Case Study: The Definitive Guide to Getting Clients Through a Podcast in

The same three-step process I’ve deployed for hundreds of businesses to generate pre-sold clients on demand. 

My good friend (and client) Mark runs an exclusive mastermind, called the Deal Maker Family.

And when I say exclusive, I mean it. It comes with a hefty price tag. 

I won’t share the exact amount, but it’s a big dollar commitment for someone to make – closing a deal of that size is no small feat. 

For most business owners, it would mean multiple one-on-one sales calls with the lead, meticulously strategic follow-up, and some downright magical persuasion tactics. 

But not Mark. He enrolls people before they even book a call with him – simply by having a podcast. Check it out:

Jennings is one of Mark’s DM Family members. He specifically credits the podcast with getting him over the line; it’s what allowed him to feel comfortable enough to put his full trust in Mark, and take that leap.

So how does Mark do it? 

How is he able to use a podcast to bypass the usual sales call headaches, and exclusively deal with pre-sold leads?

He uses my Direct Response Podcasting System™. It’s a simple three step strategy that ensures every single episode he puts out hits deeply with his perfect-fit audience.

It’s a method that me and my team have taught to hundreds of business owners. From newbies to advanced podcasters, it works like a charm every time.

And today, I’m going to show you exactly how we do it.

Podcasting And The Power Of Connection: Why You Need To Start A Podcast

Before we get into the weeds with the technicalities of my Direct Response Podcasting System™ , I think it’s important that we look at the marketing potential of podcasting in a more broad sense.

Or in other words, why should you even consider dipping your toes into this world to begin with? 

At the risk of over-simplifying it, podcasts are a power-packed marketing tool thanks to one thing: their capacity to spark a deep connection between host and listener.

Think about how we connect with people in the real world: through conversations, storytelling, and the sharing of ideas, thoughts, feelings, knowledge, and experiences. 

Podcasting hits all of those same notes – just virtually rather than face-to-face.

Now, other forms of marketing content can also do these things, but nowhere near as effectively. 

The verbal aspect of podcasts knocks all other mediums out of the water; it means you can mimic real-world connection building almost 1 for 1.

So how does this connection translate to marketing and sales? Let’s go back to that Facebook post by Mark’s client for a second:

The connection that Mark was able to build with his audience, through his podcast, is ultimately what sold Jennings on his offer.

It’s what made him feel confident enough in Mark’s expertise that he willingly invested a hefty amount – with zero regrets.

Connection turns listeners into fans, and fans into customers. It’s that simple. 

But despite the simplicity of that progression, many of those who step into the podcasting world end up failing to achieve it.

Most Podcasts Fail To Convert Listeners Into Customers: Here’s Why

In my mind, there are three key reasons why a podcaster may fail to bridge that gap from casual listener to raving customer:

1. They don’t have a vision of the audience they’re trying to speak to.

Mistake number one is that they don’t think about who they’re trying to speak to, before they speak.

This is a major foundational issue that bleeds into all other aspects of a podcast.

Because when you don’t know who your audience is, you don’t know what matters to them; what excites them, what pains them, what ignites their curiosity.

You’ve got zero intel on how to build that all-important connection.

2. They don’t know what they want their audience to do.

Obviously, the ultimate goal of marketing via podcast is to get your listeners to buy whatever it is you sell (duh).

But you and I both know that not everyone is willing to dive headfirst into your funnel, and go straight from cold lead to sales call.

And this is something most podcasters tend to overlook – they don’t consider that some listeners will move slower than others, and thus don’t provide a gentler path forward.

3. They don’t know how to move listeners towards that goal. 

The final mistake directly flows from the first one:

When you don’t know who you’re speaking to, you can’t form a connection with them.

And without that connection, there’s no trust. How are you meant to convince listeners to follow you towards your end goal if they have no faith in you or your skill?

Long story short: to give yourself the best possible chance of connecting with your audience, you must plan around these pitfalls.

So, how exactly do you do that?

Well, in a segue that I’m sure absolutely no one reading this could’ve seen coming, this is exactly what my Direct Response Podcasting System™ is designed to do. 

It gives you a blueprint to take those three ‘don’t know’s, and flip them on their head:

• You will understand your audience inside-out,
• You will have a clear goal for where you’re trying to lead them, and
• You will know exactly how to get them there

This system is the exact process I took Mark through – it’s how he was (and still is) able to create killer podcast content that easily brings in clients just like Jennings.

