Artwork for podcast Podjunction
Chat Your Way to Bigger Business!
Episode 2114th May 2024 • Podjunction • Sadaf Beynon and Matt Edmundson
00:00:00 00:31:54

Share Episode

Shownotes

Welcome to this exciting episode of Podjunction where we dive into the transformative power of podcasting for business growth. Join hosts Matt Edmundson and Sadaf Beynon as they discuss with guest expert Lee Houghton, the secrets behind using podcasts as a strategic tool to enhance networking, relationship building, and ultimately expanding your business reach.

In this episode, you'll discover:

  1. The Evolution of Podcasting: How podcasting has become an integral tool for business and personal growth.
  2. Strategic Networking: Learn the best strategies for using podcasting to expand your professional network.
  3. Building Relationships: Insights into maintaining long-term relationships with podcast guests that lead to ongoing opportunities.
  4. Efficient Guest Sourcing: Tips on sourcing and selecting podcast guests that align with your brand's message and audience interests.
  5. Transforming Interactions into Opportunities: How to convert casual chats into meaningful professional engagements.

Key Takeaways:

  • Leveraging LinkedIn to connect with potential podcast guests and how it has simplified the process of guest acquisition.
  • The importance of personalisation in outreach efforts and its impact on guest experiences.
  • Best practices for keeping in touch with guests post-podcast to build lasting connections.

Connect with Us:

  • Visit our website at Podjunction.com to join our community and get access to exclusive content.
  • Follow us on social media to stay updated on upcoming episodes and behind-the-scenes peeks.

Tune in to "Chat Your Way to Bigger Business" to learn how you can enhance your podcasting strategy to foster growth and create impactful professional relationships. Whether you’re a budding podcaster or looking to refine your approach, this episode is packed with actionable insights just for you!

Transcripts

Sadaf Beynon:

Welcome to Podjunction, where business meets podcasting.

Sadaf Beynon:

Whether you're on a morning jog, driving to work, whipping up a meal,

Sadaf Beynon:

or just simply taking a minute for yourself, our weekly bite sized episodes

Sadaf Beynon:

promise fresh insights from successful podcasters who have cracked the code of

Sadaf Beynon:

using podcasts to grow their business.

Sadaf Beynon:

So whether you're a podcasting newbie or a seasoned podcaster,

Sadaf Beynon:

this episode is for you.

Matt Edmundson:

Wow, very warm welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

Welcome to this brand new episode of Podjunction.

Matt Edmundson:

My name is Matt Edmundson.

Matt Edmundson:

Next to me is Sadaf Beynon.

Matt Edmundson:

We are here to talk about how to use podcasting To grow your business.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it.

Matt Edmundson:

That's the aim.

Matt Edmundson:

That's the thinking.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's fair to say Sadaf, we're sat here mustering as much energy as we can.

Matt Edmundson:

As we can.

Matt Edmundson:

We we went away for a staff, what would you call it?

Matt Edmundson:

A staff retreat?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I think so.

Matt Edmundson:

A staff retreat.

Matt Edmundson:

For the weekend, and this is the first day we're all back, everyone is so

Matt Edmundson:

we all need a day or two to recover.

Matt Edmundson:

Not that anything bad happened, but it was a good crack, but it

Matt Edmundson:

was yeah, I think we all succumbed to something over that weekend.

Matt Edmundson:

And so we're just all a bit yeah, but welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

It's great.

Matt Edmundson:

It's good that you can join us.

Matt Edmundson:

Glad that you're here.

Matt Edmundson:

It's good to be back in the throes of things, back to normal as they say.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Are you sure?

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Have you smashed through that wall yet?

Sadaf Beynon:

It's, no.

Sadaf Beynon:

I have had some food to help me through it, but not quite there yet.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's fair to say we have a lot of food downstairs.

Sadaf Beynon:

Costco muffins and

Matt Edmundson:

cookies.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, we came back with a chunk of food.

Matt Edmundson:

We're not gonna lie.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's fair to say also that you and I have been banned from doing the shopping.

Sadaf Beynon:

Which is okay, actually.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

it's okay.

Matt Edmundson:

Sadaf and I went to Costco, Thursday.

Matt Edmundson:

Time of recording this is a Tuesday.

Matt Edmundson:

So it's four days ago, five days ago.

Matt Edmundson:

And we went to buy the food for the weekend.

Matt Edmundson:

And we was like, let's get one of them, get one of them.

Matt Edmundson:

And I drive a van.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't drive a car.

Matt Edmundson:

I drive a van.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm a bit of a van guy.

Matt Edmundson:

And we filled the van basically with food.

Matt Edmundson:

So it was

Sadaf Beynon:

and we brought most of it back.

Matt Edmundson:

We did, but it was a good crack.

Sadaf Beynon:

No one starved.

Matt Edmundson:

That's true.

Matt Edmundson:

We all ate very well.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

Anyway, enough about our weekend.

Matt Edmundson:

What are we doing today?

Sadaf Beynon:

We have Lee Houghton back again from Prob.

Sadaf Beynon:

The legend.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

What was it?

Sadaf Beynon:

What was this?

Sadaf Beynon:

Business problem solved.

Sadaf Beynon:

And sorry.

