Finding the Right Guest Onboarding Interviewees

hey video skills lab Alex here I am so excited for our master class this month where we are talking about how to book out your next quarter with amazing guest interviews that are going to grow your audience and make some cells for you as well well and we're going to talk about how to find the right guests and we're also going to talk about how to then onboard those guests for Success uh so first off I'm doing this master class live maybe you're watching this live maybe you're watching this replay I'm real quick just going

to pin the actual live to the top of the group so you all can find me and if you're here live like I said you know say hey let me know you're here and watching um and we're going to dive right in so when I talk about Guest interviews I am sharing about people who have uh the same audience as you do but are noncompeting so for example let's say that I uh brought in someone who builds home Studios and you know works with entrepreneurs who are trying to master video I don't build home Studios

I really am not a super tech person like I'm the person who's going to teach you to write incredible scripts incredible hooks for your videos I'm going to teach you how to build momentum and build your audience but honestly I'd rather leave the TCH side to someone else uh so that's a great example of someone who we have the same audience but we do two very very different things so what's amazing about these interviews again is that you are able to kind of grow mutually when you invite these people into your audience and you do

a good job of it but here's the thing there are a lot of ways that this could potentially go wrong and so when I say wrong um I just mean that like maybe you invite someone who doesn't necessarily have the same values as you or you invite someone who's really not that great a speaker you invite someone who isn't going to promote the interview um and you waste all this time and effort and energy putting together all the marketing material all the uh you do all the stuff you need to onboard this person so it's

so important that we are picking the right people uh and let me see who's here live because I see some some people here uh who are live with us I see Suzanne's here awesome so let's talk first um real quick I just want to briefly as well mention um in the video skills lab I've actually already gone through and done a training on my entire guest expert interview framework so if you go into the video skills lab under the guest interview section guest expert interviews you will see this whole training and this goes in depth

from like the whole process start to finish it goes more in depth in like how to pitch it goes more in depth in the kind of marketing materials you want to use that stuff we're not going to cover today so again if you're looking to fill in those gaps like go and watch that training um after this okay let's get back to this this uh Topic at hand though okay so let's talk about finding the right guests first so first of all when you are trying to find the right guests we go through basically like

this round of pitching and you want to set like a goal for yourself so I've created this little tracker for you guys guest interview tracker and this is exactly what I use for uh myself when I am uh you know pitching so for example I created this uh when uh when I was creating my Summit or pitching speakers for my Summit go live con which actually is opening tomorrow which I'm really excited about uh 30 speakers talking all about how to use uh all these different things to sell your offers and grow your audience with

live video so definitely be on the lookout but I did exactly this when I was looking for people to collaborate with I created this little tracker so I have you know the number where I basically just keep track of how many so I could do like you know one two three four five their name uh potential topic uh date of the first message a followup date and then status so potential topic would be um based on what you're seeing from their social media profile or Bas based on what they've talked about in social media posts

or what they've advertised in their bio what potentially could they come in and talk to your audience about and obviously they'll have a say when you talk to them if they agree but this is just you brainstorming then you want to track the date of the first message when did you send the first pitch um if you had to follow up what was that date and then where are they at with with their status have they you know have they been um you know are they are they in contact with you have they not said

anything have they turned you down like where where are they at with things so for go liveon I set out a goal for myself where I was like okay I want to pitch 100 speakers and I want to see of the 100 speakers how many of them are going to say yes and actually be the right fit for go live con I should have pulled up these numbers but of the 100 people that I pitched I had 35 people say yes that means 35% of people said yes I had a couple of people that couldn't

meet deadlines a couple of people that like I ended up figuring out just like weren't a great fit and now we're at 30 speakers so what that tells me and I'm not just saying anyone who speak I mean 30 qualified speakers 30 speakers who have an incredible audience 30 speakers who are good speakers 30 speakers who are are just like people are going to be like wow like this is so cool that they're speaking at your event so again when I say a 30 30 out of that 100 that we got down to that was

