018 Gayle Carson: Train with an SOB

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In this episode, Barbara and Gayle Carson discuss: 

Speaking Engagements and their benefits
Tips to get on radio shows
Topic is key, make them cliffhangers

Key Takeaways: 

Establish yourself as an expert in your niche
Have a message they want to hear, present it in a way that they want to receive it and establish yourself as the expert
Doing a wide variety of media locations will build your credibility

“When people know who you are, they’ve heard you, and they like what you have to say it all goes to make a brand and build an image.” — Gayle Carson

Transcription

018 Gayle Carson-Train with an SOB

Barbara Hales: Welcome to Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have one of the most amazing and inspiring women that I know. It’s SOB, spunky old broad herself, Gayle Carson. Welcome to the show, Gayle.

Gayle Carson: Thank you so much, Barbara, for having me.

Barbara Hales: Well, you should hear what this person is all about. As president of the Carson Research Center, she served as a consultant to 50 industries on six continents, advising them on current business trends and cutting-edge opportunities to stay ahead of their competition. The author of five books, she hit the Amazon’s Best Seller list, was a winner of the Best Seller Quill Award and was inducted into the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors. Gayle Carson graduated from Emerson College with a degree in broadcasting, theater and speech. During college, she hosted two radio shows, and began her training in live TV. After college, she moved to Miami and got her first job in two weeks.

One year later, she bought the business and proceeded to diversify its sales base from one to seven divisions and it eventually became the largest independent organization in the industry. As CEO, Gayle managed a diverse staff of over 350 people, graduated more than a million students from her training programs and personally managed the company’s complex payroll. While serving as CEO of her business, she received her doctorate from Southeastern University. Selected as a 2007 Legend of the Speaking Profession, she hosted Entrepreneur’s Women in Business radio show, wrote for them and had articles in More magazine. Currently, she hosts over a dozen radio shows per month and is the founder of the sobradionetwork.com. She is also the only woman in the world who has a doctorate, a CSP, meaning Certified Speaking Professional, CMC, which is Certified Management Consultant and an FIMC, meaning Fellow to the Institute of Management Consultants. Whoa, reading everything makes one in awe and exhausted.

Gayle Carson: How sweet you are, Barbara.

Barbara Hales: Tell us a bit about Carson Research Center.

Gayle Carson: Well, Carson Research Center is the management consulting arm of what I do. That’s where I’ve been working with corporations and so forth to help them in a lot of different arenas. Not only the people areas but marketing and strategy and really trends, because businesses so up and down today that you really need to be able to have a flexible organization where you can change on a dime if you have to. So that’s what this Carson Research Center does.

Barbara Hales: You have so much experience in radio appearances as well as production. Would you say that appearing on radio shows helped to promote your books and get them to be bestsellers?

Gayle Carson: Well, I guess I don’t want to say anything is absolute. But certainly, when people know who you are and they’ve heard you and they like what you have to say, and they can disagree with what you say, but they also are interested in what you have to say. All of that, I think, goes to build a brand and image and makes them interested in what you’re doing, yeah. So I’m not sure how much of that makes it to the bestseller list, but I would say that it definitely impacts your brand.

Barbara Hales: Would you say that doctors and healthcare providers would increase their visibility and create the perception of being the authority in their field by appearing on radio?

Gayle Carson: Oh, I think so, definitely, providing they do it the right way, Barbara. I mean, you’ve got to have a message that people want to hear. You have to say it in a way that they want to receive it, and you have to really establish yourself as the expert in your particular niche.

Barbara Hales: So, it certainly seems that it would grow their practices and get the type of patients that they’re looking for.

Gayle Carson: I would certainly hope so. I mean, I think a lot of it depends on the doctor’s personality. Some are very warm and outgoing and relate well to people, and others are very clinical. So, the ones who are more relatable are going to be more successful, especially on television, on radio, because their personalities will come through. It doesn’t mean they’re any smarter or better than the clinical person, but the clinical person is going to have a more difficult time getting their message across.

Barbara Hales: Well, they’re probably the ones that would do well to avoid speaking.

Gayle Carson: Or get training in it, one or the other.

Barbara Hales: Yeah. Speaking engagements also helps to increase visibility and strengthen one’s brand. Getting the award as Legend of the Speaking Profession is quite an honor. Tell us how that came about.

Gayle Carson: Well, somebody nominated me for it. It was a surprise to me and of course, a welcome surprise, but I had done a lot of work. I had 1,000 in 50 industries. I had spoken in 50 countries and 49 States. It came from the Veterans Speakers Retreat. These are speakers who had been in business for a sizeable amount of time. Somebody nominated me for it, and they only select a maximum of five people a year, and that particular year I was fortunate enough to be one of the five.

Barbara Hales: Well, congratulations there.

Gayle Carson: Thank you, and the only woman, by the way, so that was very flattering.

Barbara Hales: What are some tips that you would give our listeners to get on radio shows, both nationally and in their area, and how would they start?

Gayle Carson: Well, it’s a lot easier today than it was in the past, because a lot of radio shows now you do from wherever you are. I used to have to go to the station, be in the studio, but now you can do them anywhere. You can do them over Skype, you can do them over Zoom. You can really do them from anywhere, so it’s a lot easier. In my particular case, when I do radio shows, they start off as radio shows and then they morph into podcasts about 30 days later. Of course, as you know, podcasts are growing and growing and growing and so there’s a lot more opportunities. So there are ways to be recognized through podcast directories. If you get on a podcast and you do a great job, they may refer you to their peers.

