Sales Tips for Podcast Hosts with Brian O'Neill

Josh (00:00:02) - All right. We got five minutes on the clock. What is your name and your podcast show?

Brian (00:00:06) - I'm Brian O'Neill. I'm the host of the W2 Prison Break show.

Josh (00:00:09) - Awesome, man. Now, you got an interesting story which led you to start this. Why don't you kind of share us your story and why you should build something based on the skills you already have?

Brian (00:00:19) - Exactly. So I was in real quick corporate sales for 25 years. I'd always wanted to start my own business, and I made the mistake of going out and learning a different skill to get out of my job. I became a real estate investor, right? I was busy, and this is the case for a lot of people. We're super busy. One of the biggest excuses I hear or or objections is, hey, I don't have enough time. And rather than combat that, I help people now understand that, okay, let's let's just say you don't have enough time. There's no reason for you to go out and learn a new skill that takes up more of your time that you don't already have.

Brian (00:00:55) - Let's figure out what you're good at. Also, what you might like to do, what you're passionate about, what your skills are, and let's figure out a way to monetize that so that then you only have to learn how to become a business owner and not have to learn how to do this entirely brand new thing that's just going to suck more time in life and energy out of you.

Josh (00:01:15) - Yeah.

Josh (00:01:16) - Awesome, man. So give an example of you left and you had to learn the world of real estate, and you had some great mentors and partners that, you know, you've done an incredible job. But let's let's rewind. What would you have done differently if you and I were going to start a business right when you left the W2?

Brian (00:01:32) - Yeah. So I would have identified I would have identified exactly what I was super good at right then and there. I was in sales for 25 years. Right. And I would have just found an area in sales that I was really good at. And what I later found out after being in real estate for several years was that I'm awesome on the phone.

Brian (00:01:53) - I can cold call like there's no tomorrow and I'm really, really good at scripts. And I and I realized that I had been preparing for that for probably 25, 30 years because I used to, you know, when, when we had the phones were still hooked up to the wall, I would be calling business owner. So I've just been preparing for it, and I would have found a way to monetize that skill of teaching people how to get good on the phone, not just in real estate, but just cold calling, period.

Josh (00:02:21) - Yeah, give us a cold calling tip. Right. So I think a lot of podcasters, you know, they they use podcasting as business development, audience development and stuff like that. But every once in a while, you got to pick up the phone and call a potential partner or sponsor. What's a cold calling tip for podcasters?

Brian (00:02:38) - Yeah. So always remember that you have two years in one mouth. Okay. So listening is crucial okay. Crucial. And you have to understand that when you're speaking to somebody.

Brian (00:02:51) - So for podcasters that you have to focus on what it is that the person that you're talking to is trying to accomplish. I took this in my I use this in my real estate business. It's like, I just want to understand what you're trying to get done. I am not trying to close you. I'm not trying to buy your house on call number one. I'm not trying to, you know, get you to give me money on call number one. I want to understand your situation. That's how you build rapport, not look. Hey, I went to the same school, or I got a dog, too. Or I got kids. Like, people don't care about that, okay? They care about what their problem is. And the more you spend time focusing on what they're trying to get done, the more successful you are going to be. Some of my best phone calls. Josh, I have maybe spoken. 3 or 4 sentences and I just let this. I just let the person go, man.

Josh (00:03:43) - As podcasters, this should be a skill that we're experts in. But I think us podcasters, especially looking to grow and monetize a show, we run our mouth too much. I literally, as you were talking, I go, I've been missing the mark because we've been converting and closing deals, but it's just like, I wonder how many more I could have gone, you know, gone through the whole cycle if I would have shut my mouth. This is really cool. So you would have built a sales brand and a sales training to help people close. Um, if you were to do that again, what would what would you focus like? What industry would you focus first?

Brian (00:04:22) - Here, I would probably focus on real estate because I've picked up some skills. So I took my sales background and brought in my phone skills and brought it and brought it to real estate. And there's just a lot of people that are afraid to pick the phone up, period. So there's mindset mentality around that. And then there's understanding like the actual the dynamics that go into a perfect seller call, if you will.

Brian (00:04:45) - So that's what I would do.

Josh (00:04:46) - Super cool. Where can people go to find your podcast? And yeah, that's a good place to end it.

Brian (00:04:51) - It's the W-2 Prison Break show. It is available everywhere and you are on it. So definitely go listen to it.

Josh (00:04:58) - Awesome guys. And we did that all under five minutes. We'll see you all on the next episode.