me being very very picky too if I wanted to just find a 100 people to speak it would be easy but being Discerning is really really important when we're when we're thinking about all this stuff so let me know let me know guys if this is making sense to you so far but the reason I'm mentioning this is because this stuff is a numbers game right so you want to start to figure out your numbers you want to just be detached and you want to set a goal for yourself so you want to say all

right if I pitch 30 experts what you want to figure out first is of the 30 experts how many of them are going to say yes and we want to figure out okay of the 30 how many how many of the 30 will open my message and then of the percent that open your message how many of them are then going to go respond to you and of the percent that respond how many of them are saying yes and moving to that next step so don't get frustrated if you send five messages and people haven't

responded that's so soon that's way too soon set a goal I would pick between somewhere between 30 40 50 depending on uh you know how many interviews you want to be doing and and also like how many connections you have if you're someone with a a lot of connections you want to OB obviously um you know I was going to mention this next but you want to kind of start warm first brainstorm people who are warm who you have mutual connections with who you've seen before who you learn who you've learned from before who you

know H has a great audience and you have that connection to them already that's way easier to pitch those people so if you have a lot of warm people that you think are going to be saying yes maybe you don't go for 40 maybe you say okay I'm going to pitch 20 and let's see how many of those people say yes okay so again if you guys are here live let me know if this is making sense so far let me know if you have questions on any of this but that's the first step so

finding the right guests we need to use this tracker and then we need to make sure that we are starting warm and I would just go onto this tracker right here and just brainstorm all those potential people and message and message them and again the pitch the pitch format is in that other training uh that I mentioned okay let's talk about cold searches right uh and I should put that here cold Facebook slig searches this is primarily how I will find once I'm done with my warm audience um the other way that I'll find uh

people could potentially be through asking my warm audience too hey do you have anyone you could recommend but if you really don't have anything and you're starting from scratch you could do cold facebookinstagram searches and I have found that those are the best two platforms uh to kind of use to find guests but you really need to make sure again you know how to discern who is the right fit for an interview because I've had students who just start pitching people and they really they're they're not looking out for specific thing so let's talk about

what those things could look like and I'm going to bring up my profile on IG right now and I'm G to use myself as an example so let me share let me share this this with you guys right now okay so this is my Instagram I'm really not like I post my stuff on Instagram especially with the Facebook live uh being deleted like I'll post my lives on here now I post things because I have some people who are following me but it's really not a huge following like of my audience like I have close

to 8,000 on my email list like you know there's hundreds of people in this group that I'm going live in right now my other Facebook group has close to 3,000 so it's just like not very for my audience I don't think this is super impressive which is fine because it's not my main platform but the reason I say this is because if I saw someone with this number but they had the topic that I was interested and here's what I would look for to see if they were still a good fit right because audience size

is not the only thing audience size can be super misleading right because sure there's 588 followers on here but but I have my audience is in so many places I've got a a decent sized email list decent engagement on the stuff that I've done I've had so many events that I've run so you have to do the research if you like someone so here's what we want to look at so first we want to look at their actual profile so we want to look at their bio we want to look at the numbers the look

feel and any calls to action so is everything super super clear so I've got want to use really simple videos to grow your business you can see I'm from Austin and then if you click my link you can see all the stuff that I've got I've got a free 7-Day challenge I've you you can see all my other video marketing trainings you can see I've got a $9 month membership you can then see my Facebook group here which has almost 3,000 people in it you can see my uh my shop so what does all this

stuff tell you it tells you okay I actually do have an audience in other places uh I'm a professional because I've got this website I've got products that I'm selling got testimonials on my stuff I've got video content up you can see and hear and experience me so again this number isn't necessarily like a detractor like and and don't just go for people that have 20,000 followers like in some cases like you do the research a little bit more and um you know re like like look into people a little bit more okay uh let

me pause here do you guys have questions let me know if we're good so far and I'm going to keep I'm going to keep going so again actually I'll share this tab once so when we're doing these cold searches profile review look at their bio make sure that you know it's really clear exactly what they do get a sense for the numbers but it's not the most important thing do your research if the numbers are a little bit lower uh look feel so when I say that I mean does the content on there align with

