Podcast Guesting Strategy: How Mark Hayward Turns Interviews into Revenue | Ep. 188

Mark Hayward: 00:00:00

I kind of did it without really knowing why I was doing it, but.

Intro: 00:00:06

I am the world's biggest super fan. You're like a super fan. Welcome to the Business Superfans podcast.

We will discuss how establishing business super fans from customers, employees and business partners can elevate your success exponentially. Learn why these advocates are a key factor to achieving excellence in the world of commerce.

This is the Business Superfans Podcast with your host, Freddie.

Freddy D: 00:00:32

Ready. Hey super fans.

Freddy D: 00:00:52

Freddy D. Here in this episode 188, we're joined by Mark Hayward, podcasting and business growth expert and co founder of Podcast Introduction Group. Mark tackles a challenge so many service based business owners face. You're great at what you do, but not enough of the right people know it.

Visibility, credibility and consistent authority can feel frustratingly out of reach.

From building and hosting business growth talks for over seven years to helping entrepreneurs strategically lever podcast guesting, Mark has turned interviews into powerful growth engines. If you're ready to expand your reach, attract ideal clients and turn conversations into opportunities, this episode shows you how.

Freddy D: 00:01:37

Welcome, Mark, to the Superfans Business Advantage podcast. Great conversation that we had before we started recording. What part of the UK are you from?

Mark Hayward: 00:01:45

I'm from West London, just outside London in the uk.

Freddy D: 00:01:49

Okay. As I mentioned before we started recording, I got a good friend of mine that lives up in a Duncaster area.

I worked with him in a software company back in the 90s and another one that's in the Bristol area. We also worked together in the tech space back in the day. So. Love the uk. Oh well, a great country.

Mark Hayward: 00:02:07

Brilliant.

I always love when people say that they like coming to the UK or coming to London because it is like we've all got our problems, the uk, the US etc, but as people, I think the US and the UK people, there's a very much an alignment of culture and yeah, it's a great country and I'm very proud to be from it.

Freddy D: 00:02:30

So let's go back to, you know, you do a couple things. I know that you've right now are helping get people on podcast shows and stuff like that. You provide that service. But let's go back to the backstory.

How did you get to that point? Because I mean you just didn't yesterday start this. So it. There is a story.

Mark Hayward: 00:02:47

There is a story. I'm very happy to tell you.

So I spent 14 years in corporate and while I was doing those jobs, I started to do presentations and talks of public speaking and I was agonizing over public speaking. So I loved Podcasts. I loved audiobooks. So I said to myself naively, I'm going to start a podcast.

And the process was to be able to think of a subject, research it, click record on the microphone and talk for 10, 15 minutes and become a better speaker. So started doing it.

Spent the first 80 or 90 episodes, just solo episodes, and then it built into interviews and I started interviewing friends and, and sort of people in my network. And then it's built up and built up. I've now been doing it for eight years. Next month. I've done 581 episodes released as of today of this recording.

And, and while I was growing that while I was in corporate, I got into Covid and I kind of had enough of the corporate environment. I wanted to do something different and I wanted to do something on my own.

So I left corporate in the middle of COVID It was either a very smart move or a very terrible move. And I'm still not gone back. So I think there is an element of success in there which is great.

And I did a few things, I did some coaching and various things.

And one of my guests on my show, George, we stayed in contact, we had a really good rapport and we were just talking, we were meeting like every two weeks, having a sort of catch up. And we came up with this idea of podcast guesting as a business.

So we are living proof that podcast guesting can produce collaborations, partnerships and businesses.

And we started this business about five years ago where we help primarily business owners, entrepreneurs, CEOs and founders to get on other people's podcasts to be able to promote their product or service, talk about their experience, their knowledge, their expertise. But really most cases people are looking for a lead generation idea and using podcast guesting as a platform to be able to promote their business.

Freddy D: 00:05:09

Yeah, great, great backstory. What kind of industry were you in before you started doing your podcast show?

Mark Hayward: 00:05:15

So I worked at PwC and KPMG as a consultant and we were in the tech tech area of the companies where we were building software. And I was a business analyst, I was a project manager as a sales and implementation implementation manager.

And I was working with developers to build software for corporates regarding their tax rate requirements that they needed to do for their employees.

