The Unfair Advantage: Why Every Business Coach and Leadership Expert Needs a Podcast (And Why Your Competitors Won't Have One)
You've built a solid business. You coach clients. You get results. You know your stuff better than most people in your field.
But here's the problem: nobody outside your existing network knows that.
You're competing with coaches who have bigger budgets, flashier websites, and more social media followers. You're fighting for visibility in a market saturated with "thought leaders." Your LinkedIn posts get decent engagement. Your email list grows slowly. Your speaking gigs come through referrals.
And it's exhausting.
But there's a specific, underutilised weapon that business coaches and leadership experts are sleeping on. It's not new. It's not trendy. But it's absolutely lethal for building personal authority and filling your coaching pipeline.
It's a podcast.
Not because podcasting is "hot right now." But because of what a podcast actually does for a coaching or leadership expert's business. And for some context, check out what The Power Within’s James Fleming has to say about his podcast.
Why Podcasts Work Where Everything Else Fails for Coaches
Let's be honest about your current authority-building strategy. You've probably invested in:
LinkedIn content (algorithm is brutal, reach is declining)
Your website and blog (nice to have, but clients don't find you there)
Speaking events (once every few months, the audience forgets you in weeks)
Email newsletters (assumes you already have an audience)
Paid ads (expensive, requires constant optimisation)
All of these have the same problem: they're push channels. You're creating content and hoping it reaches people. You're fighting for attention in an oversaturated space.
A podcast is different. It's a pull channel. People choose to listen to you. Repeatedly. Every week. And for a business coach or leadership expert, that repeated exposure is everything.
Here's why:
People don't hire coaches they don't trust. They don't trust people they don't know. Podcasts solve the "know" problem faster than anything else.
When someone listens to your podcast for three months (12 episodes, assuming a weekly release schedule), they've spent 10+ hours inside your thinking. They've heard how you approach problems. They've noticed your biases. They've watched you navigate tough questions. They know whether you're genuine or full of it. And a quick sidebar: if you’re wondering how long your podcast episodes should be, we have a guide on that.
By the time they consider hiring you, they've already decided you're worth talking to. The sales conversation becomes "let's work together" not "convince me you're legit."
That's not a small thing. That's the entire game.
If you’d like this guide in a handy, 11-slide PDF download, just click here.
The Real Math: Lead Generation Through Podcasting
Here's what actually happens when you run a podcast as a business coach for 12 months, assuming consistent weekly recording and proper promotion:
| Metric | Conservative | Realistic | Strong Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episodes (per year) | 48 | 48 | 52 |
| Downloads per episode (avg) | 350 | 800 | 1,200 |
| Total downloads (year) | 16,800 | 38,400 | 62,400 |
| Unique listeners (est.) | 2,500 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Warm leads (5-10% interested) | 125 | 400 | 720 |
| Coaching enquiries (10-20% book consultation) | 13 | 60 | 144 |
| Conversion to clients (30-50% of warm leads) | 4 | 18 | 43 |
| Average client value | £3,000 | £3,500 | £5,000 |
| Revenue generated | £12,000 | £63,000 | £215,000 |
| Annual podcast cost | £3,000 | £5,000 | £8,000 |
| Net ROI | 300% | 1,160% | 2,588% |
Breakdown: Conservative scenario assumes minimal promotion. Realistic scenario assumes consistent LinkedIn and email promotion. Strong Growth assumes guest appearances, clips, and cross-promotion. All scenarios assume professional recording quality and weekly consistency.
Most coaches think about their business like this:
Cost per lead (ads, networking, events): £50-500 per qualified lead
Sales conversation conversion: 20-40%
Average client value: £2000-10,000+
Then they ask: "What's the ROI on a podcast?"
And the answer depends on how you build it.
Here's what actually happens when you run a podcast as a business coach for 12 months:
You record weekly. Let's say 48 episodes (allowing for breaks).
By month 6, you're getting 200-500 downloads per episode (modest, realistic numbers for a new show).
By month 12, if you're promoting properly, you're at 500-1500+ downloads per episode.
Over a year, that's 24,000 - 72,000+ downloads. Not all of those are unique listeners—some are repeats—but let's say you get 5,000 unique listeners minimum.
Of those 5,000, maybe 5-10% are genuinely interested in what you do: 250-500 warm leads.
Of those warm leads, maybe 10-20% book a consultation: 25-100 new coaching enquiries per year.
If your average client value is £3,000+, and your close rate on warm leads is 30-50% (higher than cold), you're looking at £225,000 - £1,500,000 in potential revenue generated.
Cost of running a podcast for a year? £3,000-8,000 if you're doing it professionally (studio time, editing, hosting, promotion).
That's not just good ROI. That's absurd ROI.
And that's the conservative scenario. We've worked with coaches who've built podcasts and filled their entire coaching pipeline through listener enquiries within 18 months.
Here's what actually happens when you run a podcast as a business coach for 12 months, assuming consistent weekly recording and proper promotion:
| Metric | Conservative | Realistic | Strong Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episodes (per year) | 48 | 48 | 52 |
| Downloads per episode (avg) | 350 | 800 | 1,200 |
| Total downloads (year) | 16,800 | 38,400 | 62,400 |
| Unique listeners (est.) | 2,500 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Warm leads (5-10% interested) | 125 | 400 | 720 |
| Coaching enquiries (10-20% book consultation) | 13 | 60 | 144 |
| Conversion to clients (30-50% of warm leads) | 4 | 18 | 43 |
| Average client value | £3,000 | £3,500 | £5,000 |
| Revenue generated | £12,000 | £63,000 | £215,000 |
