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How to Get Experts to Say “Heck YES!” To your Interview Request

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Here’s a quick tip sheet that’ll show you how to get a “yes” response more often when asking for interviews.

FOR ALL INTERVIEWS

Whether you’re doing a text/written, audio or video interview…

Send an email with the following:

  1. A request for the interview and why you chose that person.
    A personal compliment is nice, too. Or remind the person where you met, if you’ve had interactions before.
  2. An intro about you plus a link to your blog so your guest can learn more about you.
  3. A quick overview of the project.
  4. The topic of the interview.
    If this is set in stone, let the guest know. If not, give the guest a few ideas of what you’d like him/her to talk about. This makes it MUCH easier for the guest to say “yes” than when you say “anything is fine”.
  5. How you’d like to conduct the interview.
    Written or Audio or Video?
  6. Format?
    I prefer written style Q&A, rather than teaching “How to” on calls. Explaining the format of the interview to your guest in advance is helpful.
  7. Include the questions
    Try to do this so that you don’t have to waste your guest’s time with back and forth emails.
  8. What you’ll be doing with the interview when it’s done.
    Transparency is important.
  9. Who the audience will be.
    This is one of my biggest reasons why I turn down interview requests – the audience is unclear. When I ask who the audience is and get a general response, I normally have to pass. (Go back to your USP statement so that you can answer this question well.)

IF IT’S AN AUDIO OR VIDEO INTERVIEW

If you’re interested in an audio interview, there are a few more details to include.

  1. How and when you’ll connect (include several dates/times) or ask the guest when his preferred dates and times are.
  2. Whether the call will be live or recorded.
  3. Length of interview.
  4. Whether guest will receive a mp3/mp4 of the interview for her own uses afterwards.
  5. Whether guest will receive a transcript of the interview for her own uses afterwards.

EXPLAIN BENEFITS

If it’s a paid interview…

Explain how much you are paying and when the person will receive it.

If it’s an interview where you’ll be giving the person exposure, but are not paying…

Explain how you’ll promote the interview. (If the expert is in high demand, she’ll be more likely to work you into her schedule if she knows you’ll be promoting it via any of the following: on Twitter, to your lists, on Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc.)

IF IT’S A GROUP PROJECT

Be sure to include the names of some other participants.  Of course, if you already have some big names who’ve agreed to participate, then let everyone else know. It’ll make it much easier to get people to agree.

Then, just follow through on what you promised and be gracious with your guest before, during and after the interview.

PERFECT EXAMPLE

Here’s an example of an interview request that got me to say “YES!” …

Message from Maruxa Murphy:

Hi Nicole,

Hope you are well.

I wanted to send you a quick personal message to invite you to be one of our guest “successful” Mamas for our upcoming Successful Mamas Telesummit.

Feel free to watch my video and let me know what you think.

Thanks! Have a great week.

To you continued success,
Maruxa Murphy
Momprenaire.com, Moms. Entrepreneurs. Million-Dollar Mindsets.

Once I clicked on the link, then I found this:

roosh

Imagine my surprise when I pressed “play” and heard “Hi Nicole!”

Why is this better than a phone call? Well, for me it is anyway, because it’s on MY schedule.

I personally dislike phone calls, since I work at home. Obviously, Maruxa, being a work at home mom herself, understood that and showed that she respected my time.

I loved the personal aspect of Maruxa’s email, and how she made me feel special. Obviously we hit it off, because I then also participated in the Outsourcing Telesummit as well.

So, as you can see, there is a right way to attract and motivate JV partners – and get interview requests answered.

  1. The important points to notice in this connection are that people like to do business with those they like. I like Maruxa. So, I’ll continue to do business with her.
  2. Plus, she respects my time and understands that I may need to be reminded a few times and that it isn’t personal if I don’t respond right away.
  3. All big important things.
  4. Plus, did I mention that she’s really nice?! lol.
  5. All good things.
  6. And, keep an eye on her. She’ll be doing great things.

HOW TO SEND ME RUNNING AWAY

I don’t want to sound like a big complainer, but there are ways to get the interview and ways to get people to back out even after they’ve said “yes”.

Here’s a few things to avoid.

1. Send an email or form with 20 steps to fill out. (Just make it easy to participate.)

2. Send an email with vague or unclear information so that I have to track it down. (I probably won’t.)

AFTERWARDS

A card or gift is nice, especially if you’re planning to do business with that person again.

It’s not required, of course. But, I would like to point out that I oftentimes get a card and gift after an interview and it is very thoughtful. (Carrie Wilkerson, Tawna Sutherland, Maruxa Murphy, Kelly McCausey … all classy peeps. If you’re reading this ladies. Thank you!)

The TRULY important thing is that you honor everything that you said you’d do when planning the interview, including getting a copy of the interview to your guest if you promised that you would, and paying for or promoting the interview so that your guest doesn’t feel she wasted her time. And, of course thank your guest.