1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,920 Welcome back to Business Talks with Business People for Business 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:06,720 People, where we talk business talks 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:11,080 about business people. This week we're taking a 4 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,920 deep dive into the digital transformation in 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,480 a post pandemic post SaaS landscape. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:22,480 My next guest needs no introduction, but I'm going to spend the next four 7 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,200 minutes doing so anyway because that's what we do on 8 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,980 B2B podcasts. Cut. 9 00:00:29,780 --> 00:00:33,380 Cut it. The whole thing. Cut, cut. 10 00:00:34,340 --> 00:00:37,780 Nobody will buy from you with this podcast. You've just made 11 00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:41,300 something tedious. Barely anyone will listen and watch. 12 00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:47,420 Welcome along to B2B Podcasting Insights with me, Neal Veglio, 13 00:00:47,420 --> 00:00:50,860 the founder of Podknows Podcasting, a podcast 14 00:00:50,860 --> 00:00:54,660 agency which helps brands and 15 00:00:54,820 --> 00:00:58,510 solo operators, solopreneurs, whatever you want to call them, 16 00:00:59,070 --> 00:01:02,870 lonely old business folk so they can get better results from their 17 00:01:02,870 --> 00:01:06,390 podcast. All right, let's have a grown up conversation 18 00:01:06,390 --> 00:01:09,950 here about something I see people commonly 19 00:01:10,190 --> 00:01:13,950 kind of approaching wrongly. It's something which sabotages 20 00:01:14,590 --> 00:01:18,310 podcasts for many years. If you don't identify the 21 00:01:18,310 --> 00:01:21,990 problem and get on top of it really quickly, it's 22 00:01:21,990 --> 00:01:25,660 labeling your show a B2B podcast. I 23 00:01:25,660 --> 00:01:28,900 know. Bit of a weird thing to pick a fight with, isn't it? Especially as 24 00:01:28,900 --> 00:01:31,820 this show is called B2B Podcasting Insights. 25 00:01:32,380 --> 00:01:36,060 Trust me, that's a search friendly 26 00:01:36,380 --> 00:01:40,020 term only for this show. And I'm gonna get to 27 00:01:40,020 --> 00:01:43,420 exactly why that is in a moment, so stay with me. 28 00:01:43,900 --> 00:01:47,420 Now, somewhere along the way, B2B 29 00:01:47,500 --> 00:01:51,170 podcast stopped, meaning a 30 00:01:51,170 --> 00:01:54,930 podcast made by a B2B business for B2B buyers. 31 00:01:55,250 --> 00:01:58,810 And it actually started meaning something a little bit more 32 00:01:58,810 --> 00:02:01,890 specific. It started meaning a podcast 33 00:02:02,530 --> 00:02:06,249 where someone, probably a founder, will sit down and either 34 00:02:06,249 --> 00:02:09,330 share insights in a monologue or interview other 35 00:02:09,970 --> 00:02:13,650 B2B founders and talking about industries in a 36 00:02:13,650 --> 00:02:17,230 very polite way, not particularly meaningful, but 37 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:21,380 very balanced, very considered, very press, 38 00:02:21,940 --> 00:02:25,780 sound bitey. And during those shows, under no 39 00:02:25,780 --> 00:02:29,340 circumstances do we ever mention that 40 00:02:29,340 --> 00:02:33,179 we'd like the listener to buy from us, because that would 41 00:02:33,179 --> 00:02:36,860 be gauche. I love the word gauche. Wonder what 42 00:02:36,860 --> 00:02:40,340 the color of gauche would be. Anyway, that's not a B2B 43 00:02:40,340 --> 00:02:44,140 podcast. That's a LinkedIn company page with 44 00:02:44,140 --> 00:02:47,710 a microphone. And that's what you're 45 00:02:47,710 --> 00:02:51,190 probably making, whether you like it or not. The thing that you 46 00:02:51,190 --> 00:02:55,030 should be making, and the thing I'm going to make the case for 47 00:02:55,030 --> 00:02:58,870 over the next few minutes to you directly is a sales podcast. 48 00:02:59,110 --> 00:03:02,870 Now note I said sales podcast, 49 00:03:02,950 --> 00:03:06,710 not salesy podcast. Let me be clear here. 50 00:03:07,030 --> 00:03:10,790 I'm not talking about a pitch fest. I'm not talking about a weekly 51 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:14,230 advert or fortnightly advert or monthly advert, depending on your 52 00:03:14,230 --> 00:03:18,080 cadence, that mentions your 53 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,800 services and your brand and your business every two minutes 54 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,040 and ends with anyway. If any of that sounded good to you, 55 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,920 then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Buy my stuff. When 