140 Mastering the Pitch: 5 Salesman Techniques to Hook New Podcast Listeners

[00:00:00] Just imagine you are waiting in line at the grocery store and directly behind you in line is another customer

[00:00:06] You turn around you lock eyes and you decide to have a little small talk

[00:00:12] This chit chat goes back and forth and then you quickly realize that this person is your

[00:00:19] Target audience of your podcast you immediately think I need to sell them on my show

[00:00:25] But then you realize you're not a salesman

[00:00:30] Please

[00:00:34] Sound matters be heard

[00:00:37] Welcome to the podcast where you get exclusive behind-the-scenes tips to make your own show sound truly spectacular. This is

[00:00:46] Podtastic Audio

[00:00:48] Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris

[00:00:55] And I am from the original Chris and Christine show podcast

[00:01:00] You know you can find out every single thing about that show on a website which I built

[00:01:05] Yeah, you go ahead and check that out if you want to ask

[00:01:08] Chris and Christine show dot com link to it in the show notes of this very episode

[00:01:14] You know scroll on down and there it is but hey, that's about me. How are you doing?

[00:01:19] How was that podcast of yours coming along? You know, did you even start that podcast?

[00:01:24] You know you said you were going to I heard you you said yeah

[00:01:27] I'm gonna start a podcast in

[00:01:29] 2024 and guess what we just turned into March of

[00:01:33] 2024 it is March 1st right now as I record this very episode

[00:01:38] Which means you had two whole months to get that podcast off the ground. How's that going?

[00:01:44] Hey, what do you think are maybe the biggest challenges that you come across when you're designing a podcast from the ground up?

[00:01:51] I know for me it basically was all the tech and all the gear like figuring out like how do I make it record?

[00:01:57] Like how do I physically talk and make it sound good on a recording?

[00:02:02] Then how do I enhance that recording and make it sound amazing?

[00:02:06] Maybe add some elements like some sound effects some music different things

[00:02:10] Package it all together save it as a finished MP3

[00:02:13] How do I take that little MP3 file and put it into some kind of like storage system on the cloud somewhere?

[00:02:20] Aka a media host and then from there, you know get it sent out to Apple podcast Spotify

[00:02:27] All the regular players that you can create a podcast and make it enjoyable for the entire world

[00:02:32] Now that was always my problem was trying to figure out like how do I get from point A to point Z?

[00:02:37] Which would be the finished product in your earbuds

[00:02:40] But today in 2024 there are so many

[00:02:45] podcasting tools that are centered around AI

[00:02:48] Services that will pretty much do almost anything for you when it comes to your podcast

[00:02:54] I mean almost anything at all so there's probably today. I would say there's almost no excuse

[00:03:00] At all to have bad sounding audio for your audio podcast

[00:03:05] I mean there are so many AI generated enhancement tools like I use the adobe enhance

[00:03:11] That works. There's descript. There's a great feature in there

[00:03:15] Called studio sound which will make almost any kind of audio sound decent. I mean, it's not as good

[00:03:21] It's always good to have good equipment to start with one classic saying has always been

[00:03:26] Garbage in garbage out, but I would say maybe now it's like

[00:03:31] Garbage in and we'll get you something somewhat decent out on the backside

[00:03:36] Using all these wonderful AI tools that are out there right now

[00:03:39] So it's kind of almost impossible right now to have a bad audio sounding podcast

[00:03:46] And because of these things I feel that potastic audio this podcast here

[00:03:51] Which originally started as a show to help you create amazing audio for your podcast

[00:03:59] Where I have kind of shifted the show

[00:04:01] Over the last few months to kind of steer away from the basics of how to plug in a microphone

[00:04:07] And which end of a microphone to really talk into now

[00:04:10] I mean we pretty much can all figure that out by and now

[00:04:14] But if you still need help you still cannot figure how to make decent sounding audio

[00:04:19] From your audio podcast

[00:04:20] Then you are free to use any of the number of AI generated tools that are out there at your disposal

[00:04:27] But today we're going to go beyond the actual and physical creation

[00:04:31] Of your content now your content can be a youtube channel

[00:04:34] Your content can be an instagram page. It can be yes, and even an audio podcast like this one is right now

[00:04:41] We're going to move past that and we're going to take the physical content that we have

[00:04:46] And we're going to try to put it in front of our ideal audience

[00:04:50] Now it's always good for you to figure out who your ideal audience really is

[00:04:55] If you do not know who your audience is then you need to decide

[00:04:59] Who would best benefit from listening to your show

[00:05:03] In other words, who is your content directly for?

