0 (2s):
Light that spark, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. With great shows like I Digress. Today we'll be breaking down finding your Sales Transformation through podcasting. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Colin Mitchell into the EOFire Studios. Colin is the host of Sales Transformation, is currently co-founder and CRO of Salescas. As a 4x founder, he is passionate about sales, entrepreneurship, and podcasting. And today Fire Nation, we’ll talk about Sales Transformation. We'll talk about how podcasting changes the way you sell. We'll talk about creating revenue on a podcast and a big thank you for sponsoring.

0 (43s):
Today's episode goes to Colin and our sponsors. Looking for a place where you can experience live interactions with your audience, then Speakeasy is for you. I'm loving creating daily content on speakeasy, and I know you will too. Visit get speakeasy.com to download the app and go live today. Success story hosted by Scott D. Clarey is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals success story features Q and A, keynote presentations and convos on sales marketing in more a recent episode on how to protect your business and times of crisis is a must. Listen, listen to success story wherever you get your podcasts.

0 (1m 27s):
Colin, say What's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1 (1m 36s):
What's happened in Fire Nation super pumped to be here today. The thing that I believe that about being successful that I think most people will disagree with is that success is actually possible for anyone. And I say that because I am literally a high school dropout that was raised by a poor single mom on food stamps and government cheese, and have built multiple seven figure businesses with two exits. And I don't say that to brag or anything like that, but you don't need a fancy degree, you don't need certain circumstances or luck to be successful. You just need willingness to work hard, embrace failure, and take risks with grit.

1 (2m 18s):
Determination, my wife and I were able to build our first company when I was 25 to 5 million in annual revenue in 26 months.

0 (2m 25s):
I love this story. In Fire Nation, we're gonna be talking all about finding your Sales Transformation through podcasting. But a quick side note, have you ever listened to the podcast Planet Money, Colin?

1 (2m 38s):
I have not listened to that one. Okay. Am I missing out or why? Well,

0 (2m 41s):
It's a good podcast, but there's one episode on government cheese, so I would just recommend go to the podcast Search Government Cheese. I found it fascinating. It was really interesting and you made a comment about that. I was like, I'm gonna see if you've seen that episode or listen to the episode. But anyways, Fire Nation, we're gonna be honest with you, you right now, because that's what we do here at Entrepreneurs on Fire Sales can be the hardest part about being an entrepreneur. So Colin, what's your take on what the modern day entrepreneur should change when it comes to their sales focus?

1 (3m 14s):
The number one thing that people need to think about today is, is that they need to play the long game. And this is really hard for a lot of people, especially for me because I'm naturally just not a patient person. I don't know if you relate to that, but patience just doesn't come natural to me. And so you need to play the long game and truly lead by providing value. And when I say value, I don't mean like some lead magnet or something like that. I mean actually doing something for people that makes a difference for their business and actually shows them that you care. Give away everything that you have for free as far as your ideas, your thoughts, your frameworks, things like that so that people can benefit from that.

1 (3m 59s):
And don't hold back anything. If you're the person that's educating people in your niche and you start to create super fans through that, people will want to work with you. They will want to support what it is that you do. And the icing on the cake is that they will want to send business your way.

0 (4m 20s):
So Fire Nation, are you playing the long game? Are you putting in the reps every single day? Are you looking in the mirror and asking yourself, am I creating the number one solution to a real problem? And am I giving real value consistently for free? Now, the reality is things are changing at a rapid rate these days, column in your eyes, how has the playing field changed over time?

1 (4m 46s):
Oh, I mean, it's changed in a very quick way based on, you know, circumstances and the things that have been going on in the world, you know, and the thing that is, the biggest thing that's not going away is remote work is here and selling virtual is here, and that's the way of doing business. And actually a lot of people prefer doing it that way, you know, and, and I think that knowing that, if you think about that, creating authentic content consistently is even more important than ever. Podcasting video content allow people to connect with you, to build trust and ultimately remove friction in the buying process with you for whatever it is that you do.

0 (5m 30s):
So Fire Nation, I really hope you're understanding that you need to keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to what's happening in this world. And you're doing that by listening to this podcast. You're doing that by continuing to engage with your customers, your clients, asking them what their struggles are so that you can stay ahead of this game that is changing over time. And the title of this episode, Colin, is finding your Sales Transformation through podcasting. Let's talk about Sales Transformation.

1 (5m 59s):
Yeah, I think every seller and, and even entrepreneurs, you know, many successful sellers become entrepreneurs go through a transformation at, at some point in their professional career, they go from maybe an old way of doing things or old way of thinking to a new way. For me, I was taught a lot of bad habits in sales. I had the worst commission breath ever. I was the type of salesperson that everybody hated. And my transformation was that mindset of always be closing, to always be helping. And it's really made a huge difference in winning more relationships that have resulted in larger deals. I'll, I'll give you a quick example there.

