Have you ever been invited on a podcast only for it to be turned into a sales call? Yeah, me too. And it's getting worse.
In this episode, I break down the sneaky tactics some "podcasters" use to get you on what they claim is an interview, but is really just a thinly veiled attempt to pitch you their services. From deleting your episode when you refuse to buy, to publishing 5 episodes a day with bathroom-quality audio, these red flags are easier to spot once you know what to look for.
I'll share real examples from my own experience (including the guy who pitched me SEO services right after asking "did you have fun today?") and give you the exact questions I ask to weed out these fake opportunities before wasting your time.
🎯 Major red flags covered:
- Repeatedly mentioning "no cost" to be on the show
- Super vague topics like "the future of [your name]"
- Publishing 3-5 interviews daily with multiple hosts
- Target audience that matches their ideal customer profile
💡 Bonus tips from the community:
- What Krystal and Jeff noticed about fake shows
- How to respond without missing real opportunities
- Why "thousands of downloads" doesn't mean what they think it means
🤔 Ever been bamboozled by a fake podcast invite? Share your story at streamlinedfeedback.com!
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hey, I wanted to come at you with a quick one
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 today. I know I've been talking a lot about what
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 makes good podcast pitches and how to figure
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 out what a good podcast pitch is and how to get
00:00:14 --> 00:00:19 yourself on podcasts. Sometimes people will pitch
00:00:19 --> 00:00:25 you and there are a few red flags to watch out
00:00:25 --> 00:00:30 for. So There's a couple of reasons why they
00:00:30 --> 00:00:34 are red flags. Uh, one is the biggest, the biggest
00:00:34 --> 00:00:40 and worst offender I think is it's a thinly filled,
00:00:41 --> 00:00:45 thinly veiled excuse to get you on a sales call.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 So this has happened to me a couple of times
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 where, uh, a podcast reached out. I got put into
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 their CRM. We had the podcast interview and then
00:00:56 --> 00:01:02 I said, uh, And then they said, so what's with,
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 you know, what are you doing with your book or
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 whatever? And then they straight up pitched me
00:01:05 --> 00:01:10 on their book or their book service rather. They
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 tried to sell me their service and then they
00:01:12 --> 00:01:17 put me into a sales funnel. And then when I demanded
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 to stop getting sold to, they deleted my episode.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:26 So just like real garbage, a real garbage thing.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:32 Right. Um, another time, uh, guy got me on his
00:01:32 --> 00:01:36 show, uh, had me end with, so did you have fun
00:01:36 --> 00:01:37 today? Everything was good. And I'm like, yeah.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 And then he pitched me on his SEO services. Um,
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46 and so I've, I've, I've now gotten, uh, really,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:53 uh, what's, what's the word, um, guarded about
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 when someone reaches out to me. So I'll show
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 you kind of I'll tell you like kind of how to
00:01:59 --> 00:02:03 handle it But here are the red flags to look
00:02:03 --> 00:02:09 out for when When someone tries to get you on
00:02:09 --> 00:02:14 their podcast First of all, they repeat multiple
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 times that there's no cost to coming on the podcast
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 now This is also like a garbage thing to do right
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 is like invite people on and then say that you
00:02:23 --> 00:02:28 charge No, like that's not how this works. This
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 is not this is podcasts are generally earned
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 media. And just because John Lee Dumas does it
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 on entrepreneurs on fire doesn't mean anybody
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 can do it. I don't think he should do it either.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 But whatever that, you know, he's obviously built
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47 a more successful business than me. I have scruples,
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 though, like I understand that I'm getting good.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:55 I'm getting hopefully good content from from
00:02:55 --> 00:03:00 my guests, and they are getting, they're also
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 getting good content, but they're, you know,
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 they're getting in front of a new audience. That
00:03:04 --> 00:03:10 is the symbiotic relationship between a host
00:03:10 --> 00:03:18 and a guest. And paying to be on a show diminishes
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 that trust, I think, right? You know, it's not
00:03:22 --> 00:03:26 like, as far as I know, It's not like Scarlett
00:03:26 --> 00:03:30 Johansson pays to go on The Tonight Show, right?
