The Art of Podcast Guesting: Building Trust, Visibility, and Relationships | 034

Hi, I'm Susan, and welcome to the Grand Connection Podcast, where we explore ideas, strategies, and conversations that help heart-centered entrepreneurs connect, create, and collaborate. Today, we're talking about one of my favorite ways to build trust, grow your visibility, and create meaningful relationships: podcast guesting, appearing as a guest on a podcast gives you the opportunity to share your story, your expertise, and your unique perspective with a whole new audience. But after interviewing many entrepreneurs, we've learned that the guests people remember aren't always the most experienced or the most polished, they're the ones who create value. They leave listeners with a new idea, a practical strategy, or a story that shifts the way they think. Joining me today is Grand Connection member Krystal Hill, one of the hosts of the Grand Connection podcast, whom I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting in person last time I was down under in Australia. Krystal is an award-winning author, book mentor, and founder of Hill House Publishing. She helps leaders, coaches, and entrepreneurs transform their knowledge and life experiences into books and thought leadership that create lasting impact. Here at the Grand Connection. She's interviewed many of our members on the podcast and co-hosts our Grand Thought Leaders Group, where she helps entrepreneurs become more confident communicators and thought leaders. Between the two of us, we've interviewed many incredible entrepreneurs, and we've also been guests on podcasts ourselves. And I myself listen to a lot of podcasts. You probably do too, Krystal.

Absolutely, yes.

And along the way, we've learned a bit about what helps conversations flow naturally, what keeps listeners engaged, and what makes someone the kind of guest host want to invite back. So today isn't a formal interview. It's simply the two of us having a conversation and sharing what we've learned from both sides of the microphone, including you know what I'm working on myself as well. So we'll talk about how to prepare, how to avoid common mistakes, create real value for listeners, and why the best podcast interviews feel like conversations rather than presentations. Whether you're preparing for your first podcast interview or your 50th, our hope is that you'll leave with practical ideas you can put into action right away. Because here's what we believe: a great podcast interview isn't about promoting yourself; it's about serving the audience. If someone finishes listening and thinks, "I never thought about it that way, I'm going to try that, or that story really resonated with me, then you've done your job. So, Crystal, welcome. I'm excited to have this conversation with you.

I am so excited to have this conversation, Susan, and let's see what magic we can co-create and what wisdom we can share.

Oh, thanks for coming here. And I just wanted to sort of step back. We decided to do this after we've been doing some interviews with some of our members, and I've been doing some with partners. And we thought it would be really great for us to have a place for us to share what we've learned, so that someone who might be new to podcasting can get a head start and really feel comfortable when they come to their first podcast, which sometimes, you know, in our community, it is the first time that they're doing that. What do you think, Crystal, separates a podcast guest that people remember from the ones they forget?

There's so many things. So let's let's start with the first one, which would be the attitude that you bring to the podcast, and you've already mentioned it, right? It's not about look at me, look at me. It's about how can I serve this audience, and so when we do that, it automatically puts our nerves at ease because we're not trying to perform. We're putting the taking the focus off us, and we're putting it onto the listeners, and we're also putting it onto the host, so that starts with your origin story. Because very often, you know, the first question that comes is, "So tell me how you got into this, and you could take this a million ways because that is such an unspecific question. And coming from my book writing background, what I what I share with my authors and what I share with podcast with podcast guests as well is that even your origin story can become the listener's story, and what that means is like find ways in which you can relate to the listener. So right now I'm glancing at Susan, and Susan's looking really intently at me. I'm like, okay, maybe I'm speaking too abstract. I need to bring in an example. So I'm constantly also checking in with how is the, how is my podcast host responding to what I'm sharing? Am I still interested, or have I completely lost the plot and gone off into ramble land? But that we'll talk about that later. Right back. This origin story, because some people I find is they when when you ask that question they just go off for 10 minutes and tell you their entire life story, and that doesn't serve the listener. So what serves the listener is really finding three steps: what happened, what did I do, and what can the listener do. So we are always sharing our experience and then making it relevant to the listener by drawing out a teaching point, a value. So, for example, I was a nutritionist and I told you my story and I said, you know, nutrition has always been important. And there was one day I

looked in the mirror and I realized something had to change. And I'm sure you can relate to that moment. I'm sure you had a moment like that as well when you looked in the mirror, didn't you? Where was like, oh my God, how did I end up here? I think we all can relate to that. And now you go back into your story, but you don't. You you bring the reader in. You show them how your moment of realization or aha is actually also a moment that they will have had, and so they stay engaged and they go on this transformational journey with you. You're not alienating them,

And this is something that's good to prepare because you can use that story in a book, you can use it in a talk that you're doing, and all the podcasts that you do too.

That's it exactly. No,

I think I need to go and refine my story. I mean, some of you've heard it. Me and Nibbles, the hamster, who are listening here before in earlier episodes, and it it was hard for me to keep it short and concise because I didn't want to ramble on it. If I was talking to my sister or something, I might tell the story for 10 minutes. You know, we'd be having having a glass of wine and enjoying dinner, and it's okay. But in a podcast, you want to get to the the information and the value that the listener is looking for, and they don't care about every little detail, right?

So yeah, it's absolutely important to be specific and not go into every detail because that gives a listener information overload. But there are moments when it's important to paint a scene and not just give a summary. So, and those are the moments where you really want the listener to lean in. So, for example, instead of saying "I've had a really difficult childhood, you can say "I remember that moment, that Sunday morning in the kitchen, the croissants were in the oven. I could smell the hot coffee, and my mum dropped a bombshell. She said, "We're my dad and I are separating, and that moment was so. So that's that's building it up, and then we're dropping this, and we have the listener right there. They're right with us. It's storytelling. It's what engages us on an emotional level, so this is where we can use it, but only very sparingly, not the whole time,

And keep it concise. So think about your story as something you can repurpose and use, and figure out how to say it in a concise way. When Carolyn and I started the Grand Connection, we we were at the Grand Canyon, and we have a whole long big story. I now just sort of basically say we were at the Grand Canyon and we were at this impressive place and we came up with the idea for the Grand Canyon there, and it's shortened down to this the the story because I could see you could see people when I was doing talks and they're they're losing it right you know they're just starting to do other things or looking away and it's you want to have them engaged and stay concise as much as you can, and that goes for your introductions and everything we do. Try to think how you could be short and concise. And I'm not being it right now, so

What you just did, actually, I'm going to point that out. Is you you made a point, you got went into an explanation and you summarize the point, and that's actually really good. So this brings me to another thing that I say: don't be a politician on a podcast. And what I mean by that is, but you know, when politicians are asked a question, they take it in whatever direction they want. They don't ever answer the question, but they find a way to talk about what they want to talk about, and that doesn't serve the podcast because your podcast host has a really specific agenda and intention for how they want to serve their audience and how they want to highlight you. So make sure you listen. Right, this is what we're saying. Make sure you listen to the question and you understand the question you're being asked. And typically, we share the questions beforehand.

Yeah, we do we do for our podcast. So if you're going to be on the Grand Connection podcast, Crystal will be sending you a list of questions, and it helps you to be able to prepare and to make your answers more concise and valuable for the audience. And I've never really thought about that when I'm on a podcast to stay specific. One thing I do do is I will talk to the podcast host ahead of time and ask them like, what information or what value do you want me to share with the audience? And I try to get that. But sometimes they'll just say, Oh, whatever. It's just. To be a conversation, I like it to be natural, and then you're like, okay. But I go and I listen to some of their episodes so that I can understand what ones were good ones for them. I'll say what one should I listen to that'll give me a good idea of what you would like our interview to be about. So that helps a little.

Yeah, I think that's a really good point, and that goes into the preparation. So let's talk about all of the things that we feel like somebody needs to do to be really prepared for this. And one thing that you just shared is know what the podcast is about. Know what the audience is. Who the audience is. Know if there are any specific questions that are being asked.