Sadaf Beynon:

She really does care, Lee.

Matt Edmundson:

Honest.

Matt Edmundson:

I

Sadaf Beynon:

do.

Sadaf Beynon:

I do.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah, and he's talking about finding guests and maintaining

Sadaf Beynon:

relationship with them.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay, so without further ado, we're going to listen to,

Matt Edmundson:

if this is your first time with us, by the way the way we do this is we

Matt Edmundson:

listen to a clip from an interview.

Matt Edmundson:

Sadaf or I will interview A well known podcaster about how they use

Matt Edmundson:

podcasting to help grow their business.

Matt Edmundson:

We play a clip from that interview and then Sadaf and I will be

Matt Edmundson:

back to chat about said clip.

Matt Edmundson:

Without further ado, here is the quintessential Lee Houghton,

Matt Edmundson:

who is an absolute legend.

Matt Edmundson:

Here he is.

Matt Edmundson:

Question about your guests then.

Matt Edmundson:

How do you find the guests to come on your show, or do they find you now?

Lee Houghton:

Yeah, so this is, This is, at the start I would, I picked

Lee Houghton:

people cause four years ago, it wasn't podcast, what podcasting wasn't as big

Lee Houghton:

as it is now, even it continues to grow.

Lee Houghton:

So I found people that I was interested in via LinkedIn.

Lee Houghton:

So I just send them a little message on LinkedIn.

Lee Houghton:

So that was predominantly where I find them.

Lee Houghton:

I would search for them on LinkedIn, connect with them,

Lee Houghton:

strike up a conversation.

Lee Houghton:

And I find that LinkedIn has been the place where I've found a lot of

Lee Houghton:

the people, a lot of the interesting people that I've wanted to speak to.

Lee Houghton:

And I also find that LinkedIn people are more likely to strike up a conversation

Lee Houghton:

with you on LinkedIn than any other social media that I find based on

Lee Houghton:

the people that I'm searching for.

Lee Houghton:

So LinkedIn's been the door opener, the podcast has been like the conversation

Lee Houghton:

starter and then I've been able to continue the conversation on the pod.

Lee Houghton:

So that's been amazing.

Lee Houghton:

Some people now have started to reach out, so reaching out, so there's like

Lee Houghton:

a load of podcast agencies now that they've got guests associated with

Lee Houghton:

them and then they start to surge.

Lee Houghton:

But I'm a little bit choosier with them, if I'm honest.

Lee Houghton:

Just because there's so many of them now, it's like people spamming me

Lee Houghton:

and so no, I don't just accept them.

Lee Houghton:

I've got, there's got to be a particular reason and a particular

Lee Houghton:

question that I want answering that then allows me to do that.

Lee Houghton:

And some of the, they make some really simple mistakes as well with when they're

Lee Houghton:

writing out to you, you can tell when they've they've copied and pasted.

Lee Houghton:

Your name or the podcast name into set text and stuff like that.

Lee Houghton:

So I, no, I ditch no matter who the guest is.

Lee Houghton:

I ditch all those anyway.

Lee Houghton:

Yeah.

Lee Houghton:

Just 'cause it's lazy.

Lee Houghton:

LinkedIn previous people that I've had the opportunity to work with so

Lee Houghton:

if I've been at an expo or been at a dinner or something and there's been

Lee Houghton:

somebody I've wanted to speak to, then

Matt Edmundson:

yeah

Lee Houghton:

I struck a conversation there.

Lee Houghton:

But yeah, so LinkedIn personal relationships.

Lee Houghton:

And then the odd person that writes to me who looks like they've got

Lee Houghton:

an interesting angle on a topic that I'm interested in as well.

Lee Houghton:

But yeah, so I think, podcasting is just growing.

Lee Houghton:

It's going massive.

Lee Houghton:

It's the last four years, it's more and more people have been doing it and more

Lee Houghton:

and more people have been listening to it.

Lee Houghton:

And yeah, so it's just relatively straightforward to

Lee Houghton:

get guests, to find guests.

Lee Houghton:

Yeah, it is.

Lee Houghton:

It's frictionless, it's a lot more frictionless as well, isn't it?

Lee Houghton:

Because it's like this, I'm in my house and you're in your house, in your office.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm in the shed

Lee Houghton:

at the bottom of my garden.

Lee Houghton:

Very good.

Lee Houghton:

So with the lights off as well,

Matt Edmundson:

I think

Lee Houghton:

It's just a lot more frictionless to do this now.

Lee Houghton:

The technologies though, just to make it easier.

Lee Houghton:

And so it's just somebody finding an hour in the diaries or having

Lee Houghton:

to travel somewhere to have a conversation and travel back.

Lee Houghton:

So yeah, it's not many people said no to an interview or a conversation

Lee Houghton:

and yeah, I've had the opportunity to speak with so many people.

Lee Houghton:

So many people.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, that's such a good point and this is one of the reasons why

Matt Edmundson:

I love podcasting, especially if you're in business or leadership, that if I approach

Matt Edmundson:

someone on LinkedIn and say, Hey, I do ecommerce coaching services or whatever.

Matt Edmundson:

That.

Matt Edmundson:

So what I don't care.