[00:05:08] Who did you make this show for you could not make it for everybody because not everybody likes everything

[00:05:12] It's just the way it is. So who specifically is your show exactly for and then once you kind of figure that out

[00:05:21] The next easy logical step is to get in front of those people

[00:05:25] And tell them about your podcast and that just seems to be the tricky part is being a physical salesman

[00:05:32] To your own podcast to a complete stranger that you just met

[00:05:37] Like on the street or in the grocery store somewhere in person face to face

[00:05:41] Now I have done that a few times and every time I've done it

[00:05:45] I feel kind of like weird about it. Like I'm like, I don't know should I talk about my podcast?

[00:05:49] Am I really saying too much am I bragging am I feeling kind of like a jerk?

[00:05:53] I don't know because i'm not really a salesman. I've never been a salesman

[00:05:57] My dad was a salesman. He was out of work at one point and then the only jobs that were available

[00:06:03] Seemed like there were salesman jobs because salesmen have a pretty high turnover rate

[00:06:08] Especially those that work 100 off commissions

[00:06:12] Now what that really means is that when you sell something

[00:06:15] You get a percentage of that sale you sell nothing you get paid nothing

[00:06:21] It's not like an hourly or salary employee

[00:06:24] So it's what they call it either feast or famine feast when you're doing great

[00:06:29] You have a lot of sales business is great or famine when you're selling nothing and it's a dry market

[00:06:35] It's nothing at all

[00:06:37] But the good news is when it comes to selling your podcast at your your podcast is physically free

[00:06:43] It does not cost the consumer

[00:06:45] Anything at all to push play and listen to your podcast

[00:06:49] It does cost them their time and in some cases time is actually worth more than money for some people

[00:06:56] But let's just say you found somebody on the street at the grocery store and you're going to tell them about your podcast

[00:07:03] How do you do it? How do you make that like initial sales call?

[00:07:06] Well today we are going to go over five top strategies on how you can be a better salesman

[00:07:14] For your podcast or anything really at all

[00:07:16] But these are just basic sales strategies that salesmen put in place to sell you on a product

[00:07:23] Now you can put these same strategies in place for your show to physically sell your show on a potential new listener

[00:07:31] So kicking it off with number one and that is

[00:07:35] To understand your product or service inside out

[00:07:40] Well, yeah, I mean it's obviously your show you should know most about your show

[00:07:45] What you talk about who's on your show and the content of your show to sell?

[00:07:51] Effectively you need to have a deep understanding of what you're selling

[00:07:56] Know its features benefits advantages over competitors

[00:08:01] And potential drawbacks

[00:08:04] Understanding your product services allows you to effectively communicate its value to potential customers

[00:08:13] Continuously educate yourself about your own product aka your podcast

[00:08:19] And stay updated on industry trends and developments. In other words, what are your competition doing?

[00:08:26] What are the other shows that are exactly like your show?

[00:08:30] What are they talking about? Hey, it's all about understanding the product

[00:08:33] Inside and out. Okay. So moving on to strategy number two and how to be an effective salesman and that is

[00:08:43] Listen more than you speak now. This can be tricky as a podcaster. I know as a podcaster myself

[00:08:50] I like to talk I could talk here off for days. Here we are in a podcast

[00:08:54] I'm talking to you right now

[00:08:55] But one of the most critical skills in sales is active listening

[00:09:02] Listen carefully to your customers to understand, you know, what their needs

[00:09:08] Their pain points and their preferences. In other words, find out who your audience is

[00:09:14] And how you can best serve them

[00:09:18] Ask open-ended questions to encourage a dialogue and gather valuable information

[00:09:25] This not only helps you tailor your pitch to meet their specific needs

[00:09:30] But it also builds rapport and trust and I've always said and I'll say it again

[00:09:35] Trust is a very valuable thing. It's very hard to get and it's very very easy to destroy

[00:09:43] Okay, so moving on to strategy method number three on how to be a better salesman

[00:09:49] Is to focus on building relationships

[00:09:53] Which is what a podcast really is in the first place

[00:09:56] It is a masterclass in building relationships with me to you to your audience

[00:10:04] Building strong relationships with customers is key to long-term success in sales

