10 Tips for Pitching Clients as a Freelancer

Being a freelancer means you’re running your own business. You’re responsible for finding clients and pitching them your services. This pitch briefly explains who you are, what you do, and why the client needs you. Learning how to pitch clients is an essential skill that can take time to develop as a new freelancer. Even if you’ve been in the game for a while, you can always improve your pitching skills.

Your sales pitch should confidently let clients know why you're the best person for their job. When just starting out, you may feel awkward. Not everyone is a natural-born salesperson. Don't worry. As you gain more experience and start landing contracts, you'll become more comfortable pitching clients.

Whether you're working on your very first client pitch or are looking to improve your skills overall, this beginner's guide will walk you through how to pitch clients on Upwork with some tips and best practices for success:

What is a pitch?

Your pitch is a brief message that explains what you can offer and why the client should hire you. Freelancers get work by pitching clients their services. When freelancing, you have to actively search for clients—companies or individuals—who could benefit from your skills. Because you’re the one who finds the clients and projects you want to work on, you have more control over your workweek and scheduling.

One way to do this is by pitching cold leads. That might be sending emails or LinkedIn direct messages to clients whom you want to work with but haven't expressed interest in you yet. These types of clients can be hard to land because you don't know if they have an immediate need for your services. It can feel like a shot in the dark. You'll need to explain what you can offer and why they should work with you now in this type of pitch.

Warm leads are people who express some level of interest in your services. They could be someone you met at a networking event or a business contact from a friend who said they wanted more information. These types of leads are more likely to convert to actual clients, but they still may need convincing. Your pitch should demonstrate value and a sense of urgency.

When you join a freelancing platform like Upwork, you’ll have hot leads. You can submit proposals to projects that clients posted on Talent Marketplace™. These clients have already made the decision to work with an independent professional and are ready to buy now. The goal of your pitch is to convince them to choose you over other freelancers.

Instead of spending time and energy pitching your services to clients who may or may not be interested or need your services, you can submit proposals directly to clients who have posted projects on Upwork. These clients want to hire freelance talent and get started quickly. You can find jobs, submit proposals, message back and forth, and get paid within the platform. Upwork saves you time by putting all of your clients in one place.

How to pitch clients on Upwork

When you see a freelance job on Upwork's Talent Marketplace that fits your skills, you can submit a proposal—this is your client pitch. A proposal includes your hourly or fixed-price rate and cover letter. It should confidently explain why you're the best freelancer for the project and highlight your relevant skills and experience. You may need to answer additional questions that the client chose.

When you send a proposal, you want to grab the client's interest so they head to your profile and invite you to interview. Freelancing on Upwork simplifies the pitching process; everything you and the client need is right there. You can send proposals directly to clients for open projects they're actively seeking talent for.

You can build your reputation and authority on Upwork with positive reviews and Talent Badges. Your proposal gets the client's attention, and then your profile lets them know you're qualified and the best person for the job. It contains all of your professional information, from past experience and public feedback to your portfolio of work samples. You can even add optional elements like a video introduction and Credly certifications.

Top tips for pitching clients on Upwork

Once you find a project on Upwork that fits your skills and background, the next step is pitching the client your services. Your pitch doesn't have to be very long. In most cases, a couple of paragraphs is fine. The client will learn more from your profile and in an introductory call or interview. You can use a template, but tailor each pitch to the specific client and project.

Follow these top tips for pitching clients on Upwork to help land more interviews:

• Pitch your niche
• Find your audience
• Personalize your pitches
• Pitch to their pain points
• Pitch passively through your profile
• Leverage your freelancer portfolio
• Track your pitches
• Structure your pitches for success
• Leverage flexible templates
• Follow up on your proposals

1. Pitch your niche

Many new freelancers start off as generalists, applying to any and every job they find interesting to try to build their profile and earnings. Instead of this strategy, choosing a niche and specializing can make the process easier. When you have a niche, you can quickly pinpoint the types of jobs you're the most qualified and best fit for. This approach values quality over quantity.

Generalists may focus on a category or multiple skills and apply to jobs across all industries, which can make it more difficult to pitch clients and win proposals. Clients on Upwork are looking for highly skilled talent they can trust to deliver quality work. After reading your proposal and looking at your profile, the client should know what you're best at.

Having a niche lets you build your reputation in your specialty. You can develop skills within your niche and work on becoming the go-to expert—eventually charging more for your services. If you want to add another skill down the road, you can create a specialized profile.  

After you've chosen your niche, look for projects that are close fits and try to apply only to jobs that fall under your specialty. Choosing jobs that fit your skills makes it more likely that clients will see your proposal and helps the Upwork algorithm match you with the right types of jobs.

