Driving Business Results with Conversations

In this, The Faces of Business, Tom Schwab, CEO & Founder, Interview Valet, talks about driving business results with conversations, enabling you to deliver your message effectively to the right audience by using other people’s platforms.

In this, The Faces of Business, Tom Schwab, CEO & Founder, Interview Valet, talks about driving business results with conversations, enabling you to deliver your message effectively to the right audience by using other people’s platforms.

Interview Valet, a podcast guest booking service, helps authors, thought leaders, and speakers enhance their productivity and revenue through meaningful business conversations.

Tom Schwab is a proponent of having meaningful conversations. He believes they are the key to achieving your personal and professional dreams. Tom brings a unique perspective as an engineer, Navy veteran, and Nuclear Propulsion Plant Operator.

Download our free business valuation guide here to understand more about business valuations and view our business valuation FAQs to answer the most common valuation questions.

Besides his technical background, Tom is also an entrepreneur who understands the challenges of small and mid-sized business owners. He was one of the early pioneers of using inbound marketing for eCommerce and targeted podcast interviews for effective marketing.

Tom’s vision has helped numerous thought leaders get featured on top-rated and high-visibility podcasts, leading to millions of downloads and new revenue opportunities. He also authored two books, “podcast Guest Profits” and “One Conversation Away,” that explain the how-to and benefits of using podcasting to market your business.

Damon is super excited to begin the conversation with Tom. He highlights Tom’s experience in marketing and sales and expresses excitement for the discussion. This discussion aims to educate listeners on the benefits of personalized conversations in building successful business relationships.

Do you want to know if your business is ready for your exit or what you should do to prepare? Learn this and more with our business exit assessment here.

Damon prompts Tom to share his background to start the conversation.

Tom shares his background, which started with his attendance at the US Naval Academy and working as an engineer in the Navy. He then transitioned to a job in operations, then sales, and eventually launched his own business in direct-to-patient durable medical equipment using inbound marketing.

After selling his business, Tom founded Interview Valet, a company that helps authors, coaches, consultants, and brands build their businesses and brand through podcast interviews. The company has grown to a team of 30 people serving customers in Europe and North America.

Get the most value for your business by understanding the process and preparing for the sale with information here on our Selling a Business page.

Damon asks Tom about “the coolest thing” he learned or saw in the Navy. The most important thing Tom learned in the Navy is the understanding that what is ordinary to us may be unique to others. Moreover, Tom has noticed in life that people tend to underestimate themselves and overestimate others.

Damon asks Tom about his idea of using podcast interviews to promote businesses back when podcasts were not as popular as they are today.

Tom explains that everything in life is evolutionary, not revolutionary, and he realized blogs were becoming outdated in 2014. He wondered if he could use podcast interviews to achieve the same results as blogs while tapping into other people’s audiences and repurposing the content.

The guest found that talking was easier for him than writing, and podcasts aligned with his values and company because they allowed him to speak and share his ideas rather than write them down.

Agreeing with the Guest, Damon comments on the power of video and how it allows people to feel like they get to know you.

The podcast coach clarifies that it’s not only video but audio as well that creates intimacy between the speaker and listener. He recalls an instance where someone recognized him from his voice alone and talks about how people feel they know the speaker after listening to them on various platforms. He notes that the level of intimacy one can get from audio and video is amazing, and even if people have never met in person, they can feel like friends.

Damon acknowledges the power of both video and audio in creating a mental image of a person. He asks Tom about the feedback they receive from clients at Interview Valet who are guests on podcasts or live streams.

The guest responds by saying that although marketing often focuses on getting more leads, the quality of the leads is more important. Clients who go on live streams or podcasts tend to get better leads because, after listening to them for a while, potential customers have already self-selected based on their interest in the content. This makes the sales process more about building a relationship than a transaction, resulting in quicker and higher-level sales with lower churn rates. Tom also notes that this is similar to personal referrals, which are more effective than cold Facebook ads.

The host questions Tom how Interview Valet helps people who may feel they have nothing interesting to discuss.

Tom believes that Interview Valet helps people who may feel they have nothing interesting to talk about by pointing out that what’s ordinary to them is impressive to other people. Interview Valet has found that different experts, including those who have great stories to tell or are just a few steps ahead of others, work well on podcasts. He also asserts that COVID has made it easier for people to participate in interviews from the comfort of their own homes or office rather than in a public setting.

Likewise, Tom talks about the authenticity of writing blogs and connecting with people. Thanks to ChapGPT, writing a blog is easier than ever, which leads to many generic blogs flooding the market. However, people can connect with the imperfections and heart that come through in a person’s video that builds relationships. He also references a book called “Clicks” by Bill Troy and how businesses with substantial engagement cannot rely solely on funnels and clicks but must focus on building relationships and connecting with their audience.

