SUMMARY KEYWORDS
podcast, people, leveraged, talking, guests, build, relationship, platform, business, audience, services, advertiser, happening, offer, revenue, thinking, create, strategy, book, program
SPEAKERS
Alastair McDermott, Sheryl Plouffe, Voiceover
Voiceover 00:00
Welcome to The Recognized Authority, a podcast that helps specialized consultants and domain experts on your journey to become known as an authority in your field. Here’s your host, Alastair McDermott,
Alastair McDermott 00:10
its authority. I’m your host, Alastair McDermott and today my guest is Cheryl Pluff. From caching from podcasting, sorry, can you Cheryl? Let me start again. Can you say the name of your podcast because I changed my tab?
Sheryl Plouffe 00:24
No worries. I am the host of the cash in on camera podcast. And I have a program called scalable business accelerator and so excited to be here with you, Allison.
Alastair McDermott 00:34
Awesome. I’m glad to be here with a veteran podcaster and live streamer. And clearly I’m a rookie.
Alastair McDermott 00:42
So we’re here today, we thought it would be fun to go live, we were going to record this but we thought it’d be fun to go live and talk about some really interesting aspects, I think of thinking about how people like experts, coaches, consultants can use content, particularly video. And the angle that we were we were taking on this. I think that we both agree that for those kinds of businesses, typically getting sponsorship is not the best way to maximize your revenue revenue, right.
Sheryl Plouffe 01:14
It’s a way to get revenue in the long term. But it’s not the way to maximize it, and certainly not the way to maximize it in the short and medium term. And that’s what we’ll dig in on in this episode. Because I think it’s really important to educate coaches, consultants, XP, people who are in the knowledge industry, but really how to break down the math, really just get on a calculator. In fact, I would even encourage you to do that while we’re doing this episode, like get your phone and get the calculator out and start crunching some numbers with us. Because I think you’ll be surprised to see how this shakes down. Especially if you’ve been thinking about it in the traditional sense of I gotta get an advertiser for my pocket, I need a sponsor for my podcast, that in and of itself is not the answer or solution to get you to the goal that you’ve probably set for yourself, which is in the multiple, six figures or seven figures of revenue?
Alastair McDermott 02:03
Yeah, absolutely. I think that one of the things about podcasting, like I told you before, before we went live, I didn’t make any money from my podcast for quite a long time, I can’t remember it was, it was definitely over six months, it could have been a year, I can’t remember the exact numbers. But then I made a five figure sale, based off of the podcast, and that it immediately covered all of my costs up until that point, so the podcast was then paid for and then some. So I think that people if you have an offering, and I think that’s that’s what’s key for me, and that’s why I was really interested talk to you about this, if you have an offering, that is high ticket that is high value that you can present with your podcast, then that is what is actually going to monetize it in a way. And we say here in the in the title here we say maximizing revenue. But that is what is going to, to actually make it much more profitable for you. So is that is that your philosophy as well
Sheryl Plouffe 03:05
100%. And this is not typically what’s being taught, what’s typically being taught is start a podcast, stick with it be consistent, build your audience. But the truth is that building an audience takes time, it can take a year, it can take two years, three years or more to build a substantial enough audience in order to prove that you’re getting the downloads and the numbers necessary to prove to an advertiser, that it’s worth it for them to sponsor your show. And then when that happens in three years from now, as you’ve been doing podcast episodes, maybe once a week, or even more than once per week without any revenue coming in, because you don’t have the right strategy. You get very disappointed in three years, because the advertiser says, Okay, great. I’m interested, you know, you’ve proven to me that you have, you know, 10,000 downloads per episode, or whatever that number that is, and there are calculators online that you can actually go and check this out. And they’ll say, great, what and then you say, well, great isn’t what I’m what, you know, what are we? What are you going to pay me? And the advertiser says, Well, if it’s a 32nd spot, I’ll pay you $18 For every 1000 downloads. So that you start doing the math and you go, Okay, so that’s $180. That’s a far cry from the 500,000 or million dollar revenue goal that you’ve set for yourself. So that’s why the math doesn’t add up. Because if it’s a 62nd ad, that 60 seconds that you’re taking out of your podcast to devote to that advertiser, they may be willing to pay say $25, maybe upwards of 40 on the very, very high end per mil, right CPM. So it’s doesn’t equate and that’s where I think a lot of podcasters and when we talk about podcasting Alistair, you and I both are proponents of this You’re podcasting. Right? That’s what we’re doing. We both do it. It’s just we have to think about the math and have a better strategy to sell your own products and services.