Matt Edmundson:

Leave me alone, right?

Matt Edmundson:

I'm getting spammed by email.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm getting spammed on LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

People are trying to cold call me.

Matt Edmundson:

I just don't care.

Matt Edmundson:

Whereas if I contact that same person and say, listen, I've got a podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

I'd love for you to come on the podcast, think you could offer some great value.

Matt Edmundson:

What do you think?

Matt Edmundson:

99 times out of a hundred, they're like, I would love to come on the show.

Matt Edmundson:

Right?

Matt Edmundson:

And then the doors open.

Matt Edmundson:

And yeah it's been incredible, that, that sort of thing.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you stay in touch with guests once you've done the show?

Matt Edmundson:

How do you do that?

Matt Edmundson:

Or do you just stay in touch with a select few that you really enjoyed or liked?

Lee Houghton:

Yeah, so I'm rubbish at that.

Lee Houghton:

I need to get far better at it.

Lee Houghton:

And that's why I want to create more assets from the material that I've

Lee Houghton:

got, because yeah, that gives me, that would give me an opportunity

Lee Houghton:

to reach out and share the value.

Lee Houghton:

Because what I've found is everybody has a story.

Lee Houghton:

Irrelevant of the position, irrelevant of the life, irrelevant

Lee Houghton:

of how they answer that question, do you see yourself as successful?

Lee Houghton:

Success is individual.

Lee Houghton:

And I think a lot of the lessons that, that people have had to go

Lee Houghton:

through there's a lot of like value in ensuring some of those things.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Lee Houghton:

So I'm not very good at keeping in touch with people.

Lee Houghton:

I need to keep in touch with people far better especially cause Chris's

Lee Houghton:

second lesson is make good friends.

Lee Houghton:

Make good friends,

Lee Houghton:

Yeah.

Lee Houghton:

Yeah.

Lee Houghton:

And I'm not doing that as well as I would like to.

Lee Houghton:

So in fact that's something that I should be committing to do more.

Lee Houghton:

I'm sorry.

Lee Houghton:

Yeah.

Lee Houghton:

Next year for me, it will be trying to maintain better Friendships

Lee Houghton:

and relationships with everybody that I come into contact with.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, very good

Matt Edmundson:

Okay, paused at the end there didn't it the video so welcome back Lee talking

Matt Edmundson:

about how he finds guests for his show and also a little bit about follow

Matt Edmundson:

up and So yeah, what are we talking about then off the back of that?

Sadaf Beynon:

What stood out to me listening to was like he started

Sadaf Beynon:

off in LinkedIn with LinkedIn.

Sadaf Beynon:

It was a manual process, wasn't it?

Sadaf Beynon:

Searching for them, connecting with them, having that conversation.

Sadaf Beynon:

And then when he moved on to the agency bit where he was talking

Sadaf Beynon:

about, people contacting him and you could tell it was a cut and paste

Sadaf Beynon:

job and it just wasn't personal.

Sadaf Beynon:

It didn't feel like they really, it was a mass produced email in some sense,

Sadaf Beynon:

so I was actually thinking it goes, it works both ways, just as much as the

Sadaf Beynon:

guest wants to feel special and reached out to on a personal level on LinkedIn.

Sadaf Beynon:

We as podcasters want that as well.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's true.

Matt Edmundson:

Actually,

Sadaf Beynon:

it's not,

Sadaf Beynon:

We just like the agencies are helpful, but at the same time, we

Sadaf Beynon:

don't want to be like, A cut and paste kind of mass produced email.

Matt Edmundson:

That's a very good point.

Matt Edmundson:

So if your strategy is to reach out to podcasts and to get onto a podcast,

Matt Edmundson:

how you do that, there's a real trade off, isn't there, between how much time

Matt Edmundson:

you invest in each individual podcast versus how much you just buy mail list

Matt Edmundson:

and mail merge as much as you can.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think it is a really interesting point and agencies that if you don't

Matt Edmundson:

know there are podcast agencies out there You can join you can sign up to them.

Matt Edmundson:

And if you need one, let us know because we will recommend one to

Matt Edmundson:

you but there are agencies out there that you can join and you pay them.

Matt Edmundson:

The way it works is you pay them a fee, right?

Matt Edmundson:

For every appearance on a show that they get you and that fee can range anything.

Matt Edmundson:

We've seen fees from like a hundred bucks to I was talking to a chap the

Matt Edmundson:

other day on the eCommerce podcast I said, I think there's a lady, but she

Matt Edmundson:

paid 450 to appear for that appearance.

Matt Edmundson:

So the agent that got her the appearance on our show, she paid 454.

Matt Edmundson:

And obviously, the value of that is going to be dependent on you, your

Matt Edmundson:

business, what it is you're trying to do.

Matt Edmundson:

But it was interesting how He talked about this, didn't he?

Matt Edmundson:

With Lee with agencies that when basically you're going to go to an

Matt Edmundson:

agency and agency has got thousands of podcasts on their books, those podcasts,

Matt Edmundson:

they don't know there are software out there, which you can get access

Matt Edmundson:

to, which will give you the name and email people, addresses of podcasts.

Matt Edmundson:

So that's how they do it.

Matt Edmundson:

If you want to appear on, I don't know, a knitting podcast, they will go and find

Matt Edmundson:

all the people that have knitting podcasts using industry databases on there.

Matt Edmundson:

There's a couple of them now.

Matt Edmundson:

And it will pull out the names and email addresses and they'll contact them on

Matt Edmundson:

your behalf, send you the one, send them the podcast, the one sheet and try and

Matt Edmundson:

get you the appearances they send you the invoice for every appearance they get you.

Matt Edmundson:

In some respects, it's pretty easy work.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

You just need a database and the ability to connect with people,

Matt Edmundson:

but you could do it yourself.

Matt Edmundson:

And like you say the more personal you can make that, the better the chance

Matt Edmundson:

you've got of getting on the show, right?

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Absolutely.

Sadaf Beynon:

Absolutely.

Matt Edmundson:

Which is a good point, rather than just doing

Matt Edmundson:

the standard, I'm just going to send the same email to a thousand

Matt Edmundson:

people and mail merge a few things.

Sadaf Beynon:

And I guess if you look at our process as we go on,

Sadaf Beynon:

we want that guest to be invested in our business in some capacity.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

So having that personal touch point right at the beginning helps all

Sadaf Beynon:

the subsequent ones too, doesn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it does.

Matt Edmundson:

So the way we do it is we have a form, don't we, on the website.

Matt Edmundson:

Cause we get approached by a lot of agencies to for guest appearances on

Matt Edmundson:

our show and we just reply back to the same ones unless we know them really

Matt Edmundson:

well, but we just reply to them with the same response, which says, it's great.

Matt Edmundson:

Please put their information here on this website form and we found actually just

Matt Edmundson:

that very simple thing filters out a lot.

Sadaf Beynon:

It does, yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Because if we get say a hundred emails, I don't know what

Matt Edmundson:

the actual percentage is, but I'm going to guess it's something like

Matt Edmundson:

50 or 60 of those people we reply to will then go and do the form.

Matt Edmundson:

40 of them won't even be bothered.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, that's right.

Matt Edmundson:

Because it's too much like hard work.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

They've got a list of other podcasts they can be on.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

So then that filters out a lot of stuff for us, I think, just by

Matt Edmundson:

having that form on the website.

Matt Edmundson:

And yeah, it's an interesting one.

Matt Edmundson:

It is an interesting idea that we've come across there, but I think Lee's right.

Matt Edmundson:

I think if you're getting podcast guests through agencies, if agencies

Matt Edmundson:

are contacting you, and that, hey, listen, if they're not contacting

Matt Edmundson:

you yet, they will contact you.

Matt Edmundson:

You alright?

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm back.

Matt Edmundson:

You're back.

Matt Edmundson:

Still hitting that wall.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

The agencies will contact you if.

Matt Edmundson:

When your show starts to grow and when it starts to be a bit more

Matt Edmundson:

consistent and your name starts to appear in the databases, basically they

Matt Edmundson:

will start to message you an email.

Matt Edmundson:

It does make getting guests easier.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

But the quality of the guest isn't always great from agencies.

Matt Edmundson:

It's probably fair to say.

Matt Edmundson:

That's

Sadaf Beynon:

right.

Sadaf Beynon:

And I think there is that point where you've been looking for guests and

Sadaf Beynon:

you having to go out for them and then suddenly they start pouring in.

Sadaf Beynon:

Oh, this is great.

Sadaf Beynon:

It's made my job so much easier.

Sadaf Beynon:

But I think filtering through those guests is still really important.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it is.

Matt Edmundson:

And actually probably having quite a strict criteria.

Matt Edmundson:

Because you do get sent some great people who will be great guests for

Matt Edmundson:

your show, but you're also going to get sent some people who would not

Matt Edmundson:

make a great guest for your show.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

It's fair to say, right?

Matt Edmundson:

And from my point of view, I never see this because you take care of it all.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

You're in the team.

Matt Edmundson:

You just, you get all the applications and pfft.

Matt Edmundson:

I just talked to them.

Matt Edmundson:

I was there in the diary, which is a beautiful thing.

Matt Edmundson:

So what, when agencies contact us, we send them to the form.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

They fill out the form.

Matt Edmundson:

If they don't fill out the form, we're not interested.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Cause I feel, I think sometimes they're like I've already done my outreach.

Sadaf Beynon:

I've already emailed you.

Sadaf Beynon:

And they'll probably move on to people who have picked up

Sadaf Beynon:

their email and run with it.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Whereas I've said, no, could you please go back to our website?

Sadaf Beynon:

That's where we start.

Sadaf Beynon:

And so maybe they'll circle back at a later time, but

Sadaf Beynon:

not necessarily right away.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

They don't like doing all that extra work agencies.

Matt Edmundson:

So what else do we look for in guests when they come through agencies?

Matt Edmundson:

What are some of the other filters that we,

Sadaf Beynon:

I think it depends, of course, on the podcast in some ways,

Sadaf Beynon:

but I think also it was, I think it was Marcia who said, make sure they can talk.

Sadaf Beynon:

They know how to talk.

Sadaf Beynon:

She's, yes, that's how she put it.

