Eventually, I did a couple hundred interviews. In fact, I'm still doing them for newspapers, magazines, and radio and television shows. Most of them have gone well. But, as Jeff warned me, I did bomb once or twice. The first of those blunders was an interview with a West Coast radio station that gave new meaning to the word brevity. Jeff had instructed me to prepare myself to get my messages across, no matter how little time I had. But until it happened, I never would have imagined that an interviewer would ask me, "Why are you on this show?" and then follow that with an "Uh-huh" and switch to the traffic report before I could even remember that I had three messages, let alone sprinkle them into the conversation. After that radio spot, I made sure to act quickly.
My second dud interview occurred on a local cable-television show. It was a depressing scene: I was interviewed early one Sunday morning in a TV studio that was so empty it looked like a ghost town. My interviewer was a birdbrain. Not only hadn't she read my book (by that point, I realized that few questioners had); and not only didn't she know why I was appearing on her show (after the abortive radio interview, I was prepared for that); but just before filming she told me in Stepford Wife tones, "Gee, I can't believe anybody is unhappy at their job. We all love it here." Unbelievable. Then she told me to watch her face. She would nod no matter what I said; when she started nodding fast, that would be my cue to cut off my answer.
I blame myself for what happened next. The triple whammy of the idiocy of her questions, the vacancy of the studio, and the rapidity of those nods put me into a semihypnotic state. I didn't care about selling books, let alone expressing my key messages. All I wanted to do was get out of there. But in retrospect, my attitude was ridiculous. When Jeff and I dissected the experience, he emphasized that every interview is an opportunity to accomplish your goal. (He also told me to get over it. I did. But after that, I tried never to have an emotional reaction to an interview or interviewer. I adopted the attitude that "this is just another job.")
The smartest thing Jeff told me was to keep practicing. As he put it, "You don't want to open your show on Broadway without previewing it out of town first." Thanks to that great advice, I couldn't have been better prepared for my Today show interview. How well prepared? The day before my appearance, I got all dolled up in my new dressed-for-success outfit and sat in a chair in my kitchen. I practiced answering every possible question I could imagine being asked, with my stove timer running to make certain I didn't ramble on.
Later that day I practiced my answers in front of a mirror, because Jeff had warned me about my tendency to look too serious when I talked about subjects that I felt passionate about. "Remember, Jill," he'd stressed, "no Dr. Strangelove. Your audience is drinking a cup of coffee and easing itself into a happy new day. You're not going to scare these people into buying your book."
March 20 finally arrived. I kept myself calm during the limo ride to NBC's studios, during a preinterview walk around Rockefeller Center (though I felt a twinge of anxiety when I saw the unbelievably large, rowdy crowd gathered outside the studio where I'd soon be sitting), and during my wait in the green room (when I realized that my old but polished shoes paled in comparison to the fabulous spikes worn by a fellow guest).
Did I get my three messages across in my conversation with Katie Couric that morning? Probably not. She guided our interview in the direction that best fit her interests (which included "family friendly" work policies and their failure to prevent many work-life problems). There wasn't any chance of my going on too long: something in her eyes told me exactly when she wanted me to wrap up my answers.
But I'm not complaining. I got enough of my messages across that I accomplished my goal, which was, of course, to sell books. Within 24 hours of my appearance on Today, White-Collar Sweatshop was the 77th-fastest-selling book on Amazon.com. I was a member of the Amazon.com 100!
In retrospect, one thing is clear: I couldn't have done it without my media trainer.
For Jeff Bloch's tips on successful interviewing, visit www.inc.com/keyword/0202media. Jill Andresky Fraser's most recent book, The Business Owner's Guide to Personal Finance: When Your Business Is Your Paycheck, was published last month by Bloomberg Press. Write to her at incfraser@aol.com.
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Inc Query: What Do Your Customers See?
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