uh exactly what you are putting out and and and your values and then calls to action meaning uh you know do they actually know how to Market so you can see I run events I have challenges I have an email list I'm selling products like I know how to Market so if you wanted me to promote this interview I would know what I'm doing versus someone who's really new to the industry they don't really have things figured out they're still struggling to get clearity on exactly what they're doing in their business that's someone I probably

would not invite to interview when they don't have kind of their their in order so to speak okay um all right uh let's talk about the next thing you want to look at on these profiles so the next thing is expertise and this is where you want to listen and read so if we go back to my uh profile I've got posts here I've got actual videos so for example this one sentence will cut your script writing time in half and boost your attention I've got this Workshop that I'm talking about I have some personal

content like with my with my baby and stuff like that but you can get a little taste of what it's going to be like to interview me what it's going to be like to have me as as as a speaker because you know from this one short little video that I know what I'm talking about related to this I can speak decently when it comes to like being on camera I'm okay being on camera like all those things are important okay uh and then the last thing you also want to look at is there is

there Mutual connections that you guys have so for example if you looked at my profile and you had some mutual connections you could and ask those Mutual connections like hey like what do you know about this person um or you could just reach out it's totally up to you okay last thing I want emphasize please please make sure that these guests align with your values um I use this strategy every single week I was had guests coming in interviewing when I was leadership coaching every week and I was really not very Discerning uh I would

just be like yes if you have an audience come on and I'll interview you and I had one guess that it was incredibly awkward they were very nice person but super like awkward like really I thought they knew a lot more about their topic than they actually did it felt like they were kind of winging it um they also had some like hot takes on things that I was like wow this is really awkward like I this is not the kind of content that I want to put out so make sure that you are truly

you are vetting people and not just sending those messages so that's why I was saying you know 30 out of a 100 people that have been you know for go live conon that have been thoroughly vetted and that I've made sure would be a really great fit and and I was really Discerning about okay awesome so when we look at um let me share the tracker one more time so again you're going to pick a goal you're going to send these pitches after you do uh your research and then once you have a guess that

has confirmed that's when you're able to move over to this track ha ER here and this is for people who have said yes I want to speak I want to interview and I'm going to get to this in just a second but I just wanted to make sure that you you you knew this was coming okay so once you hit the yes this is when you you want to onboard your audience so there's two ways that you can do this right so here's the first way this you know this way that I've got highlighted this

is where you're doing the search you're researching your your interviewer your potential interview I should say you're pitching that person and again the pitch formula is in that other video um if you get a yes then you are having them fill out a speaker onboarding form which I'm going to show you guys what that looks like in a second then you are going to market the uh you know interview once you have that form you guys will have it obviously a date you'll Market the interview and then the interview will take place and the idea

is that uh this this interviewing again will share the event with their audience they will come up and and do an amazing piece of content with you and it will be amazing for your audience to learn from this person and your your interview's you know uh Authority and audience will grow as well from being positioned next to you so it's really like a lot of mutual benefit but the other way you could do is and this is something that actually I want to credit to Suzanne who I know is here watching right now one of

my uh one of my clients she's in the video skills up to um this is something she started doing that I think is really really cool which is um you know she would research people um she would pitch them she would get a yes and then instead of just going straight to the form she'd add it in a little 15minute call and this was like a get to know you call where they would talk you know basically just build a little bit more Rapport and a relationship so they're not meeting for the first time on

the interview right that can be a little bit awkward nothing wrong with it but you know having that 15-minute call to make people feel comfortable answer their questions they would pick a topic together they pick a date and then after that call if it was a good fit she would then send them the form to you know get set up and then they would mark it and I uh I'm willing to bet she just started kind of using this strategy but I'm willing to bet because she's doing this 15-minute call and because she's being so