Damon also emphasizes that cost is not the main concern for clients when considering working with someone they trust.

Tom shares a story of a client who wanted to do podcast interview marketing instead of traditional digital advertising. The client believed that digital advertising was equivalent to advertising and wanted to be seen where it was consistent with his brand and where his clients were making the buying decision.

The guest talks about his phrase from last year, “one conversation away,” and explains that everything great in his life has come through a conversation.

Agreeing with the guest’s answer, Damon says it is essential for people to get to know each other before moving forward in any aspect.

While talking about the need to be conscious of the conversations, Tom says they can draw us closer to our desired future. He believes marketing is about conversing with potential customers, not just tweaking website fonts or pages.

Damon talks about the importance of educating customers instead of just selling to them, which he learned from a book called “They Ask You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan. This approach makes it easier for customers to make informed decisions.

Tom compares how preparing for a 45-minute keynote or interview takes time and effort and how it’s essential to answer the questions that clients and hosts are asking. He also mentions how repurposing content, such as transcribing interviews and creating blogs or videos, can be beneficial for both answering questions and promoting a company or brand. Finally, he parallels podcast interviews and live streams on the “they asked you answer” philosophy.

The Interview Valet founder explains how a 45-minute interview can provide enough content for a month. It can create blog posts, snippets, images, audiograms, and reels. Moreover, repurposing the content makes it possible to generate more material without spending more time on it.

Damon asks Tom the biggest questions he has to answer while helping people.

Tom’s biggest question when helping people with podcasting is always, “Why?” He believes that once people understand their purpose for podcasting, it makes developing a strategy much easier. Some people use podcasting for SEO value, marketing, exposure, brand-building, or even company selling. According to Tom, podcasting should be viewed as a tactic that needs to be integrated into a larger strategy to be effective.

In Tom’s view, qualitative and quantitative results in podcasting are significant. Podcasting can yield quicker results than other marketing channels, aided by data targeting the right audience.

Toward the end of this session, Tom offers some helpful resources for podcasting needs. He encourages viewers to visit his website, where he has put together an assessment with ten questions to see if podcast interview marketing will work for you. He also cites his book, “Podcast Guest Profits,” and offers to give a copy or to chat with anyone interested in podcasting.

Damon thanks Tom for his valuable insights about using podcast interviews. He thanks the viewers and ends the podcast.

The Faces of Business

Learn about the strategies that have allowed other business owners to overcome all kinds of adversities and limitations to achieve their business goals successfully.

All The Faces of Business episodes are

 

Check out this episode on LinkedIn
The Faces of Business on Twitter:
Listen to this episode of The Faces of Business on these podcast channels

ABOUT EXIT YOUR WAY®

Exit Your Way® provides a structured process and skilled resources to grow business value and allow business owners to leave with 2X+ more money when they are ready.

You can find more information about the Exit Your Way® process and our team on our website.

You can contact us by phone:  822-BIZ-EXIT (249-3948)   Or by Email:  info@exityourway.us

Find us on LinkedIn:  Damon PistulkaAndrew Cross

Find our Companies on LinkedIn: Exit Your Way®,  Cross Northwest Mergers & Acquisitions, Bowman digital Media 

Follow Us on Twitter: @dpistulka  @exityourway

Visit our YouTube Channel: Exit Your Way®

Service Professionals Network:  Damon PistulkaAndrew Cross

Facebook:  Exit Your Way® Cross Northwest Mergers & Acquisitions

Other websites to check out:  Cross Northwest Mergers & AcquisitionsDamon PistulkaIra BowmanService Professionals Network (SPN)Fangled TechnologiesB2B TailDenver Consulting FirmWarren ResearchStellar Insight, Now CFO, Excel Management Systems  & Project Help You Grow

39:24

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, conversations, podcast, interview, business, marketing, clients, work, blogs, answer, talking, build, question, easier, big, educate, valet, ordinary, life, write

SPEAKERS

Damon Pistulka, Tom Schwab

 

Damon Pistulka  00:01

All right, everyone, welcome once again to the faces of business. I am your host, Damon Pustaka. And I am excited for our guest today, because we have none other than Tom Schwab from interview valet. welcome Tom Damon, I am thrilled to be here, man, this is going to be a lot of fun because, you know, we’re gonna be talking today about driving business results with conversations.

You’re a chief marketing officer and a past life, you’ve done sales, you know, we’ll go through your background, some other things. But these are some things that we want to really expose and talk to people about how you’re helping people drive results with conversations, but also how personally you think this has been able to help you and, you know, through your journey. So let’s start off like we always do, Tom, tell us a little bit about your background. Well,

 

Tom Schwab  01:09

I was gonna say when you ask somebody with as much gray hair as I do, that could be a long answer, right. But I was a Midwestern kid never been more than 100 miles from my hometown, and by the grace of God, and a clerical error, I got into the US Naval Academy.

So if you’re, you’re listening from the States, thanks for paying my education. It was a great opportunity got to see the world, it changed my viewpoint on life. And I got to see a lot of things was a engineer ran nuclear power plants in the Navy, enjoyed it. But then peace was breaking out. Remember that around 92. I’ve done everything that I wanted to in the Navy.

So I went from one study job to another and worked for a fortune 500 company, and realized I didn’t want to be an engineer, I started as an engineer then went to operations that went into sales and actually ran a sales organization. And it was all an evolution from one to the next. At the 2008 recession, the manufacturer bought back all the distributor ships, you know, they wanted to cut out the middleman, which makes a whole lot of sense to look in the mirror and you’re like, Hey, I’m the middleman.

Yeah, they did right by me. But it was great, because it gave me an opportunity to launch my own business. Did direct to patient durable medical equipment, with something called inbound marketing. We were hub spots. First ecommerce case study, built on a regional player to a national leader sold that off.

And then I started to think, wow, I bet you we could use podcasts or interviews the same way we used guest blogging 15 years before. So I tested it, it worked well. And that’s become interview valet. And you know, it’s grown to a team of 30 people in Europe and North America. And we serve, you know, high level authors, coaches, consultants and brands, really to get their message out there on interview so they can talk directly to their ideal customers and build their brand and build their business.

 

Damon Pistulka  03:24

Yeah, that’s cool. And that’s, it’s, it’s a your background. So I got some questions about the background. Because if I do this later, it kind of gets us off topic. What’s the coolest thing you learned or saw in the Navy?

 

Tom Schwab  03:39

It’s something that’s been with me my entire life was ordinary to you is amazing to others. Right? I was on an aircraft. I was on an aircraft carrier. And you could always tell the newest people, right? They, they climb all the ladders to get up the Vultures Row and watch the planes take off, right?

And after about three days, it’s like it’s ordinary, right? Same thing. It got to be ordinary for me to sit there and run a nuclear reactor, right? And throughout life. I’ve noticed that, right? Everybody underestimates what they do and overestimates what other people do and what other people know. And so I’ve just realized that, you know, what’s ordinary tea was amazing to others. And we all have amazing things we’ve seen, and it’s fun when we share it with each other.

 

Damon Pistulka  04:26

That’s incredible. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that because that we all think that every single day, I think, I believe. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we and people are listening. We had no idea. I had no idea you were saying that. But that’s so cool. I just said to give my train of thought back here. Awesome.

 

Tom Schwab  04:46

Thanks. What’s ordinary to you is amazing to others.

 

Damon Pistulka  04:49

Yep. I’ve got it written down correctly. Thank you so much on that one. So as as you said, you thought back in the day like you’re using blogpost did I get this right? You were going to try to use podcast interviews? So we nine years ago, yes, there were podcasters. But not like there are now what what? What was your idea back then? It’s just this kind of walk us through that a little bit. I think

 

Tom Schwab  05:17

everything in life is evolutionary not revolutionary, right? We’re always taking something and optimizing it. So as I had sold off by one company, I had buddies that were saying, Well, how did you do it? Right? And I’m like, Ah, I see. You do a lot of blogs, a lot of content. And this was 2014.

Even by that time, it’s like, yeah, blogs were getting old. Right? They weren’t working nearly as well that that magic trick had been done. So I thought, Hmm. I wonder if you could do it on podcast interviews, because podcasts were up and coming. And the other thing too, is, you know, I’m a mechanical engineer by degree I always joke IR engineer, right? Yeah, me writing a blog was a homework assignment.

But talking, oh, I can do that. Yes. So started to test that. And it’s like, it works the same way. Right, you get the SEO for the backlinks, you get to tap into other people’s audiences. And now with technology, especially, you can repurpose that into so many different ways. So I just sort of looked at it.

And but maybe it was Wayne Gretzky that said, you want to skate to where the puck was going. I don’t know if I was that smart. But I was just like, I don’t want to worry, write blogs, I want to do something fun. Something that matches by my values matches my my company. And then also from the standpoint of, I knew that if I could talk to customers, either one on one or at conferences, I could convert. So it’s like, how can I do this? At scale?

