Master The Art of Getting Asked Back for Another TV Interview

When I finally made my debut on “The Today Show” on NBC, almost three months had passed since I first pitched my segment idea to the producer. Even though it was initially approved pretty quickly, there were other news stories and segments that kept taking priority over the segment that we’d worked on.

By the time the producer was able to reconnect with me, not only was she apologetic for all the delays but also thanked me for being as easy going and flexible as I’d been. She commented that not every guest expert that she’d worked with had acted with the same level of patience and professionalism as I did.

The time to do the live segment arrived and it was a success, so much so that in less than 30 days I was invited back as a guest expert on the show. This time by a different producer who called me and after introducing herself simply said, “Lindsay told me how great your recent segment went and that you’re a super easy guest to work with…”

This time the segment I was schedule to appear on would air on “The Today Show Weekend Edition” which has a slightly different demographic and format than the weekday version.

But, just like before, at the last minute my segment was cancelled due to breaking news the day before.

Again, I adopted the “no worries,” attitude and told the producer to call me when he was able to find another available date in the production calendar for the segment and I would do my best to make it fit with my schedule.

Once again, my professionalism and flexibility were rewarded. This time the producer offered to have the talking points that I’d created for the segment (which did not air) turned into and article that posted on The Today Show website which gets 1,000,000,000 page views per day!

Plus, he added a link to my website in the article and promised to keep my contact details for when he needed a guest expert for a personal finance segment.

And as a result, 4 things happened:

1. I got major traffic to my website thanks to the link from their site, which lead to a big boost in subscribers to one of my free reports. (Tip: Being on TV is great, but you should be using it to build your database of subscribers, followers and potential clients)
2. The producer passed my name on to another producer at NBC with a “good word” about my on and off-camera performance. (Tip: Your reputation plays a big part in getting booked, producers talk to each other about which guests are great and which guests aren’t)
   
3. I was contacted within a week by two producers for segments they were working on. One from MSNBC, the other from NBC. Although no bookings have come from the initial contacts I know that it’s just a matter of time. (Tip: TV producers change jobs a lot, and they also share great guest contact information with producers at other  shows)
4. The producer called me back within 2 weeks, and I got booked and actually appeared as a guest expert on The Today Show Weekend Edition hosted by Lester Holt. (Tip: When your segment is cancelled (and inevitably it will be) don’t whine, complain or be difficult about it.)

The art of getting asked back as an expert on a TV talk show or news program starts with being  flexible, understanding, and easy to work with.

If the show you were scheduled to appear on makes a last minute change, do not bemoan about how much of an inconvenience it is, or how you have to change your entire schedule, or even how you’d already told “everybody” you were going to be on television.

The bottom line is, while all that might be a fact, what’s also true is that news of your bad attitude can quickly spread.

If you are labeled as someone that’s hard to work with, other producers will hear about it and will shy away from booking you a a guest, no matter how great you are.

How you perform off-camera (i.e. how easy you are to work with) is just as important as how you deliver on camera when it comes to getting asked back as a guest expert to a show.

No related posts.

Tags: pitching, producer