Discerning like I think she's going to have better success rate with other people promoting other interviewees promoting the event because they know her and like her and she's not a stranger right so this 15-minute call could be a really really great addition okay let's talk about what we're doing to onboard our speakers right our interviewees um we want to make sure that basically we are setting the tone that this is going to be an awesome interview that both parties are going to benefit and just set the expectations of what you need from them make sure

you're collecting everything on your part so that you feel great putting on an awesome interview and also this is going to be where you can ask questions to create even more opportunities that you might not even be thinking about so I know all this sounds a little bit vague so let me share um Suzanne actually gave me permission to share her form that we actually just put together for her so this is what she is going to be sharing with people who who have uh who have booked that interview with her who are going to

be interviewing with her so she's got apply to be a live interview guest please fill out the form so I have everything to promote the event after you fill out make sure you also email me a head shot okay um the only reason she's asking people to email a headshot to you can include this in your form if you're using like air table or Google forms uh is just because it wouldn't let us she's using cartra and it wouldn't let you upload like a wouldn't let you add like an upload image area so she's just

having people email but do add the headshot piece okay so we have first name last name email then we've gotten three to five sentences tell me a little bit about you and your business so I can introduce you properly on our interview so you as the host when you start this interview you want to open it up with your topic so for example if I'm interviewing someone about um building an amazing home student Studio I would say you know if you're struggling with tech if you're struggling with figuring out how to get all your lighting

right and your microphone set up correctly come listen in because this person and I are going to talk all about building your home studio this person is the founder of this company and I know this version because blah blah blah like do a little bit you gota you know that this about is where you start to uh plug in the script where you you know this is part of that intro that you have to do for your guest and uh it can be really awkward if you don't have this info beforehand because you're like oh

who are you and you know how should I introduce you and it just makes things way more professional and streamlined when you have all this info okay from here uh the next question is you know what's the live interview topic that we're going to discuss during the interview um suggested questions uh we're here she's saying I'm going to prepare questions ahead of time but there is there anything that you want to share to show off your expertise any questions you think I should ask you based off of the topic we agreed upon so sometimes people

are better at coming up with questions that they want you to ask than you would yourself so this is just another way they can help you get ready Next Step you're able to pitch a freebie at the end of the interview I'll include it in the video as well in the video description as well please share the name of the freebie in the link uh so typically uh when I will do interviews or my students will we'll always make sure that we're sharing um you know whatever freebie they want in the description of the video

we'll make sure that our audience gets access to this because again they're they're coming on this for free doing this interview for free so we want to make sure they get the the benefit as well so we want to ask for that stuff in advance okay setting the expectation right this next question is speakers are required to send one email to their list and post on their active socials about the event do you want me to send you swipe copy and Graphics this is another Super super super important one when I was leadership coaching I

used to have like a lot of people who would um not promote and it was because I wasn't making it easy enough for them to promote like I wasn't giving them Graphics ahead of time I wasn't giving them swipe copy swipe copy is just basically uh like a social media post or an email template that I have written for them so that they don't have to do the work of writing the cont content they just have to press send or press post and it makes it so much easier and obviously they are able to tailor

it however they like but it really does make life uh a lot easier and people are way more likely to promote as well okay from there we want to have their website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn like have those um there so that you're able to send you know you can include this stuff in the description of your video as well um if you know or if your audience is asking for it you're able to send them this stuff okay next up remember how I told you guys that there are going to be other opportunities as well

that are going to come up because of um other opportunities that are going to come up because of this form right so here are some of the exciting ones that are working so this next question have you joined the yoga and movement Circle Facebook group with the live will take place if not join uh if not use this link to join Jo uh and Suzanne just so you know I don't see the link anywhere here so you might need to update this um so this is this this actually isn't the opportunity that I was mentioning

I forgot to go through this question uh this is just making sure people are connected to you wherever um wherever you are on social media we'll come back to this in a second but in terms of opening other opportunities this next question would you like to collaborate and interview Suzanne she can speak on a variety of topics such as uh uh and then Suzanne you've got to actually include the topics here I think you just missed that or if you have another idea I'm hoping to hear that as well so the idea is like this

is a very non like a very um non like salesy or like icky way of saying hey I also want to be interviewed I also am open to speaking to your audience do you want to set that up and if people are like no cool you just move on but if people were like yes then you're able to say hey I saw on your your form you're interested Ed in you know having me speak to your audience how do you want to set that up so that's one question another one are you interested in being

