Lisa Earle McLeod is a syndicated columnist who uses PR LEADS to find sources for her articles and books, including the landmark Selling with Noble Purpose which hit #2 on CEO Read.
She is a sales leadership consultant.
Organizations like Apple, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer hire her to create passionate, purpose-driven sales organizations.
I interviewed her to get her insights on how to pitch effectively.
Here is a synopsis of the conversation.
- Don’t use a subject line “New book about business,” or “New book about health.” Instead, show one of your great ideas from the book.
- When she looks at responses for her PR LEADS queries, she likes to see the tips first and bio second. She hates pitches that only include a bio but no tips.
- Beyond the responses she gets from her PR LEADS inquiries, she’s overwhelmed with 50 pitches a day from publicists who send her email about every topic under the sun – especially topics she doesn’t even cover. She has rarely written a story based on an unsolicited pitch letter. The few times she did, it was a killer pitch that provided great reader tips, not just a summary of the book.
- She doesn’t look at press release sites. “I don’t have a shortage of ideas.” But she does use press releases to verify information, get background, and pull images of experts and book covers.
For more tips on how to help pitch a reporter, read my book, Reporters Are Looking for YOU!