00:03:30 --> 00:03:34 They do what's called a press junket to promote
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 the movie. Right. So, you know, that's the first
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 thing I think is also this is a side rant, I
00:03:42 --> 00:03:46 guess, but also like. There are podcasts that
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 charge and then don't disclose that they're that
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 that they are charging and that's also like a
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 garbage move. And I would absolutely like if
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 I paid to go on a podcast, I would disclose it
00:03:57 --> 00:04:01 immediately and multiple times and say like,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 oh yeah, you know, I paid to be here because
00:04:04 --> 00:04:08 that's really important for me to know for me
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 to let the audience know. So anyway, they repeat
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 multiple times. First red flag. They repeat multiple
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 times that there's no cost to come on the podcast.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:22 Number two, the topic is super vague. Something
00:04:22 --> 00:04:27 like how you help people grow. Right. The last
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 one I got pitched the impetus for this episode
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 and the post I made on LinkedIn is they said,
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 we'd love for you to come on the show to talk
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 about what the future looks like for Joe Casabona.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:44 And I said, like, who's your audience? Well,
00:04:44 --> 00:04:48 like, why is this relevant? Like, why would your
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 audience care about the future of Joe Casabona
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 if they don't know who Joe Casabona is? So that's
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 number two. Number three, getting back to who's
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 your audience is the show's target audience is
00:05:00 --> 00:05:04 you, but your clients would never listen. So
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 like, again, going back to the show, the show's
00:05:07 --> 00:05:11 target audience is coaches, consultants and course
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 creators. And so they were targeting coaches,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 consultants and course creators. so that they
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 could get them on the podcast and then pitch
00:05:18 --> 00:05:22 them. And, you know, maybe you're thinking, Joe,
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 that's not, that's not really generous thinking,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 right? That's not sure. Like their target audience
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 is you, but like you can provide insight, right?
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 I mean, on the Streamline Solopreneur, my audience
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 is solopreneur parents. I have solopreneur parents
00:05:37 --> 00:05:41 on the show. The guests I have are for my Tiger
00:05:41 --> 00:05:45 audience. And yeah, you're absolutely right.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 But these last two red flags are the thing that
00:05:48 --> 00:05:54 really take the cake. The fourth red flag and
00:05:54 --> 00:05:58 the first cake taker, I guess, is they publish
00:05:58 --> 00:06:03 three to five interviews a day. Because that
00:06:03 --> 00:06:07 is a telltale sign. They are going for quality
00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 or for quantity over quality. And they are basically
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 showing their hand that they take this many sales
00:06:13 --> 00:06:17 calls in a day. And there are multiple hosts,
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 which is to say their sales team is all recording
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 these interviews. And then once recording stops,
00:06:25 --> 00:06:29 they do the hard sell. So like each of these
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 points to the fact that the value is all for
00:06:32 --> 00:06:37 the show and not for you. Thinly veiled sales
00:06:37 --> 00:06:41 call attempt. So now I did post this on LinkedIn
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 and I said like, what are a couple of other red
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 flags? Um, my friend, crystal prophet, who is
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 a, um, content strategist, marketing expert also
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 in the podcast space, uh, said when they say
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 they've been publishing episodes for a long time,
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 and then you look up their show and nothing new
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 has been posted on their show or social channels
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 for months. Yep. Like they're just not, they're
00:07:04 --> 00:07:08 just not dedicated to it. Um, my friend, Jeff,
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 also a podcast producer in the B2B space. said
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 that they ask you to write the interview questions
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 for them, right? That's a telltale sign that
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 they're not looking to do any work for the show.