Alastair McDermott 05:09
Yeah, what what I find really interesting about this, and this is something that I think a lot of people are getting information from the wrong place. Because I think that if you’re in the business to business, the b2b expertise space, the numbers are almost irrelevant. And what I mean by that is, there’s an example I use sometimes, which is, if I got five, 5 million people to listen to my podcast, would would that be useful for me in terms of sales? And if I got five people to listen to the podcast instead, how would that be? And what if those 5 million people were all French teenagers? Well, I don’t have anything for sale to French teenagers, I have nothing against French teenagers, I just don’t have anything that would be useful for them. But if those five people were all business leaders, experts, consultants, business owners, then I could have four sales or five sales from from those five listeners. And that’s what I think is really interesting in the b2b expertise, kind of professional services space, the numbers are so wildly different from how people think about it in the business to consumer space in the b2c space. And so you will see a lot of stuff online, that is b2c oriented, because that’s a much, you know, in terms of numbers, that’s a much bigger market. And so you’ll see people talking about that, and it just doesn’t work the same, like you probably will have less if you have a consumer oriented podcast, you’re probably gonna have a lot more listeners than if you’ve got a business oriented podcast. That’s just the facts of it. And so I think that you have to approach it differently. That’s, that’s just how I think about that. Would you? Do you think about that in the same way?
Sheryl Plouffe 06:46
Yeah, I think it’s a great point that, you know, you have to understand kind of business that you’re in, if you’re in b2c, it’s a different strategy. You know, we happen to work in the b2b space. And so in a business to business space, you’re right, the numbers, you have to think about it differently, but that we have the audience slash listeners of the podcast. And it’s not to say that creating a podcast that you don’t create valuable content and put wonderful things out in front of your audience. And the listeners you do, you’re going to still create quality content, put your thoughts out into the world and edify your guests. But this is an interview podcast model that we’re talking about. So if you really divide that up, and you think about, okay, great listeners, audience, that’s not the focus, though, from a monetization perspective, in the strategy that we’re talking about today, in maximizing revenue. It’s about the guest. So with that, to your point, Aleister, you have the you really have the control over who do you invite as a guest on your show. And so now you can hand pick, and you can pick target, you can really targeted and targeted guests, people that you specifically want to build relationships with, and bring those people on as guests and have awesome conversations and valuable conversations to the benefit of what audience there is, and there’s going to be an audience. But if we’re looking to maximize the revenue, we want to be thinking strategically about who is up with the guests, because they are the conduit to what you need to grow your business. And its three p’s and I’ll be happy to share with you what they are, the three P’s are, is that guest highly likely to become either a prospect highly likely to become a partner. And I’ll break these down in a minute, or highly likely to become a platform where you can speak. So if you focus on now, it’s not to say that we’re going out there and when I gotta get something, it has to be all about me, it’s still coming from a service mindset is still coming from a goodwill mindset, and a reciprocal type of mindset, right? We still want to bring that energy toward this strategy, because it’s not a selfish strategy. But as the person who’s inviting someone to your show, think about that think about is this person highly likely to bring me either to be leading me to a prospect, a partner or a platform, because that’s really where the monetization comes into play.
Alastair McDermott 09:18
Yeah, this. This is something that’s really interesting about podcasting because you can decide who to invite on as guests, you can decide not to have anybody as guests, you can decide to have your peers as guests, you can decide to have celebrities, you know, in your in your space. And you can decide to have potential clients on as well. And I do think that you I mean, for me, the purpose of the podcast always has to be business Focus, the podcast has to serve your business, but ultimately for a podcast to be successful in doing that, it has to serve the audience. And so I think that if you are doing that you do need to think about is this in service of the audience and making it valuable for them as well,
Sheryl Plouffe 10:04
yeah, this is not just about a platform that serves just you and your guests, there still is, you’re still putting out great content, you’re still doing valuable content on topics that matter to an audience. And there is still the potential to monetize through the audience. But we’re talking today, specifically with maximizing revenue, and the maximizing the revenue is coming through your own high ticket or premium price products and services, there could still be a stream of revenue that comes directly through the audience and through the listeners. But we have to understand that that that isn’t going to be the bulk of what brings you to your revenue goals.
