How elite copywriters win clients by demonstrating skill, not selling themselves

Executive overview

Most copywriters follow a standard outreach-to-sales-call pipeline, but Fotis Hatzis — a Greece-based direct response copywriter — has built a premium client roster almost entirely without ever getting on a discovery call. His approach is to lead with such specific, insightful value that prospects already see him as a peer before a price is ever mentioned. The conversation with host Matthew Volkwyn covers everything from how to find and keep high-quality clients to why email is actually the hardest copy format, not the easiest. Skill depth, proactivity, and specialisation come back as the decisive variables again and again.

The copywriter who demonstrates expertise in writing never has to prove it on a call.

How Fotis found copywriting and made the transition

• Started as a fitness trainer in Greece during the 2009 capital-controls crisis; needed more revenue fast.
• Discovered copywriting through a forum challenge: "Learn copywriting in 14 days."
• Rewrote an article for a Dubai-based fitness trainer as a practice exercise; was immediately offered paid work.
• Spent seven years using copy inside his own fitness business before going full-time as a copywriter in 2022.
• Having run a business first meant he could approach clients as a business partner, not a freelancer begging for gigs.

Closing clients without sales calls

• Fotis dislikes sales calls because they require proving yourself on the spot under pressure.
• His method: lead with a sharp, specific insight — not a free deliverable — that signals genuine expertise.
• First major client Ning Li (copy chief at PaleoHacks) was landed by replying to one of Ning's emails with a better way to position a study; no pitch, just a tactful suggestion.
• Stefan Georgi, Mario Castelli, and Luke Mills hired him for VSLs after he posted creatively in their Genesis programme community — never hopped on a call.
• The rule: share ideas and insights freely; withhold the actual deliverable until hired.
• For direct-response-savvy owners, the only question is "are you good enough?" — demonstrated skill answers that faster than any call.

Building visibility and social proof through content

• Posting daily on Facebook for six months was triggered by a training that said unskilled-but-visible copywriters earn more than skilled-but-invisible ones.
• Writing on social media, a blog, an email list, or YouTube shows character and competence simultaneously.
• You do not need client results to do this — documenting your learning journey as an "enthusiastic journalist" is enough.
• Character and personality matter: clients want to work with people they would enjoy being around, not just technically capable contractors.
• Visibility converts better when combined with genuine skill; neither alone is sufficient.

How to actually get good at copy

• Hard reps first, smart shortcuts later — as a beginner you have no right to "work smart" until thousands of reps are logged.
• Fotis handwrote hundreds of sales letters (including John Carlton's "Amazing Golfer" ad for four hours straight) to internalise proven structures.
• Writing a daily email to his own list for three to four years was more educational than any course.
• Pick one mentor per skill, go an inch wide and a mile deep — Ben Settle read one Dan Kennedy book ten times and outpaced writers with years more experience.
• Match the mentor to the medium: email gurus are not always the right people to learn VSL or landing-page writing from.
• Get copy reviewed by one person at a time; two coaches giving competing feedback creates disjointed, unfocused copy and an exhausted writer.
• Theory gives context (roughly 20% of the value); actual writing reps deliver the remaining 80%.

Why email is the hardest copy format — and why VSLs are easier than you think

• Popular belief: email is the easiest entry point into copywriting. Reality: it is the hardest.
• Email requires 365 unique angles to an audience that already knows the brand; nothing is formulaic.
• Ads are highly formulaic — pull the top 10 hooks from the sales page and you have your ads.
• Sales letters follow a clear research-to-structure process: audience problem, unique mechanism, objections, offer.
• Copywriters who can only write email are replaceable; those who write ads, VSLs, landing pages, and slide decks are indispensable.
• Proactively writing ad variations based on top emails — without being asked — is one of the fastest ways to cement a position inside a client's business.

Copy is a multiplier, not the main event

• The classic direct-response split: audience 40%, offer 40%, copy 20%. Even today this ratio roughly holds.
• "You can sell sand on the beach with great copy" is a myth; bad audience or weak offer caps what copy can achieve.
• Fotis's client: changing YouTube ad targeting from mixed to women-only took a 10k/month email sequence to 50k/month — same copy, better leads.
• The two-sentence "hand-raiser" email ("Looking for X people who want Y, click here") consistently beats elaborate creative sequences.
• Good clients already run ads (a sign they invest in growth) and use enticing copy in their own sales assets.
• A simple discount or deadline email often outperforms elaborate narrative sequences because offer relevance outweighs copywriting craft.

Becoming irreplaceable inside a client's business

• Fotis was kept when three other copywriters — some longer-tenured — were let go because he added value across departments: emails recycled into viral social posts, emails converted into VSL leads, a new landing page with a 3.5x ROAS vs. the previous 1x control.
• Proactivity signals to a business owner that the copywriter is invested in results, not just deliverables.
• When Matthew reduced his proactivity with one client, the client responded by scheduling weekly check-in calls — a sure sign he no longer trusted the copywriter to self-direct.
• Two proactive calls with fresh ideas eliminated the weekly meetings entirely.
• "Nightmare" clients who micromanage and hold excessive meetings are often responding rationally to a copywriter who appears passive.
• The fix is never client management tactics — it is showing up with ideas before being asked.

Mindset and business strategy

• Specialise deeply in one format to build authority, then expand into adjacent formats proactively rather than waiting to be asked.
• Staying in ongoing contact with past clients — asking about life, not just business — keeps warm relationships alive and surfaces new opportunities naturally.
• Freelancers who focus obsessively on client-acquisition tactics are usually the ones who have not yet developed a skill worth buying.
• The direct-response community is small; being known as the person who gives sharp, non-pitchy feedback to respected practitioners is a compounding asset.
• Matthew's parallel: every large client he closed on a "sales call" had already made the decision before dialling; the call was a culture check, not a pitch.