Phil Gerbyshak Keynote Speaker and Podcaster

By: Tamara A. McCullough

Taking a cue from his bold, colorful glasses, you get a good indication of the type of sales podcaster and keynote speaker that Phil Gerbyshak is – energetic, interactive and passionate. Phil, the Vice President of Sales Training at Vector Solutions, takes these qualities to everything he does, whether it’s his weekly podcast show, “Conversations with Phil,” his engaging speeches or training courses to encourage clients, listeners and audiences all over the country. His contributions have placed him on Crunch Base’s list of “The 25 Sales Leaders You Should Get to Know in 2020.”

Phil also brings his breadth of experience to everything he’s involved in and has an interesting anecdote about how far back his innovative and techno-

“I was on the internet before Al Gore and I delivered emails by hands. Back in the old days, there was one computer per building. They would send that message, and I would be the computer operator. I’d get it and read it. I was the human distribution list.”

As a sales coach and trainer, Phil is used to being on the cutting-edge and thinking out of the box, so his natural curiosity led him to podcasting about 13 or 14 years ago.“I wanted to talk to authors, thought leaders, smart people. Back then, you had to use a telephone to talk to people. I started interviewing people and it grew from there.”

When it comes to his show, Phil uses a laid-back approach to make it more conversational and spontaneous, so it has a more natural flow.

“There’s no script. I ask questions that I want to know the answer to of smart people that I want to talk to. A lot of it is how you can sell more, how you can lead better, or just be better yourself. I’m not chasing the most popular guest, or the guest with the best-selling book. It has to be somebody I want to talk to.”

To make his show more engaging, Phil chooses his guests based on what they have to offer. “Do they have something to say? Do they have an interesting point of view? I don’t want to talk to just anybody. How can I make sure this gives value to my audience?”

Phil does his due diligence on each guest before the interview by reading their book, biography or blog posts to get a better feel for them. The info he gathers helps him to think about the topics he wants to discuss with the guest. However, he makes sure not to prep too much.

“I don’t prep too much because I like the spontaneous feel. I like to follow rabbit holes. I have questions to ask but rarely do I ask them because the conversation works better. The better quesWhile some guests might send questions ahead of time, Phil rarely uses them since it can affect the natural flow of the conversation and cause it to sound stilted. Instead, he might use an outline as a guide.

Keeping his listeners engaged is at the heart of what Phil hopes to accomplish, so he chooses topics that he’s passionate about like sales and leadership to ensure the show is fun, uplifting and interesting.

Is there a perfect length for each episode of his podcast? Not so, according to Phil, because he pointed out that there’s no set timeframe to make a good show. In fact, he’s had great shows that were as short as 20 minutes or ones that ran as long as 45 minutes.

Regardless of the episode’s length, Phil applies a particular method to each show.

“I like to call it the Popcorn method of podcast-

ing. I like to keep a couple of kernels un-popped, a couple of questions unanswered to leave them wanting more, to learn more from the guests. This helps the guest and makes listeners want to visit their website.”

Even though Phil’s name is in the show, he knows it’s not about him. “I’m not the star of the show. It’s about the guest.”

To ensure that listeners get the most out of any podcast, Phil points out that “sound is the most important investment you can make” and suggests that any serious podcaster should get a good mic. He points out that it doesn’t have to cost a lost, and the mic he uses costs less than $70.

Since he prefers adding video to his podcasting, Phil suggests that other podcasters “do it in as rich of a medium as you can,” and to invest in an external camera and practice looking at it to get the right angles and provide the best look.

“I go live to Facebook and LinkedIn in addition to recording the mp3 because it helps expose me to a wider audience.”

Since many listeners don’t necessarily listen to a podcast live, Phil believes that it’s important to understand the value’s in the replay, not often in the live. “People will binge episodes. If they find one they like, they might go back and listen to 10. Seldom do they listen to 10 and go away.”

Getting listeners is all about promotion, which isn’t lost on Phil. “To get to that wider audience, you must be willing to promote your own show. If you’re not willing to share, nobody else will. Cut your episode into pieces. Try to offer a tease to get people to download the larger episode.”

He also advises that podcasters should band together and appear on each other’s shows for promotion.

Podcasting for a purpose is what it’s all about at the end of the day. “Ultimately, it should drive a business for you and not just be for ego. I want people to take an action. I want people to download a guide, get on my email list. Otherwise, podcast listeners are anonymous.”

As a highly sought-after sales speaker, Phil stands apart from the crowd with his knowledge and experience in sales, marketing and technology, which allows him to adapt his message to the audience as needed. Phil also uses a high level of interaction to “get the audience participating differently, thinking differently.”

Not only for podcasting, but Phil brings his conversational style to the stage as well. “I’m not just going to talk at them. It’s more of a conversation. Though I’m a trainer at heart, I deliver everything in a high-energy, high-impact way. It isn’t just sit

When it comes to presenting, for Phil, it’s all about “energy, insight and encouragement, high energy – lots there.” The insight comes from providing the audience with information they might not be able to find anywhere else.

Phil’s main focus is on the audience and what he can provide to them to propel them forward. “The encouraging and uplifting comes from the fact that you can actually do what I share with you. I try to think about the audience, what do they need to get out of the speech today?”

To get his keynote speech fine-tuned to meet his audience’s needs, he does the necessary research about the industry and audience ahead of time. He also pays attention to the rest of a conference and will sit in the audience if possible. Phil also will look at the website “to see who’s before or after to weave their message into mine.”

Social media is a realm that Phil knows all about, so he advises clients on the importance of social selling.

“Sales is a transaction. Most people focus on that. Social selling is focused on selling yourself through social media.People don’t buy, at least B2B, based on you made a post on social media or because you sent a message. Your goal is to sell yourself, so you can get a one-to-one conversation and earn that audience with the other person.”

“Get dressed before you get busy” is something that Phil advises when it comes to social media.

“On social media, the first thing you see, you have nine or seven seconds to make a first impression. Think about your social media profile, what does that look like? You have to get dressed before you can do the work. You have to get your profiles in shape before you start using social media.” game when it comes to selling services online. “You have to run it through their point of view, what they need, be a resource and not a resume and focus on their challenges and being more relatable.”

Phil also likes to take advantage of LinkedIn by recognizing its value.

“LinkedIn is just about everything. First, it’s social proof. People can recommend me; write nice things I’ve done. It’s a networking platform where you can connect to virtually anybody. It’s a content marketing machine where you can write articles and share insight. It’s everything that involves marketing and sales.”

Phil also offered a warning about being too dependent on the platform. “Since you don’t own it, you don’t want to spend all your time on it, but you should be able to replicate it somewhere else.”

Regardless of what medium he’s on, what role he’s playing or what message he’s delivering, Phil likes to leave everybody with his 3 H’s.