If you don't know what your niche is and are moving to freelance from a full-time role, think about what aspects of your job you enjoyed doing best. Those who want to change industries or don't have a lot of previous job experience can explore the most in-demand skills right now on Upwork. You can learn these skills by taking online courses and earning certificates. Try narrowing your skillset down even further by focusing on an industry that you find the most engaging or exciting.

2. Find your audience

Before you can start pitching, you have to find clients. On Upwork, you can see recently posted projects on the Talent Marketplace—but you want to make the most out of your time by only pitching clients that are the best fit. Think about the types of entrepreneurs and companies that would need your services. Use this to define your target audience and create an ideal client profile.

Factors to consider:

• Company size
• Budget
• Time zone
• Experience on Upwork
• Industry
• Length of project
• Hourly or fixed-price contract

Once you have this client profile, you can use Upwork job search tools to find projects from clients that qualify.

On Upwork, you can filter jobs by:

• Category
• Experience level
• Job type and budget (hourly or fixed price)
• Number of proposals
• Previous clients
• Payment verified
• Number of client hires
• Client location and time zone
• Project length
• Hours per week required
• Connects needed
• Contract-to-hire

You can also use the "Advanced Search" feature to find jobs with specific keywords related to your niche.

Upwork will help match you to jobs that fit your profile and work history. Make sure you choose the right category and skills for what you want to do. Being active on the platform and winning jobs will help the algorithm learn and match you with the right types of projects. These recommendations will appear on your home page under "Best Matches" and in your weekly or daily jobs email (if opted in).

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3. Personalize your pitches

Clients can often tell when freelancers send generic proposals-–which rarely leads to interviews and offers. They want to see that you read the full job posting and are interested and have the right skills for their specific needs. Generic proposals can seem like you're sending pitches to any and every project. Think about how you feel when you receive a mass email compared to one that you can tell someone spent time writing to you personally.

Templates are helpful for creating the structure and base of your pitch, but you should personalize each one based on the job posting. When reading a job posting, pick out the main skills the client is looking for and then briefly explain your experiences with each one. Writing a great proposal takes time, so you want to find jobs that closely align with your skills to increase the chances of landing an interview.

Your pitch doesn't have to be a full page long. The client likely won't read lengthy paragraphs that go over your full job history anyway. Concisely introduce yourself and then add a few sentences or bullets that correlate with the main skills needed. If the client is interested, they'll click on your profile and schedule an interview.

Once you enter a message room with the client, you can use Loom in Upwork Messages to record a video and explain in more detail what you do and how you can help.

You can learn more about customizing your proposals in this Upwork Academy Video.

4. Pitch to their pain points

When you're creating an ideal client profile or reading through job descriptions on Upwork, think about why someone needs your services. Analyze the job posting and then research the company if they provide the name or website to get an idea of their long- and short-term goals. Put yourself in their situation and think about the problems they're trying to solve by hiring a freelancer—then pitch yourself as the solution.

Common pain points that clients need help with:

• Meeting deadlines
• Filling skills gaps on their team
• Increasing revenue
• Improving productivity or efficiency
• Simplifying processes
• Reaching customers

Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) is a copywriting strategy to engage customers using their pain points, which can help make your pitches more compelling.

• Problem. Identify the problem your client has and show that you understand.
• Agitate. Explain or reinforce why they need to take action now. Illustrate how the issue can get worse or the consequences of not taking action can occur.
• Solution. Frame your services as the answer and clarify what you will do for them.

5. Pitch passively through your profile

When you pitch clients on Upwork, your profile is just a click away. It's your resume, portfolio, and reviews all in one. Instead of having to send an email or direct message and attach your resume and portfolio, all you have to do on Upwork is submit your proposal.

The time you spend on your Upwork profile pays off—it's also how the Upwork algorithm matches you with clients. Make sure your profile is 100% complete and up-to-date with your latest skills and work samples. A great profile helps you stand out to clients and win projects.

Important profile elements to include:

• Profile picture
• Title and overview
• Introduction video
• Portfolio
• Client reviews and feedback
• Testimonials
• Credly certifications
• Hourly rate

6. Leverage your freelancer portfolio

In your pitch, you can explain your skills and experience, and then your portfolio lets clients see it for themselves. Portfolio samples help clients get a feel for your work quality and style. While you may think of a portfolio mainly for creative work, it's important across all industries and skills.

Always make sure you have your client's permission before adding samples to your portfolio.

A graphic designer may include a custom product label they made for a client, while a financial analyst could use a case study for a business that needed trend forecasting. Each item in your portfolio should tell a story so potential clients have more context and know your involvement.

The STAR Method, commonly used for answering interview questions, is helpful for structuring concise stories while making sure you hit all of the main points. Describe the situation, task, action, and results for key projects.