56 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:33,640 I say sales podcast, I mean it in the way 57 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,720 that it is a show where every 58 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,480 episode has been deliberately designed to accelerate 59 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,700 a particular decision to be made by 60 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:49,020 your ideal customer listener. It's a way to 61 00:03:49,020 --> 00:03:52,820 amplify inbound conversion. But those people need 62 00:03:52,820 --> 00:03:56,620 to already be circling you. We have the 63 00:03:56,620 --> 00:04:00,380 capital ready for you right now. So every episode 64 00:04:00,380 --> 00:04:03,260 has one job, one direction 65 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:07,420 and one ideal outcome. Every 66 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:10,230 single episode. Here's the bit that's 67 00:04:10,710 --> 00:04:13,270 generally really funny to me. 68 00:04:13,830 --> 00:04:17,110 Marketers, whose job it is to literally 69 00:04:17,830 --> 00:04:21,430 market the thing that they use to generate 70 00:04:21,430 --> 00:04:24,989 revenue. Marketers hate the word sales. They've been 71 00:04:24,989 --> 00:04:28,710 conditioned to believe that the word sales 72 00:04:28,870 --> 00:04:31,590 is aggressive, loud, 73 00:04:32,310 --> 00:04:36,110 needy. Sales is the desperate cousin that turns up at the 74 00:04:36,110 --> 00:04:39,790 family wedding and tries to sell everyone Ann Summers and 75 00:04:39,790 --> 00:04:43,570 Betterware and Avon tries to get them on their 76 00:04:44,050 --> 00:04:47,010 Amazon affiliate pyramid scheme. Whereas 77 00:04:47,410 --> 00:04:50,690 marketing is the sophisticated one. Marketing 78 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:54,850 turns up wearing the nice suit and has the color coordinated 79 00:04:54,850 --> 00:04:58,610 Filofax in their pocket just in case. So when someone like 80 00:04:58,610 --> 00:05:02,370 me suggests that a branded podcast should play the part of 81 00:05:02,370 --> 00:05:06,170 a sales asset, there's a visible twitch of nervousness, 82 00:05:06,170 --> 00:05:09,280 of reluctance, of oh no, 83 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,520 gauche. We can't be seen to be selling. That would ruin 84 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,040 our brand. That would alienate our audience. It would be 85 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,480 awful. Stop for a minute, would you? Just listen to yourself. 86 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,600 The business you work for exists to sell something, whether that's 87 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,320 your business or you're a decision maker in 88 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,920 somebody else's business. The whole point of that business 89 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,610 is to sell to generate revenue, 90 00:05:36,090 --> 00:05:39,850 to build profits so that you can survive 91 00:05:40,250 --> 00:05:43,690 and the people that you have within your business 92 00:05:43,850 --> 00:05:47,650 can also survive. Pay the rent, pay the mortgage, pay the 93 00:05:47,650 --> 00:05:51,290 bills, enjoy themselves now and again, go to the cinema. 94 00:05:51,690 --> 00:05:55,370 None of that happens if you don't sell. And every piece of content 95 00:05:55,370 --> 00:05:58,650 that you produce within that business, whether it's this podcast 96 00:05:58,970 --> 00:06:02,490 or a YouTube or social media or your 97 00:06:02,490 --> 00:06:05,690 newsletter, all of that is produced 98 00:06:06,250 --> 00:06:09,970 ultimately in service of that end. And pretending 99 00:06:09,970 --> 00:06:13,290 otherwise is not being high minded. It's just 100 00:06:13,690 --> 00:06:17,370 expensive. It's costing you a fortune. So the dodge has become 101 00:06:17,370 --> 00:06:21,130 this, oh no, no, no, no, no, we're not making a sales podcast. 102 00:06:21,130 --> 00:06:24,890 No, we're making a B2B podcast. We're making a 103 00:06:24,890 --> 00:06:28,570 branded podcast with a B2B intent. 104 00:06:28,810 --> 00:06:32,190 And the B2 to be gives people 105 00:06:32,270 --> 00:06:35,910 permission to ignore the commercial job 106 00:06:35,910 --> 00:06:39,470 that the thing has. It's kind of a get out clause. 107 00:06:40,030 --> 00:06:43,790 It says, look, we don't have to justify any of 108 00:06:43,790 --> 00:06:47,270 this that we're making here with results because it's a 109 00:06:47,270 --> 00:06:50,990 B2B podcast and B2B podcasts are content 110 00:06:51,790 --> 00:06:55,510 and they're about the industry and about us being thought 111 00:06:55,510 --> 00:06:58,920 leaders and brand awareness. Yeah, 112 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,920 about that. Let me be really clear about what I'm saying here. 113 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,600 Let's leave no waters muddy. I'm not saying that 114 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,520 every episode should end with a five minute sales pitch. 