How to Record Telephone Interviews
...And Create a Product in just One Hour
By Iszuddin Ismail
Just Ask!
I don't know how I suddenly got the idea, but somehow, I pull all of my guts together and approach this rather prominent figure in the internet marketing arena. I told him that I want to interview him and and I want to record it.
And you know what? Without much thought, he agreed. We set a date and time and agreed that I will call him and we'll have an hour interview. I don't want surprises so I offered him to pay his normally hourly consulting rate. You may want to do the same.
I guess he's just a nice guy and declined. He said, "I don't consider this as consulting."
Well - here's one advice. Just pick-up the phone and ask. The worse he can say is just No.
Prepare the Questions
At this point, what you want to do is write a list of questions for the interview. Not that the expert may not be able to answer you questions, but it's best when the expert is well-prepared. The expert can prepare sound advice for you and you'll get a better quality interview if you do this.
I prepared 15 questions. Actually we are only going to do 10 questions, but I have 5 on backup, in case there's still time.
When you are ready with the questions, just email him that.
International Call
Now came another problem. I am based in Malaysia. This expert in USA. If you know geography, that's two opposite timezones. We're 12 hours apart.
You may want to make sure the time of the call. I like using Time Zone Converter to check that time of the call that I was suppose to make. In my case, the call was at 12 midnight my time, and 12 noon his time.
Check out http://timeconverter.com
And I was also worried about my future phone bills. So I searched the Net and finally settled with Skype.
If your expert also has Skype, then you can make free calls. But if he doesn't, don't go saying "Go get Skype." Remember, he's the one doing you a favor here.
Because my expert doesn't have Skype, I bought the SkypeOut credit which allows you to make calls to fixed line numbers and mobile phones from my computer. Normal call rates to USA may cost me $0.90MYR per minute. But with Skype, I am just paying $0.09MYR per minute. That's 90% saving!
You may want to consider using Skype if you have to make international call for the interview.
And be sure to be ready with a headphone with a mic.
But in the case that you are in the same country as your expert, you may want to just use the normal phone.
By the way, I also use Skype to join teleseminars by others. Recently, I said, "Hi. Kidino from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia" at Alice Seba's teleseminar.
Recording the Call with Skype
If you have never done this before, you may want to really try this first. Really make sure that you have your recording system in place.
The last thing that you want is that your recording failed during the call.
I recorded my interview using the computer. I used StepVoice which automatically records audio into MP3. MP3 is the best format to go with because of its quality and how small it is.
But my first few attempts was a disaster.
When I make a call using Skype, sounds fine. But when I started recording, there was too much echo.
Final resort, I recorded the phone interview on another PC. Here's how I did it. You need an audio cable to connect from one sound card to the other.
Look at the diagram below.
Recording the Call with Normal Phone
Your situation may be different. If you will be using a normal phone for the call, and recording using your computer, you'll need a telephone-to-PC adapter.
You can go to the following website to get one.
http://www.nch.com.au/hardware/callrec.html
Choose one suitable to your country. You'll need a phone cable splitter too. This is how a phone cable splitter looks like. I think you can find this in most telephone shop.
Now, try to setup the following connection.
With this kind of configuration, just make a call like you normally do, and then start recording from your computer.
When Recording...
Just one simple note. With either of this setups, with Skype or normal phone, set the record setting to record from the computer speaker, or from the stereo. That should do it. Like I said earlier, you may want to try the setup first and not emberass yourself in front of you expert. Try calling friends or family and record that.
Transcription Service
When you are ready with your MP3 recording, search the internet for transcription service. This will raise the percieved value of your audio product.
And it'll help people understand the audio better.
I think this should cost you something around $1.50 to $3.00 per minute of recording.
Taking it a Step Further with Teleseminars
If you can handle it, why not host a teleseminar. Why? Because you can create your product and make money at the same time. It's like killing two birds with one stone.
Let say that you will be organizing a teleseminar with an expert. You charges $27 if anybody wants to listen to the teleseminar. And let say the expert charges you $500 per hour for his time.
If you use a service like Free Conference (http://freeconference.com) , you can host a free teleseminar and accomodate 100 people in there. Minus you and the expert, you can have up to 98 guests.
$27 multiplied by 98 guests, you will make $2,646!
Minus that with the expert's fee, $500, you still make $2,146.
Now, you turn around and repackage the recorded teleseminar and sell it for the same $27. Those who attended your teleseminars should be your first target as affiliates. Get them to give you testimonials and tell them to promote your new product.
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Now you can read about how he spent 12 days organizing a teleseminar and made $3,148.96 |
Notes:
Always ask permission to record your telephone conversation.
Free Conference does not support teleseminar recording except for their 800 number plan. You can use the setup above to record the teleseminar yourself.