In your Upwork profile, you have three different portfolio templates to choose from when you add a new project:

• Gallery. Displays images and videos in a carousel, which is helpful for creative and visual samples.
• Case Study. Outlines the project you worked on, prompting you to fill out your role, project task or challenge, and the solution. You can attach images or videos.
• Classic. Highlights your work in a simple and scrollable format. You can add non-image and video files like documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs.

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While some workpieces and skills may seem easier to display in a portfolio, try thinking outside the box to show off your work and impress clients. You can include screenshots, case studies, videos (up to 60 seconds long), and more to help demonstrate your talents. A sample doesn't have to be the entire project; you can use a snippet of video or summary to give clients a taste of your work.

Make sure you keep your portfolio updated with your latest and best work samples. Clients may not have time to go through every single item. Try to aim for 3 to 5 samples for every skill that you have listed on your profile. You can create separate portfolios for each of your specialized profiles.

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You can learn more about building your portfolio in this Upwork Academy course.

7. Track your pitches

Perfecting your pitches can be a lot of trial and error at first. Analytics help you figure out what's working and what isn't. On your Upwork home page, you can dive into your analytics if you go to Find Work > My Stats. Under Proposals, you can see how many you sent and compare it to views, interviews, and hires.

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My Stats analytics has separate graph lines for organic and boosted proposals. If you want to experiment with boosting your proposals, this will help you see how effective it is and compare it to your organic (unpaid) ones. You can also check your profile views and invites before and after optimizing your profile to measure effectiveness.

8. Structure your pitches for success

While you want to tailor every pitch to the client and project, they should all follow a similar structure. Start with a strong opening in the cover letter—you want to grab the client's attention.

This is what your proposal looks like from the client's end before they click on it. The project may receive many proposals from freelancers, so you want to try to make yours stand out.

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After the opener, you want to demonstrate that you understand what the client needs—their pain points. Then, you can move on to explaining your experience and how your skills will solve these problems.

The angle should be: This is why I'm the best freelancer to help. Always end with a call to action (CTA), letting the client know what they should do next, which is often to set up a call or interview.

You can link to your personal website, LinkedIn, or attach specific samples that may not be included in your Upwork portfolio. After reading your pitch, they can head to your profile, but if you have a specific sample you want to make sure they see, you can attach it to your proposal.

9. Leverage flexible templates

Customizable templates can help you save time when creating pitches for clients. The general format will likely be the same, and you can leave space to add personal client details. A flexible template is a great starting point, so you don't have to rewrite elements like the introduction or CTAs that will be relatively the same from pitch to pitch.

Example pitch template:

Hello [client name],

[Opening hook that acknowledges the client's pain point]

[How you'll solve this problem using your experience with the specific skills mentioned in the job posting. You can break this down into bullet points.]

[Details on the pitch, e.g., your turnaround time, costs, availability]

I would love to set up a time to talk more about the project and answer any questions you have.

[Links to any samples or professional websites]

Thanks,

[Your name]

When using a template, always make sure that you double-check your customizations and have the client's name and information correct before sending. You can find more pitch template examples.

10. Follow up on your proposals

Following up can help you stand out to clients and make a difference in getting an interview or landing a contract. Some freelancers feel uncomfortable sending follow-ups because they don't want to seem pushy or are unsure of when the appropriate time is.

Clients are busy too, and following up after pitching or interviewing can help make sure they don't forget about you. It also shows your interest and initiative in the project.

If you accept a job invite or the client responds to your proposal on Upwork, a message room will open so you can communicate back and forth. Once you have the message room open, if you don't hear back 24 hours after pitching or interviewing, you can send a short follow-up message asking the client if they have any questions or want to schedule a call.

Example of a short follow-up you can send in Upwork Messages:

After pitch:

Hi [client],

I wanted to check in and see if you had time to review my proposal. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to set up a call to talk more about the project.

Thanks,

[Name]

After interview:

Hi [client]

I enjoyed learning more about the project and think it would be a great fit for my skills because [insert reason]. I wanted to check in and see if you had any other questions for me.

Thanks,

[Name]

The timeline for following up as a freelancer on a platform like Upwork is often shorter because you know the client has an immediate need. When sending a cold email or direct message, you can use the general job interview follow-up guidelines and wait 3 to 5 days. These types of potential clients may take longer to respond.

Embrace the art of the pitch

Pitching clients is an essential skill as a freelancer that can take time and practice. Always customize each pitch to the client and your project. Carefully read through the job posting to make sure it's the right fit, and let the client know what experience you have with the top skills in your proposal. Instead of applying to any job you think you could do, pick out the jobs that are closest to your niche and spend more time on your proposals and profile. If you need more help pitching clients, you can get assistance from an Upwork Academy Coach. See what open jobs right now fit your skills and start reimagining what your workweek could look like as a freelancer.