Conducting a Revenue-Focused Podcast Interview
The Revenue-Focused Interview Framework
So you have your upcoming podcast interview on the books… that’s great. But how do you steer your podcast into real revenue opportunities for your company?
That is the question we will answer in this article.
There are two types of interviews you will have:
Partner Interviews - This is someone who could be a great strategic partner for your business.
Prospect Interviews - This is someone who is a potential customer for your business.
Both interviews will follow similar call frameworks, but they will differ slightly in how you handle the post-call conversations.
First, let’s dive into the revenue-focused interview framework.
The revenue-focused interview framework
The revenue-focused interview framework aligns the discussion with the guest by building rapport, learning about “where they came from,” and then asking about their goals and visions.
Your podcast interview will follow a framework that you and your podcast strategist define during your podcast onboarding. Feel free to use those questions, although here is a general framework.
Before you start recording:
Introductions
Standard greeting and ask if they have any questions about the show.
Thank them for joining you and for making time.
Ask them if there’s anything they want you to make sure to ask them.
After you start recording:
Present:
“Can you share a bit more about your company and what you do today?”
This is how you start the interview. This benefits the audience, but it also benefits you by helping you have a deeper understanding of this individual and their company.
Follow up with questions based on their answer. What is cool and exciting about what they do?
Past:
One of the most powerful ways to get to know someone, and get them to really like you, is to learn about their origin story. Everyone values where they come from and when you ask about it you’re automatically getting invited into their life in a more personal way.
“Let’s dive a bit more into your backstory, how did this all begin? How did you get to where you are now? What was your career path?”
Most people love sharing their wisdom and lessons learned. You can ask, “Clearly you’ve been successful; were there times when things weren’t going smoothly? What did you learn that helped you in the future?”
Follow up with questions that reiterate their insights and valuable tips showing that you hear and value them. Remember, it’s about them, not you. Yes, it’s a dialogue, but you are doing this to really dial into and share their expertise.
Future:
In this closing dialogue, you’re helping them explain where they want to be later. What’s the space between their current and their future vision?
You should pay attention to these answers as this will be crucial for understanding how you can help this particular individual and build a strong partnership or business relationship.
Some great questions to ask near the end of the interview:
What is your vision of where you are going with the company?
Where do you see X industry going as a whole?
What does success look like in 12 months for you?
Partner Interviews - How to turn partner interviews into revenue-generating partnerships
Using interviews to build relationships with strategic partners is one of the best things you can do for your business. These interviews could be with a variety of types of contacts such as:
Associations
Publications
Podcasters
Influencers
Authors
Software Vendors
Companies who sell to a similar customer base
etc.
When you interview a strategic partner, it’s very easy to turn the interview into a partnership.
Simply put, you just pitch some ideas on ways you could collaborate and see what they have to say.
Some common things you can pitch to a strategic partner is:
Appearing on their podcast
Doing a webinar for their audience
Writing a guest blog for their site
Having a further discussion to see if there are ways to collaborate
Set up a referral program since you serve similar customers
Each partnership opportunity can look different, so it helps to think through what you would want to offer before the interview. Then don’t be afraid to ask.
Example of a partnership pitch
Recently I interviewed the President of a software association for SaaS companies. After the call I said:
“I love what you guys are doing and would love to collaborate however makes sense. One thing that I would be happy to do is an interview for your Youtube channel if you are open to it. One thing that your audience may be interested in is X…”
The offer was accepted and we are now collaborating on content.
While this may feel forward, you must realize that most people are looking for good content. If you can offer to help them create more content, they will likely be happy to engage, especially since they just spoke to you on a call and got to know you.
The goal with a partnership call: Find a way to have them expose you to their audience or customer base by delivering value.
Partners - After the call email
If you don’t succeed in scheduling something directly on the call, or you fail to make the ask… don’t worry.
You can still pull very similar approaches via email after the call. Here’s an example of a post-email call.
Hi ____,
Thanks again for taking the time to come on the show today. You were a great guest. Your episode will be live in a few weeks.
It’s also great to see what you are building with X. If you are open to it, I’d enjoy collaborating on content sometime. Here are some ideas on ways we could collaborate.
Idea 1
Idea 2
Idea 3
Let me know if any of these resonate with you and we can follow up together.
Prospect Interviews - How to turn prospect interviews into a sales opportunity
At times, you will also interview someone who is directly a potential customer for your business. Throughout your interview, you learn more about them and their business which further validates that you can help them.
So how do you turn this into a sales conversation in a genuine way?
There are a few elements:
Be sure to ask future questions near the end of your interview
a. What is success for you in the next 12 months?
b. What major initiatives are you focused on in the upcoming year?
Only make the ask if you really believe you can help someone.
One of the worst mistakes you can make is to try to pitch every single person you interview. If you do that, it will feel inauthentic and scripted. Instead, focus on only making asks to the people you can really help.
Make a simple ask
Here’s the key… don’t script this. It needs to feel authentic, but here are some examples.
Example 1
Hey, thanks for taking the time today. It was awesome to hear what you are working on and love your vision for the future. Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for X over the coming year?
This will give you some specific insight into your area of offer. If it makes sense, transition this to offering to hop on another call to talk further if they are interested.
Example 2
Hey, I don’t want to be bait-and-switchy and this is not why I invited you here, but I just wanted to tell you I thought what you said today was absolutely spot on. You’re the kind of person we build our solution for. Would it be cool to schedule a separate call where I can show you what we’re doing? I’d love to get your direct feedback from the front lines.
Example 3
Hey, thanks for taking the time today. It was awesome to hear what you are working on and love your vision for the future. Based on what you said about X, I have some ideas on how we may be able to help with that. Would you be open to another call sometime? I would be happy to share my feedback and maybe there are some ways we can collaborate.
The goal with a partnership call: Schedule a second call where you can dive deeper into their business and discuss ways to work together.
Prospects - After the call email
If you don’t succeed in scheduling something directly on the call, or you fail to make the ask… don’t worry.
You can still execute very similar approaches via email after the call. Here’s an example of a post-email call.
Hi ____,
Thanks again for taking the time to come on the show today. You were a great guest. Your episode will be live in a few weeks.
With that being said, I did find what you said about X quite interesting since we do Y. No pressure, but I thought I would ask if you are open to a conversation to talk more as we may be able to help.
Let me know if you are up for a quick call and I will talk to you soon.
Final tips
Don’t script it - If you try to read this off a script, it will feel off. Just do what feels natural here, but push yourself to make an ask.
Don’t be afraid to ask - The worst thing that can happen is someone says no.
Think through your ask before the interview - Before your interview, spend some time on the guest’s Linkedin profile and website. Look for any initial ideas for collaboration so you have an idea of what you may say on the call.
Build authentic relationships - At the end of the day, if you are building authentic relationships with prospects and partners in your industry, then it will help your business. Don’t sweat all of the details and just focus on having a great conversation and building a great relationship.