can connect with you online.
Yeah, definitely. So I put together a couple of pitch templates for you. You get like the template and then you get the after the after version. So what an actual email that I sent out. That looks like this will look like using the pitches. So you kind of see the before and what an after could look like to help you not get totally stuck in the weeds. Yeah, if you go to Laura lopez.com forward slash s h h you can get the templates there, or you can just go to my website, Laura lupus.com. Please sign up for my emails. I am not active on social media. I'm a huge email nerd. And that's usually where you'll find me hanging out is in the email space. So, if you want to hear more, that's where you can find me.
I love it. We will link to that in our show notes. Everyone, go ahead and check that out. Be sure to grab those templates. I know I'm gonna be checking them out. Because yeah, so much good stuff to share here so much knowledge and I would love to see it in action in those like example pitches you have. So thank you so much for being here. And thank you so much everyone for tuning in. Head to the link in the episode Description For show notes and the links that we mentioned. And for now, go out and take action to plan, strategize and launch your high converting virtual Summit.
