136: How to Get Clients Through Podcasting with Bethany Wrede Peterson

Andrea Liebross: Welcome to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Liebross. Each week, I focus on the systems, strategy, and big thinking you need to CEO your business and life to the next level. Are you ready? Let's go.

Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I am thrilled that you are here. Today, we are going to talk with Bethany about attracting and finding new clients. I think this is a great way to wrap up our final episode in the Business Audit to Business Awesome podcast episode series because this is really something that helps you bridge the back end of your business, all the behind-the-scenes. We've talked about systems, processes, numbers, and people, that's all behind the scenes, to the front end of your business where you are facing your client or your prospective clients.

That is why I put this episode right where I put it as our wrap-up to this series. I think Bethany's take on it is interesting. I completely agree with her take. Sit back, buckle up, and listen in to my conversation with Bethany on how to create more clients.

Hey, my friends, welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I am thrilled to have my friend Bethany here with us today and we're going to talk all about how to get new clients which is a topic that comes up all the time, at least, in my coaching. She is an expert on this. I'm going to have her introduce herself and then we're going to get going and share some great information with you. Bethany, tell us who you are, what you do, all the things.

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Hey, Andrea. Thank you so much for having me on the show today. It is an honor and a pleasure to be here. I am a podcast coach and I'm also a certified high-performance coach. That's a type of life coaching.

To give you just the really quick run down there, I decided recently to up the ante on my impact and actually certify as a high-performance coach because podcast coaching and all the work that I'm doing with my clients like I'm sure you're doing with yours really comes down to a lot of mindset work, goals, habits, all the things. I'm really excited to add that string to my bow and I'm really excited to be here today to talk to you and your audience on how to get clients through wonderful conversations.

Andrea Liebross: Through conversations. You are an interior designer also by trade, so how did you get into podcasting? How did that transition happen? Also, I guess, was it a result of trying to get clients for your interior design business?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Yeah, good question. I will give you the short story. I was an interior designer for many years in London and then when I moved back to Minneapolis where I'm from originally, I was designing here as well, and in 2018, I broke away and created my own studio. Of course, that comes with its own challenges like how do you get clients when you're on your own?

So I started a podcast for, at that time, my niche was single guys who were transitioning. Either they were maybe divorcing or what I should say is they had gone through a divorce and they were looking for love or maybe they're a single guy looking for love, never been married, etc., and so I thought, “You know what, what's a way to reach these guys?” Well, they listen to podcasts so a lot of them were in the tech industries, etc. So I was like, “Okay, I'm going to start a podcast to help these guys out.”

I started ARRIVED, one of my podcasts tests in 2019, and of course, as everyone remembers and I'm sure would prefer not to, but that first lockdown that we had in about March 2020, a friend of mine in LA who's also an interior designer reached out to me and he said, “Look, I can't get into my clients' homes anymore to do initial consults because, of course, we're in lockdown so I need another way to reach my clients. Can you help me start a podcast?”

At the time, Andrea, I was really reticent to help him because I had just Googled, YouTubed, and basically cobbled my own podcast together. Maybe there were podcast courses out there. Maybe there were podcast coaches out there. I didn't know of them at the time but I had to have that conversation with myself. I had to do that some of that self-coaching to say, “Okay, I can get myself involved in this monetary exchange of coaching you to start your podcast,” and I had to say to myself, “If it's a horrible experience, I will just give him his money back.”

What's really interesting, and I'm sure a lot of your listeners can resonate with this as well, is that sometimes, I think especially as creative entrepreneurs, we can be a little bit reluctant to engage in that monetary exchange even though we need to make money just like everybody else. That was a little bit of mindset work that I had to do on myself because he said to me, “I'll charge you your consulting rate for design, I just need to know how to start a podcast.”

That went really well and that flipped a switch in my brain to go, “Wow, I actually really like this coaching thing.” Then more interior designers came out of the woodwork to work with me to help them start and launch their podcast.

What I realized pretty quickly in this whole process was that yes, people want to know how to start a podcast and that's obviously very imperative, you need to know how to launch the thing tactically, but what they were really coming to me for was that mindset work was learning how to find their voice and really put their voice out there in a way that they maybe never had to prior when they were designing.

Because the design was their voice but now suddenly you throw a microphone at somebody and you press record, that's a pretty intense thing for a lot of people. That's how I got started in podcast coaching and I continue to do that to this day.

Andrea Liebross: So cool, brilliant. I think sometimes what happens with interior designers or anyone that's service-based, doesn't matter, we tend to focus on, “Okay, I need to have a social media presence. That's going to be the way. That's my ticket to finding more clients. I've got to create Reels, videos, and all the things.” I always say that's one element of it all but why do you think a podcast is really essential for building your brand and growing your business?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: That's a really great question. I like to say that it's about relationships, not Reels. What I mean by that is not to say that social media isn't important, we do know that we need to have a social media presence. Our prospective clients are on social media a lot more probably than any of us would care to admit on the day-to-day.

But I'm going to venture that your listenership has high-ticket offers, and when you have a high-ticket offer that you are selling, it takes a heck of a lot more—I'll keep it clean—to sell that high-ticket offer and to really build that sense of trust than these really quick cute quippy Reels alone. That's why I said at the top here that we create and we have conversations with prospective clients and we build that trust and that's what develops the relationship to help someone make the buying decision even potentially into that initial consult.

As a high-performance coach, I offer a free consult to any prospective client who might want to work with me at that level. But in order for them to even sign up to speak to me about really personal things takes a lot of trusts and that does not come from just stories and social media alone, it comes from having a podcast in which we're engaging people and we are talking about what is vulnerable to us, what makes us authentic, how we're providing value for our listener, and really start to develop—even though it's a one-way relationship until that person reaches out to you to book a consult or call, whatever it might be, get your free resource—that's how you really start to develop and hone that sense of initial rapport with your prospective clients that then when they make that high ticket buying decision, it's a no-brainer for them.

Andrea Liebross: Super interesting that I've been doing tons of podcast guesting and I also have my own podcast. What I've found is a lot of times, people find me when I'm guesting on episodes but then they come listen to my podcast to really test me out in a sense, to really see if this person is someone I want to even have a consult with.

It's a rare day that someone gets on a consult with me who hasn't listened to, at least, one of my podcast episodes. It's so, so true. I think I could do all the Reels in the world and that still doesn't equate to hearing my voice, seeing how I talk, and how I put concepts together, and whether or not I'm relatable to them because it takes 27 times, you shared with me, for someone to, 27 touches?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Yeah. You know how it “used to be.” Like we were saying before we hit record, I was like, “Well, we used to live in this billboard culture where you had yellow pages.” It would maybe take seven touchpoints, seven interactions before someone would make a buying decision.

We might think that's a lot but if you think about how much noise is out there, how often we're on social media, how we're bombarded with advertising culture, it takes now, according to this Forrester report that I was reading, not 7, but 27 interactions for someone to even take that first step to engage with you. I don't mean necessarily like a post on social media, what I mean is to book a consult or to reach out and say, “Hey, can you help me,” in whatever shape or form that might be.

When you think about that and you think about how social media is literally algorithmically based to steal your attention from one Reel to another versus a podcast where it's a long-form, audience attention is much more generous, it might still take 27 interactions, and that's not to say it's going to take 27 episodes so I want to put that out there for any listener who's like, “I just have to do 27 episodes and then I'll be like in the money with the clients.”

Andrea Liebross: “I'm in. I'm in.”

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Right. We don't know. It all depends. But when we have a podcast, knowing that it's going to take that much more to convert—and I don't always love the sales language but for purposes here considering we're talking about getting clients and prospecting, I think it makes a lot of sense—we know that someone who listens to a podcast is really developing that relationship with you because one, they're not already focused on what's happening in the next social media post or the next Reel, they might be on the treadmill, they might be cooking dinner, they might be driving, they might be falling asleep at night but they're giving you that time and attention.

That's that sweet spot of really getting into their heart, as I like to say, getting your voice out there, getting into their heart, helping them realize that not only do you have tremendous value to provide them through your podcast and through your services ultimately but you're really developing that relationship through those conversations. That's what gets clients, conversations developing that trust.

Andrea Liebross: Totally. Alright, let's say you've got your podcast, then what are the essentials, what do you need to do on that podcast in order to get that person to take the next step and say, “Hey, Bethany, I want to talk to you,” what elements need to be included in the podcast to tell them, and do you literally need to tell them, “This is the next thing you need to do”?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Yes. So many podcasters, I think so many what I should say is, and if you have a podcast, you're a podcaster but I think a lot of people out there don't think that they're podcasters. The thing that I would always tell every podcaster, every business owner who has a podcast is absolutely every single episode, you need to have at least one call to action, at least, one CTA.

You want to have, ideally, a call to action at least at the very end of every single episode in your outro to say, for example, “If you love what you hear, go to mywebsite.com to check out more.”

However, we do know that a lot of times, especially if you're running a weekly show or maybe it's multiple times a week, people often click out at the very end when they hear that outro music. So I also encourage any of my clients who have podcasts and anyone who's out there starting a podcast, have a call to action right in the very beginning of the show in certain episodes and then break up the show in the middle with a call to action, right in that middle.

You can keep it short, 15-30 seconds, and that call to action could be, “Go to my website,” “Book a call with me,” “Here's my free resource,” a downloadable, I'm sure your audience knows all about free resources. Those are wonderful ways to attract the listener and convert them from a listener, not yet into a loyal customer but to actually engage on that next level.

That was one of the biggest mistakes I think that I made when I first started my podcast is I relied simply alone on providing the value, having the great content, giving them all the tips and tricks when my audience was the single guys initially in ARRIVED, and not having a strong-enough call to action and then wondering, “Why isn't this podcast thing working?” Well, it's because I didn't provide them enough of a call to action.

I wasn't breaking up the CTAs as much. I think listeners of podcasts know that there's an exchange happening. You're providing them a ton of tremendous free value and in exchange, you're also making an offer for them to download your free guide, which of course then bumps them onto your email list and then you can start to market to them a little bit more assertively at that point as well. I like to have a call to action either at the very beginning before I start the episode, in the middle, and always at the end, and honestly, sometimes all three.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. Is there such thing as having too many offers, too much free content, too many things to do?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: I think that we have to make sure that when we are putting those calls to action in, we're not breaking it up too much. It still has to feel organic so that it doesn't feel like commercial radio. But I don't think that we can ever provide too much free value. I think that question comes from someone who thinks, “Well, if I provide all of my good secrets, if I give away the farm in the podcast, no one's going to reach out to me.”

What we fail to remember there when we have that mindset mentality is one, that's coming from a sense of scarcity, two, you are making that assumption, and when I say you, I mean really me because I made that assumption for a long time because I tended to be, when I was first starting out my business, a very scrappy solopreneur. I DIYed the heck out of everything because, at that point in my business, I didn't have the resources to hire things out.

But what you have to remember, especially if you're selling a high-ticket offer, is that your audience more than likely wants a done-with-you or a done-for-you service. So you can give them all the step-by-step that you want or tell them how to do a specific thing but you have to remember when you're podcasting, so many of your audience is just still going to throw their hands up in the air and say, “This is great. I trust that you know what you're talking about. I'm just going to hire you anyway because I want it done quicker. I want it done faster. I want a proven specific process that you're going to lead me through that a podcast can't individuate in that respect,” if that's a word, and they want to work with you at that next level.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. I think it's interesting because sometimes on my podcast I say something to the effect of “Don't just be a consumer. Don't just consume these podcasts. That's what I call passive action. Now it's time for you to take some massive action to actually take what you're learning and take that next step. That might mean booking a consult call. That might mean having me come alongside you literally and do whatever you need done with you.”

