Your clients are already telling you stories. Here’s why I want you to start using them on your show.
Welcome to Uncommonly More with Stacey Harris. I am Stacey. I’m the host of the show and the CEO of podcast production agency, Uncommonly More. My team and I work with podcasters just like you to shift shows from frustrating time sucks to productive members of sales teams with professional strategic podcast production. You know what, I think that’s enough. Let’s get into the show and we’ll talk more there.
I am in love with the kind of show format we’re going to talk about today because it’s so incredibly helpful. I’m stoked to talk about it. Before we talk about it though, I do want to remind you that there is a Private Podcast Feed called the Podcast Newsroom. This month, we talked about heart-to-heart we needed to have around download numbers, show comparison, and things like that. We talked specifically about some sales plans you need to have in place and some things you need to be thinking about this month as we get ahead of some things we’re going to talk about in December. But more than anything, I want to point you to two trainings we released in September and October because I have been getting crazy bananas feedback from them and I think they would be helpful for you too.
Sign up for the private podcast feed, and then direct your attention immediately to one of these two trainings. Either the one where we talk about the episode types you’re going to want to create in Q4 where we are right now, but honestly, these are the episode types you want to create at any point. We’re going to dig into one of these episode types in today’s episode actually. The other episode is the Private Podcast Feed Training. I have been getting bananas questions about private podcast feeds. We actually just set up a couple private podcast feeds for one of our existing production clients.
\We set up another one for our production client over the summer. We’ve been setting up beaucoup Private Podcast Feeds. If you want to know more about what that looks like, what that entails, and how to use them, be sure you head to that episode inside the private feed. I wanted to get that in there because seriously, every week, I’ve been getting feedback on those two episodes and they’ve been really helpful for people. Make sure that if you like this show, you go and grab access to that show as well. Cool. All right, let’s jump in because, again, one of the episode types we talk about in that newsroom episode is.
Client stories and using testimonials to create content on your podcast.
Today I want to talk about specifically how this can look for a service-based business because this is something that we have done on the show over the course of the last several months. We have some really solid examples to show you what this could look like. I’m also going to pull a couple of examples from some shows we produce. There will be links to all of the episodes I mentioned in the show notes both in the description of the player that you’re listening to right now and also over on the website. If you go to uncommonlymore.com, you will always find these episodes there along with any links mentioned, of course.
Now let’s dig in. The reason I love these episodes is because they allow us to do a couple of really important things with our listener; and that is give them something to look at that they don’t instinctually put on a pedestal. When you are an expert, when you are providing a service, this is really hard because it is silly amounts of easy for our clients to go, “Well, this easy for you to do because you know this, because you went to school for this, because you have 10 years experience in this, because you’ve had your show for eight years. Stacey, of course, you know how to do this.” First of all, the only reason I know how to do this is because I’ve screwed it up for longer than you. It’s just facts. Second of all, it’s not always super helpful for me to be the example for our listeners on the show, for prospective clients, and even for our clients because I have had this show longer than any client we work with. I have had the show longer than any client who’s come to work with us, any prospective client. I very possibly have had this show longer than you’ve had your show. That doesn’t make me inherently better at it. It, again, just means I’ve been screwing things up longer and I have figured some things out in that process.
Now I also have some things like a degree in audio engineering, a background in marketing, and things like that, that are super helpful. But again, at least, some of that came from time on task experience. It’s earned knowledge as I call it. What I want you to be looking at is where is that true for you too? Where is there the ability for your listener to go “Yeah-but”? You have XYZ and that’s what I talk about when I’m talking about these pedestal moments. That’s why I love sharing client stories because it allows you to see yourself in the client.
The same is true for your listeners.
When you bring on a client to talk through something, you are allowing your listener to identify with the client. That’s so incredibly helpful. I think a great example of this—and this is a show I have referenced in the past—is Tara Newman over at The Bold Money Revolution. We’ve been producing that show for a few years now. I’d love, love, love working with Tara. I actually did an episode like this on her show with her because I’m also a client of Tara. She’s my coach. I’ve been in her mastermind for three years now and she’s incredible, and quite frankly, one of my favorite humans.
We got together and we did one of these episodes because I am not a typical of her clients when they start working with her and the kinds of things they’re doing. One of the things we talked about on that show—and again, I’m going to link to it in the show notes because I think it’s really valuable for you to hear—one of the things we did on the show is we talked about where I was at the beginning. We talked about what felt uncomfortable, what felt hard, what didn’t line up so that listeners could go, “Oh my god, that’s where I am. Oh my god, that’s what’s wrong with me. Oh my god, that’s what I’m screwing up.”
Now, in full disclosure, many of those things are not true.