Direct Response Podcasting: What Is It And How Does It Work?

To sum it up in a single phrase, Direct Response Podcasting is evergreen educational marketing content.

It utilizes value-rich podcast content to pre-sell your offer to your perfect audience; it educates them on who you are, what you do, and the problems you solve.

This strategy gives you the tools to seamlessly guide your target market from stranger to raving customer, all in a matter of podcast episodes.

Let me break it down for you with a visual analogy:

The Podcast Pathway

I want you to picture a path, with a defined start and end point – something like this:

• Point A represents your ideal client. They are a perfect fit for your offer – they just don’t know it yet.
• Point B is your offer. To be a little more specific, it represents the wholehearted acceptance of your service.

So naturally, the space between is the path your leads must take to go from knowing nothing about who you are and what you do, to enthusiastically jumping on board and becoming a customer.

Take a minute to think about what the path between those two points would realistically look like. 

It’s pretty rare that it would be a clear road; someone moving from A to B would have a lot of hesitations, objections, questions, and concerns.

“Do I trust this person’s ability? Is working with them worth the time and money? Would a service like this improve my life anyway?”

So with that in mind, let me tweak that image a bit.

That’s a bit more accurate, right? Going from cold lead to raving customer is a bumpy, prickly path, full of roadblocks and obstacles.

Logically, you want to clear that path as best you can to make it more appealing for people to take – this is what we want your podcast to do:

This path clearing is something that you already do on sales calls; it’s when someone hops on a call, still needing to be convinced. 

When you have to explain who you are and what you do, why you’re better than your competitors, why your service costs as much as it does – that’s path clearing. 

And it sucks.

Direct Response Podcasting lets you clear the path, before leads interact with you.

My system allows you to:

• Showcase your knowledge and expertise,
• Demonstrate your problem-solving capabilities, 
• Provide new insights and perspectives to your audience,
• Build trust and connection, and 
• Get the right people scrambling to work with you.

How To Put It Into Action: The Three Steps Of The Direct Response Podcasting System™

The Direct Response Podcasting System™ is made up of three steps – each of which correlates to a point on the Podcast Pathway:

The purpose of this system is to ensure you can create podcast content that:

• Is tailored to the wants and needs of your perfect-fit audience,
• Completely dismantles their objections through building trust and connection, and
• Points listeners in the direction you want them to go.

Think of these three steps as the key that unlocks all of the marketing and sales potential that podcasting holds.

Remember: there are the same three steps that have allowed Mark (and hundreds of others) to unleash that podcasting power in his own business, and get people fighting for a spot in his mastermind.

Step 1: The Client Cloner – Pinpoint Your Ideal Client, And Replicate Them Over And Over Again

The first step I take all my clients through is to get their target audience nailed down.

And the more specific you can be now, the easier time you’ll have going through the rest of the system.

That little caveat can feel counterintuitive for a lot of people – getting specific about who you’re aiming for inherently means narrowing your potential audience.

Which in turn, means you’re reducing the number of people you can sell to, right?

Well, technically yes – but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Zeroing in on a smaller audience actually gives you a higher listener-to-customer conversion rate (when you do it right).

See, your offer is perfect for someone – but not everyone. The more wholly you accept that, the more effective your podcasting efforts will be. 

If you want to get maximum bang for your buck, you need to get to know your red fish – aka, your ideal client.

Who do you want to catch? Where do they swim? What bait will lure them in?

I call my method for this step The Client Cloner. 

You start by creating a detailed vision of who your ideal client is; the hypothetical person that your offer is almost tailor-made for.

Everything you learn about this person now will allow you to craft your message in a way that hooks real people that are exactly like them. On repeat.

You take your ideal client and, using your killer content, you clone them.

The Client Cloner process is going to look different for each business, but here’s a few baseline tactics that can get anyone started:

Step 2: The Client Matrix – Decide Where You Want Your Listeners To Go, And How You’ll Get Them There

The second step is what I call The Client Matrix.

This is where you decide what exactly is waiting for your listeners at the end of your Podcast Pathway, and how you’re going to get them there.

Obviously, your ultimate end goal is to turn your audience into clients – but the jump from casually listening to your podcast to booking a call with you can feel like a step too far for some, and you need to plan for that.

Think about it like this: your listeners are blindfolded, and you’re the one guiding them down the Podcast Pathway.

You know exactly where you’re taking them, but they don’t.

