If Your B2B Podcast Was Working, Your Sales Calls Would Sound Different

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Quick question. If a prospect listened to your podcast for six
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months and then got on a sales call with you, would they
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still say, so tell me a little bit about what you do?
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Because if they would, congratulations. You've built a
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podcast that's excellent at passing time.
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Spotify is proud of you, but your sales
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team is not. Hold that thought.
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Welcome to B2B Podcasting Insights with Neil Velio,
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founder of PodKnows, a podcast agency helping you
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get better results from podcasting. Most
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B2B podcasts aren't designed to influence anything.
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They publish episodes, they hit record, they have a
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conversation, they stay consistent with their scheduling,
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and all of that's a bit like owning a peloton and only using it
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to hang your hoodies or your pantyhose.
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Technically, you're using it, but you're using it
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wrongly. And that's the vibe. A lot of B2B
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podcasts tend to give off that they're busy, that
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they're earnest, that they're harmless. If you want more insight
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on this, we discussed the idea of your podcast having a job
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in the previous episode of B2B podcasting insights,
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and you'll find that if you go to podknows.co.uk that's
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P O-N O W s.co.uk
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and then click B2B podcasting insights in the menu.
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Here's the truth that most podcast experts on LinkedIn
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won't go deep enough to be able to share with you
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because they don't understand it themselves.
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A B2B podcast should change how
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your ideal buyer thinks, not just what they know.
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Most podcasts focus on education because that
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feels safe. I get to share my expertise and
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sound, knowledgeable. They're usually explainers
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anchored into frameworks, and they're having nice,
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orderly conversations and as if the buyer
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is sitting there listening, thinking to themselves. Gosh, if
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only more people would define thought leadership one more time. To me,
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they're just not what they're actually thinking is, if I follow this
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advice and this goes wrong, I'm going to be the one explaining it
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in a room with no windows, not this podcaster.
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And that's a different problem that you're needing to help them solve.
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Remember my opening question. If someone can binge
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your show and yet they still need the basic information,
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that's not a lead quality issue. That's a design
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flaw. That's like having a fancy restaurant where people
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leave asking where the food was. Here's where it
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usually goes wrong for B2B podcasters.
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Most podcasts that are branded are built
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for strangers, because that's exciting. That's the
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dopamine. So what you're aiming at is people who
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might discover the show one day, people who don't know you yet, don't have
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a relationship, people who, statistically, probably
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never will. So as a result, everything gets
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softened. Every opinion is balanced,
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every statement has a safety net. Every episode
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sounds like it's been approved by someone who says, let's circle back to
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this, shall we? Unironically, the result?
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A podcast that stands for nothing, for no
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one. And it reassures absolutely
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nobody. So how do we go about this properly?
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Here are some things that no B2B buyer has ever said
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after listening to a podcast episode from you or
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anybody else that has a podcast. They've never said,
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ooh, I loved how neutral they were. That really
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helped me to make a choice. Ooh, they did not challenge me
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once and I felt safe. What a team.
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Mmm. They explained things so slowly. I
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felt like a really highly valued village idiot. No
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buyer has ever said, you know, I was not
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convinced, but episode 147 really
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cleared things up for me. Decision making doesn't work like that.
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The podcasts that actually influence deals,
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they're rarely the biggest. They're actually the ones where prospects say
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things like, I felt like you were already in our internal meetings.
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And that's flattering. Mildly concerning, yes,
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but flattering and useful. And that doesn't
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happen because of branding. It happens because the
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podcast sounds like someone who's been
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burned before and remembers where and
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how. So how do you turn the ship around? Well,
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first of all, stop building content for the person who
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might listen today and start building content
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for the person who has to justify buying from you tomorrow.
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That person isn't looking for a definition of your
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industry. They're looking for the intellectual ammunition
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to stand up in their internal meetings and say,
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we have to choose them because they're the only people
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who understand X, Y and
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Z about our own unique problems. Every
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episode you publish should contribute a small,
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undeniable addition to that justification.
