5 Phrases to Redirect the Conversation During Your Next Interview
When you’re asked to be a guest on a podcast or when a journalist invites you to answer questions for an article, it can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of the conversation.
When that happens, many entrepreneurs or authors that I know forget that they too have the power to guide the discussion in an effort to better promote themselves instead of going along for the ride in whatever direction the host or journalist takes them in.
To help you make the most of each conversation instead of letting someone else lead the way, here are 5 phrases that you can use to redirect the conversation back to your talking points or core message.
PHRASE #1: REMEMBER HOW I MENTIONED...?
In Bina Venkataraman’s interview with Eric Zimmer on The One You Feed, she illustrates one of her answers with a story and then ties it back into her core message by leading with the phrase, “Do you remember when I said....?”
That allowed her to bring back one of her core messages in her book in an intuitive way.
PHRASE #2: WHEN I’M WORKING WITH CLIENTS ON THIS, HERE’S WHAT I REMIND THEM…
In Rhonda Khan’s conversation with Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin, the latter answers one of Rhonda’s questions by saying, “When I’m working with clients on this, here’s what I remind them…”
Not only is this a great phrase to let people know how you work with your clients, but it is also a brilliant segue for emphasizing one of your core talking points.
TIP #3: THE MYTH IS THAT…
When you’re in a 30+ minute recorded conversation, it can be easy for the listener to get sidetracked while doing laundry or driving. We’ve all been there. We miss key information because our attention is elsewhere.
One trick to help bring the listener back into the fold while also strengthening their understanding of your core message is by juxtaposing that talking point with a common societal myth.
In the same conversation I mentioned in point #2, Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin explains how one of the myths we’re taught as children is that being intelligent means that we won’t have to work as hard.
She goes on to explain that that myth -- especially from the lens of the work that she does -- is absolutely false. Then, she brings her point home by saying, “What IS important for us to remember is this…”
Humans love to debunk myths, and that’s a fascination that you can absolutely capitalize on as a speaker or guest.
PHRASE #4: ALL TOO OFTEN, OTHER EXPERTS MISTAKENLY GIVE THIS ADVICE…
Adriana Lozada, the host of Birthful, interviewed Dr. Jack Newman about what a new mother can expect from breastfeeding.
Early on in that conversation, he expresses to Lozada how all too often pediatricians, nurses, or lactation consultants don’t understand breastfeeding and give incorrect information to mothers.
In short, he draws a line in the sand between the advice he has to offer and the information someone who hasn’t done the research might hear from someone who is meant to be reputable.
Not only does this make a listener perk up, but it also allows you -- the expert -- to solidify one of your major messages.
In Dr. Newman’s case, one of his core messages is that ‘breastfeeding should not hurt.’ He first illustrates this point with a tangible piece of advice - someone who knows what to look for should be there to watch the mother and make sure the baby is getting milk in the optimal way -- and then offers red flags to look out for that may indicate something is wrong.
TIP #5: IT’S NOT JUST A PROBLEM OF X OR Y OR Z. WE CAN ADDRESS THE WHOLE ISSUE BY…
It’s your job to help the host and the listener connect the dots.
In the same interview I referenced above, Lozada asks about whether or not the weight of a baby is enough of a determining factor to know if they are getting enough milk.
Dr. Newman responds by framing the correlation between weight loss and milk consumption for newborns as a myth and then goes on to solidify one of his core messages: that the fewer the interventions the mother has, the more the more likely it is that the baby will easily adapt to breastfeeding.
He says, “it’s not just a problem of the mother being overhydrated or of the scale being inaccurate or the baby getting a bad latch. The answer is in avoiding too many interventions.
So we went from weight loss in babies to reminder that interventions are the true obstacles to proper breastfeeding.
A FEW BONUS PHRASES:
My previous advice still stands in this situation.
Again, I would advise…
To summarize…