Alastair McDermott 10:46
Right. Okay. That’s, that’s interesting. That’s an interesting point. That because that is what I have found, personally, that it that it is not coming directly from the listeners in that way. I have had outreach from listeners. And because the services that I’m offering are usually high value, high ticket services. Only, I only need a handful of leads every quarter from the podcast in order for all of the effort to pay for itself, which is nice. But I think that it is really important to have that. And what you’re talking about here is you were talking about if you don’t already have a large audience, how can you make it work for you anyway? So I think that’s, that’s interesting
Sheryl Plouffe 11:31
analysis. I mean, and that is the reality of people who are starting a podcast, they don’t have an audience yet. Yeah, that’s what I meant by saying that in the short and medium term, it can be really challenging for a newer podcaster. To get an advertiser, you don’t have, you have no audience, you can’t get an advertiser because they’re only advertising because you can prove that you have an audience. So it’s a chicken and egg situation. So it’s short and medium term. And frankly, for the entire term of your podcast, think about the strategy of maximizing your revenue through your own products and services. So if you have an I’m a big proponent of leveraged programs. So if you have leverage program, ranging anywhere from say, you know, three on the low end, 3k to 10k. And then you start getting into high ticket products and services, 25k, or even 100k. You start doing the math on that. And if your goal, let’s say your goal is to earn seven figures, now we I happen to be the co founder of the seven figure podcaster program. And so if you want to earn seven figures with a business podcast, because we are talking about b2b here, with a business podcast, and you have a 100k offer, you need 10 People can not 1,000,010 If you have a 25k, high ticket offer, and you want to earn seven figures, what is that? Like? 40? Yeah, 40 people, right. And so you start crunching the numbers, and you start realizing these are not gargantuan numbers that we’re talking about. And this is why I feel like there’s this transition, at least in my mind, from the social media, you know, hamster wheel that we’ve just come through in the last decade of post post post and a dance and all kinds of crazy things. So we can get, you know, people to follow us fall, it’s not about the followers. You can have a million followers, faceless people following you on Instagram, good for you. Unique clients.
Alastair McDermott 13:31
Yeah, so let’s, let’s actually dig into that, because I’m interested in knowing a couple of things. So how you think about because I noticed you use the word leveraged about your program. So how you think about what what a leveraged program is? And then how you’re actually getting those clients from that content? So how is the content actually creating the clients? So, um, you know, I understand that there was a part there where it’s the relationship. And I think that maybe we need to address that. But let’s talk about the offer, because I think that the offer is key. Because if you don’t have the offer, nothing else will work you have to have the some sort of high ticket relatively high ticket offer in place before you do this, or at least start to develop it when you when you start to do it.
Sheryl Plouffe 14:24
Okay, so let’s dig into that because it is important, you have to have an offer how many times that I’ve talked to people who are quote, unquote in business only to find out there’s no offer. So you have to have an offer to start with. Ideally, though, you need a higher ticket offer, you need either a high ticket offer of 25k plus, or at least a premium priced leveraged offer between three and 10k. At least have that you know, and so let’s just use the the lower end of this for the sake of argument In a 3k leveraged program, not a course a program. So in my mind, what that means is that it, it might have a course component to it, it might have tutorials that are self study tutorials that might be part of the program. But the program is not just, hey, buy my thing and good luck to you. And self study, I just have never seen people get success with that, because they’re typically lower priced. People don’t value them as much as they do when they’ve invested something a little bit higher in themselves, they’re more committed to completing it if they’ve invested more. And aside from that self study is not the game. It’s about actual transformation. And so what does it require actual transformation might require some tutorials that they have to go through. But it requires skill building, you know, it also requires accountability. It also requires mentorship. And so when you bake those things into your leveraged offer, where you can do, let’s say, a group format of coaching, as part of a leveraged offer, you can still do one to one, you can still do one to one coaching in a group environment. And so now it allows you to leverage your time and energy to serve more people, and still help them get the transformation that they desire and that they’ve invested in getting. And I’m a big believer in, you know, return on investment, like you want to get a return on investment, this isn’t just about educating yourself, education information is a commodity, we can get that anywhere. It’s really about the mentorship and the accountability in the skill building that actually helps people transform. So whether your program is priced at 3k, or 10k. You know, there’s that range that I think everyone should have something in that range. And then we start talking about higher ticket which we can get to in a little bit where I’m talking about 25k, those team things tend to be more, there might be some done for you services within that, that realm, you know, the 25k, and the 100k. Especially, a lot of that will be done for you type services.
