Hey guys,
Here are some notes from Susan Bratton‘s Session at Clickbank Exchange 2012 – Masterful Interviews, Profitable Content
Susan’s first product on Clickbank – Revive her Drive
Consisted of a dozen interviews of people that knew more than she did
Interviews – surest route to successful content that she knows of
2 things – Prep + Flow
Preparation techniques, and understanding how to manage the flow of an interview
Mistakes:
– Pretending
– Low production value
– Lack of preparation
– Trite questions
– Lack of guest control
– Lack of vocal confidence
Better to not be perfect – the imperfection of your conversations lends the humanity and authenticity that makes people stop and listen
Top 10 Success Tips
- Hooking the whales
- Solid production value
- “Speak to Sell” Affiliate Revenue
- Asking killer questions nobody has thought of before
- Finding their humanity – creates an opportunity to create rapport and a connection between them and you and your users. Separates you from someone who just does Q&A to someone who is truly a masterful interviewer
- The Grid
- Pre-Interview Prep
- Vocal Warm Up
- Creating Rapport
- In-Interview Techniques
Follow Invisible Close Strategy – Speaksell.
No stress production
– Persona
– Standardize your format: Interview style? Think of a person e.g. “Kate” and you and your guru are speaking to “kate” don’t speak to your customers
– Dialog, Q&A, skype, Google Hangout?
– Double-Ender Editing. On Skype – Both record. You record your side, they record their side, get them to send it to you and send to your editor who puts them together and it sounds like your are in the same room.
– Power Collection
– Super Secret Questions
– Easy Question Generators
– The Grid
– Guest Prep
– In-Interview Techniques
– Edit, Transcribe, Radiate
Standardize for your series of content so it is consistent
Typical 30 minute Interview Plan
If you have to do an hour, cut it into part 1 and part 2
Standardize openers “Welcome to XXX interview series, I am your host Susan Bratton, and in this episode we will talk to XXX”
Then get right into the meat
Come out with your best question first
Close the interview the same way each time, have your little sign off consistent
Hooking the whale
– Who are you?
– Who is your audience?
– What do you want?
– Process?
– Timeframes?
– What will they get?
– What will you do with it?
Audio most of the time – a lot easier to produce and consume.
I will give you the mp3, but if you send it out to your customer list, but don’t put the whole thing fully available online
You can also post the transcript or cut into many blog posts
Come to the whale with – what’s in it for them? What exactly to they have to do?
Overcoming NO
– 48 hour follow up
– It’s just a matter of time
– Send them a list of your past interviewees
– Send them killer interview questions
– Send them new episodes as they go live
– Work your network for a solid recommendation
– Send them a personalized gift
15 Minute Power Prep
– Bio and Headshot
– Skim experts book and blog
– Facebook and Linkedin Profiles
– Google and Youtube search
Easy Question Generators
– 15 minute power collection
– Super Secret Questions
– One Question from Mutual Friends
– Google Alerts & Search
– LinkedIn Answers and Subject Matter Experts
– Crowdsource via email
Super Secret Questions
– Killer questions nobody ever thought of until you
– To shock them out of “press release mode”
– Thaw them to their humanity
– Bernard Pivot, Marcel Proust, James Lipton, Vanity Fair, TIME, Cooper Bates, Dr Susan Campbell
Get off the book, bio, press release – get to what’s inside you and what’s inside them
Ground Rules for FUN
– Interview is XX long, XX format
– Audience is and cares about
– Wait for my cue
– Mulligans and editing
– Committed to bringing out their best
– Terse and pithy
– Dialog not monologue
– I will lead, you relax
– Edutainment
– I will pitch for you
– Cell off, audio check
– Stay on until I close and thank you
Creating Rapport
– Working your structure creates confidence
– Voice tonality and pace
– Active listening
– Personal Authenticity
– “Your Natural Self”
– Verbal and Facial Energy
Warm up with Vocal Exercises, read a paragraph out loud, practice breathing
Real-Time Interview
– Setting the ground rules
– Zest, Vim and Visual Imaginery
– Staying in control
– Reframing
– The power of the pause
– Take me to the river
– Segues – Use something they say to pivot and segue to the next
– Bridges to past and future – past and future references get people to keep listening
– Open ended questions
– Affirmations
– Word Association and lightning round – say 5 quick questions you have one sentence to answer
No stress check list
– Confirm guest
– Power Collection, EZQ’s and super secrets on grid
– Write out intro, theme, tag cloud on grid
– Pre-interview guest prep
Everything in the presentation comes from these 2 products: Susan Bratton’s Talk Show Tips and Masterful Interviews