1 (6m 39s):
There was a guy named Moham and, and I used to have a ucast business that, that I sold recently and Moham signed up to be a partner for, for our business. And you know, he was just the type of guy that just needed a lot of handholding and I kind of went above and beyond to just try to help Muhammad be successful. Well, eventually, you know, he, he never sent any business our way and he actually ended up deciding he didn't want to be a partner for us anymore. And I had invested a lot of time and energy and to, to help him. Mohammad, I just had a bit of a soft spot for him. And then continuously after that, you know, he'd reach out from time to time and ask questions and you know, just, you know, a little bit of time here in the dms here and there. And I always was just as helpful as I could be to Moham and never expected anything from Mohamed.

1 (7m 24s):
And, and Moham is actually the guy who introduced me to the buyer of the last company that I exited. And if you think about that for a second, just going above and beyond and really helping Mohammad and not expecting anything in return, Mohammad was able to tee up one of the largest transactions that I've had so far in my career.

0 (7m 47s):
I mean, Fire Nation, that's just a complete change of your mental focus of what you're actually looking at and how you're approaching this game and making this transformation. And we have a lot of things to talk about on this topic and many more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. We all know how important engagement with our A is as creators. Finding effective ways to provide value while also being able to interact in real time is a challenge. But now there's Speakeasy. Speakeasy is an app that allows you to organize your own live talk show. It's made by creators for creators and is uniquely built to help you monetize your audience.

0 (8m 28s):
Whether you use it for live podcasting, show recordings or hosting premium content, people can subscribe to Speakeasy has you covered, wanna stream private shows for select attendees. You can do that too. All you have to do is download the app, go live, and you'll be connecting with an interactive audience immediately. I'm loving creating daily content on speakeasy and I know you're going to love it too. So what are you waiting for? Visit get speakeasy.com to download the app. Check me, me out at John Lee Dumas and let's start rock and Speakeasy together. That's get speakeasy.com. I look forward to interacting with you Fire Nation, are you looking for a place where you can exchange ideas, shared knowledge, and find invaluable mentors, co-founders and investors?

0 (9m 12s):
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0 (9m 55s):
Get a seven day trial of trends for only $1 at trends.co/mfm. That's trends.co/mfm. So Colin, we're back and it's time to focus on my favorite topic, which is podcasting. How specifically did podcasting change the way that you sell?

1 (10m 17s):
Podcasting has changed me professionally and personally in, in a lot of positive ways, but in the context of the way that I sell well, podcasting has made it so much easier to open doors and to build relationships with people. It's made me also a better listener and a more curious person, which really are two of the most important traits for a seller or an entrepreneur.

0 (10m 45s):
Are you a good listener, Fire Nation? Are you actually listening when people are talking to you, when they're going through the process? Or are you just thinking about what you are going to say next? Now, Colin, people have a lot of ideas about how they're gonna create revenue with their podcast. They're thinking like sponsorship revenue and product placement and all these different things. What are the realistic revenue paths when it comes to podcasting?

1 (11m 7s):
Yeah, I, I love this question and, and, and let's keep it realistic, right, because most people wanna build a huge show and, and make the big bucks like you j l JLD. But the fact is, you've been doing this for 10 years. 10 years, right? And 10 years of putting in the work, putting in the reps to get you where you are today at the level of success that you have with your podcast. The best thing for entrepreneurs to, to be realistic is to make the podcast an instrumental part of their business while they build the podcast into their own revenue stream, possibly, right? Doesn't happen for everybody. So most people tend to actually give up before it actually pays off.

1 (11m 47s):
But some great ways that they can start to actually bring in revenue through their podcast is, you know, affiliate marketing is a great way to start promoting your own products or services or even charging for guests once you've built a bit of an audience and there's a platform called Gusto, which i, I know you're familiar with and, and I'm a big fan of, which makes it really easy. So those are some easy ways you can kind of get started to drive revenue, but the main thing is to keep it as an instrumental part of your business while you build your audience.

0 (12m 22s):
Let's get a little more specific here. Let's talk the affiliate side of things. Give us some specifics, some examples of how you see this could work.

1 (12m 30s):
Yeah, I mean, think about products that you already use, right, so my space that I kind of live in is, is mostly b2b. So there's lots of, you know, softwares and things that I use that I'm already passionate about and that I enjoy using and get benefits from. Most of these products have, you know, affiliate programs that you can sign up for. Some of them pay better than others, so you know, you don't wanna promote too many. So maybe pick the ones that have the best affiliate commission. Some of 'em might pay 10%, some of 'em might pay 30 or up to even 50% if people sign up. And it's really easy to promote something that you use, have had a good experience and you're passionate about.

0 (13m 9s):
Let's keep going in that same direction. You talked about, you know, of course the affiliate side of things and you know, there is that opportunity to really kind of go deep down with, you know, what are the products and services that you're using with the affiliate side, but also, hey, what are the struggles and obstacles and challenges that my listeners of the podcast are having? What have you utilized with that, if anything within your podcast to at least start or generate revenue?

1 (13m 36s):
Yeah, one of the first things that I, you know, started to monetize through was through a company called Vidyard. So it was a product, you know, I have a sales podcast called Sales Transformation and it was a product that I was using every single day with me and my team and I was passionate about, and it was very simple to sign up for their affiliate program and then just, you know, put a link into the, the show notes and a small ad and start to actually drive some revenue from promoting that product because the people that were listening to my show had the same challenges with, you know, start getting to start to sell with video and having a tool that made it easy for them.

0 (14m 14s):
Talk to us about guest, you mentioned it, it's a company that I'm actually an advisor and investor in, so I love them, I use them, I'm good friends with the founder Travis Chapel, but you did bring them up. What do you think guest plays a part here?

1 (14m 27s):
I actually started to try to monetize through, through guests early on, and frankly, some people don't respond that well to it when you, when you tell 'em you charge to come on the show and that's fine. And I tried some different methods and things like that and, and, and there was a little bit of success, but it didn't really streamline things well, Gusto is kind of that in between, right? So it makes it really easy to say, Hey, this is a show that I can actually trust that has an audience that's been verified that other people have gone on that have had a good experience and they handle the transaction so that you don't have to deal with that. So I've been a big fan of Gusto. I mean, Gusto in the first, you know, week that I started using, I made thousands of dollars from people coming on and paying to come on my

0 (15m 11s):
Show. So Fire Nation, that's another option when it comes to podcasting. You know, one thing that I talk about a lot within Podcasters Paradise is, hey, what is the number one problem in your customer, your listener, your client tells repertoire? What is the number one problem that they're having that you can create the number one solution to? If you can check both those boxes and say, Hey, this is either the number one or a really massive, so probably top three or four problem that my audience is having and I can actually create the best solution for my listeners of my podcast, then offer to them in the form of a product or a service or a mastermind or a community or a fill in the blank.

0 (15m 54s):
You're having an opportunity there to give people the solutions to the real problems, to solving pain points, to filling a void in an underserved market. Have you thought about anything, maybe that's in the future for you, Colin, in this area where you're like, you know what, I'm really listening to my audience. I'm building up this podcast and the audience under this Sales Transformation. I can really see that this is something that could be down the line. I mean there's, you know, especially with Sales Transformation, I mean, I'm thinking of like SAS software as a service, you know, a community mastermind events, so many options, so many things you could do. Anything like that kind of ringing your bell.

1 (16m 30s):
I have been doing the podcast now for over two years and, and, and get, you know, feedback from, from listeners and, and things like that. And one of the things that I've sort of done recently is launched a newsletter to, you know, serve other people that are specifically founders that can get more information about, you know, more around go to market and founders that sell rather than just kind of general sales that you know is more applicable to, you know, anybody in a sales role, not necessarily just a founder.

0 (17m 3s):
So take a step back now, I want you to take the microphone, think about all the things we talked about here today, Sales Transformation, how things are changing in the world today. You know, how it's really hard to generate revenue as a businessman, as a businesswoman, as an entrepreneur. Take us home with this final piece of guidance. What do you really want Fire Nation to get from everything that we chatted about here today?

1 (17m 26s):
The main thing that you could take away from today is success is possible for anybody. You know, I didn't, I didn't grow up privileged and I didn't go to school and I didn't have any special circumstances. And whatever your situation is, wherever you might feel stuck, know that it's possible and you know you're doing, you're taking the right, right steps by listening to this podcast to better yourself and continue on that path and you will be successful.

0 (17m 56s):
So Colin, Fire Nation wanted to connect with you, listen to your podcast, share that now. What are the best ways to connect with you, any call to action that you have for us and then we'll say goodbye.

1 (18m 6s):
Yeah, so if you want to check out the podcast, it's on every podcast platform, Sales Transformation. We drop daily episodes that are 10 minutes or less to help you transform the way that you sell. And then I've put together something special for Fire Nation today for anybody from Fire Nation that signs up for my newsletter. They're gonna get a free copy of our new book that's releasing later this year, Content Led Growth. So Fire Nation, you can go to sign up for the newsletter where I drop weekly go to market plays, and you can get a free copy of the book and all you gotta do is go over to foundersgtm.com, sign up and I'll get you a copy of our free book

0 (18m 43s):
Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with cm and JLD today. So keep up that heat, head over to eofire.com type Collin, that's c o l l i n in the search bar. His show page will pop right up real quick. Collin, what's that call to action for Fire Nation to go get your free book?

1 (19m 4s):
All you gotta do is go to foundersgtm.com, sign up for the newsletter, and we'll get you a copy of the book for free.

0 (19m 14s):
So Fire Nation, check out his podcast, Sales Transformation, get on a newsletter that's gonna be of value to you, get his book for free. And Colin, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute your brother and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to Colin for drop in value bombs and sponsoring today's episode, Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I created a revolutionary 17 step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuck.

0 (19m 56s):
The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step by step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visits UncommonSuccessBook.com. And I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side, Looking for a place where you can experience live interactions with your audience, then Speakeasy is for you. I'm loving creating daily content on speakeasy and I know you will too. Visit get speakeasy.com to download the app and go live today. Success story hosted by Scott D. Clarey is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals success story features Q and A, keynote presentations and convos on sales marketing and more.

0 (20m 42s):
A recent episode on how to protect your business in times of crisis is a must. Listen, listen to success story wherever you get your podcasts.