Grow Thought Leadership with a Revenue - Producing Podcast

Episode 95

Collin Mitchell is a four-time founder and passionate about how to grow thought leadership. He is the co-founder at Salescast, the only fully-managed tech and service stack offering an end-to-end thought leadership platform. 

He is also the host of the phenomenally successful podcast called the Sales Transformation podcast, with 90,000 downloads per month.

Collin has been an entrepreneur, VP of Sales, and sales rep throughout his career, starting from the ground up and grinding his way to success. 

You’re in for a treat with this episode as Collin offers valuable tips on sales and growing thought leadership by building a revenue-generating podcast. 

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the complete Episode:

1. Discover how you can grow thought leadership through a revenue-producing podcast.
2. Find out how Collin’s first business generated $5 million in just 26 months.
3. Gain some valuable tips on top sales skills.
   
   

Episode Highlights

Who is Collin Mitchell

• • Collin got his first sales job at the age of 22, became the VP of Sales at 24 and was a Founder at 25.
  • He’s the founder of four companies and is dedicated to giving back to the sales profession, which has changed his life.
  • He hosts the Sales Transformation podcast, a daily podcast to help fuel sales transformation.

A tough upbringing

• • Collin’s mother raised him and his three brothers on her own and often came up short.
  • He grew up poor, surviving on food stamps.
  • There were no positive male role models in his life as his father was never around.
  • No one ever told him that school was important so college was not on the cards for him.

Sales were his way out

• • When Collin got his first sales job, he knew it was his way out of a life of struggle. 
  • He was the first and last one to leave every day, also working on the weekends.
  • Hard work took him far, but something was missing. 
  • It wasn’t until he started to invest in reading books, listening to podcasts, getting proper sleep, and meditating daily, along with many other positive habits, that his success took off.

IT value-added reseller (VAR)

• • Collin started this first company with his wife at the age of 25.
  • They grew it to $5 million in just 26 months, fueled by sales.
  • They sell hardware, software, consumables and office equipment, mainly to school districts and the government.
  • A big part of their success is attributed to some key hires in the sales team who used the phone most times for cold calls.

Solving a problem with VoIP

• • The phones were their livelihood, but they experienced massive problems with the VoIP technology.
  • They expressed their frustrations to an IT guy in their building, and he came up with a duct tape solution called a virtual server, which worked incredibly well.
  • Collin saw an opportunity realizing that there must be others who experience the same problems, and he decided to make this a business.
  • The business scaled to over 6000 users on the platform and built many channel partners.

The marketing business that failed

• • The VoIP company built a lot of partners who sold their product, but they didn’t know how to market it.
  • Collin decided to start a marketing business which he said failed miserably.
  • He didn’t enjoy building websites.

The birth of Salescast

• • Christopher Decker invited Collin onto his podcast, and it was such an excellent experience for Collin that he asked Chris to help him start his podcast.
  • Realizing that they worked well together, Collin and Chris started Salescast and took everything they knew about B2B sales and applied it to podcasting.
  • They help entrepreneurs and sales experts grow thought leadership through a revenue-producing podcast.

DNA of building a business

• • Sales, sales and more sales.
  • Collin says that you better know how to sell before you start a business or side hustle.
  • It’s the number one skill that you need to have as an entrepreneur, so he recommends that you find a way to gain the knowledge and experience if you don’t have this skill.
  • You can be the best marketer, have the best product or offer a great service, but if you can’t sell it, nobody cares.

If you find sales to be icky 

• • If you don’t like the way you’ve been sold to in the past, then do it differently.
  • Think about when you did have a good experience and sell in this way.

The top sales skills and tips

• • You need to ask and welcome feedback.
  • Not just from those who bought from you, but more importantly, those who did not buy from you.
  • Asking for feedback from those who decided not to buy from you will help you build your sales process and messaging.
  • The goal needs to deliver a good experience regardless of the outcome.
  • Figure out how to solve problems that don’t necessarily benefit you.

Achieving $5 million in 26 months

• • Collin says that as a founder, you need sales skills and document your processes.
  • He collected feedback early on and wasn’t scared to figure things out along the way.
  • They hired vital salespeople and gave them the autonomy to be creative in selling.
  • If he asked them to dig a trench, he would dig one right next to them.
  • Testing new things is vital, such as new markets, messaging, niches, sequences, and processes.

Knowing who you serve

• • It’s important to know who you serve best and who you don’t serve best.
  • Collin says that this is not hard to understand, but it’s hard to practice and actually live.
  • When someone is willing to pay you, it’s challenging to be disciplined enough to say no if it’s not your ideal client.

Revenue-first podcast platform

• • Podcasting can be a marketing activity, but it takes a long time and a lot of patience.
  • Podcasting as a sales/marketing activity, you’re still going to get the same marketing benefits such as elevating your brand, the ability to grow thought leadership and having content that attracts customers, but it still takes time.
  • However, podcasting as a sales activity allows you to start generating some revenue and becomes much more sustainable.

What Salescast offers

• • The idea is that their client can show up and do the fun stuff involved in being a host, and they take care of the rest.
  • This includes but is not limited to posting, writing show notes, creating micro-social audio, and audio engineering.
  • Their focus is on strategy so clients can drive revenue through the podcasting platform.

How does Collin Mitchell want to be remembered?

• • He wants to be remembered as somebody who’s always willing to help no matter what.
    
    

3 Powerful Quotes from this Episode

20:05 – “You could be the best marketer, or you could have the best SAS product. Or you could have the best, you know, a new way of doing a particular thing. But if you can’t sell it, nobody cares.”

28:45 – “The goal is to deliver a good experience regardless of the outcome, right? So whether they buy from you, whether they don’t buy from you, whether they buy from you, and then leave at some point, for some reason, as you mentioned, the goal is to deliver a good experience.”

32:16 – “What do you think is gonna happen when you help them solve the most important thing to them, even though it didn’t even benefit you? What you do now becomes a priority, and you become the number one candidate to solve that problem for them.”

About Collin Mitchell

At Salescast, Christopher Decker and Collin Mitchell are on a mission to connect 100 million people to their story.

They partner with visionary entrepreneurs and sales leaders to produce a podcast that will build relationships with their ideal clients, serve their community by creating impactful content, and drive more revenue.

Collin has created a community where sales and podcasting collide and focus on how to grow thought leadership. His passion is giving back to the sales profession, contributing to his success.

Connect with Collin

Website 

Linkedin 

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Thanks for listening,

Darrell