Alastair McDermott 17:19
Yeah, people listening to this. So first of all, I think that everybody listening to this, or watching this is already in the mindset that, you know, you need to raise your prices for yourself. But also because your clients, you got people, first of all, you’d be working with better quality clients. And people who pay more inevitably are far better to work with than people who play less. That’s, that’s just the way it works. But it changes so many different things about your business, once you start to charge more. And you can reduce, you work with less people, which means you’ve got more time, they’re more committed to what they’re doing, which means they’re more likely to be successful. And the other thing is, if you make a big transformation for somebody, so let’s say you 2x or 5x, what they are already doing, then if they’re starting off from a bigger position, then you’re actually having more impact. If somebody has a $10,000 business, a new five exit, now they’ve got $50,000, if they’ve got a million dollar business, now they’ve got $5 million, you are providing more value. So working, you know, increasing your prices, gives you more time lets you work with better clients, and means that you’re actually able to provide more value because they’re more bought in. And you know, you’re you’re not under time pressure or in that kind of scarcity mindset. So I think it’s really important. Just I know I’m harping on about the increase your prices thing. But I think that almost everybody listening to this or watching this can probably double their prices, and it will have a positive impact on what you’re doing. So I think that’s, that’s, that’s really crucial. The other thing is, what the whatever that transformation is, has to actually be valuable, you have to actually be solving a real problem that is valuable for people that they’re willing to pay. I think Perry Marshall calls it the bleeding neck, you know, you have you have to sit nicely image. But you have to find clients who have a bleeding neck who have a problem that they really care about getting it solved. And I brought it into my sales process. I don’t know where I got this from. I got this from somebody where I would ask, you know, is this an urgent problem? Can we put it off? And inevitably, if they said, No, it’s not urgent, we could leave it for six months, then you probably don’t want to work with that client. Because it’s not like you want the ones who are totally motivated, because they’re the ones who are going to actually get the value from whatever you’re doing. So yeah, so can you dig a bit more into that leverage program because I’d like to get into the nuts and bolts of what that actually looks like. Maybe Could you give me an example of what that what that would look like and how you would build it out or think about it?
Sheryl Plouffe 20:05
Sure. I mean, I’ll give you a real life example. So right now I’m teaching a thing called the YouTube masterclass. And so I have students of my scalable business accelerator who are also taking YouTube masterclass. And I’ve also sold it as a separate leverage program to other people outside of my mentorship program who might be interested in YouTube itself. So this YouTube masterclass is of as a four part framework, and that’s one of the tenants, I believe, of having a leveraged offer of this nature is that you want to have a method, there has to be a framework or a method to base this, base this on a skeleton, if you will. Now, I happen to be a big proponent of Kajabi. I love Kajabi as a platform for building out these types of leveraged offers, because it’s an all in one marketing platform, and there are others out there, but I’ve been using it for years and love it and have no reason or cause to move to other platforms. But there are other ones out there. And so what I do is I have a tutorial based aspect to the program that and there’s a reason behind it. It’s not just because what the reason is because it’s video based, and I want people to be able to go watch the tutorials and speed them up and playback at two times the speed if they want to go through it faster. Or if they want to be able to review portions of it as opposed to it being taught live. They can go through and I need to watch that again. Let me rewind that, Oh, I see what she’s doing. Oh, okay, because it’s demonstrative, and I’m showing my screen and screen sharing, etc. So there is a tutorial based aspect to it. And then I supplement that with weekly calls, weekly group calls, coaching calls, where each person gets one on one attention. And it’s master mindI in the sense that I encourage everyone to think about not just, you know, does this apply to me, but how does it apply to me, because chances are very high that as each person has a specific issue, it applies to all people in the group. So we record those calls. And then those are added in the tutorial, it tutorials for them to review at their leisure. So those are the main aspects of it. I also give people access to me to ask questions in a telegram group. It could be slack, it could be Telegram, some type of messaging platform, not social media. But that is independent of social media and to be able to text me and ask me questions 24/7. And they have access to me for a specific amount of time in order to do that. Well, that’s the premise of it. And you can, it depends on what your offer development is. And that’s one of the things I teach as well. But you want to be thinking about transformation, what is it going to take to get them from point A to point B, and the the steps, the milestones that need to happen in between. And that’s how you base that’s how you build up that program.
