Anatomy of a pitch that actually worked

Its merits are simple—with simplicity itself a key factor

I tweeted recently that I got a really great pitch via e-mail, and dozens of folks immediately wanted me to share it. But I won’t, partly because I don’t have permission, but mostly because it shouldn’t matter.

Writing a decent e-mail pitch isn’t complicated. I know some folks are looking for the Almighty Template. (To you, I say sternly and a bit impatiently: Quit looking for shortcuts, and learn for yourself.) But here’s my assessment of why this pitch worked, and a bit of a tricky bit at the end that is really the linchpin of the whole thing.

Concise

We all get tons of e-mail. No one—I repeat, no one—wants to wade through a tome of paragraphs and prose. Send a nice intro, a quick summary and a few key details, and let the recipient ask for more information if they’re interested in it. If I’m interested, I will ask for more info. If I’m not, all the words in the world aren’t going to convince me otherwise.

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