[00:10:11] People are more likely to buy from someone they trust and feel a connection with

[00:10:17] Invest time in getting to know your customers on a personal level

[00:10:22] Understand their businesses and show genuine interest in helping them solve their problems

[00:10:30] Now what this all means is all about delivering value directly to your audience

[00:10:37] If your audience is suffering from something if your audience has a pain point and you have the answer

[00:10:44] Then they're going to go directly to you for that answer and then you say hey, I've got a podcast check it out

[00:10:50] Maybe this will help. Okay moving on to strategy number four on how you can be a better salesman

[00:10:57] Now this is where it gets very interesting because this is I would say is possibly

[00:11:03] The turn when it comes to being a salesman we're talking about

[00:11:07] Mastering the art of persuasion

[00:11:11] Now, you know what it's like to be persuaded to do something or thinking. I don't know if I should I should or should not

[00:11:15] I don't know what's going on. Maybe I should and they're like, you know, maybe you should and you kind of persuade you to do something like that

[00:11:22] Salesmanship involves persuading customers to take action

[00:11:27] Whether it's making a purchase or committing to a contract

[00:11:31] study persuasion techniques such as

[00:11:35] Creating scarcity like hey my podcast is the only podcast in town that talks about

[00:11:41] These topics that'll help you solve your problem

[00:11:45] Or I'm the only podcast here locally

[00:11:48] That's going to talk about the things that impact your business directly. You should check out my show

[00:11:55] See see what I did. It's the only one in town and you need help here. I am

[00:12:00] Also on those same lines. It's helps to have maybe some social proof

[00:12:05] Storytelling and perhaps framing

[00:12:09] Maybe you would like to highlight the value proposition of your product or service a k8 your podcast

[00:12:15] And demonstrate how it addresses the customer's needs and pain points

[00:12:21] Like if they are stuck on something or they want to learn about something your podcast

[00:12:26] Serves that particular need

[00:12:28] This is why it's so important to have a niched down podcast

[00:12:33] Because it's much easier to sell something that falls into that particular niche

[00:12:39] Then a much broader scale thing because if your show covers a broad

[00:12:44] Mismatch arrangement of all kinds of things

[00:12:46] Then there's no need for the scarcity mindset when it comes to selling your podcast because

[00:12:52] Well, it's just like a bunch of other million other podcasts that are covering the exact same thing

[00:12:57] But if your podcast is specifically targeting and covering

[00:13:02] One particular pain point. Well, then the sale process got much much easier

[00:13:08] And the fifth and final strategy on how you can become a better salesman and sell your product a k8 your

[00:13:15] podcast to potentially somebody you meet in person and that would be to

[00:13:21] continuously improve and adapt your sales process

[00:13:26] You know the strategies that you use today right now to sell your podcast or your product or whatever you're selling

[00:13:34] The things you do today may not work tomorrow. So you want to continuously seek feedback from the customers

[00:13:41] That's why getting feedback from listeners is so important

[00:13:44] I can't stress this enough to get real actual feedback on your podcast from somebody that is not related to you

[00:13:53] And be open to learning from both successes and failures

[00:13:58] Meaning if your podcast is good in these areas great, if it's not good in these areas, that's okay too

[00:14:04] We can adjust that we can fix it. Your podcast is never set in stone is never permanent

[00:14:11] You always can evolve your show. I've evolved this show. I've evolved the chris christine show

[00:14:16] It's okay to evolve if one thing works one day you can change it to in something else later down the road

[00:14:21] Nothing has to be the exact same thing from the very beginning you start your podcast

[00:14:27] It can be changed to something completely different by the time you get to the 100th episode

[00:14:31] But when it comes to sales the sales part of this whole thing is, you know, you can stay adaptable and flexible to your approach

[00:14:39] Experiment with different sales techniques

[00:14:42] strategies and channels aka maybe you know social media or whatever to see what works best for you and your customers aka the listeners

[00:14:53] Invest in your professional development by maybe attending sales training programs. There's a lots of them online for free

[00:15:00] Go on youtube. I'm sure you can find all kinds of wonderful things

[00:15:03] Maybe even some workshops if you are a salesman, I'm sure there's sales and workshops

[00:15:08] There's workshops for all kinds of different things. There's conventions for almost anything out there

[00:15:13] So maybe if you go to these things you can kind of work on your craft

[00:15:17] If you're going to be a physical salesman now these salesman strategy tools i'm presenting to you today