Alastair McDermott 23:00
Very cool. I think that one thing you mentioned there is particularly important, is the development of some kind of framework or methodology or process. I think having something with your own branding. So it’s your signature system that differentiates you. And I think that it’s important as well, because then people understand, okay, she’s not winging it, he’s not winging it, he actually has a process that he goes through. And so it gives them reassurance as well that there’s, you know, for me, like I talk to people about this, it doesn’t really matter what the process is, so long as there is a process underlying there. Now, obviously, you want the process to be good. But I think it’s really important that you have some kind of signature process, and branding and IP people will tell you that it you know, having that trademark is a good thing to do. And, you know, because then you then you’ve got your signature unique process that only you have. It’s your secret sauce, like the old McDonald’s burger sauce, you know, this is our secret sauce. And it becomes your secret sauce that that nobody else can provide. And, and it gives it also gives the reassurance that you’ve got that so I think that is a particularly key ingredient. And it took me quite quite a long time to figure that part out.
Sheryl Plouffe 24:23
Yeah, I think that is an important part. And, you know, listen, you might not have it dialed in perfectly when you’re first starting. In fact, I would even argue mine, right as it doesn’t have the sexiest name, call it the four P framework. Right? This just, you know, it’s pretty basic. But it still serves a purpose to give a framework to be able to say these are the steps that we’re going to go through so that as your students are going through your leveraged program that they understand what stage they’re at, and so that they can build upon that they will okay I’m in this stage right now that I’m really I’m doing this We’re so I can get to the next stage. And as they see progress as they go through the, the method, and I think that’s really important. Now when it comes to how are you actually selling it, which I think was the second part of your question, how are you then selling, let’s say that leveraged offer, and we just gave one example of what that might be at a 3k, you know, level 10k Level, but doesn’t matter if it’s 3k 10k 25k or 100k. The your offer needs to be sold, you need to generate leads qualified leads for that particular thing that you do. And that’s where Video, Video, podcasting, YouTube, all of these things come into play, in addition to speaking, like, at the core of a podcast, a video podcast, what is it really, it’s a method, it’s a way to speak. What is YouTube, it’s you speaking on camera, it’s you sharing your expertise, your insights, your knowledge, your stories, through YouTube, right at the core of it, it really is about your visibility, and you getting out there and speaking about and positioning yourself as an authority. Right authority at what you do. And so at the core of it is getting out there and being seen and sharing those messages, building that thought leadership so that people come to know you for that thing.
Alastair McDermott 26:22
Yeah, absolutely. And so obviously, I’m all about authority. And I think that it’s, I think that it’s important, because it’s not just about creating, you know, a kind of a glut of authority building content, but you do have to be strategic about creating the content that is actually going to result in sales, because it’s very easy to create a lot of content around a topic that you that you’re very passionate about. That doesn’t result in sales. And so I’d be interested to get your perspective on that.
