An interview is easiest way to create a new product for you to sell online or off. By far! Let's talk about it.

There are generally three ways to conduct an interview:

In person (face-to-face interview) By telephone By email

In this article I will be focusing on "telephone" interview.

Many beginners find interviewing a daunting experience and avoid doing interviews even when it could benefit a project they're working on or be a new product in itself.

Beginners Tip: To overcome your nervousness practice, and then practice some more, on your family and friends before ever requesting your first "phone" interview.

Below you will find a few tips for when day arrives and you need to conduct THE INTERVIEW ...

Tools you will need:

Cassette Recorder Online Seminar Service (with recording capability) Notebook and Pen

Background Research:

Do your homework on person before doing interview.

This could involve search engines, library, and who's who directory etc.

Having some background knowledge will give you greater self-confidence and will help you to ask more interesting questions

Interviews can be 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or over course of a month or more depending on subject and focus of interview.

When you make a time for interview propose to take at least 30 to 45 minutes.

Suggest to person you are interviewing that they find most comfortable place in their home or office to do interview. Being comfortable and in their own environment will put them at ease and make interview process much simpler.

Preparing Questions:

Rule #1 Don't ask stupid questions... ask questions based on research you performed and on

items of interest brought up during interview.

Prepare your list of questions in advance jotting down questions and points you want to ask in brief heading form (they should be used only as a point of reference during interview).

Listen carefully and establish a relaxed style of questioning.

Allow questions to flow according to context, glancing at your list to refresh your

memory or fill a long pause in conversation.

Be open to new questions and new points raised during interview. Flexibility in your interviewing style will allow you to pursue interesting or relevant

sidelines as they come up.

Don't worry about ending up with more information than you expected. If it's valuable information it will only make your audio product more valuable.

If you are planning to use a cassette recorder, make sure you check batteries, cassette tape and volume BEFORE you begin interview.

Always ask permission to record BEFORE interview starts, and then get started on the

interview. Few people object to being recorded but if they do, just use your notebook.

I learned as much as I could about fishing industry: working on boats, at docks and in canneries. I learned that one of popular techniques used by commercial fishing companies is to cast huge nets between ships miles apart and drag them through sea capturing anything unfortunate enough to get snarled. While this technique netted prolific amounts of fish, vast majority of catchcould not be sold at market.

What a waste! Not only do these companies unnecessarily deplete a precious natural resource they also waste their valuable time and energy setting and hauling in nets and then sorting through their catch to identify and pluck marketable fish from masses.

While large fishing companies can afford to expend their resources in such a manner, as a small business owner, you would be ill advised to follow such a path when fishing for new clients. Small business marketing tactics must be much more precise and efficient to be viable.

To continue our fishing example, consider a tribesman from a pacific island. Instead of employing large nets a tribal fisherman will stand and wait, knee deep in water known to be plentiful with type of fish he seeks with only a spear in hand. When a fish swims by he lunges with his spear and voila! Dinner is served, or at least caught. The tribesman’s method is highly efficient and effective.

The methods you employ when marketing your small business or professional service firm should minimize waste and maximize sales.

Are you using a marketing net or a marketing spear to find new customers?

Size Matters A marketing net can take many forms. One of most common forms of marketing with a net is investing in belief that larger group you market to better chance of developing new business. This type of thinking could not be farther removed from reality. You can much more effectively generate quality leads and sales by focusing your marketing efforts on a smaller yet highly specific audience.