How I cold DM clients

Cold outreach gets a bad rap. 

I get it — unsolicited messages can be annoying at best and intrusive at worst. I can’t tell you how often I open LinkedIn to see notifications in my inbox, hoping it’s a cool opportunity…only to find yet another spammy message from someone trying to sell me something. 

Even with all the spam out there, I believe cold pitching can be a valuable strategy for freelancers. In fact, I still send cold DMs to get clients, even six years in. 

I thought it’d be easier to show not tell how to pitch yourself, so I’ve included actual messages I’ve sent on LinkedIn below. 

These are all cold DMs that I’ve received a positive response to. Not every message I send leads to landing the client (usually due to timing or rates) but if I had to guess, I probably have a 75% response rate. Which I’m pretty proud of! 

Alright, enough yapping. Let’s get into it: