The 1 Question You Should ALWAYS Ask Your Podcast Guests

There is one question that you can ask at the end of your podcast interviews. And by asking it, you will land more dream guests on your podcasts than you ever thought possible. If you don't know who I am, my name is Kevin Schmidland. I am a podcaster and podcast host. I'm the founder of Grow the Show. We've generated more than 200,000 podcast downloads and more than a million dollars in podcast revenue over the past two years. And real quick, I just want to share this hack with you that I learned from Tim Tharris way back in 2018 when I started my own podcast journey. I've used this hack from the very start and it has been the way I have gotten virtually all of my big name, big get podcast guests for both of my shows. The strategy is actually quite simple. At the end of each of your podcast interviews, all you have to do is get your own podcast interview. All you have to do is ask the guest that you just spent an hour interviewing this one question. Who do you think would be a great fit for the show? When you ask that question, here's what's going to happen. The guest is going to go, hmm, and they're going to look up and they're going to come up with a name or maybe two or maybe three names. And odds are those names are going to be great fits from your podcast because that guest is probably going to mention their peers. Even better is that guest virtually never mentioned somebody that they don't already have a personal connection with. They mentioned their friends and their colleagues and their peers. So what's cool about it is the guest will go, hmm, well, have you thought about Jane Doe and guess what? That guest knows personally Jane Doe. They always think of people they know. And so you say, oh my gosh, that's a great idea. Do you know her? And they'll say, oh my gosh, yes, we go way back. I would love to introduce you. Would you like a connect? And you'll be like, yes, oh, that's so generous. Thank you so much. Now you knew that that suggestion was going to be made, but because the guest suggested it to you rather than you asking for a favor, they're way more likely to actually follow through and make the connection because they suggested it to you. When I tell you that this has been my number one guest acquisition strategy for both of my podcasts, I am not exaggerating. And it is so successful that me and my team have taken it to the next level where before we even go into an interview, when we are researching a guest and preparing to have the conversation over the course of doing the research, we will take note anytime we notice that the guest that we're about to interview has a connection with a guest that we want to interview, whether it's on LinkedIn, they're connected or maybe, you know, they're in pictures together or in an article, it mentions that they collaborated together or something, anything that indicates that the guest I'm about to interview knows personally, a guest that I want to interview, I will write that name down of the guest that I want to interview on my preparation page for the guest I'm about to interview. And at the end, when I ask that question, I won't make the suggestion. I won't say, hey, do you know John Doe? I'll just have John Doe's name in front of me and I'll say, who do you think would be a great fit for the show? 50% of the time, they say, oh, have you considered John Doe? And I'm just like, oh my gosh, that'd be amazing. Yeah, do you know them? They offer to make a connection or they might suggest a couple other names. Sometimes I've never heard of the person. Other times I have and I'm like, oh, great idea. Great idea. If the names that they suggest aren't as good and as juicy as John Doe, they guess I really want to have. I'll say, oh, man, great. Thanks for those suggestions. A question though. What about John Doe? Do you think John might be a good fit for the show? And they'll be like, oh, yes, absolutely. Me and John are pals. I would love to put you in contact. Is that something you'd be interested in? And you're like, you would do that? Oh my gosh. So again, even if you come prepared with a guest that you want them to suggest, you can still wait for them to suggest to make the connection. And I'm telling you, I'm not exaggerating. This has been the way I've gotten virtually all of my dream guests for both of my podcasts. It's how many of our clients in the Grow the Show accelerator get their dream guests. And I can't tell you how many clients and fans of the Grow the Show podcasts have gone out of their way to say to me, Kevin. That has been the single best hack I have ever heard. And so now you know it as well. So in your next podcast interview, use this little hack, ask the guests that you just interviewed. Who's somebody that you think would be a great fit for the show? Remember that Tim Ferriss is the one that came up with that. So I'll credit to him, but I'm looking forward to hearing about the success that you will have with that little question. So that is it for this quick hit episode. If you are in the Grow the Show Facebook group, I would love to hear if you have ever tried out this little hack before and hear whether it has worked for you. So if you're in there, definitely make a post. Let us know what your experience is. If you have any other similar hacks, we would love to get those into the community and to implement those as well. So I look forward to hearing from you in the free Grow the Show Facebook group. That is it for today. And I'll see you in the next episode.