115 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,680 I'm not saying you should hard sell any cold open. I'm not saying you should 116 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,280 name drop your products and services every 40 117 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,040 seconds like some cursed corporate 118 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,000 idiot. A sales podcast, in the way that I'm defining 119 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,120 it, is kind of the conversation 120 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,360 that a genuinely brilliant person at your company who 121 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,000 knows a lot, is great at talking to customers. A 122 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,800 conversation they'd be having if they were sitting down 123 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,640 in a room with a prospect who was pretty much 70% 124 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,420 sure that they wanted to buy your products or your services. The kind 125 00:07:48,420 --> 00:07:52,220 of conversation where the prospect walks away, heads back home or 126 00:07:52,220 --> 00:07:55,900 to their office, and thinks to themselves, yeah, 127 00:07:56,380 --> 00:07:59,780 these are the people I want to work with. I don't really need to shop 128 00:07:59,780 --> 00:08:02,780 around anymore. It doesn't sell at them. 129 00:08:03,980 --> 00:08:06,940 It just removes any friction they might still have 130 00:08:07,580 --> 00:08:10,980 from signing an agreement with you. Think about that 131 00:08:10,980 --> 00:08:14,220 distinction, because that's exactly what we're talking about here. 132 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,200 It's the whole game. The traditional B2B podcast 133 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,680 tries to convince strangers. The sales 134 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,920 podcast removes any remaining lingering doubt 135 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:29,080 from the almost ready to buy that are lingering in 136 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,880 the podcast apps or on your YouTube channel, loving the 137 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,480 content you're putting out. One of those methods is a 138 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,120 license to print money, sustain your business, grow 139 00:08:40,739 --> 00:08:44,499 and become the brilliant, brilliant company that you 140 00:08:44,499 --> 00:08:47,779 know you need to be. The other is a conveyor belt of hope. 141 00:08:48,419 --> 00:08:51,539 Let's talk about the three question test that I put every 142 00:08:51,699 --> 00:08:55,539 B2B podcast through to figure out whether or not they 143 00:08:55,539 --> 00:08:59,219 are genuinely making their podcast have a job. Go 144 00:08:59,219 --> 00:09:02,939 back to my episode about what job does your podcast do? To 145 00:09:02,939 --> 00:09:06,670 find out more about that. Here's how you tell the difference. Take 146 00:09:06,670 --> 00:09:10,510 your last three episodes, your most recent three episodes. Not what 147 00:09:10,510 --> 00:09:14,230 you plan to record, but what's already out there in the RSS feed 148 00:09:14,470 --> 00:09:18,270 on Apple podcasts on Spotify, and ask yourself these three 149 00:09:18,270 --> 00:09:21,510 questions. 1. Does this episode 150 00:09:21,670 --> 00:09:25,470 serve a specific buying trigger? Not a topic, not 151 00:09:25,470 --> 00:09:29,270 a theme, a buying trigger. A moment where prospect has 152 00:09:29,430 --> 00:09:33,200 thought to themselves, oh God, yeah, what 153 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,880 I was doing isn't working. I really need some help? If the 154 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,520 answer is eh, kinda maybe 155 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,400 in a general way, then it's a no. 156 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,120 Question 2 could a prospect comfortably 157 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,120 bring an episode of yours into 158 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,400 an internal conversation within their own business where they're talking about 159 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,870 buying something? Could they present that to their boss 160 00:09:59,870 --> 00:10:03,230 and say this is why I want to hire these people, 161 00:10:03,710 --> 00:10:07,350 or would that feel embarrassing for them because 162 00:10:07,350 --> 00:10:10,830 the episode is too generic, doesn't get to the point, it's kind of 163 00:10:10,830 --> 00:10:14,510 meandering and it's too light and too safe to be 164 00:10:14,830 --> 00:10:18,470 quoted by any decision maker as evidence of a 165 00:10:18,470 --> 00:10:22,230 reason to buy. Question 3 By the end of the 166 00:10:22,230 --> 00:10:25,800 episode, is the next step obvious for them to take? 167 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:30,120 Is it clear? Is it singular? You know, not check us out on 168 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,880 our website, not follow us on LinkedIn. 