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Having trouble coming up with product ideas? Did you know that there is a product that you can create in as little as one afternoon?

An interview is the 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 the "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.

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

Here's a few tips for when the day arrives and you need to conduct the interview.

Things you'll need:

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

Do background research on the person before doing the interview. This could involve search engines, the library, the 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 the course of a month or more depending on the subject and the focus of the interview.

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

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

Preparing Questions:

Don't ask stupid questions... ask questions based on the research you performed and on items of interest brought up during the interview.

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

Listen carefully and establish a relaxed style of questioning. Listening is one of the most important skills of a great interviewer.

Allow the questions to flow according to the context, glancing at your list to refresh your memory or fill a long pause in the conversation.

Be open to new questions and new points raised during the 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 product more valuable.

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

Always ask permission to record before the interview starts, and then get started on the interview. Few people object to being recorded but if they do, just use your notebook.

There are very inexpensive cassette recorders that will hook directly up to your telephone and create a very good quality sound. There are also services on the Internet that will record the interview digitally which will save you time and expense in the end.

Be careful when recording that you don't lose concentration as this will "deaden" an interview.

Listen carefully to what is being said and be sure to understand the answers to your questions. If you don't understand an answer ask your interviewee to clarify their answer.

If a person is evasive to a question or doesn't give an answer, ask the question in a different way and at another point in your interview.

If someone gives "off the record information" turn the recorder off. Respect their right of privacy.

Always guide the interview process, but don't dominate it. If the person strays too far from the subject at hand, then quickly guide them back.

Always keep the recording on file in case someone should ever claim they have been misquoted. If the interview is likely to be in any way contentious the recording should remain in your file for at least a year or two.

Using photographs of the interviewee:

There are times when you may want to use a photograph of the person for the project you are working on. Photos of the person being interviewed make your sales page (if you are planning on writing a sales page for the Internet) much more personal.

TIP: If you use photographs, always get a signed agreement before using them and as a safeguard for yourself have them sign a Model Release Consent form. There have been cases when a person's photo has been used without his/her prior consent and the person has sued for modeling fees, invasion of privacy, or for various other reasons.

Note: For a variety of personal reasons some people may not want their picture to be used on the Internet. Always respect their request if this is the case.

Ask open-ended questions:

Asking open-ended questions instead of ones that invite a yes or no answer will give more interesting responses.

These questions usually begin with who, what, when, where and how, and cannot be answered with a straight yes or no.

Example: "When did you get into writing?" "what made you decide on this particular area of writing"? etc.

This type of questioning sets the framework of the interview and is a useful tool when digging for significant information. (also you will have plenty of useable material at the end of the interview).

Write up any information within hours of the interview if possible or at least within a day or so. You want to have the interview fresh in your mind.

As a courtesy, offer to send the person you have just interviewed a copy of your article or the url to your web site and send them a free copy of your finished ebook or recording.

An excellent resource for learning to do successful telephone interviews and profiting from them is "Other People's Info", by Jimmy Brown and Ryan Deiss. You can read more about it at http://www.nichexplosion.com.

Copyright 2005 Robert Kleine