ShareYou get a simple request from a reporter to talk about home sales. “No problem,” you think, “My president lives the market!” You pass the contact info on to the reporter and tell your president to expect a call. You move on to crossing items off your to-do list and putting out your next fire. A few hours later the reporter calls back.
This scenario most likely ends in one of two ways: The reporter needs additional home sales data that the president didn’t have or wants to confirm what the president said about the “standard” commission. Simple interviews can go wrong.
Although there are obviously no guarantees when talking to a reporter, providing your volunteer leaders with media training is one of the best ways to not only limit risk but also improve the standing of your association within the community.
There are myriad materials, videos, and tips online, but I fi nd nothing can replace a live trainer working with your leaders on the specifi c scenarios they are likely to encounter in your market area.
Here are 10 reasons your leaders need media awareness training:
1. Reporters are not clients. Your volunteer leaders are used to answering questions from clients on a daily basis. But they should never talk to reporters as if they were clients, and never have their guard down, because with reporters everything is on the record, even if it feels like unrelated small talk. Media training teaches them how to clearly answer the only questions they were asked, and even politely evade those questions they would rather not answer.
2. Being a good spokesperson is about preparation. Even if your volunteer leaders are not be quick on their feet, that doesn’t mean they can’t be great spokespeople. Media training teaches them how to prepare for an interview.
3. The media landscape is changing. Mainstream news, biased news, media outlets with political agendas, personal blogs: It’s hard to navigate the wide array of channels wanting to cover real estate topics. This can be a danger but it’s also an opportunity. Media trainers know where the opportunities are and how to avoid the dangers of having comments or quotes intentionally misrepresented.
4. Media trainers are paid to be critical. Working with an outside media trainer, whether from within the larger REALTOR® family or from a communications agency, allows volunteer leaders to receive honest feedback that could be di cult (or potentially relationship-altering) for an AE to deliver.
5. Which hat to wear?Your volunteer leaders should always represent the association. Media training helps them recognize when they’re slipping back into wearing their personal or business hat.
6. REALTORS® are experts.A reporter sees REALTORS® as experts who have the experience to add context and color to their articles. Media training helps your leadership maximize their subject matter expertise while making members and the association look good in the public eye.
7. There are rules to the game.Reporters operate by a set of guidelines and rules. If you don’t know the rules—for example, everything is on the record—you will get burned.
8. Interview techniques are different for each medium.Media training teaches your volunteer leadership techniques and approaches they can use in other situations, such as answering questions at town hall forums and public advocacy.
9. Media Training goes beyond the media. Media training teaches your volunteer leadership techniques and approaches they can use in other situations, such as answering questions at town hall forums and public advocacy.
10. REALTORS® are busy. Providing media training to other volunteers, not just the president, will benefit the association in the short and long terms. There will be volunteer leaders who can be backups in case the president is unavailable, and future leaders will be even more prepared. Going through media training as an AE provides you with the knowledge you need to be a successful spokesperson. It also enables you to better support and prepare volunteer leaders when the media does call.