So, there’s a lot of different ways today to get on radio broadcast. It’s a little more difficult to get on TV. That’s why I have a course on how to get on TV, because it’s much more difficult than getting on radio, but it’s much simpler today just because of the technology. There’s just so many ways to do it.

Barbara Hales: Do you still have the school to train people for radio?

Gayle Carson: I don’t have schools anymore. I sold those way back when, but I do have the online training courses and the personal coaching that I do in the particular area of how to get on TV, how to get on radio, etc., because there’s a methodology, especially to television. Radio is a little bit easier, as I say, but to get on television, it’s something else, and that’s something to be concerned about as a physician because it takes time. I mean, I’m going to give you an example.

I have been on one TV station three times. They really do like me. They would have me back anytime. But for me to get back on that station, I would probably have to take seven, eight, nine tries, phone calls, emails, so forth, simply because the directors are so busy, and the players keep changing. They’re so overworked that it just takes that long to get in touch with them, and a doctor doesn’t have that kind of time or patience. So it’s almost like they have to have an assistant who does it, who’s good at following up and keeping at it. It does take a lot to do that, but it’s well worth it when it gets done.

Barbara Hales: So, you would teach them the tricks of the trade so that it would be less challenging to get on TV?

Gayle Carson: Yes and no. Yes, in terms of, because they’re going to know what they have to do and they’re going to be ready for it. No, because it still takes a tremendous amount of time and energy to get it done.

Barbara Hales: Now, when we say go on TV, we’re not talking about infomercials. We’re talking about … Well, I don’t know that you could bag a show like Oprah or the Today Show right away, but you are talking about major television programs.

Gayle Carson: Well it’s mostly you would probably start off in the local markets. It’s those little three minutes segments that you have on the local shows that they have. For example, when I did my little media tour, etc., I was all over the place. I mean I was from California, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona to Texas to … I mean, I was East, West, mid and everything else. So, you are all over the place because those you do, do in studio, but it is a three-minute segment normally. You are doing them usually somewhere between five to seven in the morning because most stations then change over to Good Morning America or CBS This Morning or the Today Show. You could get on Today or GMA or something if you’re that unusual or it’s the right time with the right message, but you’ll usually start off in the local market with three minute segments.

Barbara Hales: Well, I imagine that would be just as well or better because most physicians are drawing from their local market for their ideal patients.

Gayle Carson: Well, this is true, but again, let’s say that there is a physician who operates in just one area. But if he or she were to do, let’s just say a half a dozen segments in six different markets from California to Chicago to New Orleans to DC, I mean you’ve got four different parts of the country. This really establishes them as the authority in their particular field of medicine. So, if they can do a tour like that, it is well worth it, because then what they do is they take those clips, they put them on their website. They can use them in press releases. They can have write-ups about them, and this can go on the walls in their office. So, it really establishes them as the expert in the area. Because if somebody has a practice in Philadelphia and they’re on TV in Phoenix, there’s got to be a reason that they’re asked to do that. That means they are the expert. They are the authority.

Barbara Hales: Yes, and I must say, although it may be a little nerve wracking, it is fun. I speak from my own experience. When I was on a segment for Eyewitness News Out West, my segment was the five biggest secrets doctors will never tell you about your health. Sounds like a cliffhanger, right?

Gayle Carson: Yeah, and I’m sure everybody would be interested in something like that. You’ve just said a very important thing, Barbara, and that is the topic that you propose to the station has to be something that they think their audience is going to be interested in. That subject that you chose absolutely is something that everybody wants to know. Why isn’t the doctor me this? So, I agree. I mean that is the kind of thing that would grab a station’s attention.

Barbara Hales: Yes. The thing for everyone to know is start thinking about cliffhanger type headlines that you could present, which are obviously in sync with your services.

Gayle Carson: Absolutely. I mean, I think that there’s so many things out there that your doctor doesn’t tell you. I mean it’s a shame, but there are so many things that your doctor doesn’t tell you, or you forget to ask, or they forget to say and there are some very basic things. You’re absolutely correct. I mean, if there’s a cliffhanger out there and people really want to know about it, I think that that’s the best way to get on TV, and hopefully it’s going to be something that has to do with your specialization.

Barbara Hales: How can our listeners reach you, Gayle, so that they could ask you about your television course?

Gayle Carson: Well, my website is spunkyoldbroad.com, and there is a contact form there. If they will go there and fill it out and ask the question that they want the answer to, I will definitely be back in touch with them within 48 hours usually. So, if they want to know about the course and what it includes, etc., they can go to the website, spunkyoldbroad.com.

Barbara Hales: Well, this was such fun. Thank you so much for appearing on our show today.

Gayle Carson: You’re so welcome, Barbara. It was a delight, and I’m so glad you’re providing this service, because I think it’s so important for the medical professionals. There aren’t a lot of people doing that, so you’re to be commended for doing it. It’s really important.

Barbara Hales: Thank you. This has been your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, enjoying a segment with Gayle Carson. Until next time.

Connect with Gayle Carson: 

Twitter: @gaylecarson

Facebook: Spunkyoldbroad1  

Website: spunkyoldbroad.com/  

YouTube: spunkyoldbroad

LinkedIn: Gayle Carson

Connect with Barbara Hales: 

Twitter:   @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook:   facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business website:www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website:   www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com