 

Damon Pistulka  06:57

Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, that’s one of the things that that has really so not surprised me, but pleasantly surprised me about doing video is that if you do video like this, like I was talking on this conversation right now, today, people feel that they get to know you. And it’s really as powerful because I’m sure some of your clients, if they’ve got any experience Close to close to what I’ve had with video is that you will get people that call and they, they feel they somewhat know you because they’ve watched enough videos with you. And

 

Tom Schwab  07:37

go ahead, I would say it’s not only video but audio. Right. So some people love videos. And we’ll watch those. Yeah, yeah. After they’ve spent enough time with you. They know all the backstories they, they recognize your voice, they recognize you. But even before the video time, I had people that would like stop me. I remember one time being in the airport, and somebody came up and said, you know, are you Tom Schwab? And my first thought is, you know, are you a process server.

But he recognized my voice. Oh, my goodness, that is amazing. And then he started coming up and talking to me. And he knew so much about me, because he had heard me on different places. And I think there’s that intimacy that you have. And it’s I don’t know if it’s a little bit of voyeurism or what but when you listen to somebody, you feel like you know them, you feel like you’ve got a friendship.

And at times, especially before video, people would almost like the radio days where you had a vision of what the DJ looks like, you know, often I’ll have people say, oh, you know, I thought I thought you were taller. I’m glad. I’m glad that I have a tall sounding voice or I live all on video. Right? So it’s amazing, that just level of intimacy.

And even now, you meet people online and you feel like we’re friends, right? But you can’t remember, have we ever met in real life? Or you know, the next time I’m in Seattle, right? I’ll call you up because we’re friends and we’ll get together. And it’ll be the first time we’ve ever quote unquote, met in real life. But you feel like ah, I know them. I’ll give them a hug. It is just amazing. That level of intimacy that you can get from audio and video now.

 

Damon Pistulka  09:32

This is true and I think in I didn’t want to overlook audio because as you see is you said people, some people like podcasts, some people like videos, but either way you create that mental image or get that mental image of those those people and really get to know them.

And so as you’re helping people at interview valet and you’re getting getting them on these deaf For podcasts or live streams, what are some of the feedback that you get from them? What are some of the things they say about their, their interactions with host? Or the communication with potential clients or people afterwards?

 

Tom Schwab  10:15

Yeah. And I think marketing is always telling us, you know, you need, you need bigger, you need more leads, you need all of this. And I was amazed me, right? It’s like, what are we optimizing for? Right, the bank has never been impressed by how many Facebook likes or leads I get.

But what we’re hearing from clients is, when they go on live streams like this, or podcasts, they get better leads. And after somebody listens to you for 30 or 45 minutes, they self select, right, they’re either going to turn you up or turn you off. And if you’re not there, they’re their best solution.

That’s fine. You don’t watch us more leads. But when they come, they’ve already self selected. They know more about you. It’s not a sales call, it’s almost like a qualification call at that point. And so the data says, and we’ve gotten this from a lot of our bigger clients that you know, track it down to marketing channel cost of lead acquisition, cost of customer acquisition, the churn rate, they say, they close quicker, for a higher level, because it’s not just a It’s not just a transaction is based on a relationship.

And they churn less. So it’s, it’s, it’s amazing. And in some ways, as you look, look at it, it’s not amazing, right? Because if somebody’s heard you if they’ve been introduced to you by somebody they already know and trust, right? So if Damon introduces me, he like Dave, right? It’s almost like that transference of authority. It’s more like a personal referral, than it is just a cold Facebook ad.

 

Damon Pistulka  12:09

Yes. Yeah. You’re right, because the listeners are here on the face of the business. Now. They’ve heard me a lot of times, and now they’re, they’re getting, you know, listen to Tom talk about what Tom’s doing. Yeah. That’s cool. That’s cool.

So as you’re as you’re helping people do this, one of the things that people always think is, man, I’m not, I’m not. I’m not. There’s nothing interesting there. There’s really not much that. What would I talk about? I mean, how do you have to help people prepare for these kinds of things? Because that’s the first thing I think a lot of people think about when they go to, I don’t speak it for a living or I don’t do that. What are some of the concerns people come to you with when they start this?

 

Tom Schwab  13:01

Yeah, one of the things I always point out to them is what I mentioned earlier, what’s ordinary to you is amazing to other people. And sometimes people will say, Well, I’m not, I’m not an expert. And I had that problem early on. And a buddy of mine, that’s a lawyer actually helped me with that. The legal definition of an expert, and I’m paraphrasing, this is someone who knows more by their, by their training, by their experience, by their activity than the average person, right? So if you’re working in your business day in and day out, you’ve got expertise in that business in that industry.

Right? If you’ve been married 20 years, you’ve got more expertise than somebody that’s just, you know, that’s just starting out. If you Yeah, if you, if you’re in fourth grade, you’ve got expertise in math to the second grader, right. So it doesn’t mean you’re the world renowned expert. It means you have expertise. And one of the things that we have found is there’s different types of experts, right?