Sadaf Beynon:

But I think for me, it's making sure that they're going to be able

Sadaf Beynon:

to hit it off with you as the host.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

So that they're able to connect with you and

Sadaf Beynon:

have fun and because that you're quite relaxed in your approach.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, usually.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

And so I think for them to be able to, be okay with that and just be

Sadaf Beynon:

okay with because with you you'll ask a question, they'll answer and

Sadaf Beynon:

you'll just keep digging until you're satisfied and then you move on to the

Sadaf Beynon:

next thing where some people come.

Sadaf Beynon:

With the mindset that it's going to be these five questions,

Sadaf Beynon:

and then that's the end.

Sadaf Beynon:

So they just need to be aware that, the format's a bit different.

Sadaf Beynon:

It's more of a conversation, less of an interview.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, top tips there.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, if you are looking for guests, so the way Lead does this and still does

Matt Edmundson:

this, did this and still does this, is similar to what we do for example with

Matt Edmundson:

Push, is you can find people on LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

If, obviously LinkedIn makes sense if you're wanting to talk

Matt Edmundson:

to people involved in business or leadership or something like that.

Matt Edmundson:

If you can find your guests on LinkedIn, LinkedIn is a great platform for getting

Matt Edmundson:

guests because it's easy to connect.

Matt Edmundson:

It's easy to search, it's easy to filter and it's easy to find people that

Matt Edmundson:

meet your guest criteria on LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

And actually there's also a good chance they've probably been on podcasts

Matt Edmundson:

before, if they're on LinkedIn, not necessarily all of them, obviously.

Matt Edmundson:

But it is a real, I think LinkedIn is a really interesting platform.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

And I think too to what you're saying, it works the other way again,

Sadaf Beynon:

in that they can check you out.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Like before they choose to respond even.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, that's true.

Matt Edmundson:

So actually, that's a good point.

Matt Edmundson:

If you're going to do a LinkedIn outreach strategy, which I think you probably

Matt Edmundson:

would want to, if you want some really good guests make sure your bio page or

Matt Edmundson:

about us page or whatever they call it on LinkedIn is up to date and include

Matt Edmundson:

the podcast and links to the podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

And those kinds of things.

Matt Edmundson:

I was thinking it through actually, as I'm saying this, we should, the way we have.

Matt Edmundson:

The way we get it working is when guests have been on the show,

Matt Edmundson:

there's a couple of things we ask them, one of which is review, right?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, we do.

Matt Edmundson:

Can you give us a review?

Matt Edmundson:

And so we've got some great reviews from past guests, which

Matt Edmundson:

we should probably put on.

Sadaf Beynon:

We've got them on the website, some of them, but

Sadaf Beynon:

yeah, LinkedIn would be good.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it would make a little bit more sense, wouldn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

We could do that, but yeah I think make sure obviously your

Matt Edmundson:

LinkedIn page is up to date.

Matt Edmundson:

So you're going to invite people to come on your podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

The first thing they're going to do is click on your profile.

Matt Edmundson:

So your profile needs to help them say yes.

Matt Edmundson:

So yeah, one of the things I didn't ask Lee was actually how he deals with

Matt Edmundson:

people that say yes, he start, he kicks off conversations on LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

It's easy to have a conversation going back and forth.

Matt Edmundson:

And so I guess he just then sends him a link to sort of book a recording slot.

Matt Edmundson:

Which is definitely one.

Matt Edmundson:

So you need to have a, you need to understand what's gonna

Matt Edmundson:

happen if someone says yes.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, have a process for that.

Matt Edmundson:

A process, have a process or a process.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

Get your prep water, get your process up and running.

Matt Edmundson:

Just think that through, just have a really strong idea of what it is you

Matt Edmundson:

want to do when someone says, yes, you're going to send them to a website, you're

Matt Edmundson:

going to have them fill out a web form.

Matt Edmundson:

Are you just going to do everything through LinkedIn messages?

Matt Edmundson:

Could you create some templates?

Matt Edmundson:

And then obviously using something like what do we use?

Matt Edmundson:

zcal?

Matt Edmundson:

Is that right?

Matt Edmundson:

zcal to create like recording links.

Matt Edmundson:

So it's like here, let's go choose a recording slot that works well for you.

Matt Edmundson:

We use something called zcal.

Matt Edmundson:

co.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I think that's right.

Matt Edmundson:

It's like Calendly, but free, which is, we like that.

Matt Edmundson:

We like free works.

Matt Edmundson:

Although they've now got a paid version, I saw.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, do they?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, they're still on the free.

Matt Edmundson:

But there's all kinds of platforms.

Matt Edmundson:

There's Calendly, there's zcal, you can even do it direct with Google.

Matt Edmundson:

Like I was on Norm's podcast the other day.

Matt Edmundson:

And in fact, he's just gone and invited me on.

Matt Edmundson:

He's got loads of podcasts Norm Farrar, he's been on,

Sadaf Beynon:

has he been on this show?

Sadaf Beynon:

No, but I've asked him to come.

Sadaf Beynon:

Okay.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Cause I did mention it to him.

Matt Edmundson:

I've been on his podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

He's got more podcasts than I have, I think but he uses Google.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, does he?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

He just uses it.