Freddy D: 00:05:40

Okay. Yeah, we have a similar background. I got involved in the computer aided design and compute aided manufacturing space, the CAD cam space.

UK called Mad Men. Yeah, the: 1950

Y I rode that kind of Wave in the 80s and 90s in the tech space.

Mark Hayward: 00:06:06

Amazing.

Freddy D: 00:06:07

So I can relate to what you're talking about. And as an engineer, initially, until I got into sales, I had no skill sets of public speaking whatsoever. Zero, None.

You know, and matter of fact, I wasn't good enough to do software presentations. So we were all brand new. I was picked to go install the software and train people.

Mark Hayward: 00:06:33

Right.

Freddy D: 00:06:33

And I sucked at training because we weren't taught to train. We learned how to use the software and then now go teach somebody.

And I would read the stuff out of the manual and be saying, all right Mark, go to these commands over here and you'd be sitting next to me. It was absolutely horrible.

So it takes a little something to really punch through that to be able to start getting into speaking, whether you're speaking on a mic, whether you're speaking to an audience and everything else.

Mark Hayward: 00:07:02

And it was, it was interesting because a lot of the software developers didn't want to do the sales element of the business. They didn't want to project manage, they wanted to code.

And so that's why I was brought in and that's why I've got some long standing relationships with people that I've worked with. And they just love to code. That's all they want to do. They're engineers, software developers, that's all they want to do.

So they need people like me to be able to pitch to companies, to build relationships, to do the presentations. And so that was why I was brought in.

And I learned a lot, I learned a hell of a lot in that experience about running projects, about people, management talent and, and all these things which I've been able to build into my business because corporate gives you a great grounding about how to run teams and how to engage with people. And, and the, the thing that, that got me frustrated was the stakeholder management.

It was the, that I needed to get buy in from this person and that person.

And if you're going to go into that country, because what I specialized in was actually going into countries where we didn't really have representation.

And so I would build relationships with people and sort of sell our services with companies that were either not part of our network or not part of our client base. And so I really, really enjoyed the experience of doing that. But yeah, the stakeholder management got a little bit frustrating.

I much prefer the more dynamic entrepreneur business owner where you can make a decision and you, you have Much more responsibility.

But you make a decision and you run with it and try and build something through there rather than having to get buy in from multiple places to make a decision. Go the direction you want it to.

Freddy D: 00:08:55

Sure, yeah, I can appreciate that. I remember those days. But then once I got in charge of global sales, I didn't have to ask dad for permission anymore. I could make the rules. And so.

So you're right. Until you get up into that ladder, you have to go through some level of management and you're limited to what decisions you can do.

So let's go into a little bit mark of how did you get started? What was the biggest reason that you got started doing your own podcast show and doing the self talk? Because that's where I'm transitioning to.

Mark Hayward: 00:09:30

Right.

Freddy D: 00:09:31

Is I started with doing interviews. Actually I started being interviewed because I wrote the book Creating Business Super Fans and then I started doing interview shows.

And that's easy because you're talking to somebody and you can see them, but talking by yourself, to yourself in a sense, but you're really pretending that there's an audience talk about that.

Because I think that that's very beneficial for a lot of service based businesses where they could actually really use that as a mechanism to expand their brand and differentiate themselves from their competition.

Mark Hayward: 00:10:05

So starting your own podcast is hard. Like you've been doing it for 11 months now.

You know, the difficulties of regularity, consistency, releasing, editing, publishing, promoting, partnership, sponsorships, building all those things is a heavy lift. And I kind of did it without really knowing why I was doing it. It was a mechanism for me to be a better speaker.

And so I did it and I started getting benefits from doing these public speaking activities. Really enjoyed it.

And I was part of a mastermind, a podcast mastermind in the UK and, and a person in there said, look, you've done 80 episodes, most shows don't get to 50. So you've shown a level of commitment. Why don't you think about growing it into an interview based show?

So I started interviewing people in my network, in my immediate network and it's always been a bit of a journey based show as well as promoting their product or service.

It's always been understanding a little bit like this, where you came from, why you moved into those positions and why you've decided to do your current business. So I started interviewing and really enjoyed it. It's like a little mini mastermind.

You get to speak to someone and really delve into how they've grown their business, what marketing channels what their sales processes, how they dealt with their operation site, how they keep their best people. So it's always been focused on those aspects. I'm now at a place where I am releasing once a week, always once a week, an interview.