You’re not broken. You’re not screwing things up. It’s just not true. You just haven’t learned things yet, you haven’t experienced things yet. Just like I’m not screwing things up, there’s just information I don’t have yet and I’m working on it, and you’re working on it. Instead of me, of Tara coming on and saying, “Here’s what you might be feeling,” we sat down and we had a conversation that allowed us to talk through where I was, the process of changing that, where I am now, where I’m going next, whatever makes sense as landmarks, connection points for those listeners to go, “Whoa-whoa-whoa, I’m raising my hand. It’s me. It’s me,” it’s those moments that really allow our prospective clients, our listeners, our community to feel seen, heard, and recognized—maybe most importantly, recognized—and definitely allows them to recognize themselves.
When you’re looking at doing these kinds of episodes, it doesn’t necessarily need to be about “Here’s who I am now and this is how you helped me,” but it can be “This is where I was. This is how I tantrumed along the way,” which is very much so what I talked about in that episode where I talked to Tara, full disclosure. But also, what that process felt like and looked like for me allowed them to identify themselves and then set expectations for what’s next. Because you’re already doing a great job of telling them what’s next—making your offer, having your call to action, being really clear on the next steps—but that doesn’t mean that they have a picture of what it looks like yet and that can be really hard. When you tell these stories, make sure you’re including that. Again, that episode with Tara is a great example of what this can look like because I wanted to give you an example outside of my show.
Another way to share client stories to get sales, share client experiences as examples of the work.
A great example of what this can look like where it’s a little less looking like “how they were screwing this up and then I saved them”—not to describe the other episode as that—but inviting your clients on to have just a conversation about something, a great, great example of this is when I sat down with Racheal Cook last month to talk about challenges and using your podcast as a sales tool. It was a fantastic conversation where we talked about the value of her working with our team and the value of her having access to the service we provide. But it’s also very informative. Here’s something this client is doing really well and here’s how that’s valuable to you. There’s still that value-add for your listener. They’re learning something actively from the content but it’s not necessarily “And you could have this too if you work with us.” It’s “Here’s something you could take action on now.” I really, really enjoy those kinds of episodes with clients because again, it allows you as the listener to see yourself as somebody who already works with me. But in this case, it’s less a transformation example and more a support example.
You can go, “Oh, I have that. I have those tools. Ooh, these are the kinds of things this team supports executing.” In some cases, it may be something you’ve already been thinking about doing. I think that the episode with Racheal is a great example of that. I got a lot of feedback from people who said, “I’ve been thinking about doing my challenge forever but I had XYZ, fear or concern so thank you so much for having Racheal on and talking about that because it was really helpful to see that ABC solves my fear on XYZ.” I love that. That’s another great example of what these client stories can look like.
The third way I wanted you to look at this is where do you have the opportunity to share a conversation that can go on to more than one place?
Where can you share an experience you had in a public-facing way? A great example of this is another podcast we produce. It’s called The Truth About Show. It’s hosted by Janet Kafadar. It’s an incredible show for Black life coaches. What’s really cool is we’ve taken content right out of her program and shared it in an episode she released just recently.
This allowed people to hear from her client, asking the question as her client asked it, and then sharing the answer and talking on either side of that about why that’s valuable to you as a listener. Sharing these client stories doesn’t always have to be interviews. They don’t always have to be about bringing the client on and walking them through a narrative and then delivering an executed story. It can often be taking parts of experiences or parts of programs, and sharing that in a way that is supportive of your listener and gives them an idea of what happens inside of working with you, what is behind that door, what’s on the other side of that investment.
Here’s the deal, are you ready for this? This episode is also an example of this because you’ll notice, I used three episode examples here: I used one for me and two from clients. I used client stories, client examples to show you this lesson.
Neither of those clients are here. Neither of those clients had to take time out of the schedule to be interviewed. I did run it by them that it would be okay that I mentioned it, but that’s it, and I was able to share some points of relatability, some points of connection, some actionable advice, whether you work with me or not, and some social proof of the kind of podcast we produce and the kinds of things that they create. That’s massively valuable. Where can you create something like this as you roll out the end of the year, as you’re looking ahead to your launches in Q1? Where can you bring in client stories as part of a promotional schedule, regardless of whether that is providing a service, offering consulting, maybe it’s inside of a training program, whatever that looks like for you? But specifically, for those of you providing a service, showing the results of that service executed is really helpful.
Quick reminder, we do have spots available to work with us this year. We’re only taking on a couple more production clients. Honestly, by the time this episode goes live, we’ll probably only be taking on one or two more production clients. However, I’m also booking for January. If this is something you’re really excited about for 2022, getting some support for your show so that you’re to a point where you’re creating assets like what we’re talking about today but also so that you prep and record and then market and everything in the middle gets handled by our team—I’m talking about the editing, the transcript, the show notes, the scheduling, the audiogram creation, so that all you have to do is take the marketing assets we created for you and use them to promote your show—let’s talk.
Let’s get a time on the calendar either for now to start in January, or you can go ahead and get a calendar time for January and we can get this taken care of for you next year. This does not have to stay on your endless list of to-dos. We can help. Head over to uncommonlymore.com/podcastproduction to learn more about what working with our team looks like. I’m so excited. I will talk to you next week.