Referrals Matter. A Lot.

Referrals are one of the most powerful sales tools at the disposal of most businesses. There is nothing like getting that email from a friend or colleague introducing you to someone they think would be a perfect fit.

As you (hopefully!) know, those are often the easiest sales and the best customers.

What business couldn’t use more of them?

A podcast can help you build relationships with referral partners, so they can directly refer business to you by making personal introductions. A referral partner might also share your content to people they think can find it valuable and work with you on any large campaigns you may be running, like book and product launches.

This is one of the most popular (and profitable!) Relationship Building optimizations from the Business Podcast Blueprints.

Referrals Don’t Happen By Magic

To get more referrals, you have to ask for them.

But you can’t exactly write a fellow business owner a note that says: “Hey, I want you to come on my podcast so you’ll like me enough to send me referrals.”

It would be weird and gross.

A good referral partner is someone who likes and respects you, and more than that; they believe that you can deliver on the promises your business makes. They need a little time to get to know you. They need to see how you are going to treat them so they know how you would treat any referrals they send your way.

To get those referrals you need a couple of things: you need to know who you want to have referred to you, and you need to create the opportunities to comfortably and politely ask for them.

Hopefully, you already have clarity on your niche and ideal customer avatars, and a rock solid quick explanation of your key offers, so to get more referrals what you need from your podcast is:

• access to the people who can refer you new business, and
• a good enough relationship that they are happy to help you.

Usually, this means adding a few steps to your workflow to give yourself the chance to make a really excellent impression.

It’s Amazing When It Works

You see, just like there are different parts of a podcast episode, there are different parts of your podcast workflow that give you a chance to build real relationships.

Here’s an example.

For my old podcast, The Company Show (which is the show I hosted before the Business Podcast Spotlight) I usually had a prep, or pre-interview call with potential guests. This gave us a chance to get to know each other a little and workshop an amazing episode topic together.

During one of these prep calls, I was talking to my future guest and mentioned that we’d recently adjusted our niche and targeting, and how that was going to impact the podcast, and our conversation. She asked who we were specifically looking to work with going forward, and when I told her – her eyes lit up! “I have the pefect story about that!”

She had a great insight for our episode that would speak directly to our new ideal customer, which made our conversation much more vibrant and engaging and valuable to those listeners, which was amazing.

But it didn’t end there.

After we got off the call, I received an email where she introduced me directly to someone from her own network who fit our new niche, and she thought we could help.

And that’s how it’s done.

Creating a Podcast Workflow that Invites Referrals

When you have a really well-optimized relationship building podcast, you have a great reason to talk to your guests about who you want to work with any why, and enough touchpoints with them that making a request for referrals is natural – and sometimes, you don’t even have to ask!

But you should, and that means making sure you have the opportunity to do it through multiple touchpoints over the lifecycle of an episode.

Like:

• The invitation,
• Connecting on social media,
• A prep call,
• The episode recording, including chatting before and after
• A thank you note
• The ‘your episode is ready’ announcement
• A follow up with feedback and audience comments

If you haven’t yet broken down your podcast workflow into indvidual steps – that is your first task.

Then, you’ll want to experiment with making the actual request at different points. Find out what feels comfortable for you and your guests, and what results in the best outcomes.

I like the post-interview chat for that, as well as the message letting them know your episode is live, and maybe when sharing a little feedback you’ve received from listeners, but you may find different places make more sense.

Then you need to make sure you are doing your share when it comes to demonstrating your value. You have the skills and offers to genuinely help people, and you’re running a reliable, professional operation. This means that your conversations include chances for you to share your own insight, you pay attention to details, you give the guest a chance to really shine, and you invest in high-quality post production. How you treat your guest is how they will assume you treat anyone they send your way.

Finally, You also want to make it an easy ask. That means providing things like a description of your ideal client, your key offers and who they are best for and a little swipe copy they can use. If you offer a referral payment or commission, you can be upfront about that as well. Try to get into the habit of following up with your past guests about referrals, and if you have the chance to make one – don’t hestitate for a moment!

Build A Referral-Generating Machine!

This can all feel a little awkward the first few times you do it, but if you are:

• sincerely approaching the relationship as one that is mutually beneficial,
• making sure to do “your share” in terms of highlighting them and their work (don’t skip this part!),
• being consistent in your requests and follow ups, and
• supporting your guests through sharing their content and sending referrals back at them when you can…

…then it can become quite seamless, and your podcast will become the referral-generating machine of your dreams.

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