But I've always done solo episodes.

I sometimes do a sort of campaign, sort of like I did Mindset Mondays a long time ago during COVID I did Business Thursdays where I would just talk about things that were either affecting me or things that were interesting me. So part of the show has always been an element of solo episodes.

Now, the solo episodes are interesting because that gives you a platform to be able to share that experience, expertise and knowledge that you have, or things that are interesting you or things that are fascinating you. And it gives you an opportunity to be able to add value yourself. Where podcast guesting, you're adding value on someone else's show.

And the shining light is on you. The focus is on you. Doing solo episodes builds your brand as a business expert knowledgeable in that area.

And so I've always managed to do a mixture of.

Of solo episodes, which is 15 minutes, maybe something like that, on a subject that's interesting me or something I'm going through as well as the interviews. But I do enjoy the interviews. I'm never going to give up on the interviews now, I don't think.

I think we just supplement having solo and interview shows on. On my platform now.

Freddy D: 00:13:08

Yeah. And that's where I'm pivoting to is doing. Starting to do the solo shows and learning how to do them, because it's not easy.

I just interviewed a guy yesterday, and he's in the same boat. He's been doing some interview shows and now he's pivoting to doing solo shows.

And we were both laughing because it takes work to do it because you've pretend that you're talking and you got to get your mindset to actually say you're not pretending you're actually talking to an audience.

Mark Hayward: 00:13:33

You know what, Freddie? I would say we. We talk about this. So I've got a little side hustle. We help people with their podcast as well. It's a friend of mine.

It's not a business per se. We'll help an odd one or two podcasters grow or launch their show.

And one of the things we talk about is very much thinking about who your avatar is, who is the person that you want to be talking to. And if you're doing a solo episode, you should be geared up thinking about, I want to be talking to this person service based B2B businesses.

It also helps if you have a person in mind because you can think about how you talk to that person in the pub at a family occasion like have a get together for coffee and really sort of think in your mind what are the things that would really interest that person on those subjects that you're talking about in on your show. So you can conceptualize it. Is this service basically to be businesses or you can actually go actually it's Jack.

I want to be thinking about what Jack is interested when it comes to business or sales or marketing or operations or talent, whatever it is. And it is easier if you're really targeting to that person because you talk to generally you're talking to no one.

If you talk to one person, you know that there are multiple people that are listening with the same similar ears to that person. So that's what we talk about when we help people with their podcast. Think of a person or a particular type of person and talk to them button.

Speaker E: 00:15:13

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Freddy D: 00:16:37

That's a great, great insight.

Thank you for that because that's not only going to help me, but it's going to help other people that are thinking of starting a show to help promote.

Because I've run into multitude of service based businesses that are actually thinking about starting themselves with the podcast to just differentiate themselves from their competitions I mentioned before. So that's a great insight.

Pleasure so, Mark, let's go back to the service that you're doing to helping people get on the show and maybe you can share a story how you actually helped somebody get on a podcast and they became a super fan of you, basically a brand advocate. But Business Superfan's a cooler name because I came up with it.

And they've in turn became your sales team and in turn created introductions which are much better than referrals, as we know, and got you more business because of how you've helped transform their business.

Mark Hayward: 00:17:32

We've done it a number of times and we've got testimonials, glowing testimonials from our clients. One of the people that immediately springs to mind, he runs a E commerce and digital marketing.

And so we worked with him for 12 months and we got him on 24 great shows. And he was so good at the digital marketing piece.

And he would be able to explain how he was able to grow his business and the strategies that he used on business shows generally, like how to deal with, as I said, finances, talent, business, operations, sales, marketing. But he also had a deep knowledge in digital marketing and he also run a side business, which was the E commerce business.

And he's talked to us like when he was finishing his contract and I have always have a leaving call with them.

And he was like, look, I've been able to develop my sales process and my what I want to talk about on sales calls and in referrals and these sorts of conversations. Because I was doing it for 24 times in 12 months.

I was able to develop that skill set of understanding what are the things, how do I add value to my clients, how do I have this depth of knowledge of 15 years working in this industry.

He said that it was a fantastic experience for him and he has actually brought in as a white label service that his clients in E Commerce that he wants to be able to promote, we are now working with them as a promotion for some of his clients. So we don't do this very often, but it was a very special case.