Matt Edmundson:

You just go to Google and book straight into the diary that way.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay.

Matt Edmundson:

But it just makes it easier.

Matt Edmundson:

So have a simple process, right?

Matt Edmundson:

That process needs to include ability to book a pre call if you're going to do a

Matt Edmundson:

pre call, you need to book a pre call.

Matt Edmundson:

If you're not going to do a pre call, you obviously need to get

Matt Edmundson:

them a whole bunch of information ahead of time on what the podcast is

Matt Edmundson:

going to be like and what to expect.

Matt Edmundson:

And that's probably going to be about it really.

Matt Edmundson:

I can't think of anything else.

Matt Edmundson:

You should you'll know more than me.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

No, that's about it.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Keep it simple.

Matt Edmundson:

Don't make it complicated.

Matt Edmundson:

Keep it simple.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, if you go to our website and you fill out the web form, that's

Matt Edmundson:

not necessarily a simple, and we ask a whole bunch of questions on that.

Matt Edmundson:

And, but that was very intentional, right?

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

That's intentional.

Sadaf Beynon:

One, to filter people out and two, it helps our processes, doesn't it?

Sadaf Beynon:

Like it gives us all the information we need.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, because we ask for things like headshots, social

Matt Edmundson:

media links, bio, those kind of things which we like to get from people.

Matt Edmundson:

So again, depending on your podcast, but LinkedIn is definitely a good place to go.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, if your guests aren't hanging out on LinkedIn, what social media

Matt Edmundson:

platform do they hang out on and how can you find them and reach

Matt Edmundson:

them on that social media platform?

Matt Edmundson:

I do have people reach out to me on Instagram, for example, but the way

Matt Edmundson:

Instagram handles messages and because I'm such a big Don't I suppose when

Matt Edmundson:

it comes to checking my Instagram messages, you can go three or four

Matt Edmundson:

weeks before I even see that, and because it puts it in a different tab.

Matt Edmundson:

So I don't think Instagram is great.

Matt Edmundson:

Facebook for me is even worse.

Matt Edmundson:

I was on Facebook the other day and said, Oh, we've got messages.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, okay.

Matt Edmundson:

That was like from two months ago.

Matt Edmundson:

So I think there are things like that to bear in mind which is where

Matt Edmundson:

I think LinkedIn was quite well.

Matt Edmundson:

Or you can try and get their email.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah would be a, if you've got their email, obviously you can get

Matt Edmundson:

ahold of them directly that way.

Matt Edmundson:

But I think if you're doing your first 20 episodes, you probably

Matt Edmundson:

know most of the people that you could get on the show anyway,

Matt Edmundson:

they're going to be in your podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

And your CRM, your contact, your database, whatever you use, you're probably going

Matt Edmundson:

to have a phone number or an email, so you can just contact them directly.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

But when it's cold outreach, LinkedIn is a great platform.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah, it is.

Sadaf Beynon:

And I remember using LinkedIn back like earlier in our

Sadaf Beynon:

eCommerce day, back in the day.

Matt Edmundson:

Is that what you're going to say?

Matt Edmundson:

I used LinkedIn back in the day.

Sadaf Beynon:

Moved on now.

Sadaf Beynon:

When I was a lad, we

Matt Edmundson:

used LinkedIn.

Sadaf Beynon:

But yeah, that is something I did ask.

Sadaf Beynon:

If they were told a bit about it, if they were interested, if they were, then

Sadaf Beynon:

could I please have your email address?

Sadaf Beynon:

And then everything else was through email.

Sadaf Beynon:

The communication that I was done with LinkedIn.

Sadaf Beynon:

And at that point.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

That's a very good point.

Matt Edmundson:

Actually get their email address as soon as you can start

Matt Edmundson:

that conversation on email.

Matt Edmundson:

Someone said to me the other day, which I thought was a really interesting comment.

Matt Edmundson:

They said to me that LinkedIn is the one platform Microsoft has not screwed up yet.

Matt Edmundson:

You

Matt Edmundson:

I think they were, yeah, it sounds fair.

Matt Edmundson:

They were harboring issues regarding teams, which we all have to be fair.

Matt Edmundson:

It's been scarred since COVID.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's been scarred by Microsoft Teams.

Matt Edmundson:

So apparently they screwed up Skype.

Matt Edmundson:

They've done Teams, screwed that up, but LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

As things currently stand, it's not too bad, so far.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, so far.

Matt Edmundson:

So yeah great tips from Lee there in terms of finding people on LinkedIn

Matt Edmundson:

underst starting conversations with them.

Matt Edmundson:

Don't be afraid to do it.

Matt Edmundson:

I think sometimes we overanalyze it, don't we?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Overthink it.

Matt Edmundson:

And so what if they, what if do you know?

Matt Edmundson:

What if they hate me?

Matt Edmundson:

What if they report me for spamming?

Matt Edmundson:

And it's no, don't just get on with it.

Matt Edmundson:

They can say no, that's about it.

Matt Edmundson:

And then just be polite.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And if they say, just leave me alone.

Matt Edmundson:

Just leave 'em alone.

Matt Edmundson:

Don't be an asshole about it.

Matt Edmundson:

But I think if you're polite with people.

