Let your main focus be on building a good reputation- this principle has given rise to the present-day successful entrepreneur, Founder & CEO, The Expert Bookers, Natalie Davey.
Natalie Davey’s whole profession has based on deals and client support. She was drawn into the podcasting world right when the business was simply trying to find a landing stone. Natalie went through years supporting effective booking offices and working with many stunning master visitors and show hosts, acquiring the reputation of standing out amongst other such bookers in the business. With her experience and immense belief in herself, Natalie established ‘The Expert Bookers’, where she and her skilled team have earned a reputation while working with top-notch entrepreneurs, authors, and business owners.
Natalie Davey shares her views on success strategies and tips, and motivation with Business Upside in this interview.
Edited Excerpts from The Interview
Business Upside [BU]: What was your mission at the outset?
Natalie Davey [ND]: I started back when podcasts were just beginning to become popular, yet many people still didn’t even know what they were, let alone how they could be beneficial to them from a marketing perspective. I wanted to provide a service that made the process of getting booked as an expert guest onto shows as simple as possible for business owners. I wanted to provide a transparent, professional, yet very personalized all-done-for-you service.
Business Upside [BU]: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Natalie Davey [ND]: I cannot take credit for the idea. At the time there was one podcast interview booking agency that emerged, the very first in the industry. Before long, they started to target clients who wanted a more extensive marketing package and a budget to support that. This left a need for a simple service, reasonably priced, and that focused purely on getting business owners, entrepreneurs, and authors booked on great podcast shows with their ideal audience. Most of these people had their general marketing taken care of, but podcast guesting was such a new concept back then that nobody knew how to go about making that happen. That is how the business was born; it started with one client and grew from there.
Business Upside [BU]: How did you come up with the name for your company?
Natalie Davey [ND]: There really isn’t an interesting story behind it. I wanted something that described what we did – The Expert Bookers. Looking back, I had very little knowledge then about SEO, etc. If I had been smarter I would have included the word “podcast” in the name. What’s the expression – “Hindsight is a wonderful thing”? But, it hasn’t hindered us much. It is a name that I have come to be very proud of because it has built a good reputation in the industry.
Business Upside [BU]: What service(s) or product(s) do you offer/manufacture?
Natalie Davey [ND]: We offer a personalized all-done-for-you podcast interview booking service. Every client has their own dedicated Account Manager and we offer the option of 2 or 4 secured and scheduled bookings per month. We guarantee that all interviews will be on podcasts within your expertise areas and with the right type of target audience. We book only well-established podcasts, which have consistently produced quality content & interviews. And we only work with show hosts who are posting their interview episodes to their website and back-linking your site, giving valuable SEO benefits. It’s a monthly subscription-based service, with no signup fee or minimum contract period. Basically, we’re the Miss Moneypenny’s of the podcast world.
Business Upside [BU]: What is unique about your business?
Natalie Davey [ND]: We’re one of the longest-standing teams in the industry, and our connections, experience, and quality of bookings are testimony to that. Personalized customer care is everything to us; we treat each of our clients like they are our only clients. We put huge value on transparency, never making promises or guarantees that we cannot keep.
Business Upside [BU]: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Natalie Davey [ND]: Let your main focus be on building a good reputation! Don’t concentrate on money, instead, be sure to deal with everyone with integrity and respect, and try to be of service to everyone. When you do that and build a good reputation within your industry, with your clients, with your team, even with your competitors, everything else will follow. Additionally, you will feel proud of what you have built. That is of the highest value.
Business Upside [BU]: To what do you attribute to your success?
Natalie Davey [ND]: Delivering on what you say you will do for your clients and for your team! Always treat people with kindness and honesty and do your best to be attentive to their needs. At the end of the day, unhappy clients, an unhappy team, means no business, no success.
Business Upside [BU]: What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Natalie Davey [ND]: I feel extremely proud when I look at the team I have. It has been built from the ground up. This line of work is such a niche that everyone has been personally trained from scratch. They are all amazing women, most of whom have been with me for years and are at this point themselves at the top of their game in our industry. As a team, we have nurtured an attitude among ourselves that the quality of service we deliver is vitally important. Because we have never slacked on that aspect we are all proud to have the reputation that we have worked hard to earn and continue to keep.
Business Upside [BU]: How do you market your business, and which method has been most successful?
Natalie Davey [ND]: I have a great in-house graphic designer who creates content to post 2-3 times a week across all the main social media platforms. Additionally, we post 1-2 blog articles per month on our website. That is about it, nothing complicated and we have never invested in paid ads, etc. By being consistent with the things mentioned, for as long as we have, we have had positive SEO results. We also get a lot of referrals from clients and word-of-mouth.
Business Upside [BU]: What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
Natalie Davey [ND]: I never set out to become an entrepreneur. A few years ago my life turned upside down in one afternoon – I lost my husband and our business, a month later, I was homeless. I had good friends who gave me somewhere to crash until I could get back on my feet. I had no real qualifications or skills to fall back onto, but I have always had a strong work ethic and always been fairly good at selling. It started with online work – one client, a start to rebuilding my life. Within a few months, it was a handful of clients and two of us on the team. Here we are seven years later, with one of the best teams in the industry, and an extensive client list of amazing experts. I still don’t think of myself as an entrepreneur…I am just making a living and want to do the best job I can.