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It's not about being nice or agreeable. It's about being
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undeniably right about their pain. This
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particular episode features a 12 page PDF document
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that will take you through the process of figuring out everything we're talking about
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in this episode. Go to podnos.co.uk,
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that's podnows.co.uk evaluate.
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It's time for questions from listeners. Email with your
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question. Neilodnows.co.uk.
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Each episode I'm going to endeavor to answer some of the emails that I
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get from people in the wild. These are random people who have sent an
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email after listening to an episode, and they do that via
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neilapodnos.co.uk. that's n
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e a l@podknows.co.uk
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or by clicking contact on the website at
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podnows.co.uk no prizes for guessing
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which episode Clive has listened to recently based on his
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email. Seems Clive is responsible for marketing at a
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small business in Devon and he says hi Neil.
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Our podcast gets great feedback internally, but prospects
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never mention it. Cheers, Clive. I'm
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obviously paraphrasing a much longer email, but for time, here's the
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uncomfortable truth. Clive Internal praise is
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usually a bit of a red flag, actually. It means that your
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podcast is easy to agree with, and those with
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bias and responsibility as stakeholders
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feel safe with it. Your buyers don't need
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safe, they need decisive. If no one
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brings your podcast into the buying conversation, it's
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probably not helping them in any way during the sales process. You
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know, it's just there. It's kind of like a plant that's in your
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office withering in the corner because no one ever bothers
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watering it. And now founder FAQs
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each episode I'm. Going to share some of the frequently asked
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questions that my clients have for me when it comes to managing
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a successful B2B podcast. In this one
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I wanted to share a question regarding guest interviews.
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Now, my own take on branded podcasts is that the best ones are
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usually a solo effort since the listener is building
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relationship with you. But that said, people still
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enjoy the idea of having a guest for different reasons, not least
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the sharing of some energy. And some people feel that they just bounce
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off others better. But how to manage that? And of
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course, having a guest each week is a lot of work.
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I spoke to Susan Walsh, founder of the Classification Guru
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and author of the book between the Spreadsheets, and we might have
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come up with an idea for her to get the best of both worlds, but
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I also gave her a bit of a tip for ensuring that her guest experience
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is optimal. So what I could do is start
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fortnightly, because what will probably happen is then people will
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start asking, can I come on your podcast? And then I could save the other
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weeks for guests. Ah, brilliant. Yeah, great
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idea. One week me, and then every other week
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or however in many other weeks a guest, and then. But don't be polite with
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your guests if they if you record with them and it's trash
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don't feel obligated to publish it. And I would. I would have like a one
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sheet which explains, number one, that you want them to have a
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decent setup if they can. So not yelling into their laptop
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microphone. Cause it's gonna sound awful. So they need to. It doesn't have to be
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a great. Mic that I would send out and say this is what's gonna happen.
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Absolutely. And on that sheet you wanna make a point that they're not guaranteed
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to be published, even if it's recorded, just to cover yourself.
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So to sum up this episode then, most branded
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podcasts tend to be built to be listened to. The
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ones that work are built to be remembered.
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They sound like how clear thinking sounds when
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someone stops trying to impress. And that's the work that we do at
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podnos. We don't make you louder. We don't make you seem
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busier. We make you reach your ideal listener
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more clearly and with more intent. So here's a question that
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I'm going to leave you with in this episode. If someone
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binged your podcast this month, would next
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month's sales calls feel different? Because
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clarity reduces risk, and reduced risk
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is what actually moves decisions forward. If you want to know
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whether your podcast is actually doing that, the link to my
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diagnostic is in the episode description. Or go to
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podnos.co.uk diagnostic
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if the diagnostic feels like a bit of a next year wishlist item,
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you're not quite ready for that yet. Why not make what you already
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have perform to the best of its capability?
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I can help you do that. Book in for one of my comprehensive audits.
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The link to book is also in the episode description. Or you can head straight
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to podnos.co.uk audits
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and in the next episode. I am totally going to ruin
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your perception around your download numbers.