He actually bought 12 shows in six months and he's actually putting through, I think it's three people that he's put through our process for those 12 shows and it's just an additional service. He felt that podcasting was a fantastic experience for him and he felt he should be helping his other clients on the E commerce space be able to.

To build that business through. We talk about visibility, credibility and trust that you get on podcasts because it's a deeper conversation.

It's actually a conversation and there's depth to it.

We talk about other PR services that they you might get on breakfast television, but you got what, four minutes talking about a current trend or current subject. We actually go deep into your story, into your expertise. What's. How do you differentiate yourself with other clients?

So that was one opportunity, another quick other opportunity, which I'm always very proud of. And this was relatively early. He was a leadership coach that again worked with us for 12 months.

And he actually started a course with one of the podcasters all around his experience and being able to leverage it. And they created a course that is still running now. And we worked together maybe three or four years ago and the course is running brilliantly.

And he's given us introductions as well within his network as well.

So once you're part of the family, we try and make sure that what we've helped you with, that we can either help people that are in your network or, or just showing results that people can do with partnerships, collaborations and businesses through podcast guesting.

Freddy D: 00:20:56

Yeah.

So those two examples, you could say that those are two super fans of the work that you guys did because of the fact that you've now created some type of partnerships that's a mutual benefit for all of you that's involved. So those are some great stories. What's the process that you guys use without divulging all your secrets, but ballpark of how do you really help?

Let's say John owns a plumbing company.

Mark Hayward: 00:21:24

Space Industries are better fit for us because a lot of these people are either international or they understand the benefit. So what we do is if you're working as a service based industry, we'll do three things for you.

We'll do the PR placement aspect of our business, which is finding the shows, creating a bio, pitching you to the shows. So that's everyone that every, all of our competitors do that.

What we've built in differently, which I've been passionate about, is we do coaching as well. So we will help you think about the key messages that you want to talk about on those shows.

We'll talk about storytelling, how to build stories as part of that. We'll talk about the calls to action, we'll talk about equipment, we'll talk about rapport with hosts, we'll talk about repurposing content.

So we'll give you all of the skills that you need to be able to intentionally talk on that show about how you help people. And then the third aspect is marketing.

So your current marketing channels could be LinkedIn could be other social media, could be paid ads, could be SEO, it could be email newsletters.

We will help you strategize about how to promote those episodes on those other marketing channels to give you more touch points on those platforms, to entice people to reach out to you, to have that conversation, that discoveries call, that strategy, call about potentially working with you. So we do those three things as part of the service. Everyone gets that.

Freddy D: 00:23:01

I think what you just emphasized, what you just said there, and that is the fact that you're actually helping teach people how to take the collateral that they receive from the host and actually know how to utilize that to maximize their time that they invested to be on a show. Yeah, because it really helps both people.

It helps the host get visibility and it helps the guest get the visibility and the credibility and the authority that they deserve for being on the show and their expertise.

Freddy D: 00:23:37

Because a lot of people I have.

Freddy D: 00:23:40

Found in my experience that don't know what to do with that stuff, they get it and they go, oh great, thanks. And that's it. And you don't see it posted on LinkedIn, you don't see it.

Mark Hayward: 00:23:51

Most people don't even know they should ask for the video at the end of a show to be able to cut it up and put it on social media. We're seeing it a lot on all kinds of different social media, not just LinkedIn but on TikTok, on Instagram.

These shows and videos, maybe it's 60, 90 second clips of where you talk about something really impactful and being able to put that on LinkedIn or on TikTok, wherever your audience is and being able to do that is so important and people don't realize that should be part of your strategy. So that's why we talk about being intentional about the appearances.

You're not just appearing on the show and fingers crossed, someone might reach out to you, which does happen. But it gives you the asset that you can use it in multiple ways to give yourself more opportunity for more touch points.

And I read an article a little while ago, 15 touch points. 15 to 20 touch points. When I had started eight years ago, it was about seven. That's why they said you needed seven touch points.

It's now 15 to 20 touch points.

Having that video and promoting on your email newsletter about this, about the episode coming or the episode here releasing on LinkedIn that this episode has come out, reposting, these things are a must now with the digital landscape and people should be doing that and they don't know they need to be doing that, right?

Freddy D: 00:25:19

No, absolutely. And it's mind bogging because even when you follow up with them, they still don't know what to do with it.

And sometimes, oh, we got it, we got it, we're all set, we're good. And I think there's a lack of education out there. And that's one of the things I want to emphasize. What you guys are doing is really.

Freddy D: 00:25:36

Helping people before they get onto the.

Freddy D: 00:25:39

Show, how to really properly prepare.

But most importantly now, when you have the asset given back to you by the host that's produced it, created some video reels and all that stuff as a deliverable, what to do with it. Otherwise, I think a lot of guests count on the host to share the stuff, and they think that that's going to be the marketing for them.

Mark Hayward: 00:26:04

So we work primarily with people that have maybe done one, two, three shows. We do work with people that have done 50 shows, but mostly they've either done zero or they've done a couple of shows.

And they enjoyed the experience, they enjoyed their time.

They're astonished sometimes with that whole idea, okay, so there's more than I can do with this than just hope someone listens and they reach out to me. So, yeah, it's hugely important.

As I say, this is why we built the coaching and the marketing in, because we noticed that a lot of our clients didn't understand or didn't realize these were the things that they could be doing. I would say should be doing, but let's just say could be doing.

And so we've built it as part of the process and we get great feedback, especially the 60 minutes with me, before they've done any shows with us, they get a kickoff call with me, 60 minutes, and they're like, oh, my God, this is like, now I can actually go on a show and know what I'm going to be talking about. Yes, you can riff and you can go off on tangents.

That's part of the love of podcasting that I have, is that we have this opportunity to go off in angles that you might never have thought of. But to have that structure, have thought about those key components makes you prepared and makes you better as being a guest.

And that then leads to more opportunities when it comes to marketing, when it comes to repurposing the content and being able to use the asset or the appearance, the release, as a way of being able to have extra touch points with your fans, followers, and sometimes people that, that just are interested in you and find you on LinkedIn and want to reach out to you.

Freddy D: 00:27:49

Sure.

And so you're creating superfans out of those people because of the fact that they're actually now have some knowledge on what to do with the material, but more importantly to also be prepared.

So when they get on as a guest, they're actually on there with intention and in turn look better, their message comes out better and at the end of the day it's a W all the way around for them.

Mark Hayward: 00:28:20

Yeah. And the thing is just as a sort of like an add on service that we've built in in the last six months is we can now repurpose that content for you.

So we do an extra service for the selected clients that want to do it, that either can't do it, don't know how to do it, don't have the people to do it.

We can actually service that because we found that some of the guys were like, yeah, great, but I've now got a 60 minute episode, I don't know what to do with it. So we brought that extra service as an add on. Not every, no one has to do it, but it's an option for you if you want us to.

We can create those reels shorts that can help you on social media specifically, but it can be promoted anywhere that you, that you wish to with that asset.

Freddy D: 00:29:04

Yeah, that's an important thing because I'm, I'm incorporating that as well because of the same thing I found. People don't know what to do with the stuff.

So great insight that you're sharing there because at the end of the day, if you don't really leverage that content, you've wasted every, actually everybody's time.

Mark Hayward: 00:29:24

We haven't wasted everyone's time because for the host it's like, well, I've got a great guest, they've added some value, they were interesting to talk to and for the host, they'll just say when it gets released, please share, like repost and do all those good things. And that's, that's brilliant. And that really helps the podcaster get to your audience.

You're getting to the podcaster's audience because you're tapping into people that listen to their show equally. If you can do the promotion side, that's fantastic. But yeah, it's an opportunity to be able to get more of those touch points.

And from an advertising marketing perspective, it's super important that you're able to build that as part of your process, either with us strategizing how to do it or helping you be able to do it to, to get to different audiences that either go to the show and then love the show, which is great for the podcaster, or they love your content, love what the value that you've added. And they then go, right, I want to, I want to speak to Freddie. Or when they want to speak to Mark and connect with him.

And sometimes it's, they connect with you on LinkedIn and they might not come back to you. I had an example of this. I was on a show six or seven months ago and someone followed me on LinkedIn.

I released content on LinkedIn about podcast guesting. It was like three weeks ago. They said, look, well, we've been following you for about six months looking at your content. We love what you do.

