Top 10 Tips to Make Radio Talk-Show Spots Pay Off

by Joe Sabah

1. Have a glass of water handy (room temperature). When your throat is lubricated, it’s easier to talk. Plus, the water serves as a cough turnoff if needed.

2. Stand while speaking. Even though you’re at home or at your office on the phone, pretend you’re presenting a seminar. Your voice will carry further. And you’ll sound more animated.

3. Have a map of the station’s state on your wall. Refer to cities in the radio station’s surrounding area. This helps make you feel and sound as if you are part of the same group as the listeners. And it helps you avoid the kind of mistake I once made when I referred to “South Bend, Indiana.” The host reminded me that I was talking on a radio station in South Bend, Wisconsin. Oops!

4. Listen to the station’s weather and traffic report before you go on the air and during breaks. This allows you to personalize your presentation. For example: When I was being interviewed on WHIO in Dayton, OH, about job hunting, I noticed during the breaks that they were referring to their metro area as the Miami Valley. So it became useful for me to say, “I believe we can help some folks in the Miami Valley get their perfect job this afternoon.” What a difference the right words make.

5. Get your listeners involved. For example, before the last commercial break, I ask listeners to get pencil and paper to write down the three tips I guarantee will turn every job interview into a job offer. Then they have pencil and paper ready when I give the tips out along with my 800 number.

6. Ask your host if the listeners can call the station for your 800 number, in case they’re driving around without writing tools handy. And be sure the station’s receptionist has it, plus your name and the title of your book.

7. Give the host some quotes from your book to use as attention grabbers or segues between topics. I offer chapter titles from my book as quotes—including, “Are You Singing the Song You Came to Sing?” and “If You Do What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Get What You’ve Always Gotten. Is That Enough?”

8. After the host uses your quotes on the air, offer them in postcard form or offer some other freebie to listeners who order your book. Bonuses increase orders.

9. Always thank both the host and the producer for the good job they are doing. After the show, also send each of them a handwritten note of thanks and an offer—“Let’s do it again.”

10. Consider recording your talk-show appearances by using a device available at most phone-center stores that will capture both sides of the interview. Then listen to the recording to see how you can do even better next time.

Keep on learning.

Joe Sabah, the author of How to Get On Radio Talk Shows All Across America Without Leaving Your Home or Office, offers more tips and information at sabahradioshows.com. Other contact information: phone, 800/945-2488; PO Box 101330, Denver, CO 80250; Joe@JoeSabah.com