Is there anything else, Susan?

Make sure that you read all of the instructions that you get from the host. Most of the time, if they've been doing their podcast for a while, they're going to have a document that they send you. It's going to have some links. They may have the questions ahead of time. It will give you whatever information you may need. And I like to myself, and we've already mentioned this. I like to listen to the last couple of episodes because I can actually sometimes refer back to something that they talked about before, and it kind of gives some, it gives in an interplay between the episodes, and it it makes it show that you know we all are listening to the episodes again. Another thing I do is I will prepare a few key stories, like you already talked about this, so having that maybe a client success story that relates to what we're going to be talking about is a good one to have in there. It's kind of like your bank. I have a bank of three or four success stories that I can pull in when I need to, and then some other stories that relate to some sort of examples like a metaphor that's kind of fun. I might have a couple of quotes and a stat, so you just have that information available that you might use if it's relevant.

Yeah, I like that, and I often pull in a quote from Les Brown who says, "Every teaching point needs a story, and every story needs a teaching point. And what that means is that you never share a story about your life just because, for the sake of it, you always know, or why am I sharing the story, and what is the point that I'm going to make, or the perspective that I want to share, the insight I want to reveal, and what what potential exercise can I, or task or tool can I give the audience that comes out of my story?

The one last thing I think is really important is to show up a few minutes early and be prepared. So what I like to do, especially now since we've been working on the mindful minute with Ray Mcauley in our neuroscience program, is to actually take a mindful minute. So I'll do some breathing, some yawns and stretches, and I'll center myself so that I'm grounded when I start. This has been a game changer for me, Crystal, because I used to get quite nervous about podcasts, and I'd have all my notes and everything, and then I'm just-you can feel the stress. But this way, I-I'm prepared. I'm organized. But those are just there as a backup in case I need a few notes to look at at some point. But I'm being present in the podcast, and I can listen to the person that's I'm having the interview with, and of course, stay calm.

Yeah, this is such an important point because one thing I know from speaking is that when we suddenly are in front of an audience, or it matters. Our nerves kick in no matter how prepared we are, and that means that we have less capacity to listen and to be present. So we step into default mechanisms, which means there's more rambling, there are more filler words, we speed up, people can't follow us, we say half sentences, and so doing this mindful minute or the just a breathing and grounding exercise beforehand just helps, as you said, just to be so present, so none of this happens. And one thing that I've noticed is when people are nervous, they misunderstand the questions that I'm asking, and they take they completely go off another tangent, and then I'm trying to get them back, but they're not checking in with me on my body language, and so it takes it can take a five minute detour before I can finally find a second to interject. So what I'm constantly doing as I'm speaking right now, even I'm checking whilst I'm looking at the camera, every once in a while you see me briefly looking down, so I can look at Susan to see well is what I'm saying making sense? Is she with me? Is she engaged? Because if she isn't, I know that this will probably have to be cut out, right?

And as a podcast producer, I don't like to have to cut out a whole bunch of stuff. It's a bigger job. I've got to get an editor in or do it myself. I have to re-listen to it. It suddenly adds an out an extra hour to the work. I love to have a beautiful, clean take, and it's just all usable. That's the best, and I know most podcasters would agree with me. And some just will end up using. It and that doesn't represent you well either, as a guest, and doesn't represent the host either.

In NLP, neuro linguistic programming, they have found that only 7% of what we say and how we communicate is the words we speak. The rest is tonality and body language, which is really interesting when it comes to podcasting, we hear the tonality. So, if there is nerves or unpreparedness or uncertainty, all of that comes through in how you say what you say. So, slowing down and taking that moment beforehand becomes even more important.

Yeah, and we're we're trying it now. We're slowing down a little bit for our listeners because we're talking about it, and it reminds us that we should get centered and slow down, take pauses. The nice thing about learning to pause is you stop using the filler words too.