There’s, there’s the, the PhD, right, that person that’s got all the letters behind their name, they actually don’t do well on podcasts. Because it’s hard to relate to them. Right. It’s sometimes it’s the old sage, the person that’s been doing it, you know, for decades and could talk about it. They do really well on podcast, because they have great stories to tell, and people relate to them. Or you could be the person that’s just you know, one or two steps ahead of them.

Right. And they work great on podcasts because people can relate to them. Right. I understand you. Yeah, you’ve been through where I am. And you know, if you if you’re in an industry, you can speak their jargon, right, you understand their problems, and that becomes So, so relatable, and you know, you’re not for everybody, but you’re for the People that you can help and you can connect with.

And I think COVID has really helped us because before this, I think people were scared about getting on Zoom or getting on a call, right? I’m not a public speaker. And I’ll fast forward it. We’ve all lived online, where it’s like, oh, to jump on a zoom call, or something like this, where I’m in the comfort of my own office or my own home. That’s a whole lot easier than, you know, go into a TV studio or radio studio, where you’ve got cameras and, and things in your face.

 

Damon Pistulka  15:35

Yes, yes. That’s for sure. That’s for sure. And I think that, as you said, people are now more comfortable getting on video, but sharing your stories, too, because we’ve we’ve had to work on this, whether we liked it or not in marketing to talk about our businesses, like you, you were talking earlier, and blog posts and other things. And it comes back again to something I said earlier is that, you know, writing a blog post was like a homework assignment. But when people figure out how it is to be on a video interview, a lot of people find it much easier than writing is what I’m trying to say.

 

Tom Schwab  16:18

And I think it’s more authentic now to write. It’s writing a blog today, here in the spring of 2023. is easier than ever, right? I can, I can go to chat GPT. And I can get a blog in five seconds. Yeah, so all of a sudden, everybody’s putting out this generic. Yeah, job, whatever it is. It’s just gonna get flooded.

And it’s like, well, is this blog really, from Damon? Or is it AI? Or, you know, is it a VA that wrote it for him? Well, when they actually watch your video, or hear your interview, they know what to you. And it’s all those imperfections. It’s your heart that comes through. And that’s what relates with people, right at the end of the day. People want to work with people they know, like and trust.

And it’s more important, the bigger the engagement is. There’s a great book out there called clicks and how digital marketing is ruining your business. Yeah, Bill Troy’s out of Columbus, and I love how he says, big fish don’t swim through funnels, and whales don’t click. Right. So if you’ve got a business that’s got, you know, substantial engagement substantial, buddy. You can’t just use you know, funnels and clicks, people are going to have to know who you are, and in what you believe.

 

Damon Pistulka  17:53

Yes. Well, I think that’s, that’s very true. Very true. And, and a lot of people confuse that because they think that oh, like, you know, if we build the right funnels, they’ll calm or something like, you know, but in the end, what, what, what we find in what we do, because it’s you know, selling a business as a higher ticket item, there’s no doubt about that.

And the, we every time that in the past, when we tried to do you know, advertising online or something like that, to pay per click kind of stuff, you get the wrong kind of client. I’ll just say that. And it just doesn’t, but when you do like we’re doing today, and someone talks to us now, they know who we are, like you said, they’ve seen us they understand if we’re, if we’re a might be a good fit, they can get a lot farther down the road, like we know people want to do now.

And when they come to us, it’s not like I’m one of six anymore that they’re they’re talking to it’s usually like, Hey, you’re probably can help us. This is massive. When you look at this, I think from a business standpoint, because now I’ve I’ve gone past the point of am I someone that could potentially help? Is this someone that I might like? Do they offer me something that could help me? And then is it something that I’m willing to pay for? Because a lot of times we get down to the end of conversations now after this kind of stuff?

And people are going oh, yes, we you know, we need to know scope of work and what’s going on and those kinds of things and then and then what’s it going to cost? It’s not like cost and all these other things come out right away. It’s at the end because you’ve gotten down the road and built enough trust that they know you’re going to be fair on that because of the other things and and you don’t have to prove yourself Every single time,

 

Tom Schwab  20:01

because you’ve already proven yourself and David, we had a client that came to us. And I remember asking him, why do you want to do podcast interview marketing? And I loved his answer. He was a high level consultant, big, big engagements, right.

And he said that he thought that most of digital marketing was the equivalent of advertising above urinals. And I just had to stop and say, explain that to me. And he’s like, Well, my clients, you know, you’re supposed to be everywhere your clients are. He’s like, if my client saw me advertised above a urinal, or on a park bench or on the bus going by, he said, that would be a reason for them not to hire me. Right?