Sheryl Plouffe 26:58
Well, I think it comes back to what I said earlier, I don’t know that it’s, it’s not always direct sales. It’s either prospects, partners, or platforms. So let me break that down. It can happen where you do a video podcast, either you host or you’re a guest on someone else’s, you’re visible, you’re out there, sharing your expertise, and it results in a client right away, a prospect reaches out and says, You’re my person, something you said really resonated with me, let’s go and let’s do this. And you get on a call, and it leads to a sale that has happened. It’s happened to me also where people see videos, specifically on YouTube from three years ago, and they just happen to fall on it now. And they’re like, you’re my person, let’s talk and let’s do and that leads to a sale, so can lead to a sale immediately prospects. The second one is plot as partners, by partners, I mean, collaborations, joint ventures, affiliate relationships, commission based relationships, promotion partners, strategic alliances, those types of partnerships are so valuable, I might even argue, maybe even more valuable than Direct Prospect lead, like direct prospects, because partners are long term. The other thing is platforms. So this is where you think about, if it’s, it could be it could be all three. But platforms are places where you can speak now, in the premise of, let’s say, a video podcast, your guests might have a platform of their own, that you can speak on. But they might also know of someone or have access to someone who has a platform that you’d be ideal for, and is willing to make that introduction. So sometimes it’s not one degree, it could be two degrees, or maybe more degrees of separation, but it’s a connection nonetheless. So this idea of thinking about it, not just as I gotta get a sale right now, its prospects, its partners and platforms. This creates a flywheel effect of momentum in your business that really can help you to scale and grow quickly.
Alastair McDermott 29:07
Yeah, that’s that’s a great point. And I was just thinking about relationships there, as you said that, because I think that’s, that’s the underlying thing there. And relationships, like podcasting is incredible for building relationships. And that’s, that’s the thing that underpins whether you’re bringing on a potential client, or you’re bringing on, you know, a celebrity in your field, or you’re bringing on a peer, you’re developing relationship with somebody in a way because he gets to talk to them for an hour, or whatever length of time it is. And that means you get to know somebody new and you get to explore is there an opportunity there for like a strategic partnership like you’re talking about? So that is that is really crucial. And that’s, that’s something that that I left out when I was talking about content and atoms, creating content strategically. And I think that you can. But I think that it’s really important as well to talk about the relationship that that is actually getting graded here. And like we talked, we got to know each other before we got on here, because we had a chat in the, in the green room. And I’m sure that you got to know a bit about me and the way that I work by just saying, when I do a screen share, and you saw some of the behind the scenes, you know, what tools I use, all of those little bits and pieces go into the fact that you also use the same service as me for the live broadcast restream. You know, we connected over that all of those seemingly minut details are actually things that helped to build a relationship. I know, I’m getting a bit meta here. But I think that those those things, then feed into, you know, well, let’s have a chat later and see, is there an opportunity to work together in terms of one of these strategic partnerships? And I’m sure that we will have that conversation at some point. But that’s, I think that that is really key. And I do think that the I do think that the content that we create, I think we have to get a bit more strategic about the way that we’re approaching it. But I also think that what the point that you’re making here about the relationships in terms of prospects, partners and platforms, I think that’s really crucial as well. Is there a fourth P that I’m missing, by the way, prospect partner platform?
Sheryl Plouffe 31:23
Well, I mean, I think I think at the end of the day, what does that all lead to profits? To continue the analysis to continue the piece? I think it really is about profits. Yeah. And why Okay, profits, because profits, allows you to do your best work, it gives you the freedom to be able to do, what you probably have felt is your calling. And that’s why you got into coaching, or why you got into consulting or why you got into mentorship and got into this space is because you feel likely a calling within yourself to do this type of work. And is it a hobby or is it a business, you need profits if it’s a business, and the benefit of that is now you can you can you can relax, right, you can be in a place where you can do your best work and not have all the stress hanging over you because you don’t have profits. You can also be more philanthropic, you can give back to your community or to causes that are important to you. So I think it’s really key and important. And to your point, Alastair about the relationship building, the thing that I love about podcasting, in particular, as opposed to a little bit different than YouTube. But with podcasting, really what this is, is it is a relationship building machine. Because you and I have just we’ve just worked with 32 minutes into this episode. This is a high touch relationship building event that’s happening right now, because we’re talking to each other, we just spent 32 minutes or more in the green room talking to each other. That’s a high touch activity that helps to build a relationship. Not to mention that if you have a podcast, let’s say a pre interview call of 15 minutes, this would be the second high touch touch point. And then if we have another call after this to say, Hey, I’d love to know more about your work. Let me know let’s dig in a little deeper. It’s a third touch point. touch points are what build relationships, guess what? You’re in a relationship. And so how do I meet new people? I think podcasting is one of the best ways you can do that.