169 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,040 Just one clear place they need to go to to find out more. 170 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,880 Take that next step in their relationship from 171 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,680 being an anonymous listener or consumer of your content to someone 172 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:49,520 that could be in a position to reach out and buy. And 173 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,950 does it give them a reason why why they need to take that next step 174 00:10:52,950 --> 00:10:56,670 with you? Now, if you've answered with yes three times, you got a 175 00:10:56,670 --> 00:11:00,510 sales podcast. Well done. Two or fewer and you've got a pretty 176 00:11:00,510 --> 00:11:03,990 wishy washy industry podcast, a B2B podcast in the 177 00:11:03,990 --> 00:11:07,590 truest sense of the word, that's just operating very 178 00:11:07,590 --> 00:11:10,950 politely and doing not very much at all for your business. By the way, if 179 00:11:10,950 --> 00:11:14,350 you want to run this test for yourself properly, across 180 00:11:15,070 --> 00:11:18,650 all the questions I've shared and more, I built a one page 181 00:11:18,650 --> 00:11:21,570 self audit for you. I'll give you more on that in a minute. 182 00:11:22,610 --> 00:11:26,250 Here's the thing. When you start building episodes with this in mind, with 183 00:11:26,250 --> 00:11:30,010 this outcome designed in the process, when you accept that 184 00:11:30,010 --> 00:11:33,329 your podcast's job is to accelerate inbound 185 00:11:33,329 --> 00:11:36,850 conversions for those people who are already in your 186 00:11:36,850 --> 00:11:40,610 circle, then the whole thing changes for you. And 187 00:11:40,850 --> 00:11:44,100 I don't just mean the content, I mean what 188 00:11:44,100 --> 00:11:47,820 happens with and around your podcast. Your 189 00:11:47,820 --> 00:11:51,500 sales team starts using it confidently, adding it to email 190 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:54,940 signatures, sharing episodes with would be 191 00:11:54,940 --> 00:11:58,740 prospects they want to get on the phone or in email. It becomes 192 00:11:58,740 --> 00:12:00,940 a specific sales asset, a weapon. 193 00:12:02,540 --> 00:12:05,980 You know you mentioned on our call last week that you are 194 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:07,580 struggling with X 195 00:12:10,470 --> 00:12:14,030 and episode 11 of our podcast actually covers this off. That's the 196 00:12:14,030 --> 00:12:17,790 sales podcast earning its keep. When you know that your podcast 197 00:12:17,790 --> 00:12:21,190 is working, your prospects start quoting it back to you. 198 00:12:21,510 --> 00:12:25,150 I listened to your episode about why and that's 199 00:12:25,150 --> 00:12:28,990 exactly what we're dealing with. When can we sit down and have a chat about 200 00:12:28,990 --> 00:12:32,630 this? When can we start? That's a sales podcast doing the 201 00:12:32,630 --> 00:12:36,350 job. And it's the same as essentially doing the job of 202 00:12:36,350 --> 00:12:40,110 having three discovery calls in one hit. Just one 203 00:12:40,110 --> 00:12:43,790 download, just one listen. If this is working, then your 204 00:12:43,790 --> 00:12:47,510 marketing team stops panicking about reach and starts paying attention 205 00:12:47,510 --> 00:12:50,989 to the behavior of customers that are getting in touch. 206 00:12:51,390 --> 00:12:55,150 Who's binge listening? Which episodes are being shared, you 207 00:12:55,150 --> 00:12:58,750 know, inside the prospect's own company? Which ones are being 208 00:12:58,750 --> 00:13:02,450 quoted back on our sales calls? That's a signal. We talk 209 00:13:02,450 --> 00:13:06,250 about signals all the time in marketing. It's a 210 00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:10,010 real signal. It's not a download. It's not even a listen. It's a signal. 