And we listened to you on this show seven months ago. Can we have a conversation?

And not everyone's ready at that time of listening to act, but they followed me and then they've come and we're having a conversation on how we can help them that way.

Freddy D: 00:31:04

Yeah, no, great, great point. And I'm glad you brought that up because that is a reality of it.

And I was looking at it from sometimes when you go to networking events where you try to meet with some people and then you try to follow up with them and it goes dead and you're going, why'd you guys go to the networking event if you never follow up and reconnect? Because you'll never know the 200 and some people that I know. And likewise, I'll never know the 200 some people you know.

And even though we may never do business together, it's important to really kind of at least follow up and make that connection.

Mark Hayward: 00:31:42

So networking and sales is always like, always the same. It's follow up. It's the follow up that is the most important aspect. And that's what you have to do if you want to be effective on sales.

We've got a number of people that I've done calls with in the last few weeks that are like, we're coming into Thanksgiving, we're coming into Christmas holiday season. I don't want to act now, but can you follow up in January? Because we do want to do this. We will get the new budget or whatever it is.

Follow up with me in January. Now, look, not all of them are going to buy in January because they still might not be in the right position.

But that follow up, I've got a note of it.

I know where the list is and I'm sort of like ready when it comes to early january first or second week in January, I'm going to message them, reconnect. Is this something you want to move forward with today?

And that's, that's one of the ways to be effective is being able to follow up and have a process for your sales process to make sure that you are following up. Whether it's from a networking event or a sales goal or an introduction, a referral.

That's the way that you build small businesses is being able to sell and follow up and make sure you're connecting with the right people.

Freddy D: 00:32:56

Yeah, follow up is my second chapter in my book Creators and Superfans because it is the most important aspect. The first chapter was prospecting and then now that you got prospects, you got to follow up with them. So very, very important.

And it's the same thing. Whatever business that you're in, follow up is important.

And you know, especially in a service based business, I think we've all experienced it where we've had people come in and do great work, whether they fixed our kitchen, bathroom, whatever it is, garage door, and you never hear from them ever again.

And it just boggles my mind that you're a customer, you're happy with the service they did and they don't reach back out in six months to say, hey, Mark, just want to reach out and say hi. Just touching bases. How's that garage door going? Is any making sure it's good or.

We remodeled your kitchen and we know that everybody parties in the kitchen. So you know, how's the kitchen going? It's been six months since that project where it's been a year and a half.

Those are salespeople that are waiting to promote you. If you just followed up with them and engage with them, they'll share their experience with other people. And it's.

Mark Hayward: 00:34:12

The testimonials are, I'm sure in your book you talk about testimonials. We're really good on trying to get testimonials from our clients that we've worked with.

But just on the, the sort of builder, plumber, we've got people that like we've been in our house for nearly 12 years and we've had like an extension done and we've, we've had plumbers and builders and roofers.

And if they do a really good job, I've still got their number in my, in my phone and I've followed up a couple of times with these tradesmen and you're right, why are they not sort of checking in and just sending a text or whatever? But the Fact that people have done a good job with, for example, the plumber. We've promoted him on our street.

We've got quite a nice community on our street and we've said to people, look, we use this plumber. He was brilliant. Like they're coming to us saying, oh, we need some plumbing work. It's a bit of a nightmare at the moment.

And we'll make that referral, make that introduction.

So whatever the service based industry that you are having those sort of super fans, testimonials to be able to promote you is so important because you live and die by the quality of your work and that's how it should be.

Freddy D: 00:35:29

And totally agree. And that's where I kind of teach people is to maintain that relationship. Send them a birthday card or send a happy anniversary.

It's been one year since we redid your bathroom. It's the little things that are. One of my quotes is the little things are really the big things.

Mark Hayward: 00:35:46

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:35:46

And that just stays top of mind.

Mark Hayward: 00:35:50

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:35:50

With the. And you don't need to be selling. It's just a little hello.

Like for example, all the guests that have been on my podcast show this year all have been sent a Thanksgiving card. Because I look at Thanksgiving for the US flipping it around, it's giving thanks. And so I sent everybody, thank you for your time.

I appreciate you being a guest on my show. Brilliant. And that's not a big thing. But they're going to be going, wow. You know, that's wow.