[00:15:23] They're mainly focused for being a salesman selling a product or service

[00:15:28] But you can still use these strategies to physically

[00:15:32] Sell your podcast to a potential new listener

[00:15:36] And I know talking about your podcast to a complete stranger

[00:15:40] Face-to-face can be very intimidating. It was for me the couple times that I have done it

[00:15:45] And this is where it's always good to have either business cards that have a link to your podcast on them

[00:15:53] Or better than that is to have a pre-generated qr code that you have created and you saved on your phone

[00:16:01] As a picture save it in the favorites folder of your picture

[00:16:05] So you always have it available and you pull that up and have a link directly to your website

[00:16:11] Or your link tree or maybe even to apple podcasts or spotify

[00:16:15] One of those two because chances are if they're on an iphone

[00:16:19] They're going to go to apple podcast if they're android, they're probably going to go to spotify

[00:16:24] You know, there's probably a hundred or two thousand not even know how many different podcast apps available today right now

[00:16:30] But I like to really live in the world of the big ones like the apple. I have an iphone

[00:16:35] I have a mac computer. So guess what? I listen everything on apple, but I do realize

[00:16:40] There are a lot of other apps out there podcasting 2.0. It's all about the you know, uh value for value where you can send

[00:16:48] uh bitcoin uh currency

[00:16:50] Through the app directly and do a lot of other cool things too

[00:16:54] But I know apple doesn't really do that and a lot of other ones do but I just like the way apple does it

[00:16:59] It's simple. It works. It works on everything I have

[00:17:03] Hey, I'm about simplicity and if it's simple and it works and it sounds great and it does everything

[00:17:07] I need it to do

[00:17:09] Then I am cool and I'm good to go but I do realize there are other apps out there

[00:17:14] So it's probably best if you do have a physical website or landing page for your podcast

[00:17:20] And you have a qr code created directly for that page

[00:17:25] Which will work on whatever device they have whether it's android or apple

[00:17:31] They do the little qr code scanner thing right on your phone

[00:17:35] Because you're right there in person and you say oh, yeah, here it is. You want to check it out here?

[00:17:38] I got the qr code for my podcast right here

[00:17:41] Just take a picture of this thing in your phone at this thing right here on my phone

[00:17:46] And then instantly oh, there's a show. It's right there in front of me. Yeah, check that out

[00:17:49] Oh your first episode is right there right now

[00:17:51] I can push play on it and listen to it right now. You sure can and that is how you do that

[00:17:56] And that's pretty much all there is really is to it

[00:17:59] But you really want to steer them to becoming a subscriber

[00:18:02] I mean pressing play in a podcast one time

[00:18:05] Which is probably going to happen a lot over the course of your podcast lifetime

[00:18:09] You'll have more people pressing play one time than two times

[00:18:13] So it's so important to get them to stick around and stay for the next episode by having them

[00:18:19] Press subscribe on your podcast

[00:18:21] So maybe better than sending them directly to a player

[00:18:24] It's figure out if you can send them to a place that actually has a subscribe button built in

[00:18:29] But we're getting ahead of ourselves before we even get there

[00:18:32] We need to make sure we have the initial conversation with that person and get them to even

[00:18:38] Acknowledge that we exist and acknowledge that we even have a podcast and kind of sell them an idea of listening to your podcast

[00:18:45] And you know whether or not you are physically selling any services or products at all with your podcast

[00:18:52] You still have to physically sell the actual podcast itself to new listeners

[00:18:59] And that is always the tricky part

[00:19:02] So I want to say thank you once again for being here today. I really do appreciate you listening to this podcast

[00:19:08] I make the show directly for you so you can create an amazing podcast for your audience

[00:19:15] That's what it's all about and being that we're talking about sales today and selling your podcast to and potentially

[00:19:23] New listeners. Hey, can you do me a favor?

[00:19:25] Can you press the share button on your app right now and share this episode to somebody that potentially

[00:19:33] Can use it maybe another podcaster buddy yours that's creating a podcast that may need help making an amazing show

[00:19:40] Just share this episode with them that will help me out and help them out and help you out be cool like me

[00:19:47] Thank you so much for sharing this amazing stuff to me. I really appreciate it. You are awesome

[00:19:51] We're all awesome. We're all in this together

[00:19:54] And if you stick around you will find me on the very next episode and until then happy podcasting