5 Steps for Managing Your Guest Requests as a Podcast Host

With more and more people realizing the power of podcasting, I’ve been getting asked this question by hosts, “How can I manage all the podcast guest requests from people wanting to be on my podcast?” Over the past 12 months, I’ve developed (and monetized) how I manage all of my requests. I’ll share that with you in this post.

Every week I get between 70 – 100 requests from people wanting to be on my podcast. (About half are agencies wishing to have their clients appear on my show.) This many guesting requests from people wanting to share on Creating a Brand is overwhelming. 

If you’re a podcast host, you probably have a bunch of people reaching out to you to be featured as a guest on your show as well.

The question becomes, what can we do to manage all of these requests?

5 Steps for Managing Your Guest Requests as a Podcast Host:

STEP# 1. Point all requests to a central location. (Pick a place to send potential guests!)

The first thing you need to do to get control is to create a funnel where you’ll send everyone. I see too many hosts doing their best to keep up with the requests from every platform. It’s overwhelming! Think about your favorite place to manage your messages (or emails) and send everyone to this one place.

I use PodMatch to manage all of my guest requests and I’ll explain why throughout this post. (It’s a great free solution that you should also consider!)

Now that we have determined a central location (funnel) for our guests to send requests, this leads me to my second point… 

STEP# 2. Come up with a standard response that you can copy/paste to guests pitching themselves.

Having some standard text to send to people reaching out on all of the platforms can be used to lead them to your funnel (#1 above), where you want them to begin the process.

I use TextExpander to have a simple code that I can type in to share my full standard response automatically. (I type in my code ‘ccab,’ then the following automatically populates):

“Thank you so much for reaching out about being a guest on the Creating a Brand podcast! You’re chatting with one of Alex’s team members.

If you’re interested in being considered for the show, you’ll have to reach out via Creating a Brand’s PodMatch profile; this is the only place Alex reviews guest requests. Send Creating a Brand a message! If you’re not on PodMatch yet, you’ll have to register first.

Although Alex cannot accept everyone as a guest, he really appreciates everyone who reaches out! 🙂

Thank you,”

I have a very similar response to booking agencies reaching out to pitch their guests to me. if you’re interested in that, please message me, here.

STEP# 3. Standardize your review process. (Know your ideal guest criteria in checklist format)

Now that all potential guests are pitching to you in a central location, top of your funnel, you can now evaluate each against set criteria of what you’re looking for.

Having this defined is very important – It helps you keep your podcast organized for your audience, and it makes it easy to say no. (Which most of us struggle with!)

I recommend having a checklist that you can just quickly check everything against. This is another reason I use PodMatch – Because it allows me to enter all of my criteria and then automatically evaluate guests against that criteria, so in less than 1 minute, I’m able to tell if the guest is right for my show/audience or not.

STEP #4. Come up with a standard response to reject or further pursue booking guests. (No and Yes)

If you’re going to say no to someone who wants to be a guest on your show, you need to develop a few standard responses for doing this. Ignoring people, unless they’re just crazy, isn’t the right route to go.

(I’ll share a blog post about this soon – Don’t miss it!) ✍

STEP #5. Monetize the process.

Where there is demand, there is monetization opportunity. Why not bring in income through this process? At the time of writing this, I bring in just over $6,000.00 a year from this process, and that increases every day! 

Once again, this is thanks to PodMatch. Let me walk you through how this works:

• First, a potential guest visits my link, which sends them straight to my PodMatch profile. In the top right-hand corner of my profile, it says, “Want to be a Guest on this Podcast? Click here to create a free PodMatch account to message this host!”
• That “click here” link takes them straight to my affiliate signup on the homepage of PodMatch.
• If they register and upgrade/spend any amount of money with PodMatch, I receive a reoccurring 20%.
• This compounding interest has added up for me over the last 12 months!

These are the 5 steps that I use to manage all of my guest requests for my podcast!

Recap: When I receive a request from a potential guest wanting to be on my show, I use my TextExpander standard text to send them a response that invites them to PodMatch. If they join and message me, I take 60 seconds to review their profile to see if they’re a right fit, then I respond. In this process, I’ve made 6k in the last 12 months!

How do you manage all of your guest requests? If you do something creative, share it!