Freddy D: 00:36:24

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:36:24

Because nobody does that. And that's how you create super fans of your customers and your associates and everybody else in that whole business ecosystem.

And once you get that growth engine ignited, your business takes off. Because these people will want to promote you.

Mark Hayward: 00:36:44

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:36:44

That for free.

Mark Hayward: 00:36:45

Yeah. 100% agree.

I think, I think that whole idea of a superfan is a really interesting model for service based industries because that we do it one way is by testimonials. That's a really great way to promote it on your social media and on your website to be able to talk about those testimonials, brochures.

We've got a brochure that we send after sales calls which has testimonials and we'll check in with our clients. We did an exercise February or March time this year and we went back all of our clients and we just sent an email. Thanks so much.

We really enjoyed working with you. Is there anything that we can do for you? And like if you want to re engage, here's a link set up a Call.

that went back to episodes in: 2019

And we sent an email to everyone saying, I know it's been a while, thanks so much for being on the show. Would you like to have another conversation with Mark to talk about referrals, opportunities that we can do? And not everyone did go for it.

Like we're talking like sometimes. And that's my bad.

That has taken me a number of years to actually get to doing that loop, but I probably had, I couldn't even number 50 calls with people that have been on my show and just was like, yeah, what are you doing now? Still in the same business. Like sometimes some of them have come back on my show for a second time sometime.

We've given referrals, we've given introductions to people. Is a really nice way to recognize what people have invested in you invested in your show or invested in your business as a client.

And it's just an easy, nice way of being able to re engage with people. As you said, it doesn't need to be very salesy. It can be a collaboration conversation and if they know someone that wants it, great.

But there might be someone that I can introduce them to that can be their ideal client. And that's important for me as well.

Freddy D: 00:38:56

Yeah, it could just be simple gratitude too, just because that goes a long way. And one of my quotes in the book is people crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition.

And so what you're doing is you're actually recognizing these individuals for the contributions that they made to help grow your business and you've helped also grow their business. So it's a win win all the way around.

Mark Hayward: 00:39:19

Yeah, 100%.

Freddy D: 00:39:20

Couldn't agree more, Mark, as we come close to the end, great conversation. How can people find you?

Mark Hayward: 00:39:26

So I'm quite active on LinkedIn. It's Mark Hayward, I'm based in London. So find me on LinkedIn. Please do connect with me and if you want to have a conversation, just DM me.

Or you can go to our website, which is podcastintroduction.com give some details on there about the service and what we do and you can set up a strategy call or discovery call on the website. So either of those places connect with me on LinkedIn or go to the website.

Freddy D: 00:39:52

Yeah, we'll make sure that that's in our show notes. Thank you so much for your time. Great conversation. You and I could talk about this for at least another 15 minutes.

Mark Hayward: 00:40:01

Absolutely. But no thank you Freddie. It's been absolute pleasure being on your show. Thank you so much for the invite.

Freddy D: 00:40:06

Yeah, you're welcome. Love to have you on the show down the road again.

Freddy D: 00:40:10

Of course, what stood out in my conversation with Mark is this exposure alone doesn't grow. Your business intention does. Mark didn't start podcasting to build a company. He started it to sharpen his communication.

But through consistency, clarity and strategic follow up, he turned conversations into collaborations and collaborations revenue. That's the lesson for every service based business owner.

Whether you're on a podcast, serving a client, or following up after a project, every touch point is an opportunity to build trust. And trust, when nurtured intentionally, is what creates super fans who open doors for you.

If this episode brought you value, leave a quick 5 star review. It helps other service based business owners discover the show.

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S K-O-O-L.com eprosperityhub Inside our tools weekly growth plays and live virtual networking events that help you connect, collaborate and build a business that runs smoothly, predictably and profitably. Thanks for tuning in today. I'm grateful you're part of the Business Superfans movement.

Every listen, every action brings you closer to building your own superfans. Be sure to subscribe to the show. We've got another great guest coming up focused on what really moves the needle.

Freddy D: 00:41:37

I'll talk to you on the next episode.

Freddy D: 00:41:40

Remember, one action, one stakeholder, one superfan closer to lasting prosperity.

Intro: 00:41:46

We hope you took away some useful knowledge from today's episode of the Business Superfans Podcast. Join us on the next episode as we continue guiding you on your journey to achieve flourishing success in business.