Yes,

Because filler words are generally a replacement for for a pause. Like you need you need to you're trying to think of something to say so you use that filler word, and pauses can be done like that too. And it's it's a great time for people to just collect their thoughts, and it gives the listener and their brain the chance for them to to take a break, so they work well. The other thing I'd like to circle back to is when you're preparing is to set up properly at the beginning, and that's you know your 10 minutes or 15 minutes you need to prepare before you get on. Test your microphone, make sure your lighting's working, make sure the internet's good. I sometimes when my son used to live at home, I'd have to go and say get off those games because I'm doing an interview on the internet. I didn't want it to go down, quiet. You shut the doors, all those things, and set it up so that you can have the camera and whoever you're looking at at least lined up well enough that you're not looking down the whole interview. And I understand people may may need to look at their notes here and there, but if the whole time they're looking down, it just doesn't look right to get that lining up, and you can do all of that ahead of time. Practice on Zoom yourself, and make sure it's all working before you get on. And you're fumbling around with your host for all these things. You want to come on professional and ready. And that's it.

And the lighting is really important as well. Make sure that there is some good lighting and good framing, like you see, me and Susan, we were playing around in the beginning to make sure that we have the same height above our head, because otherwise it creates an increase. Like if I was suddenly a lot smaller, it would. Oh, see the it's dusting, but it it creates an imbalance, doesn't it? I know I need to.

Not your head's cutting off. Yeah, so we were all set up before, but now Crystal's camera tried to adjust for her. But that's important. Setup matters. Okay, so make sure that you do you do that. And the more you do these things, it gets easier, right? I know that my first couple of interviews I did, I won't even go and listen to them. I felt I didn't do very well, and I'm getting better at it and more comfortable the more you do it. So this is a practice, and that's why we're talking about some of the things. Because if you're not aware of them, you don't know what you should be practicing. And I want to jump over to the creating value because this is the ultimate important thing for me. Is I I want this podcast to have value for you that is listening. I want you to learn something, to have some insight, and you take something away. And sometimes somebody comes on and they're selling. They're selling too much and talking, or their stories are long and it's not relevant to the conversation we have. And for me, I try to share ahead of time with the people I'm going to interview what we want the topic to be about, and so that we can create some value around it. Sometimes they're sharing their frameworks, which are really relevant to the topic of the day. So that's a really good thing to get into, and they actually do a little training on it. That's very valuable for the listeners. I just want to summarize this this creating value. I think for me, every answer should leave the listener thinking, "I didn't know that, or "I'm going to try that, or "That really changed my perspective. Just think about those things as you plan out some of your talking points now, Crystal. Do you use notes when you go on a podcast? Would you have some talking points ahead for yourself, or do you just go on and wing

I definitely, depending on the podcast, and if we have a specific theme, like right now, I've got a couple of notes sitting down here. So if you see me looking down, I have a few things there to make sure that I cover them. Absolutely, I think it's important to have those notes. Not don't don't ever write out full sentences because your mind will get overwhelmed. If you can get them down to two words or three words, or even symbols are nice, like little icons that remind you of something that you can just see very briefly. And I know that you have notes up on a different monitor, for example, that works as well. And and I've had my whole thing on either side of the camera with post-it notes, especially if I'm giving bigger, bigger talks. I think the the important takeaway, like the real thing, to in terms of the value we're creating, is bringing it back to serving the the audience and sharing what value they get, and think about it more of you letting the letting the listeners into one of your closed door teaching moments, cohort group settings where you would be teaching, where you would be interacting with your clients. What value would you share there? How would you show up there? You wouldn't sell. You would just be there to serve them. So think of a podcast interview of opening the door and allowing them into your world and letting them see you in teaching mode or in sharing mode and serving mode.

Yeah, and it's a podcast interview is not a promotional interview. It is sharing some insights. It's letting people know who you are, sharing your story, and it follows whatever format your host is trying to take that journey through by being present and in the moment and answering the questions that the interviewer gave you. You can help make it exactly what they want it to be for their audience. Don't talk about how great you are. Talk about and share or teach something that they can apply today. I love those actionable items at the end where somebody will say, "What's an action you could take away today? and they share some great insight. Why are stories so important?