Alastair McDermott 33:27
Yeah, I’m 100% with you on that. I wrote about this in the introduction to my book, which is called 33 ways not to screw up your business podcast. And the reason that book came about is because I interviewed on Gen Xer on this podcast, and is an author and she said, Hey, I shouldn’t use the to my, to my publisher, Melissa. And so I had Melissa Wilson come on the podcast and I interviewed her. And she said in the greenroom that at the end, she said, hey, you know else you should write a book for me for my series 33 ways not to screw up. And she said, so I said, Well, what would that be about? So well, you know all about podcasting, you want to write one on by podcasting. And so I now have a published book about business podcasting, because of those relationships. And what it wasn’t just a one step it was that two step process of on saying, hey, I’ll introduce you to Melissa. And, you know, that all came about and that would not like I never would have written that book. Without having that relationship. You know, it’s not
Sheryl Plouffe 34:25
wonderful. I mean, that’s a really great example of what this is. And I think that elsewhere, one of the things that’s happening I think, in social media and kind of in the more front facing front of the house to us hospitality term front of the house online is that we’re only seeing the front of the house. We’re only seeing the current businesses happening in the back of the house. Yeah, business is happening in the calls you don’t see on Facebook. Business is happening on the call that likely you and I are going to have after this front of the house event which is Is your visible platform of this conversation? That business is happening in the back of the house? And people, coaches, consultants, experts are thinking that oh, is it, you know, they’re trying to sell on social media, it’s not social media, it’s not selling media, it’s social media, be social, but have a strategy for what is your back of the house strategy? You know, because that’s where the business is happening.
Alastair McDermott 35:25
Yeah. And for me, to circle back to what we’re saying here, it’s about when you are going into create your contents and create your show, whatever format and platform you choose for that is that you do, at least at the least start to think about what is your leveraged offer, what is going to be some sort of highly profitable program that you can have as an offering, which will will be, it may not be something that you sell directly on the podcast, but it’s something that you will be selling through the podcast, if that’s, if that’s a good way to put us in that back room, possibly, and in those relationships, to people who contact you and who subscribe, and then subscribe to your email list and then reply to one of your auto responders. And that’s where you have those conversations with those people. But I think that if you go into it thinking, I’m going to start a business podcast, and I’m going to grow a big audience, and I’m going to get sponsored, I think that is a that’s a slow road. And it can be a painful road. So
Sheryl Plouffe 36:36
and the reason it is a painful road, I talk to people all the time who started a business podcast. And then they had no strategy for how they were going to monetize it the way that we’re talking about in the short and medium term. And they get frustrated, because they’re being consistent because they’ve been told to be consistent. First of all, I think that their, their production methods are probably off kilter. And it’s taking them way too long to be producing the episodes. So that’s another sort of aspect of this is the actual production and how it’s coming to fruition. But aside from that, there’s no strategy for how to monetize it. In the short term in the immediate term, they get frustrated, they pod fade, right? They fade out, they just go okay, I’m seeing the ROI. I don’t understand some people are even paying people to do their podcast and they go, I’m putting up the money, but I’m not getting anything in return. And then they just give up. And they’re giving up because they don’t have a proper strategy to sell their own premium and high ticket products and services.
Alastair McDermott 37:33
Yeah, and that what you’re talking about, they’re like in the production phase. And I was just talking to a coaching call last night about this, which is actually going to be a podcast episode about repurposing there. But it was about podcast production. And like one of the things I think that is key is to reduce friction as much as possible to make it easy for yourself. So that is, so deleting things, unnecessary steps you don’t need to do so maybe editing. We’re broadcasting live here and recording that. So so we are removing the editing step, and then delegating or automating everything possible. So you know, Zapier can do a lot of of the publishing and production stuff for you. And like I have shownotes automatically generated, this automatically gets leveled in terms of the sound leveling, and it gets put up onto Google Drive. And, you know, there’s the the show notes aren’t automatically generated 100%. But we do use tools to help us generate those show notes. And even to to brainstorm titles for this, because we wrote the title for this just before we went live. We use we use tools to do that. And there’s lots of these tools that you can use to make your life easier. And I think that you should, you know, take away that friction.
