RADIO INTERVIEW 101 Using Radio To Get Speaking Or Consulting Engagements

Book authors and DVD makers understand how to use radio: Radio listeners want to buy the book or DVD immediately after hearing an on-air interview. Books and DVDs are low price-point items (under $500), and as such they are an "impulse sale". But public speakers and consultants many times don't understand how they can get new clients from radio interviews, since typically a radio listener won't call up (or visit a site) and say "I'm here to spend a few thousand... how do I order?"

That's because with higher price-point items like public speakers, personal motivators, retainer consultants, etc. (who's prices are over $500), consumers don't buy on first contact. Higher price-point items like these are instead a "relationship sale", meaning that the buyer will never buy on the first contact with you by phone, fax, email, website or whatever. The consumer tends to want several contacts, over a period of time, before they will purchase. So instead of trying to get higher price-point direct sales from radio interviews, you need to get something different: The "first call".

The "first call" is what the listener does when he or she liked your interview and decided that you may indeed be the person they would like to hire. So they make the "first call" to gather information on your speaking rates, your motivation packages, your consultant retainer levels, etc. There's no listener who is going to buy on that first call (after all, it's a few thousand dollars), so they are comfortable calling because it's just an information-gathering call.

The first call is not new, it's something you've already done. Think back to EVERY client you've ever had. At some point when they first made contact with you (or vise versa), you exchanged hello's, and they told you what they were looking for. You then told them what you could offer, and then you probably set a day and time to meet up again or to talk further. However you were NOT handed money at that first contact. You may have been paid (or the contract signed) the next time you met or talked, or the time after, or a month later, but you did NOT get the deal on that very first phone or fax or email contact. You simply found out that they wanted to hire you. Had you said, "It's good to meet you today. Now if you'll just give me your credit card number, we'll get started" then they would have been put off.

It's the "passage of time" between the first call, and the payment, that makes these types of sales happen. Even if the time is only one day, the customer just feels better about spending thousands of dollars if he can think about it for a bit. This is crucial to understand because it entirely controls how you set yourself up to benefit from radio interviews.

When you interview, you now know that you will not be selling anything that day. Instead, you'll have your speaking, motivation, or consulting price information all ready to send out, no matter how the radio listener contacts you: by toll free phone number, by fax, by email, by postal mail, or by visiting your site. Phone calls are best, but the other methods can be used as a stepping stone to get to that the phone call.

Interestingly enough, it's radio that can generate more instant phone calls than ANY other method of marketing. Listeners are right there by their phones (or computers), with no visual distractions to keep them from writing down your contact info. And it's important to announce your toll-free number several times.  

Next topic: Why You Got Zero Sales from your Interviews