Stories are important because they help the listener to relate to you and to trust you. We can get information from anywhere, ChatGPT anywhere. Information is out there, but your unique story helps somebody to relate to you and know whether you're somebody they can understand, and whether you're somebody that they can trust, and whether you're somebody that will understand them based on the similar experiences that you might have shared, and that is why it's so important when you share your story, you don't just ramble, but you focus on sort of specific transformational points in your journey that are universal and therefore even more relatable.

So having that bank of a couple of really good personal experiences, client stories, lesson stories, maybe it's a Zen cone or something, or mistake you've made. Those are great opportunities for you to just pull them in when you need them, because you may not know where the questions are going to go too.

Yes. So one action step to take here is we, you know, with our podcast, it's all about collaboration and connection. So thinking of some stories where collaboration was something that you did, some collaborations that worked well, some collaborations that didn't go so well, but what did you learn from them? Really, again, having that learning point that that you can then pass on as a teaching moment to the reader or the listener.

So we have these stories in our in our story bank, so we can use those. Those are great to prepare for any type of networking, speaking, talking, anything you do, working with a client, having an enrollment call. So, I remember actually, I took a course a long time ago where we actually put together five or six different types of stories, and they were transformational stories. They were some personal ones, some client stories, but they, I still remember them, and I still pull them out whenever I need them. So, kind of good things to have. So, that might be something when you're on a walk. Think about some stories you might be able to pull and make some notes, and then think about how you can say them in a concise way that you're not rambling, right? But the host is there to support you, and when you are engaging, you mentioned this before, Crystal. Like you're looking and watching them, so it's great when you're on camera and you can see what they're thinking, and you can get some interaction and know maybe if you're going the right direction, and you can kind of sense it. You're watching the host, and they're there to help you succeed, especially on our podcast. Crystal, you want all of our members to shine, right? And you're going to introduce them well. You're going to highlight their accomplishments. You're going to ask thoughtful questions that they have had in advance. So that's really a great way to prepare easily. And then you're going to give listeners a reason to connect with you. And you don't need to be selling throughout the interview. Just remember That focus more on helping the audience rather than mentioning your offer every time. People can sense that, and that doesn't interest a listener. If it sounds like you're selling too much, they want to get to know you. They want to get to trust who you are. They want to know that you're crowd. And all of that information is in the show notes. It's been introduced. They know what you're

doing, so this is their chance. It's kind of like coming to a webinar, right? It's their chance to really get to know your world, as you mentioned that before. What's the next step you need to make sure happens?

So the next step is the final step, I would say, in the interview, right, where you are going to share a free gift, or you know, offering a value, so that is the last step, the next step that an audience member can take with you. If they loved you, if they connected with you, now they want to know, well, how can I get, how can I stay in your world? That's really what we want the audience to think about. And so then, if you have a free gift prepared, this could be a quiz, it could be a PDF, it could be a checklist, it could be a guided meditation if that's what you're doing, and just having that as a next step that will add value and ideally is related to what you've been talking about. That would be fantastic,

and it's also a great way for you to get to know the people who are listening, and build build your list and and continue to have conversations with them once they're in your world. So, what happens after the interview?

So, after the interview, you thank the host for for the interview, and then make sure that you know when the podcast goes live, so that you can share it on your socials. That is like your thank you and your way of giving back. You're being edified, and now you're edifying the host, and you're helping them to grow their list whilst your list is growing at the same time. So that's the beauty of doing a podcast interview,

and that's very collaborative, which is why guest podcasting, and you know, sometimes we do podcast swaps too. Both will share each other's podcasts and be on each other's podcasts, and it's a great way to build a relationship with the other person that's hosting the podcast. And what many times happens too is you're having an opportunity to have a conversation before the podcast. You're having a conversation during the podcast. You get to know each other. They're also going to be probably listening to it afterwards and hearing you again. So they're hearing you for one more conversation, and then afterwards, when you're finished the podcast, usually spend another five or 10 minutes talking as well, and you get to know them. And you may find other ways you can partner and grow your business. Maybe you say, you know, that was a great podcast. We should do a class together, right? You never know where it's going to go. So this is a relationship you're building, and you've just spent an hour with somebody. Now here's the opportunity to grow the relationship further afterwards. So it's a it's a relationship, and I find that podcasting is one of the greatest ways to find new partners and clients on both sides of it, as a guest and as a host.