Some will put their complete faith in you, and follow along right behind without so much as a second thought. 

But most will be overly cautious – and understandably so. They’ll take one teeny tiny step at a time, making sure they’ve got a solid footing before they take the next one.

How you guide your listeners towards your end destination needs to suit both of these approaches; allow the trusting ones to take the big leaps, but also accommodate those taking baby steps.

What these steps look like in the context of your podcast are your calls to action; that is, giving your listeners an action that they can take to further their relationship with you.

A big mistake that podcasters make is to use their podcast as a standalone marketing tool, completely separate from their existing funnel.

This forces their listeners to either take the big leap, or get out – and most do the latter.

Instead, your podcast needs to also link back into your existing funnel, like this:

This way, you allow room for both those who are eager to work with you ASAP, and those who are a little more on the cautious side.

Step 3: The Content Vault – Identify Roadblocks And Demolish Them With Your Podcast Content

The final step is to deal with that central stretch of your Podcast Pathway, and create a strategy for how you’re going to clear that path.

Be thorough – everything you discover in this step is going to dictate what you build your content around.

This step is where I help my clients build their Content Vault.

Your Content Vault is your first 6 – 8 podcast episodes. It’s the very first impression you’re going to make on your audience, so you gotta make it count.

I help my clients to plan and outline this batch of episodes before they record a single word. 

This gives us some breathing space to let the ideas marinate, and ensure each episode pulls its weight and contributes to the larger overall vision; we need to make sure we’re using bulldozers to clear the path, and not flimsy plastic spades.

The aim with The Content Vault is two fold:

1. Knock out objections at the source.

This is where you take everything you learned in Step One, and put it into action. Remember when I said the more specific you can be, the better? This is why.

See, there’s one big mental block that underpins all client objections, and that’s a lack of trust; no trust in you, your capabilities, or even themselves – yet.

And as we’ve already touched on, when you understand your audience, you are more equipped to speak their language.

This means you can showcase your expertise in a way that actually matters to them, earns their trust, and allows their objections to just fall away.

2. Provide your audience with a powerful, valuable resource.

You don’t want your listeners to sit through an episode (or multiple), and feel like they’ve just wasted their afternoon away listening to a big old pile of nothing.

What you do want is to make your listeners feel like they’ve just cracked open a secret supply of highly valuable knowledge and insights that they can actually use.

When you can craft your podcast content to both navigate objections and provide value, you’ll be golden. (bonus points for entertainment and easy listening)

The Direct Response Podcasting System™ Is Just One Piece Of The Podcast Puzzle

Starting your own podcast is a daunting prospect – the barrier to entry can feel insurmountable for newbies. 

And that fear is completely justifiable.

Because, while having the Direct Response Podcasting System™ in your toolkit is a great start, there’s way more to think about than simply the raw content itself. 

You need to consider how you’ll record your podcast, choosing equipment, creating cohesive branding of your show, smoothing out those rough edges with high-quality production…

But despite this, podcasting is an incredibly rewarding marketing tool – one that I firmly believe should feel more accessible for business owners like you.

This is exactly what I aim to do with my done-for-you podcast service.

The Podcast Factory: Done-For-You Podcast Service

Unlock the marketing and sales power of podcasting – without the headaches and guesswork.

We offer two packages, depending on your individual needs:

Interested, but not sure which package is for you? Click here to book a call. I’ll get to know you and your business, so we can discuss which package is best suited to your specific needs and aspirations.

Final Thoughts

Connection with your market is an invaluable resource. When you manage to do it effectively, it can absolutely skyrocket your profit generation.

And I think deep down, everyone understands how podcasts facilitate this connection, and therefore how much their business could benefit from starting one.

But they ignore that potential out of fear of failing. 

It’s a story I hear with my clients, over and over again: “I always had an idea for a podcast, but I didn’t know where to start”, “I was worried no one would listen” , “I was scared no one would care”.

And every single time, these clients worked with me and my team, and realized that their fears were completely unfounded.

Because they did have something valuable to say. They did have an audience that would listen, learn, and connect.

They just had to find them.

There was a small detail in that post from Mark’s client that I haven’t touched on yet:

It was powerful.

Mark has been able to use his podcast to create connections, take new clients under his wing, and transform their lives.

And I firmly believe that you can too.

If you want to talk to me and discuss exactly how The Podcast Factory team can help you do that, you can click here to book a call.