Do you hate receiving pointless annoying cold calls? When was the last time a cold caller sold you?

While I was diligently "working the phone" making my cold calls, I was interrupted by my mobile phone ringing. As soon as I answered the sales person on the other end of the line swung into action with her very well rehearsed sales script. I swiftly cut here off, said I'm not interested and I'm very busy.

I hung up rudely and muttered "F*^king sales people!"............"Wow, hold your horses there little sales pony! Aren't you doing the exact same thing right now?" I thought. I did have to laugh at myself and the situation. Here I was annoyed at a sales person for interrupting my day of interrupting others. 

Now I am not the worlds greatest sales person and not the most educated marketer, however I am a problem solver! This was a problem I needed to solve. 

I still believe in the power of connecting with real human beings, both over the phone and face to face. But I knew just cold calling was not the answer. 

So here were the problems I needed to solve:

1. Get passed more receptionists and gate keepers!

2. Have a way to position myself at the same level as the decision maker (not a low level sales person that has to dance like a monkey better than the next monkey dancing competitor). 

The solution: Podcasting! 

I had been listening to marketing podcasts for ages and now it made perfect sense. Now stay with me I'll explain. 

Instead of calling and trying to book a sales appointment, which can be a subtle as hitting someone with a dead fish, I call and ask to speak to them about my podcast.

What do you think the receptionist does 8 of 10 times? "You should probably talk to our CEO" 

It even works for the very large organisation but you will have to go through their marketing person who will arrange the time with the CEO or relevant person!

Now once your off that initial phone call the first that I have found people do is go and look you up online. They want to see who else has been on the podcast, what the show is about and so on. So I make sure I have tabs and side bars of information about what I do or sell. 

In a regular sales appointment I want to go through the prospects pain points, I want to know whats working and whats not. What is the biggest challenge around XYZ. In most of our cases this conversation might be around Talent and building a great team. It just so happens that that can make great content for a podcast!

So what are the benefits of podcasting:

1. Gets you passed the gate keepers

2. Build relationships with high level decision makers

2. Become seen as an expert in your niche

3. Access to the best market research (in terms of pain points and info from interview)

4. You get the added benefit of inbound leads from listeners of the show!

Now it doesn't necessarily have to be podcasting for you, it might be some other form of media. As long as your interviewing. 

There is some small print here. You can't just walk in there posing and then turn on the hard sell. Actually create something that adds value to your niche and start building a community around your business. You can call back a week later after you release the episode and let them know you have a solution for that problem they mentioned in the interview. Build relationships and help people, look for the long term gain. 

Big shout out to Bill Boorman, I heard some of his podcasts this morning they were great. 

Regards, 

Colin