How a Podcast Turns Into Referrals: The PDP Method

A lot of businesses start a podcast with the same plan: pick a topic, book some guests, publish on a schedule, and hope the downloads turn into customers. The episodes go out, the numbers stay small, and after a few months the show quietly stops.

We produce Sisto Says, a podcast for a construction company in New York City, and it took a different approach. It has become the number one construction podcast in the city and generated millions of dollars in referrals and new business for our client. The strategy behind it has nothing to do with a content calendar and everything to do with building real relationships. We call it the PDP method: pre, during and post.

The podcast isn’t the product

Most people judge a podcast by the episodes: how they sound, how often they come out, how many people listen. Those things matter, but they aren’t where the business comes from.

Every episode puts the host across the table from someone worth knowing. What happens with that relationship, before, during and after the recording, is what turns a show into referrals.

The PDP method

PDP breaks every episode into three parts. Each one has a different job.

1. PreThe conversation that happens before the camera ever turns on. The host genuinely gets to know the guest: who they are, what they know and what they care about. Not a briefing, but a real connection that sets the tone for everything that follows.
2. DuringThe on camera conversation itself. It’s the long form content that gets distributed and clipped. More importantly, it’s the setting where the relationship goes deeper, because you see how someone thinks and shows up when the conversation gets real.
3. PostWhat happens after the recording stops. You schedule that coffee, that dinner or that second episode, and you keep building a relationship that turns into referrals, projects and real business.

Pre: before the camera turns on

Plenty of shows treat the time before recording as logistics: check the mic, run through the questions, hit record. PDP treats it as the first real conversation.

A guest who feels known before the recording starts shows up differently once it does. The connection made here sets the tone for the episode and for everything after it.

During: where the relationship goes deeper

The recording does two jobs at once. It produces long form content that can be distributed and clipped across platforms. And it gives the host something a meeting rarely does: a long, real conversation with the guest, where you see how they think and how they show up when it gets real.

That’s what makes a podcast different from networking. You don’t just exchange cards. You spend real time together, on a topic they care about.

Post: where the money is made

This is the part most podcasts skip. The recording ends, the guest leaves, and the episode goes into the editing queue. For most shows, that’s the end of the relationship.

With PDP, the episode doesn’t end when the recording stops. It ends when you schedule the coffee, the dinner or the second episode. That follow-up is what turns a guest into a relationship, and a relationship into referrals, projects and real business.

What it built for Sisto Says

PDP is the approach behind Sisto Says. The show became the number one construction podcast in New York City, and the relationships built through it generated millions of dollars in referrals and new business.

Build the relationship, not just the show

If you’re starting a podcast, or already have one that isn’t bringing in business, look past the content calendar. Ask what happens before each guest sits down, what you learn about them while you’re recording, and what you do once the cameras are off.

The episodes are what people see. The relationships are what pay off.