How to Be a Great Podcast Guest (and why your pitch is being ignored)

Every month, my inbox is inundated with guest pitches for our podcast—some from passionate people, many from AI bots, almost all from complete strangers. Experience has made me quick with the delete button: for years, I’ve ignored 95% of those emails.

Why?

Most pitches make it obvious that the sender hasn’t done even basic homework about our show or our work at Superabound. It feels disrespectful to receive a generic request asking me and my team to do the legwork and figure out how their guest might fit.

And, because the sheer volume of these requests is overwhelming, I know I’ve probably missed a few gems by deleting so quickly.

So I decided to change my system—and I think it might help both podcast hosts and guests-in-waiting which is why I am sharing it with you.

Here’s what I do now:

• Everyone has to fill out a detailed form: I am still deleting requests that are clearly being sent by an AI agent or a VA who is just spraying and praying their pitch to any podcast they can find.
  
  But if the email seems like it might be from a real person, me or someone on my team, now replies with a form containing about 20 very specific questions. 
  
  We ask them to do the leg work and if they are interested they will fill it out thoughtfully; if they aren't, they won't and I won't get ten more follow up emails about it.
  
  And I will be transparent with you, even if a potential guest fills out the form, if they aren't already following us on social, a member of our community, haven't read any of my books, or never listened to the show, they probably aren't going to be invited on. Unless they’re someone whose work I already know and love, they have to know what we and our people are about or they aren't getting airtime in our world. 
  
  This is out of respect to our clients and our listeners. Guests have to have something important that will help our audience superabound or it's a no go.
  
  
• No More Infomercials: In the past, I have had guests on and let them pitch their programs on the show. I wanted to support people to thrive and be successful, but there were episodes where folks spent more time subtly or not so subtly talking about their programs and their clients so much that the value of what they could have shared was overshadowed. 
  
  The truth is, the podcast is part of our marketing platform to help build trust and give value to our clients and future clients so they know it is safe and effective to work with us as their coaches. 
  
  And because we believe in relationship-based sales and see how successful that has help us be, we don't ever waste an episode with a straight up sales pitch when we could give a valuable tool or idea instead. 
  
  Now, if guests have a book or a low-cost offer, we may mention it at the end—but our show is not a stage for 20-minute infomercials. 
  
  

Here’s the truth: The only guests who truly benefit from a business standpoint with our audience are those who bring real value—not a sales pitch, but substance.

Tips for Pitching Yourself as a Guest (So You Don’t Get Ignored)

If your dream is to appear on someone’s podcast, here are three things that will help your pitch stand out:

1. Be Part of the Community: Follow and engage with the podcast host. If you’re not on their radar from thoughtful comments or engagement on social media, or if you’re not on their mailing list, your email will get lost in the crowd.
   
   
2. Invest in Their Work: If the person has a book, podcast, or program, buy it, use it, and talk about it on social media by tagging them! Show that you get the work this podcast host is doing and can be trusted with their audience. 
   
   For instance, when someone posts about my book or leaves a genuine review, I remember them.
   
   Fun fact: This is also how we were able to become “known” to big names in our industry. Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach wrote a beautiful cover testimonial for our bestselling book Superabound: Live The Life The Universe Is Dreaming For You. 
   
   He didn’t land upon the book by accident at a bookstore one day. I was in the writing process while taking part in one of his programs. I had real relationships with folks on his team which led to getting the manuscript on his desk and a blurb written.
   
   
3. Do your Research and Make it Easy to Say Yes: Don’t send a vague bio with “here’s my website, check me out.” Assume that if the podcast is successful, the host is busy and isn’t sitting around with time to scan websites of potential guests. 
   
   Do the work for them! Giver your topic idea, outline the value you’d bring to our listeners, and (if possible) share your own audience metrics. Make it easy for the host to say yes by being easy to work with and showing all the ways you are aligned.

Podcast hosts get hundreds of generic pitches a month. If you want to stand out, make your pitch specific, thoughtful, and relevant.

Final Thought:

There are incredible people out there with wonderful things to share who get lost in the noise of mass cold-pitching. Similarly, plenty of podcast hosts want better conversations and more authentic relationships with their guests.

This is why relationship-based sales principles work so well in the podcasting world.

Unlike traditional sales that focus on pushing products to an audience, when pitching yourself as a guest, you're essentially "selling" your value to people with platforms. Cultivating authentic relationships is always the best path to abundant opportunities—when you genuinely engage with a host's content and demonstrate consistent value to their community, you build relationship capital that far outweighs any cold pitch strategy.

The best part is that everyone wins when authentic relationships lead to meaningful conversations and value for audiences.