211 00:13:10,090 --> 00:13:13,610 It's evidence of customers wanting to buy from you. 212 00:13:14,090 --> 00:13:17,930 And here's the thing that really matters that nobody considers 213 00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:22,010 when they're just churning out content that they're calling a B2B podcast, 214 00:13:22,410 --> 00:13:26,220 your close rates change. Not because the 215 00:13:26,220 --> 00:13:29,940 podcast is converting cold strangers. No, it isn't. 216 00:13:29,940 --> 00:13:33,620 It's not meant to. If your podcast is doing its job, 217 00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:37,220 it's nurturing people from the top all the way down to that 218 00:13:37,220 --> 00:13:41,020 sales conversation. But if it's working, by the time that 219 00:13:41,020 --> 00:13:44,260 a prospect gets in front of your salesperson, 220 00:13:44,740 --> 00:13:48,540 a huge chunk of the heavy lifting is already done. They've heard you think 221 00:13:48,540 --> 00:13:52,340 they've heard what you got to say about matters. They've heard you disagree with 222 00:13:52,340 --> 00:13:55,720 industry consensus. It's a big part of why my show 223 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,520 works, the one you're listening to right now. Because I don't go along with 224 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:03,200 the industry norms, I challenge them. Doesn't make me popular. 225 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,280 But it does mean my prospects totally trust that I know what I'm 226 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,960 talking about. If they've heard you be specific about a problem that 227 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,800 they're currently in, they're arriving pre sold. That's 228 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:18,480 what inbound conversions actually look like when your 229 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,950 sales podcast is doing its job and working properly. 230 00:14:22,270 --> 00:14:25,990 Not a flood of cold leads. A steadier, shorter, 231 00:14:25,990 --> 00:14:29,710 high quality pipeline where everyone who's showing 232 00:14:29,710 --> 00:14:33,430 up is already sold or at least halfway to signing with 233 00:14:33,430 --> 00:14:36,870 you. Here's the awkward bit that nobody wants to admit. Most 234 00:14:36,870 --> 00:14:40,470 B2B podcasters aren't accidentally failing to do 235 00:14:40,470 --> 00:14:43,950 this. They've been built on purpose in a way 236 00:14:44,110 --> 00:14:47,690 that makes it impossible. They've been built to avoid 237 00:14:47,690 --> 00:14:51,010 looking too commercial, to avoid upsetting anyone, 238 00:14:51,330 --> 00:14:54,530 to avoid having a point of view strong enough to stand for something 239 00:14:54,930 --> 00:14:58,650 and actually move anyone off of a fence. And the result is exactly 240 00:14:58,650 --> 00:15:02,210 what you'd expect in that scenario. A show that nobody hates, 241 00:15:02,530 --> 00:15:06,290 which is also a show that nobody buys from. If your podcast wouldn't 242 00:15:06,290 --> 00:15:10,010 make anyone in your industry slightly uncomfortable, it's not 243 00:15:10,010 --> 00:15:13,330 doing its job. Here's the way to look at it. If it couldn't 244 00:15:13,650 --> 00:15:17,330 possibly ever cost you any deal, then is definitely 245 00:15:17,330 --> 00:15:20,770 also not winning you one. A sales podcast has a spine. 246 00:15:21,170 --> 00:15:24,370 It takes a position on things. It names a problem 247 00:15:24,610 --> 00:15:28,329 specifically enough that the right listener feels seen and 248 00:15:28,329 --> 00:15:31,970 heard and the wrong listener moves on, blocks you 249 00:15:31,970 --> 00:15:35,370 and ignores you for life. Great. We didn't want them 250 00:15:35,370 --> 00:15:38,960 anyway. Still a bug in the matrix. It's the whole 251 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,760 damn point. I hate your 252 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,480 podcast. Whoa. 253 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,440 Each episode I answer a question that's landed in my inbox from someone 254 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:56,400 running or launching a B2B podcast. You can send yours to 255 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:00,180 neal@podknows.co.uk, that's n e a l at p 256 00:16:00,246 --> 00:16:04,040 o d k n o w s dot co dot uk. this one's 257 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,800 from Gareth, who runs operations at a B2B services firm in Cardiff. 258 00:16:08,130 --> 00:16:11,570 He says, neil, I'm recording my first episode next week and I'm already losing sleep 259 00:16:11,570 --> 00:16:15,330 about it. Every time I do a practice take, I freeze the second 260 00:16:15,330 --> 00:16:19,050 the red light comes on. Any advice before I completely embarrass myself on 261 00:16:19,050 --> 00:16:22,770 my own podcast? Gareth? First of all, breathe. Secondly, 262 00:16:23,170 --> 00:16:26,690 the nerves aren't the problem here. The cause of them is you're 263 00:16:26,690 --> 00:16:30,290 nervous because you're trying to sound like a podcaster. And 264 00:16:30,930 --> 00:16:34,130 we can tell, everyone starts out doing this. 265 00:16:34,670 --> 00:16:38,430 You got a voice in your head that's this, like, weird hybrid of 266 00:16:38,510 --> 00:16:42,350 every presenter, every podcast you've ever heard, and you're trying to merge them all together 267 00:16:42,670 --> 00:16:46,390 and make your own version of that. Don't impersonate people. 