The Unexpected Hidden Benefit Of Leveling Up Your Interviewing Skills Online Advertisers Don't Want You To Know

Julian, I can’t do this.

I just can’t sit down and do this, it’s causing me so much strain I can’t think straight.

I don’t think this isn’t gonna work out.

Now who do you think said this?

I’ll let you ponder over that for a little bit.

Thankfully it wasn’t my girlfriend, Gabby.

But it was worse, much worse.

Can you guess who it was?

Well let me first give you a taste of what you’re in for today.

Today’s a masterclass on a little secret skill I stumbled upon by accident.

A skill that sucks amazing copy out of your prospects you can literally ‘copy paste’ into your promotions and content marketing.

A skill that has you so in touch with the market people are silently yelling in their minds ‘FINALLY someone who’s not a douchebag marketer and gets me!’

And...

A skill that you never see pop up in a facebook ad with the next quasi-celebrity claiming to have the next best Biz-Op since sliced bread.

What is this mystery skill you’re dying to find out?

Are you ready?

Ok I’ll tell you.

Make sure you’ve got a pen and pad ready because you don’t wanna miss this!

It’s called…

INTERVIEWING.

Yes it’s not that sexy I’ll have to admit.

Today I want to share with you where people stuff this up BIG time and leave money on the table when it comes to interviewing and using it for your marketing.

But first, know this.

In Order To Sell In Writing, You Must First Emotionally Connect With You Audience

You can have all the templates.

You can have the winning headline that brought in 7 figures during a launch.

You can have the same funnel your favourite guru used to generate all those leads.

But all these things are missing 1 crucial thing.

Connection with YOUR audience.

Let’s bring you back to story so you’ve got some context.

Oh by the way, those two people saying “Jules I’m out” were clients.

You see I had given them a story template with questions on them.

I was going to use their story for their marketing campaigns.

But I quickly realised, people are intimidated by a blinking blank screen.

REALLY intimidated.

So without thinking, I took these two clients to a zoom call, to chat through the questions. With plenty of back and forth questioning the ladies were much happier with the result.

But the real hidden benefit was this.

I sucked out some critical stuff that made their promotions a success.

-What was their backstory

-What were they struggling with

-What struggles did they share with their audience

-How they overcame their struggles

-What their journey to achievement looked like

-What old internal beliefs were shattered after achieving their objective

This is the kind of stuff that YOU, the business owner, cannot buy for a $997 online guru course.

This is the stuff that crafts an emotional connection with you and the reader.

It does the selling for you when you’re not around.

Why?

Stories turn down your prospects BS dial.

When done correctly, the reader feels they are experiencing your story in a very personal and visceral way (I got that line from the amazing copywriter, Pete Godfrey).

Basically our objective is for the reader to feel and think

HOLY CRAP, THAT’S ME TOO!

But take note how I said…

When done correctly. 

Let me lift the bonnet for you on how you become the trusted confidant that almost anyone you interview will reveal their deepest darkest secrets to you.

A Great Interview Must Master These 4 Things

I can give you a script that’s been kissed by Larry King for good luck…

But if you’re skipping on any of these 4 crucial elements, forget it.

Rapport

Attention

Body language / paraphrasing

Follow up with why

Could there be more added to this list?

Well sure, but I don’t want to make you feel overwhelmed right?

I’ve listed each step in this order because they build on each other.

If you skip step 1, rapport, then you WILL not capture an authentic answer from the customer/client you’re interviewing.

Let me explain.

How A $32,000 Piece Of Paper Taught Me This Important Lesson

It was first year uni and I had just changed courses.

I enrolled in exercise and sport science.

One of the very first lectures was on warming up before exercise.

Warming up is one of those things people often skip in a hurry just to get into it.

The two biggest benefits it provides is that it prevents injury by a huge factor because signals the joints and muscles it’s time to get ready.

Put simply, it’s a 5 minute commitment with a big pay off.

Fast forward a few years and I’m recording a batch of podcasts for the launch of Storytelling Secrets.

Many of the launch guests I had invited were friends of friends.

People I’d only spoken to online.

When the guests jumped on the call, I made it a priority to ‘warm up’.

I had to get some conversation going right?

It can feel really awkward if you jump inside a zoom call and immediately get into it.

It’s likely you’ll injure yourself, so to speak.

It’s the same with getting a client or customer onto this special style of interview.

Only this time you’re asking them to reveal their deepest darkest secrets and insecurities.

By hitting record and getting straight into it WITHOUT rapport you’re missing out on a precious opportunity to bring down the guard of your interviewee.

People need to feel comfortable and trust the person they’re revealing their life to.

It pays to warm up. Which leads me to my next point.

*Snaps Fingers* Oi, Are You Paying Attention?

Yes as you guessed it, attention is part 2 of my Story-Interview framework.

I feel a little bit reluctant to reveal the lesson and the story behind this.

You see…

I used to have another podcast called, Focused Entrepreneur Radio.

I decided I wanted to land a heavy hitter onto my show.

This person was an author and an authority in their space.

Big name, big email list.

After many emails back and forth with his assistant, I finally landed the interview.

Once the interview got going I noticed a few things that were off.

His eyes were darting around.

Blatantly looking at his monitor.

Glancing at his phone.

The attention was as low as being stuck in a 4 hour musical you reluctantly said yes to.

After the interview, I instantly felt that it just wasn’t great because of that.

Despite my dreams of this person's big list going to skyrocket my downloads…

Weirdly enough, it was one of the worst downloaded podcasts.

And you know why?

What’s the quality of a conversation like with your friend and coffee if they’re distracted on their phone?

It grinds our gears.

It makes us feel unimportant.

That’s because one the most desired things humans crave is…

To be heard and listened to.

The lesson here is to make the person you’re interviewing feel special.

To make them feel special you must both have each other's undivided attention.

That means put your phone on flight mode.

Place a do not disturb sign on the door.

Let the kids know not to yell and scream in the background during this call.

This is basic foundational stuff yes I know.

However, don’t be surprised if you don’t uncover the juicy secrets you were after if you violate this principle.

Now this attention MUST be carried the entire way through your conversation in different ways.

Understanding how to use paraphrasing and body language.

Plus following up with why.

Next week we’ll dive right into these.

Now if itching to get a good feel for this style of interview…

You can check a podcast episode below of me going through this exact process.