Sheryl Plouffe 38:50
I am a huge fan of the edit list podcast as much as possible. Listen, if you’re doing a business podcast, you’re doing it because you want to grow your business. You didn’t you’re not creating this because you want to become a professional editor. And there’s a difference. Like if your business is not editing, then you ought not to be editing, you got to find ways to be efficient. 100%. Yeah.
Alastair McDermott 39:11
I just want to shout out to Cody Landry, who is watching on Facebook. Hey, Cody, thank you. He says great content. And he’s sharing this to a few people. So he’s enjoying it. I know that we’re tight on time. So I want to wrap up, I have some questions that I usually ask. The first question is, what would you say to somebody who would be your number one tip to give to somebody who wants to build their authority?
Sheryl Plouffe 39:40
Know that you need the basics you need to have the basics nailed down. So you have to know who you are, what you’re a subject matter expert at and who it is you’re trying to attract. You’d be surprised how many people don’t have those found foundations set in place. So I think that’s really where it has to start is just, it’s really a self aware airness. Yeah, who are you? How do you want to show up? Who do you want to be known as? What is your subject matter expertise? Can you eloquently and succinctly expressed that? And who is it you’re trying to attract?
Alastair McDermott 40:13
Yeah, brilliant. Yep, absolutely foundational and absolutely necessary. I do like to ask about books. Is there a business book or some other kind of resource that has been useful for you in your journey?
Sheryl Plouffe 40:25
There are so many I have a lot of books I like the one thing I like the one thing by Jay Pappas and Gary Keller and I also Alex from Mozi, big fan of him David Fagan. Just note numerous different books that I’m that I’m a fan of I love I love that most of the books that I actually that I have, I actually listened to books more than I actually physically read them that are on my bookshelf, but there are so many I love Dan Kennedy’s were just so many.
Alastair McDermott 40:57
Cool. Is there a fiction book that you really liked? Or are you more into movies, TV?
Sheryl Plouffe 41:05
No more into movies and TV? I’m a big prints fan. So if you would ask me my favorite movie, I’m going to tell you it’s a prince movie. That got panned. Okay. But I love it. It’s called under the cherry moon. If you’re a prince fan, then you get it. If you’re not, and you go, I don’t understand that. But yes, I’m a huge Prince fan have been since I was 12. And so music and movies.
Alastair McDermott 41:31
Cool is where it’s at. Cheryl, where can people find you if they want to learn more? Yeah, if
Sheryl Plouffe 41:36
they go to Cheryl uplift.com, you’ll be able to see a button to book a call with me, you’ll see my signature card there. And typically, I’m on that signature card. I mean, I keep you can book a call with me a quick win call to do some quick analysis of a cash injection, for your for yourself and for your business over 20 minutes. There are some questions that you have to answer in order to qualify for that call. But it’s a 20 minute call. It’s a quick win call. You’ll also find their resources, where I’m speaking next. If I’m, you know, if I’m going to be speaking on a summit or something of that nature, I put that all on my signature card. And that’s linked up on all the social platforms at Cheryl Pluff as well.
Alastair McDermott 42:16
Awesome. I will put all of those links in the show notes. Well, Cheryl, thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate it. Um, let me just after the top of the hour, sorry for keeping you off. But it’s been great. It’s been great. Yeah. So thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Thanks for listening, I know that you’ve got a choice of podcasts and shows that you can listen to. So I really do appreciate your time and your attention. If you did find this episode interesting. I would truly appreciate if you could take 30 seconds to rate the show in your podcast player or even leave a text review. It won’t take you long but it has a huge impact on the growth of the show. And it also helps to motivate me and continuing to do it. So it’s right where you’re listening to the show. You can also find a link in the show notes which will take you to rate and review. Thank you again. See you in the next one.
Can experts monetize content? Can they do it when they don’t have a large audience?