Matt Edmundson:

The thing that I've found actually when doing outreach on platforms

Matt Edmundson:

like LinkedIn is to have a strategy which says, I'm going to send an

Matt Edmundson:

email, a message, LinkedIn message.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm gonna reach out to the person.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, Fred thought it'd be great to connect.

Matt Edmundson:

By the way, I've got this podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

We talk about this, looking at your bio.

Matt Edmundson:

I think you might make a great guest.

Matt Edmundson:

Is this something of interest to you?

Matt Edmundson:

Yes or no?

Matt Edmundson:

Question marks.

Matt Edmundson:

Maybe it's simple like that.

Matt Edmundson:

It only needs to be like a few lines.

Matt Edmundson:

But have a strategy which says if they don't respond within seven days,

Matt Edmundson:

I'm going to message them again.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't just go they've not responded, therefore they're not interested.

Matt Edmundson:

Because quite, my experience is actually, I see it, the email, I'll read it.

Matt Edmundson:

I think, oh, I must do something with that.

Matt Edmundson:

And then completely forget.

Matt Edmundson:

And quite a lot of people do this now, it seems because of the overwhelm.

Matt Edmundson:

And so it's not a bad thing to say if I've not heard from you in seven

Matt Edmundson:

days, just to send a second message, which says, Hey, whatever your

Matt Edmundson:

name is just following up on this.

Matt Edmundson:

I haven't heard, no, no problem if not.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, just curious, simple like that.

Matt Edmundson:

Just brings it back to the top of their inbox.

Matt Edmundson:

In fact, we have three messages.

Matt Edmundson:

And so again, if we've not heard from them in the week, I just sent them a sort

Matt Edmundson:

of a, they call it the breakup email or the goodbye email, something like that.

Matt Edmundson:

In essence, basically saying, listen Simon, I've appreciate you.

Matt Edmundson:

You're probably getting a lot of messages.

Matt Edmundson:

I've not heard from you.

Matt Edmundson:

I just want you to know I'm going to stop messaging you after this.

Matt Edmundson:

Cause obviously, if you're not interested, that's totally fine.

Matt Edmundson:

And I don't want to come across as a freak and a spam dude.

Matt Edmundson:

So I'm gonna stop messaging you after this, but of course, anytime you want

Matt Edmundson:

to reach out to me, if you want to come on the show, we'd love to have

Matt Edmundson:

you just respond to this message.

Matt Edmundson:

And we've had people like six months later respond to that message.

Matt Edmundson:

And so I think it leaves it on a good tone because you're not.

Matt Edmundson:

being a total lunatic then.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah,

Sadaf Beynon:

the ball's in their court, they don't feel the pressure.

Matt Edmundson:

Exactly.

Matt Edmundson:

And you know that you can move on, you can close that and go and find somebody else.

Matt Edmundson:

And because especially if you're starting out, you might not want more than say,

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know, 50 messages open, right?

Matt Edmundson:

So you're going to go and say I'm going to start off by messaging

Matt Edmundson:

50 people on the understanding that maybe 30 percent of them will

Matt Edmundson:

say, yes, I want to get 15 guests.

Matt Edmundson:

That's 15 weeks worth of content.

Matt Edmundson:

But maybe 20 of them haven't responded yet.

Matt Edmundson:

So do you go and do another sort of 20, of thing.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think if you've got 50 open at any one point in time,

Matt Edmundson:

that's probably about right.

Matt Edmundson:

And then you can add, if you get people saying yes or no, just add

Matt Edmundson:

10 a week or something like that.

Matt Edmundson:

But once you've got it set up, it should be pretty straightforward.

Matt Edmundson:

Just keep going.

Matt Edmundson:

And I've always found with podcasting, it's always better

Matt Edmundson:

to have a wait list than no list.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah, definitely.

Sadaf Beynon:

Cause it doesn't make it

Matt Edmundson:

looks a bit more popular, doesn't it?

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, that

Sadaf Beynon:

keeps you ahead of things.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah, because we've been on the back foot a few times, haven't we?

Matt Edmundson:

But we are with Push in some respects, aren't we, at the

Matt Edmundson:

moment, because we when we first launched Push, we did this strategy, we

Matt Edmundson:

reached out to 500 people on LinkedIn.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah,

Sadaf Beynon:

it was.

Matt Edmundson:

And within sight of a few weeks, we had over a

Matt Edmundson:

year's worth of guests, didn't we?

Matt Edmundson:

We did.

Matt Edmundson:

You're like, goodness me.

Matt Edmundson:

So some of the podcasts we recorded, didn't air for eight months.

Matt Edmundson:

I think in hindsight, that wasn't a clever thing because, the guest sort of

Matt Edmundson:

forgets who you are in some respects.

Sadaf Beynon:

But at the same time, we didn't expect such an uptake either.

Sadaf Beynon:

No,

Matt Edmundson:

we wouldn't.

Matt Edmundson:

It shows how full of faith we were.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Cause it took a while to get EP going, didn't it?

