Turn Interviews Into Clients – PTC 428

When you conduct interviews on your podcast, how do you use those opportunities to attract clients?

Interviews create wonderful podcast content. They also provide tremendous promotion for your guest.

But, it is also possible for you to use those interviews to grow your own business.

THE GUEST

I had a coach come to me for help one time. He conducted fantastic interviews.

In fact he told me, "My superpower is the cloak of invisibility. I make the guest the star."

However, his podcast was not bringing clients into his business.

He was getting great feedback on his amazing interviews. But, that feedback wasn't turning into business.

The issue with his strategy was his superpower. I definitely want you to make the guest the star. However, you absolutely cannot wear a cloak of invisibility.

If you only prop up your guest, you can't be upset when your listeners flock to your guest. We need to find other ways to ensure we build your credibility by association with your guest.

Our solution was to interject more of him into the episodes. This would allow him to make his guest look great while also demonstrating his expertise.

YOUR EXPERTISE WITHIN

There are two ways you can incorporate more of you in the interview without taking away from your guest.

You can use pieces of the interview as you teach and tell the story. Or you can demonstrate your expertise before the interview begins.

Ramit Sethi weaves himself throughout his podcast "I Will Teach You To Be Rich".

Ramit's episodes give you access to couples sharing the most intimate aspects of their lives as he helps them with their finances. These are real stories about love and money from behind closed doors.

The conversation are actually coaching sessions with these couples. As the conversation unfolds, Ramit jumps in and out of the interview explaining what he is trying to accomplish, why he is asking particular questions, and what you should notice in the answers.

Through his explainations, Ramit is demonstrating his coaching expertise and helping listeners discover the solution as well.

This style of interview is a lot more editing work than a tradition interview.

YOUR EXPERTISE BEFORE

Your other option is to demonstrate your expertise before the conversation begins.

On my podcast, I teach a bit before the interview begins.

Guests don't appear on every episode of my podcast, such as this one. But when I have guests, I spend the first five or ten minutes teaching something.

The interview becomes the case study for what I just taught.

This style of interview episode is much easier to create, because there is less editing involved.

THREE WAYS TO ATTRACT CLIENTS

There are three effective ways to attract clients with interviews.

You can interview clients, potential clients, or partners who can put you in front of your ideal client.

Whichever you choose, be sure to leave room to demonstrate your expertise.

Let's looks at each of these.

CURRENT CLIENTS

You can interview current clients. Shane and Jocelyn Sams do this on the Flipped Lifestyle podcast.

The podcast is about how they make money online through internet business and how it lets them live a lifestyle other people can hardly imagine. Their goal is to help other families create, market, and sell digital products on the internet.

Their offer is their Flipped Lifestyle membership where they help families create their own membership.

On the podcast, Shane will typically interview current Flipped Lifestyle members.

They discuss where the member was, how the membership helped them create their own membership, and where they are today. It is a great way to demonstrate the transformation members experience by joining.

This is a great way to show your prospective clients what is possible and then inviting them to work with you.

POTENTIAL CLIENTS

The second way you can attract clients is by interviewing potential clients.

Zoë Routh often does this on the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast.

When I first spoke to Zoë about her show, I asked her how many downloads her podcast was getting each month. She said, "I have no idea. I don't even look at that."

That completely surprised me. I thought all podcasters looked at their stats at least every now and then.

Zoë said, "That's not how I use my podcast."

She went on to tell me that her podcast is a way to open doors to those business leaders she'd like to work with.

Zoë helps businesses break down the silos that often form within companies. She helps the various departments better communicate and work together.

It is hard to get a business leader on the phone to offer your services. There are gate keepers, caller ID and unreturned calls. People just have their guard up.

Instead of trying to make a cold call or get a few minutes to offer what she does, Zoë reaches out to business leaders and invites them on her show.

Rather than calling and asking for a few minutes of their time to show how her services could help their teams work together better, she calls and asks if they would like to be interviewed on her podcast.

Who wouldn't want to be featured on a podcast?

And here is the kicker. None of them ask about the size of her audience or the number of downloads she has.

It's just a way to open the door and start the conversation without the threat of the sale.

PARTNERS

Partners is the third way to attract your ideal clients.

You can interview partners who can put you in front of your ideal client.

Swap inteviews with experts in your niche who complement what you do. If you help small business owners build funnels, partner with someone who helps small business owners with their finances.

Web developers can partner with search engine optimization experts or graphic designers.

Who serves your ideal client in a different way? Find those experts, and inverview them on your podcast. Then, get them to interview you on their show.

You not only benefit from the exposure on their show. The benefit also comes by offering your listeners additional help, being a resource for the audience, and by association with more experts.

SHARE IT

When you have these experts on your show, make it easy for your guest to share your episode.

Write the email for them. Tag them in the social post and ask them to share it. Create graphics they can share.

Do everything except hit the send button for them. Even connect with their virtual assistant if they have one.

The easier you can make it to share your interview with them, the more likely they will share it with their followers.

When your guests share your interview, you get in front of new listeners. When these new listeners come to your show to hear the interview, get them on your email list. This will allow you to invite them to listen each time a new episode is released.

CALL TO ACTION

There is one thing many coaches miss when trying to attract clients on an interview episode.

I hear this so often. Coaches come to me frustrated that the podcast is doing nothing to bring in new business.

A review of an episode quickly reveals the problem. If you fix this, you will solve most of your issue.

Most coaches struggle to attract clients with the podcast, because there is no clear call to action on the episode inviting listeners to work with the coach.

So many interviews do a great job making the guest look great. The interview directs listeners to the guest's website, products and services.

But many times there is no clear call to action directing listeners to the coach's website to learn how to work together.

You build all of this goodwill during the interview. The guest makes you look good by association. Your content helps and serves the listener. Then you fail to close the gap.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Before the interview even begins, tell your listeners who you help, what you help them do, and why they would want to do it. Then, tell them how to get more of you.

After the interview is over, thank you guest. Tease the next episode. Then, invite people to work with you again.

Stop giving your listeners a laundry list of things to do. So many podcasts end with, "Rate and review us. Follow us on Facebook. Send me an email if you have a question. Find my resources on the website. Share this episode with a friend. Did I mention Twitter. Subscribe to my newsletter. Blah, blah, blah."

Nobody will remember all of that. Get rid of it.

Instead, give your listeners one, clear call to action. What is the one thing you want them to do when the episode is over?

If you want clients, get them to take that first step toward your sales conversation.

Where does your sales conversation happen? What is the one thing people do before they have that sales conversation? Get listeners to take that step. That's your call to action.

HOW TO GET MORE CLIENTS

Let me show you how to build this process. I'd like to offer you a free strategy call with me. You and I will sit down and lay out a strategy to attract your ideal clients that you can repeat again and again.

Go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.