268 00:16:46,390 --> 00:16:49,790 You're not Stephen Bartlett or Joe Rogan. Thank God 269 00:16:50,189 --> 00:16:53,950 you're Gareth from Cardiff, who knows his industry inside 270 00:16:53,950 --> 00:16:57,710 out. And that is the person that people are going to press play to hear, 271 00:16:58,190 --> 00:17:01,950 not an imitation. Two practical things for you. Number one, 272 00:17:02,030 --> 00:17:05,800 before you record, pick someone real, like a colleague, a 273 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,240 mate, a client that you actually like and pretend you're 274 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,800 explaining the thing to them, not to a general audience. 275 00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:16,920 The audience is a collective, made up noun that makes you go 276 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,640 weird on a microphone. A specific person in mind doesn't. 277 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,760 Number two, stop listening back to the first 30 seconds of your 278 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,560 takes, then the worst 30 seconds. I'm serious, that's 279 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:32,290 where everyone sounds awful, including me, more than 20 years 280 00:17:32,290 --> 00:17:35,970 in. that point, you're still getting into your stride, getting into 281 00:17:35,970 --> 00:17:39,690 your flow. Start your listening back from about minute two, you'll 282 00:17:39,690 --> 00:17:43,090 realize you sound better than you think. Oh, and the final thing, 283 00:17:43,490 --> 00:17:46,810 the red light doesn't know anything about you. It's a 284 00:17:46,810 --> 00:17:50,130 diode. It can't judge you. You're allowed to ignore it. 285 00:17:51,330 --> 00:17:54,690 Quick tip for this episode and it's about your cover art. Your 286 00:17:54,690 --> 00:17:58,490 podcast cover art is not a logo. I see this constantly. A 287 00:17:58,490 --> 00:18:01,970 B2B company shoves their logo on a podcast 288 00:18:01,970 --> 00:18:05,810 Canva slide and calls it the podcast cover. 289 00:18:06,130 --> 00:18:09,930 They even put a microphone next to it. That's not cover art. That's 290 00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:13,530 company stationery. Cover art has two jobs. Neither of them are 291 00:18:13,530 --> 00:18:17,210 corporate. Job one Tell a human being in a 292 00:18:17,210 --> 00:18:20,810 thumbnail the size of a postage stamp what the show's about and who it's 293 00:18:20,810 --> 00:18:24,490 for. Job number two Be legible enough to 294 00:18:24,490 --> 00:18:27,810 match the Apple podcasts and Spotify search indexing 295 00:18:28,210 --> 00:18:31,650 and show somebody that's scrolling for a particular 296 00:18:31,810 --> 00:18:35,530 search term that this is the show for them. Your company logo 297 00:18:35,530 --> 00:18:39,010 tells them neither of these things, right? If any of this has landed 298 00:18:39,090 --> 00:18:42,850 if you've been listening to this episode, realizing that your show is a well 299 00:18:42,850 --> 00:18:46,130 produced industry podcast and not a sales podcast, 300 00:18:46,450 --> 00:18:50,250 I built you something for it. It's called the Sales Podcast Self 301 00:18:50,250 --> 00:18:54,100 Audit. It's a one page PDF with seven yes or no 302 00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:57,780 questions. You run your last three episodes through it. You score it honestly, 303 00:18:57,780 --> 00:19:01,580 and by the end you'll know exactly where your show sits on the 304 00:19:01,580 --> 00:19:05,060 scale between inbound conversion machine and expensive 305 00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:07,780 LinkedIn content filler. You'll find it at 306 00:19:07,780 --> 00:19:11,174 podknows.co.uk/sales-podcast 307 00:19:11,532 --> 00:19:14,300 test. That's P 308 00:19:14,300 --> 00:19:16,888 O D K N O 309 00:19:17,161 --> 00:19:20,950 W S dot co dot uk slash sales dash podcast dash test. 310 00:19:21,430 --> 00:19:25,270 The link is in the episode description. Until next time, stop 311 00:19:25,270 --> 00:19:28,830 making an industry podcast that hides behind the word 312 00:19:28,830 --> 00:19:32,470 B2B. Start creating a sales asset 313 00:19:32,710 --> 00:19:36,510 that earns its place in your overall company pipeline. Talk 314 00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:37,750 to you on the next episode.