an affiliate of the yoga and movement Circle this is a $20 a month membership that hosts 11 Zoom yoga classes a week for wom 50 plus you can earn 50% recurring commission as an affiliate so this is Suzanne's main offer this $20 a month membership and this isn't again another easy way for her to start AC crewing Affiliates because if her guests are like yes put me down as an affiliate then you can get them signed up as an affiliate potentially then it's easier to then have them book you for an interview or book you

for some type of joint venture uh activity where you can go and speak to their group and use their affiliate link they're more likely to want to promote you because they're going to make money from whatever it is that you guys do together right so these kinds of questions like simple questions like do you want to interview me are you interested in becoming an affiliate are just really really again simple ways either they're kind of a yes or a no that will deepen opportunities this style of form is exactly what I did for go liveon

to land our first 10 sponsors so when I was thinking about hosting go liveon this is the third time I'm running it we have really good data we've had a lot of attendees we we've had we have our processes down and I was like maybe I should open it to sponsors at this point because this is the third time I'm doing it so I didn't do a big PR otion for sponsorship all I did for my speakers was put one line on this form saying do you want to sponsor go live con and put a

link to like a a list of like package options and people either said yes or no and of the 10 people who said yes 12 people said or let me rephrase that 12 people indicated on the form yes I'm interested in sponsorship and 10 of them move forward just from adding in that one line I didn't do any any type of major push or promo just basically just asking this question in a direct way where people were paying attention Okay um all right let's talk about uh kind of the last few questions so uh circling

back to earlier have you joined the yoga movement Circle Facebook group you want to make sure that your guest is connected with you on all social media platforms because part of this strategy is tagging those people so for example uh you know Suzanne is going to post her interviews on Instagram and on Facebook and tag that person so Their audience is going to see that interview and also this person is going to send out the interview um we just want to make sure that they're connected and that you're able to tag them in like all

the promo stuff okay last questions um anyone you think would be a great next live interview guest uh personally some of my best speakers and people that I don't think I would been able to land cold were people that were referrals and recommended from my form so uh let's say someone filled out this form and said hey I think Alex carmell would be a really great guest I would then be like oh my gosh thank you so much for recommending Alex um I'm happy to reach out cold but would you mind doing an intro either

sending us a DM or an email connecting us um it typically helps to have that intro before if you're comfortable that's totally okay I'll reach out either way and almost always people are more than willing to do an intro and it makes it so much easier for me to then go and connect with that person if I want to okay last question is just anything else I should know any other details just giving people space to just kind of share whatever it else um they need okay so I see suzan asking what is sponsorship for

the summit basically sponsorship is where um they get opportunities to uh they pay like a fee and then they're able to get certain uh like marketing opportunities so for example during my Summit I have got um like a a top sponsor who gets access who who is able to uh contribute like products to our swag bag for the event their presentation instead of just being on one day of the Summit is running for all four days um I do special marketing posts on my social media promoting this person so um you can have interviews sponsored

that's not a Direction I Would probably go yet I would first just get you know get your audience filled up get your um get your interview process in place um like I said for go live con the first two events I didn't I was like it's not right for me to get sponsorship yet or for me to offer sponsorship because I don't know the numbers I don't want to pitch people to be sponsored I'm not sure if like I'm going to be have a big enough audience for them to make it worth it so before

you go that route um just make sure you you really test and you have your process down okay cool let me know if that makes sense all right so let's wrap up so I hope that you guys are really seeing like how to go about finding the right guest how to make sure you're on boarding for Success using that form making sure you're being really Discerning um and that is it for today let me know if you do have questions um I'm going to post this Replay in the video skills lab platform and right below

it I will put the um the um tracker um that's the only thing I think we didn't review I'll share this one more time um for the confirmed guest so we have the guest pitch trackers so these are people you're pitching once people are confirmed that hey I want to participate this is where you can you know put their name their final topic that they're going to interview on did you book The 15-minute call did they complete the form did you pick an interview date did you create the marketing materials and the notes so just

a way for you to kind of stay organized with your stuff so again I'll post this in the video skills lab platform with the document this this tracker linked underneath awesome um well it was so great being with youall here live if you were here watching live today you can drop me a hashtag live or if you watch the replay hasag replay and I'll see you real soon for