Great stories are built on great interviews, and great interviews are built on great questions.
Great questions and great interviews don’t just happen. Getting people to talk about themselves, their businesses, experiences or passions takes research, planning and finesse.
Over the years, I’ve cultivated a number of interview strategies, and I recently shared a few of them with fellow freelancer and writing blogger Susan Johnston for her post on the subject, which you can read here.
Susan’s questions made me sit down and think about all of the different ways I prepare for interviews, and how I get people to talk.
Here are some of my other secrets for getting sources to open up about almost anything:
1. Do your homework. Before an interview that’s pivotal to a story, I’ll do as much background research and reporting as possible so I go in armed and ready. I feel a lot more comfortable in potentially confrontational situations when I know I have back up for any hard questions I might be asking. I usually save these kinds of interviews for the absolute end of my reporting process.
2. Prep your interview subject (up to a point). I interview a lot of busy executives, including CEOs, so I often send a bullet list of subjects I want to cover ahead of time. The source or their public relations representative can use it to know what to prep for – which is good for me so I don’t have to sit through 15 minutes of hearing their company spiel before getting to the stuff I want to know about. However, sending them a list of questions doesn’t mean I don’t ask anything else – I always do – not that I tell them that.
3. Forget transcription services. I’ve never understood why freelancers use transcription services. I’d rather take my own notes, thank you very much. I do a lot of phone interviews and I write a lot on deadline, so I type notes while I’m interviewing someone. I’m fast – I credit years of piano lessons for that – and don’t worry if things aren’t spelled right. If I need to, I’ll go over my notes after an interview and clean them up. When I do in-person interviews I always take hand-written notes – never trust an interview solely to a recording device – and depending on the situation I may or may not using a recorder.
4. Make your subject feel comfortable. Before an interview I’ll engage in a bit of small talk that I base on something the source and I might in common – living in the same city, having kids the same age, having attended the same conferences at some point. That’s not appropriate in every situation, but in some cases it helps to make them more comfortable with me and maybe even forget that they’re talking to a reporter so they’ll open up a little more. If I’ve interviewed someone before, I’ll mention it; if their company or organization’s been in the news I’ll mention it. If their city’s sports team just was in the news I’ll mention it. Whatever it takes – I’m not shy.
5. Ask the hard questions. This is the most important point of all. Think about what your readers or editor – or mother – would want to know, and ask that question. Why go to all of the trouble to arrange to talk to this person and then not ask the questions that people are dying to know the answers to, even if they’re really, really difficult to ask. I’ve asked an Orange County, Calif., couple that spent one Thanksgiving in the hospital praying over their gravely ill only child what they were thankful for that holiday. I’ve asked boiler room operators how they could take millions of dollars from retirees. I’ve asked Suzy Welch if writing a book was her declaration of independence from her more-famous husband and former GE chairman Jack. You gotta ask the hard questions.
Here are other posts I’ve done on interviews and interviewing techniques:
I think one of the best ways to get people to talk is to nod and say “mmmhmmm” a lot. People instinctively like to fill what they perceive to be a gap in the conversation, and the way many people do that is by continuing to talk. I’ve gotten some really interesting comments that way.
That is a good one. Another – don’t say anything. People don’t like silences and will instinctively fill in the gap by saying something. And if they don’t say anything right away, wait. And if they still don’t say anything, ask why they aren’t – even if they won’t comment they might explain why they won’t, which in some cases is just as interesting.
Michelle
I agree! I’m a natural chatterbox and I have to curb myself when interviewing. I had to learn the hard way that if I shut up, everybody else can talk. And that’s why I’m interview them, right?
Great observations.
Gosh, I have to disagree with #3. I started getting my interviews transcribed a few years after I began freelancing, and it changed my interviews for the better. I was never a great note-taker to begin with, but when I didn’t have to worry about getting down every word, I had the chance to jot down follow-up questions and really listen to what the source was saying.
I also found that reading through a full transcript after the fact helped highlight certain points that didn’t seem important during the interview and that I might not have noted, but that I later realized were relevant.
I don’t get every interview transcribed, but for me, it’s absolutely made me a better writer and reporter.
I think it’s a matter of personal preference. I am a good note taker and a fast typist and I can think of follow up questions on the fly. I also usually don’t have the time it would take to wait for notes to be transcribed. I could see the value for some types of stories, though, such as profiles or other longer pieces. And springing for transcription would have to pencil out financially too.
Michelle
What a great post!
I actually started getting my interviews transcribed a few years ago. I can type pretty fast and had my own shorthand to make it easier, but I’m not THAT good of a typist — and I realized that I was often so concerned with getting down a quote that I wouldn’t be really paying attention to the conversation and able to ask intelligent follow-up questions. Now that I use a transcriptionist (who gets files back to me the next day at the latest), I can follow the flow of the conversation better and get better info/quotes as a result. Well worth the price for me!
Linda:
I know lots of freelancers get notes transcribed. But I actually benefit from the time it takes me to read through notes again – the review time it helps me decide where the material fits in and which quotes I’ll use.
Michelle
I’m a little confused…I do read through the transcribed interview again before I write the article itself, to refresh myself on the topic and decide which quotes go where. Or do you mean transcribing notes, like research notes I might speak into a digital recorder? I take all my notes in Word, and review those too. Forgive me if I’m making no sense…I’m on some heavy duty pain meds right now. 🙂
I was referring to my own process, not anyone else’s. I take my own notes and find that going over them to fix spellings, etc., helps my story building process.
Michelle
I liked this post. I am participating in the blogathon and am interviewing an actor for a post I am doing soon. I was wondering how many questions to ask him. I think I have 10 written down and I plan to do it by email.
Thank you. I look forward to your reply.
The number of questions really depends on the kind of story you’re doing, and what kind of background research you’ve already done. The longer the story, the more questions. Sorry I can’t be more specific without knowing more about it.
Michelle
A lot of my interviews are related to a crime the subject may have committed but even if someone was simply interviewing a candidate for a job, you can always obtain an interview consent form and digitally record the interview. This will not only assist you later when you review the video to see the subjects responses to certain questions but will also help you critique your interviewing skills. I have a free E-guide that I offer on my website entitled 8 CREDIBLE Steps to Become a Successful Interviewer. I thought your article was helpful and I am glad I took the time to read it.