Should you hire a podcast booking agent?

The truth is, I decline 99.9% of the guest pitches I get as a podcaster.

Especially the ones sent by podcast booking agents. 

I'm usually not one to ruffle feathers, but after my Hell Yes Guest student Michele sent me this message a few weeks ago, I figured NOT telling you the truth about booking agents was actually a pretty jerky thing for me to do.

(Pssst... if we're new to each other, I'm not a booking agent. I teach a done-with-you course called Hell Yes Guest where I help small biz owners launch a Profitable Podcast Tour in just 8 weeks).

Michele wrote:

"Back in May, someone from [redacted for privacy] reached out to me after hearing me interviewed on [a podcast].

He told me that "they get their clients booked on the top 1-5% of podcasts with the right target audience."

And oh yes, they would have charged me $3,200 to get on 8 podcasts, or $4,200 to get on 12 podcasts.

But from what I've learned in HYG, I'll be able to get on those same top 1-5% podcasts FOREVER (giving someone a fish vs. teaching someone to fish).

I'm just so glad I didn't go the [agent] route myself and there must be others in the same boat as I was. Anything you can share to save them from that mistake would be amazing!"

So in no particular order, here are some things to think about if you're considering hiring an agent:

• Most agents are spending SO MUCH TIME throwing pitches into the abyss and hearing absolutely nothing back, which is why they need to charge so much. Ask any podcaster how often they accept pitches from agents! We typically reject these because they're rarely of quality, and they NEVER demonstrate the necessary value proposition for our audiences (or for us as the hosts).
• Most don't have the business strategy skills to make guesting a lead generation tool for their clients. This makes for empty "strategies" that might get you booked but don't actually grow your business, which is why so many people leave their agents due to low ROI.
• Most agents offer zero media training for their clients, so they might get booked, but show up unprepared to deliver a high converting interview (no, it's not as simple as just answering the questions you get asked!)
• They NEED you to keep needing them. That's how their business model works. Which means: they won't give you access to important pieces of your strategy, like industry contacts, so you can't go and get booked without them.
• They don't create content strategies for their clients. They just say 'Kelly can come on and talk about business, wouldn't that be great for your audience?' When they really need to be proposing specific, strategic, content ideas - ANGLES for a conversation.
• They charge an arm and a leg, see above!! My students pay me $997 (or 4 payments of $250) and learn how to get booked for life. I give them all of the tools, resources, contacts, and 1:1 support they need to book 500 podcast interviews if they want to. If you don't have time to be pitching yourself forever, I'd recommend learning our method and then outsourcing it to your VA. You'll save thousands. 

Are there some great agents out there? Probably! I just honestly haven't been pitched by any good ones, and I want you to make wise investments that shower you with gorgeous returns, so it feels like my responsibility to give it to you straight.

Xo,

Kelly