I want to be seen when they’re making the buying decision, and where it’s consistent with my brand. And it’s almost like you write how many? How many blind emails a day do I get from somebody that wants to help sell my business? Right? I am not relying on them. You know, somebody, I don’t know what the most important sale, the biggest sale that I will ever do in my life. Right?

Why would I do that? Right? So if all of a sudden I saw somebody that I I trusted that doing that I might not? I don’t know. But if I heard them if I had followed them for a while, if somebody had said, You know what? You need to check this podcast out. Damien’s a good guy. You know, I think he could really help you. Right? If that that comes, now. It’s that warm, warm thing. And now I’m just reaching out not saying, you know, you sell me but I want to sell buy sell on why you should take me as a client.

 

Damon Pistulka  21:52

Yeah, it changes. It changes the conversation. And that’s the nice part about it. I think for people that embark on this journey.

 

Tom Schwab  22:00

Yes, yeah, yeah. My, my thing last year, I every year, I’ve got a different phrase. And my phrase last year was one conversation away, because one of the things I realized is that everything great in my life has come through a conversation. Yes.

 

Damon Pistulka  22:19

Yes. I was actually reading something about that today. It’s funny that we have this conversation today. And it was it was not talking about conversation. But it says, We people get what they get in life because of the relationships they build. And those relationships are built, because you have taken the time to build strong relationships where people can get to know you, and they like being around you. And it’s it’s just so powerful, what these conversations can really do.

And at the end of the day, I think it’s even more fun when people take the approach of this conversation is for the sake of having a good conversation. Because if you try to weave in too much of you know, business sales, whatever it is, unless that’s appropriate, down the road, the conversations become muddied. And they really aren’t as genuine and as unique as they could be. And really get allowing people to understand the people behind what we’re talking about. Before we move any further.

 

Tom Schwab  23:34

I agree with you just like if it’s not a genuine conversation. Is it a conversation, right? Hey, Joe, if you’re asking, if you’re just asking me wrote questions, and I’ve given you my talking points. I don’t know that that’s a conversation or if or if you’re asking, not the deep questions, right? And I’ve given shallow answers, right? The The world doesn’t have enough time for for more BS. So a real conversation is like, let’s let’s figure this out. And sometimes it can be bounce around different places.

Sometimes it can be awkward conversations, right, an awkward question, or they ask me a question that I don’t know the answer to. But let’s figure this out here. And I think those are the power most powerful ones. And I just look at it as conversations are the most important thing I have in my life and goes along with relationships. Right. But the conversations I have with other people like are they drawing me to the future that I want? The conversations that I have with myself? Right?

Are they serving me or not serving me? And so I think we need to be very conscious of the conversations and even sometimes, when we’re trying to avoid conversations, right? Sometimes it’s just easier. I’ll just work on this funnel. I’ll just tweak this page and do all the rest of This and call it marketing. Well, I look at marketing as you know, having a conversation with somebody that could be your ideal customer. It’s not, you know, changing, changing the font on my website to see if they like that more.

 

Damon Pistulka  25:13

Yes, yes. And I these these conversations, I think I really, I enjoy there was there was a book I read earlier or late last year by Marcus Sheridan is that they asked you answer I don’t know if you read I love it because I reading it, you understand it? It’s like, educate your customers. Don’t sell this, educate your customers. And when I will. It’s so simple. You think that it’s does it really work?

And then you start doing it? And you go, Huh, it really does work, because they just have a lot of questions. And the more questions you can answer are off. And I think marketing to me is not about building a funnel anymore. Marketing to me is about providing, being the best educator I can in my field. Because that’s through conversations like this through other ways with conversations we’re talking about today. When you do that, it just makes things so much easier for him, allows them to make informed decisions.

 

Tom Schwab  26:21

I love that book from Marcus. I’ve known him for probably a decade. And his title is more politically correct than mine. I always looked at it as I remember. In college, there was a professor that when you would answer a question, and you didn’t know the answer, but you would just put something down, right. And he would write a T FQ all over the paper, which stood for answer the question.

Right. And as marketers as business owners. So often they ask and we don’t answer the question, right? Yes, you look at Marcus, one of his blogs that was like most powerful is, what does the pool cost? Yes, what everybody was asking. Now there’s not there’s not one answer, right?

But he could say, well, this is what the above ground pool cost. This is what, you know, this kind of pool costs. And that’s what people really wanted to know. Right? How many times do they ask the question? And it’s like, well, I really don’t want to answer it. Well, they’re gonna keep asking, and the first person that answers it, is going to build that trust with them. And another thing that I love is the everybody’s got their frequently asked questions.