Sadaf Beynon:

ECommerce Podcast.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

eCommerce Podcast,

Matt Edmundson:

getting the guests for that was a bit more of a bit more

Matt Edmundson:

involved, a bit more of a hustle.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Whereas with Push, cause we were expecting it to be like EP, everyone

Matt Edmundson:

just was like, yeah, that's awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

We're like, oh my goodness.

Matt Edmundson:

So we turned the campaign off like after three weeks, we'd got

Matt Edmundson:

like over 18, was it 18 months?

Matt Edmundson:

I can't remember.

Matt Edmundson:

It was a lot of stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

It was over

Sadaf Beynon:

a year.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And so we've been publishing those episodes every week.

Matt Edmundson:

I've not recorded a Push Podcast for

Sadaf Beynon:

quite some time.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Done the odd one here and there, but nothing major.

Matt Edmundson:

And so now we've got to the stage where we're going, oh yeah, we should

Matt Edmundson:

probably go and get some more guests.

Matt Edmundson:

And to be fair, all I'm going to do is do what we're telling you to do.

Matt Edmundson:

We're just going to go on LinkedIn and go find some interesting

Matt Edmundson:

people and say, listen, would you like to come on the show?

Matt Edmundson:

Especially those interesting people are going to be guests that I think

Matt Edmundson:

if we could, we always talk about starting meaningful conversations

Matt Edmundson:

with people that can have a sort of significant impact on your business.

Matt Edmundson:

. So we'll go and find those people.

Matt Edmundson:

And we'll get them on the show.

Matt Edmundson:

I must remember to do that actually.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And get that back up and running.

Matt Edmundson:

What we didn't do, because it was so crazy at the start, was we didn't have

Matt Edmundson:

this sort of weekly go and get more guest thing, which I think we'll do now.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

We need to rather than this sort of boom bust scenario, which we find ourselves

Matt Edmundson:

in with that particular podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

Whereas with PodJunction, the guests that so far have been on

Matt Edmundson:

the show are people that we know from the industry, aren't they?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

So they were easy guests to get in a lot of ways, because they go on a

Matt Edmundson:

lot of people's podcasts, they get invited to go on a lot of people's

Matt Edmundson:

podcasts, and I'm like, just come on the show, man, we'd love to talk to

Matt Edmundson:

you, and it seems to work quite well.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, there you go.

Matt Edmundson:

That's the strategy for going getting guests.

Matt Edmundson:

Predominantly on LinkedIn, we've talked about there are obviously other things

Matt Edmundson:

and other ways that you can do this.

Matt Edmundson:

I dare say we'll get into this more as we go along.

Matt Edmundson:

But that was a great tip from Lee in terms of how to find guests.

Matt Edmundson:

Hope you found this helpful and useful.

Matt Edmundson:

Now some interesting stuff in there.

Matt Edmundson:

Was there anything else from you?

Matt Edmundson:

No.

Matt Edmundson:

Is that it?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yep.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay.

Matt Edmundson:

Awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

So what we got next week?

Sadaf Beynon:

Lee Houghton again.

Matt Edmundson:

Again.

Sadaf Beynon:

Again.

Sadaf Beynon:

This is a good one, though.

Sadaf Beynon:

I know it's four, but this is worth it.

Sadaf Beynon:

This is worth hanging out for.

Sadaf Beynon:

No, it's just the way

Matt Edmundson:

you said, this is a good one, though.

Matt Edmundson:

This one we've just had wasn't a good one.

Matt Edmundson:

This was also good.

Matt Edmundson:

Thanks,

Sadaf Beynon:

Lee.

Sadaf Beynon:

Thanks, Lee, for all your valuable insight.

Sadaf Beynon:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

The other three have been okay, but this one's gonna be a

Matt Edmundson:

good one next week, ladies and gentlemen.

Matt Edmundson:

Lee's listening to this podcast, he's gonna slap you.

Matt Edmundson:

Metaphorically, of course, we do not condone violence in any way,

Matt Edmundson:

and Lee is not a violent chap.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, so we've got the fourth episode.

Matt Edmundson:

So Lee's the first guest we've had on the show where we've done

Matt Edmundson:

four episodes from his interview.

Matt Edmundson:

That in itself tells you a lot about the coolness of Leigh

Matt Edmundson:

and the amazingness of Lee.

Matt Edmundson:

So yes, if you haven't done so already, check out LLee'spodcast.

Matt Edmundson:

We'll of course link to Lee's podcast in the show notes.

Matt Edmundson:

You can follow that link and listen to it.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, been a treat, been fun.

Matt Edmundson:

Alright, we'll catch you next week.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from me.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from Sadaf.

Matt Edmundson:

Bye for now.

Sadaf Beynon:

And that brings us to the end of today's episode at PodJunction.

Sadaf Beynon:

If you've enjoyed the insights from this episode and want to hear the full

Sadaf Beynon:

conversation with today's special guest, don't forget to visit podjunction.

Sadaf Beynon:

com where you'll find more information about how you can join PodJunction Cohort.

Sadaf Beynon:

Whether you listen while on the go or in a quiet moment, thank you for

Sadaf Beynon:

letting us Remember, every episode is a chance to gain insights and to

Sadaf Beynon:

transform your business with podcasting.

Sadaf Beynon:

So keep on tuning in, keep on learning, and until next time, happy podcasting.

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube