Red Flags: When “Podcast Invites” Are Actually Sales Calls in Disguise

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Hey, I wanted to come at you with a quick one

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today. I know I’ve been talking a lot about what

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makes good podcast pitches and how to figure

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out what a good podcast pitch is and how to get

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yourself on podcasts. Sometimes people will pitch

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you and there are a few red flags to watch out

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for. So There’s a couple of reasons why they

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are red flags. Uh, one is the biggest, the biggest

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and worst offender I think is it’s a thinly filled,

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thinly veiled excuse to get you on a sales call.

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So this has happened to me a couple of times

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where, uh, a podcast reached out. I got put into

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their CRM. We had the podcast interview and then

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I said, uh, And then they said, so what’s with,

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you know, what are you doing with your book or

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whatever? And then they straight up pitched me

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on their book or their book service rather. They

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tried to sell me their service and then they

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put me into a sales funnel. And then when I demanded

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to stop getting sold to, they deleted my episode.

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So just like real garbage, a real garbage thing.

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Right. Um, another time, uh, guy got me on his

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show, uh, had me end with, so did you have fun

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today? Everything was good. And I’m like, yeah.

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And then he pitched me on his SEO services. Um,

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and so I’ve, I’ve, I’ve now gotten, uh, really,

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uh, what’s, what’s the word, um, guarded about

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when someone reaches out to me. So I’ll show

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you kind of I’ll tell you like kind of how to

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handle it But here are the red flags to look

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out for when When someone tries to get you on

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their podcast First of all, they repeat multiple

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times that there’s no cost to coming on the podcast

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now This is also like a garbage thing to do right

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is like invite people on and then say that you

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charge No, like that’s not how this works. This

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is not this is podcasts are generally earned

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media. And just because John Lee Dumas does it

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on entrepreneurs on fire doesn’t mean anybody

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can do it. I don’t think he should do it either.

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But whatever that, you know, he’s obviously built

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a more successful business than me. I have scruples,

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though, like I understand that I’m getting good.

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I’m getting hopefully good content from from

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my guests, and they are getting, they’re also

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getting good content, but they’re, you know,

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they’re getting in front of a new audience. That

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is the symbiotic relationship between a host

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and a guest. And paying to be on a show diminishes

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that trust, I think, right? You know, it’s not

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like, as far as I know, It’s not like Scarlett

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Johansson pays to go on The Tonight Show, right?

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They do what’s called a press junket to promote

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the movie. Right. So, you know, that’s the first

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thing I think is also this is a side rant, I

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guess, but also like. There are podcasts that

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charge and then don’t disclose that they’re that

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that they are charging and that’s also like a

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garbage move. And I would absolutely like if

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I paid to go on a podcast, I would disclose it

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immediately and multiple times and say like,

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oh yeah, you know, I paid to be here because

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that’s really important for me to know for me

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to let the audience know. So anyway, they repeat

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multiple times. First red flag. They repeat multiple

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times that there’s no cost to come on the podcast.

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Number two, the topic is super vague. Something

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like how you help people grow. Right. The last

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one I got pitched the impetus for this episode

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and the post I made on LinkedIn is they said,

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we’d love for you to come on the show to talk

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about what the future looks like for Joe Casabona.

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And I said, like, who’s your audience? Well,

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like, why is this relevant? Like, why would your

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audience care about the future of Joe Casabona

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if they don’t know who Joe Casabona is? So that’s

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number two. Number three, getting back to who’s

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your audience is the show’s target audience is

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you, but your clients would never listen. So

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like, again, going back to the show, the show’s

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target audience is coaches, consultants and course

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creators. And so they were targeting coaches,

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consultants and course creators. so that they

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could get them on the podcast and then pitch

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them. And, you know, maybe you’re thinking, Joe,

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that’s not, that’s not really generous thinking,

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right? That’s not sure. Like their target audience

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is you, but like you can provide insight, right?

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I mean, on the Streamline Solopreneur, my audience

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is solopreneur parents. I have solopreneur parents

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on the show. The guests I have are for my Tiger

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audience. And yeah, you’re absolutely right.

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But these last two red flags are the thing that

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really take the cake. The fourth red flag and

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the first cake taker, I guess, is they publish

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three to five interviews a day. Because that

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is a telltale sign. They are going for quality

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or for quantity over quality. And they are basically

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showing their hand that they take this many sales

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calls in a day. And there are multiple hosts,

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which is to say their sales team is all recording

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these interviews. And then once recording stops,

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they do the hard sell. So like each of these

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points to the fact that the value is all for

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the show and not for you. Thinly veiled sales

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call attempt. So now I did post this on LinkedIn

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and I said like, what are a couple of other red

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flags? Um, my friend, crystal prophet, who is

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a, um, content strategist, marketing expert also

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in the podcast space, uh, said when they say

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they’ve been publishing episodes for a long time,

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and then you look up their show and nothing new

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has been posted on their show or social channels

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for months. Yep. Like they’re just not, they’re

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just not dedicated to it. Um, my friend, Jeff,

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also a podcast producer in the B2B space. said

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that they ask you to write the interview questions

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for them, right? That’s a telltale sign that

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they’re not looking to do any work for the show.

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And so all of these mean that they are just trying

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to get you into their funnel. And so how do you

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handle this? Well, you could ignore them. On

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the off chance that I would be missing an opportunity

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to go on a show, I will usually respond and I

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will ask some pointed questions, right? So I’ll

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say, um, uh, yeah, who is the, uh, who’s the

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target audience for the show? Um, why me? Right.

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And if they give a generic answer to why me,

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like that’s another red flag. And then I’ll straight

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up say, are you going to try to sell me something

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at the end of this call? And they’ll either say

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no, but most people are not that blatant of a

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liar. They basically know they’ve been caught

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at this point. And they’ll say something like…

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They’ll say something to the effect of… If

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we believe that there’s alignment and we can

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offer you true value throughout the course of

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our interview, we’ll definitely let you know

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the kind of services we offer. And that’s when

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I say no, thank you. And the last person I did

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this to said, you should really listen to our

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show. And I said, I did. And what I found was

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the host is recording from, it sounds like a

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bathroom, right? So it’s obvious that the host,

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or one of the hosts, I should say, because there

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are multiple hosts, is recording from a bathroom.

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So it’s clear that they don’t care about the

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quality of the show. Again, multiple hosts. And

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I said, you have, you, you publish five episodes

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a day. That’s, that doesn’t tell me that you’re

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interested in good quality interviews. That tells

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me you’re interested in getting people on the

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phone. And yeah, I mean, you know, they realized

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at that point, like I was, I was not going to

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fall for this scheme. And I’ll end with this,

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right? Because this has been a little more rambly

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than previous episodes, but I’ll end with this.

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One of the other reasons that they do the whole

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many episodes per day is because in their pitch,

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they’ll say, our podcast gets downloaded thousands

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of times per week. And so that’s why you should

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be on the show. Downloads are not listens. And

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when you’re publishing five episodes a day, their

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show launched less than a year, this show I’m

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thinking of, launched less than a year ago and

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they had 1 ,233 episodes. So it doesn’t, it’s

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not hard to get thousands of downloads per week.

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In fact, If every host in that company did downloads,

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they’d get close to that in a week. Right? If

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they get one new subscriber, and I will bet you

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that they probably get you to subscribe to the

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show when they interview you. That is thousands

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of downloads. Or it’s a thousand downloads per

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week. So that’s a thousand downloads in close

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to a day depending on the app you’re using so

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You know this show is all about helping podcasters

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save time and and podcast guesting is a great

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opportunity to get in front of other people’s

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audiences and Possibly grow your show and build

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your network and build relationships But those

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sort of things are a waste of time Because it’s

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not about you. It’s about them and what they

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can do for them and they’re just using you because

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they know that you wouldn’t get on a sales call

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otherwise and they’re hoping that their charm

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or the the Reciprocity principle right where

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it seems like they’ve done something nice for

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you. So now you’re more willing to do something

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nice for them We’ll kick in So it’s best to just

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avoid those all together Alright, that’s it for

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this episode of the Streamlined Podcaster. Let

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me know, have you been swindled, bamboozled,

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or nearly tricked into joining a sales call under

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the guise of going on a podcast? You can write

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in at StreamlinedFeedback .com. That’s Streamlined

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with a D, Feedback .com. Thanks so much for listening

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and until next time, I hope you find some space

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in your week.