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Does the thought of selling make your palms sweaty? Do you get that pit in your stomach? There is a way to ask for the sale even if you are a horrible salesperson. You can close the deal without having to be pushy or use a hard close.

Zig Ziglarhad many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want in life.” How true that is.

It is also the key to great sales.

 

GIVE

As you turn your information into engaging entertainment with your podcast, keep in mind that helping people is part of the foundation of a strong relationship. If you take, take, take, your relationship won’t last long. If you are there to give and help, you will develop friends for life.

Ziglar is a great example of helping people. His speeches always offer great tips to improve your life, sales or attitude. The organization bearing his name also has great books, CDs and other products they sell. However, most of Zig’s time was spent on helping others. There is a lot of free Ziglar information available. He consistently helped others and eventually the sales come.

I have learned a lot about sales through my 30 years in radio. Our stations have created my great campaigns for clients.

The successful sales process at our radio stations always began with a customer needs analysis. Rather than simply selling them commercials, we set out to determine their goals. Then, we would create a campaign to help them succeed.

Many clients would come to us to help market their business. When we would ask what they hoped to accomplish, they would say things like “make more sales” or “get more people in the door”.

We would then dive deeper to really determine the client’s pain and how we could best help them overcome those issues.

It wasn’t about selling commercials. It was about helping our clients achieve their goals.

 

THE SALE

There are four essential steps present and necessary in every sale. The four steps must be followed in order for the sale of everything. If one step is skipped, it will derail the entire sales process.

The four steps in the sales process are qualify, rapport, educate and close.

Your podcast is always selling something. It could simply be your ideas. You could also be selling an actual product. You are most likely selling your listener the idea of listening again. Be sure you follow the four steps.

 

QUALIFY

First, you qualify your prospect. Are you right for them and are they right for you? Accept that your show, product and service will not be perfect for everyone. However, it will just right for a few.

The qualification step will probably occur in the description of your show. If your show is about gardening, you probably will have a difficult time attracting someone not interested in gardening. They are not a qualified “buyer”.

 

RAPPORT

The “rapport” step is where you are building the trust. You are creating a relationship where your listener truly believes you are there to help them.

When you get your listener to tune into the show, you begin building rapport from the start. Help your audience where you can.

 

EDUCATE

Next, educate your listener. Explain what problems are solved by your “product”. Explain the importance of solving those problems. Explain how you have succeeded in that process in the past. Describe the transformation. Help your listener solve their problems.

Most podcasters have very little issue with the first three steps. The heartburn comes with step number four … closing the deal.

How do you ask for the sale without feeling like a slimy salesperson? How can you close the deal without the pressure of the hard sell and the discomfort that comes along with it.

 

THE CLOSE

If you have completed the first three steps successfully, the close should be easy. It should handle itself.

If you have truly helped your prospect to this point and clearly explained the steps to the transformation, your prospect should be ready to buy.

The first three steps have found a qualified “buyer”, developed a relationship with that individual, and explained to your listener how you can help them. If the close is difficult, you have probably made a shortcut through one of the steps. Make sure each step is fully executed.

 

SELLING

Marketer Joe Polishsaid great marketing gets people properly positioned, so they are pre-interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified, and predisposed to do business with you (or act on your call-to-action). Great marketing therefore makes selling easy and unnecessarily.

If you have truly engaged your listener and created that strong relationship we’ve been discussing, the selling should take care of itself.

Selling becomes difficult when you are trying to get your listener interested. Selling before your listener is motivated is a challenge. Trying to sell to a listener that isn’t qualified is hard work. If your listener isn’t predisposed to taking action, you will need to sell hard.

When you have taken the time to build the relationship, your listener will be pre-interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified, and predisposed to do business with you. They will be ready to buy.

Selling, in terms of convincing your listener to buy, will be unnecessary. Your marketing and engaging relationship will have them ready for your call-to-action.

When I have a FREE podcast strategy call with a podcaster, we talk about their goals. We also talk about the pain and struggles they have encountered attempting to reach those goals.

Once we have determined the destination and figured out where they pain is, we then develop a plan to reach those goals. I have showed them the transformation. They can envision what is possible.

If I feel I can help them achieve those goals, meaning I have qualified them as a potential client, I simply ask, “Would you like some help making it happen?”

If I have built rapport with them and educated them during the call, they will feel I am the right person to help them reach their goals. If I failed in some point along that path, they will tell me no.

Regardless of whether you use me or not, it is my commitment to help 1,000 podcasters this year learn to leverage their podcast. It has been my experience through my 30 years in radio that your content is much more powerful when it is relationship-based. During our 30-minute call, I hope to teach you a few ways to reach your goals.

 

HELP FOR YOU

I want to help 1,000 podcasters reach their goals. These FREE podcast strategy sessions are part of that journey.

When you seek to serve first, selling becomes much easier. It literally takes care of itself. Give it a try.

 

If you would like a FREE podcast strategy session, get the details at PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.