Page 118 - How To Sell Yourself

Selling Yourself in Confrontation and Media Interviews 117
• Be proud: You or your team has accomplished something memorable, share it. Don’t hide it.
• Smile: Show me you like me.
• Open your face: Show me you care.
• Gesture: Hug me from a distance.
• Finally: Don’t get angry. Don’t lose your cool. Don’t take
an attack personally. That’s playing right into the hands of the tabloid reporter. It makes good copy for everyone but you. Be the voice of reason.
Win the game.
Don’t deny—educate.
Don’t negate—inform.
Don’t fall into the buzzword trap—tell a story that relevantly contradicts the error.
Interview traps
The well-trained interviewee looks at the media as the other team in a game. Just as in any other game, there are strategies involved. Taken to an extreme, you could call it a war. The idea is to win or, at worst, to play to a draw. The media uses certain traps or land mines. Here’s what to look for:
1. Architecture
The first, foremost, and premier tactic involves the loaded question. It’s built on negatives, accusations, and buzzwords. Those are the building blocks. This is the trap I covered at length in earlier. “Why are you part of a rip-off?” “Why are you contribut- ing to the poisoning of the environment?” Reduced to its lowest common denominator, your job is to eliminate these elements from your answer. Don’t deny the accusation. Avoid the negative. Don’t repeat the buzzwords. The intent here is to put you on the defen- sive rather than to solicit information. And your job is to give information.
2. Rhythm
There are reporters who’ve developed a style borrowed from some trial lawyers. First, they establish a rapport through a series