Because we can consume podcasts just like we consume social media in a sense. Until we take that next step, nothing changes. We've got lots of great ideas, which you say, “Oh, I'm going to remember that too,” because you're listening to the podcast as you're walking or something, you're like, “I'm going to remember that,” and then of course, it's out of your brain. I think it is okay to keep reminding a listener to take the next step.

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Absolutely. What's brilliant too about not feeling concerned or not being worried about giving away too much free content is that inevitably, someone will work with you who really wants to work with you but just are not in a place right now to be able to invest in your service and that's okay. You can always then guide them to your free resource and other podcast episodes that can help them in the meantime.

When we're very generous with our content, we don't know maybe that person isn't in a place to be able to invest in us but maybe they have a friend who is and because you've been so incredibly generous with your content, they're going to refer your show, they're going to refer you. You just don't know how it's going to come back to you.

What's interesting, absurd, and hilarious to me is that when I was putting out all those free podcast episodes for the guys out there, interestingly—and I hadn't been podcasting that long yet—but the first person to reach out with me and actually book on as a client, so the first point at which I saw ROI in my own show was actually not from my niche but from my friend who was this designer who was out there listening who was like, “I love what you're doing. Here's my money, I want to pay you.”

I'm sure your listeners out there, some of them are podcasters as well, and there's I like to call the 18-episode itch. In fact, I have an episode called the 18-episode itch on ARRIVED...Daily, my other podcast, and it talks all about how when we get into podcasting, we can feel like, “Oh, I've been doing this for a while now, I'm not getting clients yet, what's going on? Maybe I'm giving away too much free value,” and the opposite is true.

We just have to stay the course, keep showing up, keep providing tremendous value, and trust that even if someone in your niche out there isn't going to take that and run with it, someone else out there is going to love what you have.

I know a lot of podcast gurus out there will say, “When you have a podcast, you give away a lot of the why and a little bit of the how,” but I really think that if you really want to help convert someone to take that next-level buying decision with you, you need to also show them how and trust that they will work with you because they want to work with you specifically, not just want to know the step-by-step alone.

Andrea Liebross: Alright. Speaking of step-by-step, what would be a step-by-step if you wanted to get started recording podcasts? What do you think you really need just to get started right away? Of course, we could consume a lot more content and say we're not ready and learn-learn-learn, I just need one more course, I just need one more whatever, but if I said to someone, “You have to start a podcast in the next 24 hours,” what do you think they need?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Alright, if you are the listener that is all in and you're like, “Okay, I'm doing this. My coach is like, ‘We're starting this podcast,’” go out and get yourself the Audio-Technica ATR2100x. As a matter of fact, I think it's what you and I are both using.

Andrea Liebross: It is, I think.

Bethany Wrede Peterson: At the time of this recording, it's between $75 and $90 US. This is basically not an expensive mic comparatively to what you could spend on a microphone. It's going to give you a very professional sound. It's the microphone that I have been using since 2019 when I started my podcast. Get yourself a microphone, ATR2100x by Audio-Technica, and literally, you can plug it into your laptop, you can jump onto Zoom.

If you are going to record in video like we're doing, you can literally record in Zoom and get your podcast out there. Spotify has acquired a program now called Anchor but it's now called Spotify for Podcasters. It's absolutely free. You can distribute your episodes onto Spotify for Podcasters, get your podcast out on Apple, Spotify, the major platforms that way.

It really can be as simple as one, buy a microphone, two, record your episodes in Zoom or some people use QuickTime, that kind of thing. Is it QuickTime? I don't know what it is.

Andrea Liebross: QuickTime, you can use GarageBand, you can use StreamYard, all sorts of things.

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Yeah. If you're just recording audio garage, I used to record all of my episodes in GarageBand before I moved to audio, so this is not a case-by-case basis where you have to invest the Earth to start a podcast, you can literally get free software on your laptop. Most of us have Zoom anyway. You can record in Zoom, upload it. One, two, three process.

If you are like me when I first started out and the thought of putting your voice out there is absolutely petrifying, I'm one of these people who I couldn't even listen to my own outgoing voicemail message to say, “Hey, it's Bethany, leave me a message,” because it was like fingernails on a chalkboard, it was so cringy to me, Andrea, if you're that person, you're nodding your head right now going, “Oh, my God, that's me the thought of even getting a microphone and putting myself out there in a big way right now in the next 24 hours is like that's not happening,” take your phone out, go to your voice memos, and literally read two paragraphs of a blog that you've written, a social media post.

If you can't do that, go and read two paragraphs of a magazine article written by someone that's not you. Then when you do that, put it down for a couple of hours so you end the recording, keep the recording, set it aside for a couple of hours, come back to it, and know that you're going to hate the sound of your own voice, and know that that's okay. The idea is just to be curious about it and to get used to starting to hear your own voice.

I can't tell you how many people I work with that are like, “I really want to start a podcast but the thought of having to hear my own voice absolutely drives me crazy.” It's crazy to think that someone wouldn't put their voice out there and put their value out there in a huge way to help people but that's the reality of it sometimes. If that's you, those are my steps.

Andrea Liebross: Love it. Love it. Alright, to wrap up, if someone wanted to learn more about you or listen to your podcast, what do they need to do?

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Well, I've got two podcasts, one is ARRIVED, and season four drops September 2023, and you can hear that on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, it's everywhere. I also have a limited series daily podcast called ARRIVED...Daily, those are quicker, shorter episodes. Those are all over the podcast waves as well.

If someone is interested in starting a podcast and they want to know some more personalized steps to do that, I would encourage you to head to arrivedcoaching.com/quiz to take my free quiz What's Your Podcast Personality? It's going to tell you steps to what's holding you back and how to launch a slamming podcast that turns listeners into loyal customers.

Andrea Liebross: Love it, and that will all be in the show notes. Thanks, Bethany, for being here. Super insightful. One way to get new clients, my friends, is to have a podcast and really, it's really to just have a conversation. Take these words, let them sink in, and go take some action. There's no better time than right now. It is time to level up. See you next week.

Bethany Wrede Peterson: Thanks, Andrea.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, my friends, what did you think of that? Are you ready to start a podcast? Are you having conversations with your prospective clients? Are you having 27 conversations? Social media really isn't enough, I hate to tell you. I can't say that I have found any new clients through social media.

I can say people go to social media to see if I'm legit but I think more people go to my podcast to see if I'm legit. They might have heard about me on a different podcast or through a friend and then by listening to a few episodes of my podcast, they really understand who I am, what I sound like, how I talk, and if I'm a good fit for them.

If you've considered adding a podcast in, and it doesn't have to be a weekly podcast, it could be once a month, but if you've considered adding a podcast in, I would love to have a conversation about that with you and share my journey. I would love to encourage you to reach out to Bethany to see if she can help you get it going. Alright, my friends, check out the show notes for all the details.

Hey, we're going to switch gears a little bit and we're going to start to talk more and more about how to think big because the title of my book that's coming out in September is She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and into the Extraordinary. If you feel like you're in that messy middle of life and business and want your life and business to be more extraordinary, this is the book for you.

You need to become what I am calling a Think Big Insider. You need to join the movement and my quest and help me create more big thinkers. If you go to shethinksbigthebook.com, you can become an insider and get information on how to purchase the book at a discount on launch day, how to get a free ticket to my upcoming masterclass Action to Extraordinary, and also get some sneak peeks and previews of what's inside the book.

Head over to shethinksbigthebook.com and become an insider. Alright, my friends, I will see you next week. Have a great week. Remember, now's the time to level up. There's never been a better one

Hey, listening to podcasts is great. But you also have to do something to kick your business up a notch. You need to take some action, right? So go to andreaslinks.com and take the quiz. I guarantee you'll walk away knowing exactly what your next best step is to level up.