00:07:19 --> 00:07:24 And so all of these mean that they are just trying
00:07:24 --> 00:07:31 to get you into their funnel. And so how do you
00:07:31 --> 00:07:36 handle this? Well, you could ignore them. On
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 the off chance that I would be missing an opportunity
00:07:38 --> 00:07:44 to go on a show, I will usually respond and I
00:07:44 --> 00:07:48 will ask some pointed questions, right? So I'll
00:07:48 --> 00:07:54 say, um, uh, yeah, who is the, uh, who's the
00:07:54 --> 00:07:59 target audience for the show? Um, why me? Right.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 And if they give a generic answer to why me,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 like that's another red flag. And then I'll straight
00:08:04 --> 00:08:08 up say, are you going to try to sell me something
00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 at the end of this call? And they'll either say
00:08:12 --> 00:08:16 no, but most people are not that blatant of a
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 liar. They basically know they've been caught
00:08:18 --> 00:08:24 at this point. And they'll say something like...
00:08:24 --> 00:08:29 They'll say something to the effect of... If
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 we believe that there's alignment and we can
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 offer you true value throughout the course of
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 our interview, we'll definitely let you know
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 the kind of services we offer. And that's when
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 I say no, thank you. And the last person I did
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42 this to said, you should really listen to our
00:08:42 --> 00:08:46 show. And I said, I did. And what I found was
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 the host is recording from, it sounds like a
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 bathroom, right? So it's obvious that the host,
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 or one of the hosts, I should say, because there
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 are multiple hosts, is recording from a bathroom.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 So it's clear that they don't care about the
00:09:03 --> 00:09:08 quality of the show. Again, multiple hosts. And
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 I said, you have, you, you publish five episodes
00:09:11 --> 00:09:16 a day. That's, that doesn't tell me that you're
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 interested in good quality interviews. That tells
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 me you're interested in getting people on the
00:09:21 --> 00:09:26 phone. And yeah, I mean, you know, they realized
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 at that point, like I was, I was not going to
00:09:29 --> 00:09:33 fall for this scheme. And I'll end with this,
00:09:33 --> 00:09:34 right? Because this has been a little more rambly
00:09:34 --> 00:09:39 than previous episodes, but I'll end with this.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:47 One of the other reasons that they do the whole
00:09:47 --> 00:09:53 many episodes per day is because in their pitch,
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 they'll say, our podcast gets downloaded thousands
00:09:58 --> 00:10:03 of times per week. And so that's why you should
00:10:03 --> 00:10:08 be on the show. Downloads are not listens. And
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 when you're publishing five episodes a day, their
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 show launched less than a year, this show I'm
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 thinking of, launched less than a year ago and
00:10:17 --> 00:10:25 they had 1 episodes. So it doesn't, it's
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 not hard to get thousands of downloads per week.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:37 In fact, If every host in that company did downloads,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 they'd get close to that in a week. Right? If
00:10:40 --> 00:10:45 they get one new subscriber, and I will bet you
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 that they probably get you to subscribe to the
00:10:48 --> 00:10:52 show when they interview you. That is thousands
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 of downloads. Or it's a thousand downloads per
00:10:56 --> 00:11:01 week. So that's a thousand downloads in close
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 to a day depending on the app you're using so
00:11:03 --> 00:11:07 You know this show is all about helping podcasters
00:11:07 --> 00:11:11 save time and and podcast guesting is a great
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 opportunity to get in front of other people's
00:11:13 --> 00:11:17 audiences and Possibly grow your show and build
00:11:17 --> 00:11:22 your network and build relationships But those
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 sort of things are a waste of time Because it's
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 not about you. It's about them and what they
00:11:27 --> 00:11:31 can do for them and they're just using you because
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 they know that you wouldn't get on a sales call
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 otherwise and they're hoping that their charm
00:11:37 --> 00:11:41 or the the Reciprocity principle right where
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 it seems like they've done something nice for
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 you. So now you're more willing to do something
00:11:45 --> 00:11:49 nice for them We'll kick in So it's best to just
00:11:49 --> 00:11:53 avoid those all together Alright, that's it for
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 this episode of the Streamlined Podcaster. Let
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 me know, have you been swindled, bamboozled,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 or nearly tricked into joining a sales call under
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 the guise of going on a podcast? You can write
00:12:03 --> 00:12:07 in at StreamlinedFeedback .com. That's Streamlined
00:12:07 --> 00:12:11 with a D, Feedback .com. Thanks so much for listening
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 and until next time, I hope you find some space
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 in your week.