I always liked the frequently on asked questions, right? Here’s what you should be asking. And you don’t just help people, the better educated they are. The the easier it’ll be for them to come to a decision. And you know, no, I’m really big on there’s two answers in life, there’s heck yes. And there’s no, just let me get the information I need to get to heck yes or no.

 

Damon Pistulka  28:07

That’s great. That’s great. And I think that a reason I brought the book up is because I think the fact of educating customers, we get marketing drilled into us, right, you’re gonna build the funnels, you’re going to do all this stuff.

But when we stop and think and talk about what we’re talking about today is having these conversations and how important it is to just educate your customers, it becomes very easy for someone like you, like me, like others to get on a podcast or a live stream, and speak on a topic that they know a lot about, to educate their potential customers.

And it’s just, it’s one of these things that I think when we think about our, our marketing, and I’m gonna use that term loosely, because I really don’t think it’s marketing and turn that into educating customers, it becomes very easy for people to do a lot of marketing.

 

Tom Schwab  29:02

Oh, it does. The idea of a 45 minute keynote, where somebody just hands you the microphone and says, and here’s David, that’s intimidating, right, that takes preparation to go to an interview. And just like you said, they asked you answer, right, because the questions with the host is asking the same thing that your, that your clients are asking. And our best clients are the ones that repurpose the content.

Right. I can think of one CEO that we worked with. And his his staff was asking him to write a bunch of blogs and said, answer this question answer that question. He finally came back and said, I’ve been on a dozen interviews, I have answered all of these questions. Here’s the links to them.

And they went out there and they got the transcript and they made some blogs out of it. They cut the videos and now it’s not only answering the question action. But hey, here is our, our founder, our CEO answering it on this podcast. It’s almost like that seen on TV. So podcast interviews or live streams, it’s almost like they asked you answer. Yeah, the modern day.

 

Damon Pistulka  30:19

And as you said, these audio video recordings can turn into blog posts, they can turn into snippets, they can, they can be so many ways they can be repurposed, to bring different points across wherever they they want them to be.

 

Tom Schwab  30:37

Yeah, you can get a month’s worth of content from a single 45 minute interview. And I see I’ve seen it done. You figure, the blog posts that can come out of this, the little snippets, the images from a quote, there’s just the audio grams, right? You see those on on Facebook all the time, you can get reels out of it. In fact, I was just talking with somebody the other day, and he had something where it cuts off the left third, the right third, and just leaves the Center for the reels. And so they’re so easy to do, you can get a month’s worth of content, and it doesn’t take any more of your time to do it.

 

Damon Pistulka  31:19

Yeah, that’s a great thing. It’s a great thing. So as as you’re helping people do this, what are some of the biggest questions that you have to answer?

 

Tom Schwab  31:31

I think the biggest question is always that I start with is why? Right? Because people will come and say, I want to do a podcast. I want to do interviews. Okay, well, why? Right? That’s, it’s a means to the end. And I think once they understand why they’re doing it, then it makes the strategy so much easier. Right? We’ve got some people that do it just for the SEO value, right? If that’s the case, then go on podcasts that are hosted by colleges, because you’re going to get.edu backlinks, which are incredibly powerful.

Right. Other ones will say, I’m trying to market right, I want to to go to a higher level in the market. Okay. Well then get on different podcasts there. Maybe I want to build and my my team and get exposure to my, my C suite. We’ve done that with clients where everybody gets out on podcasts, especially when, during COVID When they couldn’t get out and speak all the places.

There’s other ones that we worked with one company that wanted to build the brand so that they could sell the company, right. And they had a lot of it was a software as a service company. And he he built the business around him telling the story of him building it for his vibe and then using it for other places. And he got acquired by Squarespace. And he swears one of the big reasons was because his churn rate was lower.

Because all of his competitors, I don’t know they they made a bet out of Bangladesh, right? I didn’t know who they were. But after you heard Gavin’s story, it’s like, oh, yeah, I like them. I like the story behind it. I liked the company. And so they had less churn with that. So I think the biggest thing is start with why why are you doing it? And then build a strategy around there? You know? Yeah. A podcast or podcast guesting is a tactic, figure out how you can use it in your strategy.

 

Damon Pistulka  33:43

Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. So then I’ve got the second the second thing, because I think we’ll do it the why is great, because you need to understand, you know, how it’s going to help you in what you’re hoping to accomplish. Because, you know, you you understanding that will help you measure whether or not it’s doing what it’s supposed to. So when people start doing it, what are some of the comments you get back after they’ve done a few of these interviews,

 

Tom Schwab  34:10

that they had a whole lot of fun with it? And, you know, we are a people driven company, but we make decisions on data. Right? So the results come? It’s that qualitative and quantitative. Right, where the qualitative is they get off the interview and said, that was so much easier than I thought it was so much faster. That was fun. When’s the next interview?

