How Not to Turn a Warm Lead into a Cold Call

When it comes to job security, the TV news business these days is about as stable as the San Andreas Fault. If you are between 45-50 years of age, you’re walking around with a big bulls-eye on your back. You probably cost the network too much in salary and benefits (if you even have those) and you complain too much about hopping on the next plane to the breaking story that will blow out your weekend beach plans. 

So it should come as no surprise that our firm, a collection of TV news alumni, has received a flood of calls recently from network TV producers looking to transition to the world of communications coaching. 

If they have someone advocating on their behalf, that can help. When that go-between is a friend or a valued client of ours, then it really helps. In those situations I do everything possible to find time to set up an in-person or phone meeting. Sometimes the candidates are up front about their desire to join our firm, and sometimes they express merely an interest in gaining a better understanding of how to break into the media training industry.  Not coming on too strong right away is definitely a plus. It’s always better to ask for advice (flattering) than for a job (a burden.) And always ask if you can stay in touch with the person you’ve been on the call with – keep the dialogue going at all costs – offer to do a small amount of prove-yourself free work. I’ve actually hired people who have done that just because I was so impressed.

The other day, however, I fielded a call that left me scratching my head in disbelief. It was from someone who is currently on-air but looking to transition to something else. And while public relations used to be the logical retirement home for aged-out, on-air folks, today it’s media training, which is why there are so many paint-by-numbers hacks in the business now. So based on the fact that I listen to this guy pretty regularly on the radio and thought he had substance, I decided to make time for the call. Much to my shock and amazement, he did nothing to drive the call. Two or three minutes in, I was wondering if I had requested the call given how little he was driving it. He requested it but did nothing to convince me why speaking to him was time well spent. In fact, over the course of the call, he offered nothing with respect to knowledge of what our firm does, why he might be a good fit and what he could uniquely offer us. It was as if his name and notoriety alone should be enough for me to ask when he could start. 

I got off the phone bewildered. How could such an experienced, competent professional fall on his face so badly given the great opportunity he had to make his case, especially someone in the communications industry. What was clear to me is the fact that he picked up the phone with no game plan whatsoever. In job application situations, you need to ask yourself, would a pro football head coach go into any game without a game plan? Would he not have back-up and contingency plans anticipating how conditions may change over the course of the game? Of course not, unless he was intent on losing.  

It shocks me how few people put in the necessary prep time for job conversations that matter, how few map out what qualities they have that could make the organization they’re applying to better. This guy got on the phone and never once said anything that indicated that he had even checked out our company website or projected what resources he could supply that we needed. He was completely unprepared and as a result ended up in the circular file in my brain. There is no way on earth that I would ever hire this man. He had a chance to wow me and he blew it.

When it comes to job interviews or networking discussions, you have to tap into your inner Bobby Fischer or Boris Spassky. It’s a chess match. You have to have contingency moves based on the most skeptical places you think the interviewer can go. You have to have an answer for everything. That’s how you impress people and land the next big opportunity.

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