Yeah, I love that, and always looking for how can we support each other, how can we collaborate more with one another. Who can I introduce you to? I think that's a great question for a guest to ask a podcast host, because it really shows that you are interested in in their success.

Love to summarize this, and then we'll talk about any last takeaway items for us today. Just thinking through, so we talked a bit about, and this is a list that you could do. And I think Crystal, we should have in the show notes, some sort of handout. So there's going to be a handout that you can access in the show notes. I'll make sure that we put one together from this. We've talked a lot about preparing before the interview. We've talked about why your setup matters. So remember that. So you're going to prepare ahead when you're there. Do the research on on everybody, the podcast, the audience. If they got any notes, make sure that you've read them all thoroughly, and you're ready when you show up. And then, when you show up, get your setup done well. Check it all out ahead. Make make sure all your equipment is working. The fourth one I think that we covered was create value for the audience. That is my absolute favorite one. I'm sure it's yours too, right?

It is. It's so. It's the most important thing because it shows that you're coming from a from a heart centered space, right?

Yeah, yeah. And then five was sharing stories. We talked about that. So that's so much part of your world as a as a person who works with authors all the time and writes books. Oh my gosh! And you are so good at creating stories and helping the people in your grand group for thought leaders to use stories in their journey too. So I thank you for all of the help you do in your group. We talked about not rambling and being present. So do that mindful minute. Find a way to ground yourself before you start the podcast. Trusting the host, you talked a lot about this, Crystal, because you have been a great host for our members, and you really want them to shine. The next one was having some sort of asset that you can give them afterwards-a free gift. To connect, sometimes I've been interviewing people, and they'll say, "Oh, well, you could just go and find me, look me up, and on LinkedIn, and it's not to spell my name. Well, have a way that's right there that's easy for them to find, and you've usually filled it in in the form. But a great lead magnet or gift is a really good thing for the podcast to be able to give,

And that is actually the one and only time you can really sell. You can sell your free gift, right? You can share the benefit of why people would want to have your free gift, and it might have already come up in the stories that you've been sharing throughout the podcast.

And then we talked about finally after the interview, thanking the host, building the relationship and sharing the the podcast when it's launched and released, so those are great things.

The key also is to have fun, and that comes from being present, right? You just have to listen to the questions and then and work with the energy. And everybody has a different personality type and a different way of preparing for something. Some people love to improvise, and they're the best when they improvise and are in the moment. Others love that structure, and what I'm trying to do in these podcast interviews as a host is to accommodate for both. We follow down a valuable track if we're going down somewhere, but we're also really staying on these three pillars that we have and the questions that we've created. So, know how you will be the most relaxed and present based on who you are, and then see how you can prepare for that.

Well, that was a perfect ending to this, Crystal. Thanks for sharing your experience and insights today, and one thing I hope that listeners take away is that being a great podcast guest isn't about having all the answers or delivering the perfect performance. It's about showing up with intention. It's about listening as much as speaking, and it's about sharing stories that connect, practical ideas that people can apply, and conversations that genuinely serve the audience. When we focus less on promoting ourselves and more on helping others, that's when trust is built, relationships grow, and opportunities naturally flow. Whether you're a podcast guest, a speaker, or simply having your next networking conversation, these same principles apply. Slow down, be present, be curious, and share generously. Thank you for being here today on the Grand Connection podcast. If you haven't been to a Grand Connection event, please go to GrandConnection.ca. There is a button at the bottom where you can grab your guest pass. And until next time, keep connecting, keep creating, and keep collaborating.