So that initial qualitative of that was a great conversation. I know that’s going to do great things. The quantitative comps, you know, a month later, when the interview gets released, and all of a sudden they see an uptick in visitors through the website or they see people connecting with them on on LinkedIn or social media.

People start calling them and saying I heard you on a Podcast. And you know, after you’ve done it for a while, somebody will say a podcast that you did a year before. And you’re trying to remember what did I talk about, but that, but doesn’t matter because they remember every single word of it. So there’s a little bit of qualitative, a little bit of quantitative. But I used to think that it took a long time, right? Because it’s not instantaneous, right?

It takes a couple months to get up and running. But then I had a couple of customers that said, no other channel right, if you’re doing Facebook marketing or any other channel, it’s gonna take a few months, you to get that and dial it in before you get results. Whereas with podcasting, you know, your, you know, your message, you just have to get in front of the right audience there.

Yes. And thank, thankfully now, with the data that we have, with all of the databases that that we license, everyone tells us a different piece of the puzzle. So we’re able to really, really get get on the target very, very quickly with that, you know, and sometimes I’d look and say nine years ago, I How did we do it without the data? It was more podcast guessing. Yeah. And podcast guesting. And now, you know, if I always tell people if you don’t have the data, it’s podcast guessing.

 

Damon Pistulka  36:26

Yes. Yes. That’s great. That’s great. Because I think I think people they the apprehension to get in and try this stuff is is Israel. I mean, a lot of people haven’t done this. But as we talked about, if they can get on have conversations and help to educate their potential customers, and really help them, I think they will, they will definitely enjoy it. And the results they can get are phenomenal.

It’s so cool. So Tom, it’s been great having you here today. I just, I just enjoy this so much in in being able to learn more about how you’re helping people really harness conversations and using podcasts and live streams to do this. And are there any last? Last things you think that people should understand if they’re contemplating this? Well,

 

Tom Schwab  37:15

let me give a couple resources here, right there. And I’m not as good enough, I’m not a good enough communicator to solve everybody’s problems in 45 minutes, right? Yes. So if you just go back to interview valet.com, forward slash phasis. I’ll put a page together there. There’s an assessment we have, you know, 10 questions will podcast interview marketing work for me. I wrote a book called podcast guest profits, how to grow your business as targeted interview strategy. You could buy it on Amazon, or I’ll be happy to give you a copy.

That will be back there also. And if you just want to talk to me, right and say, How could I use this happy to, to jump on a call. And I’ll put all of that back there at interview valet.com Ford slash faces. And I guess the final thing I’ll leave you with here is that what’s ordinary to you is amazing to others. Right? You could help so many people right now, with what you know. And it’s easy to do as a podcast guest as a podcast host. If I can do it from rural southwest Michigan. You can do it from wherever you are.

 

Damon Pistulka  38:29

Yes, yes. That’s for sure. Well, Tom, thanks so much for being here today. Thanks for talking about interview valet and how people can really harness podcasts and live streams to drive conversations that will help them get exposure to potential customers and build the relationships that that will help them.

 

Tom Schwab  38:50

Thank you, David. All right. Well,

 

Damon Pistulka  38:54

if you were listening in today, and you didn’t get a chance to hear this from the beginning, get back to the beginning. Let’s talk to it. Let’s see what you know about. I got tongue tied here. Get back to the beginning and listen to what Tom had to say. Because there’s a lot of things if you’re thinking about using conversations getting on podcast getting on live streams, this is the one you want to listen to. Thanks, everyone. We’ll be back again later. Bye.

 

Schedule a call to discuss your business goals and answer your questions on growing business value, preparing for sale or selling your business.

Check Out Posts Talking About Sales.

Related content

These posts may also interest you

The Faces of Business Live Schedule

The Faces of business Livestream / Podcast episodes are conversations with interesting people sharing life and business experiences to entertain, engage, build community, & help others succeed.

Putting Your Soul Back into Your Work

In this episode of The Faces of Business, Cari Jacobs-Crovetto, executive coach, and the mind behind The Force Majeure / Cari Jacobs-Crovetto discusses how she helps professionals reconnect with their true selves to rediscover who they are and lead more meaningful lives.

Stand out by Writing Your Own Book

In this episode of The Faces of Business, Michael Levin, the visionary behind the Michael Levin Writing Experience and New York Times bestselling author shares how writing your own book can help you stand out, demonstrate thought leadership, and help you break free of the commodity trap.