PRactical Relations

It’s simple. If you start a phone call with “Hi, how are you?” you are looking for trouble.

Perhaps you’ve heard that public relations people are sometimes referred to as PR sales people? This is not because the poor journalists aren’t savvy enough to know the difference, it’s because people in our own PR industry are creating this perception - often unwittingly. In fact, some are so unconscious to the effect that their sloppy PR habits have, that they get upset and exclaim “how rude!” when an exasperated journalist doesn’t want to hear another irrelevant PR pitch.

I think I need a quick disclaimer here: I am not saying that journalists should be excused for being rude, there is no excuse for that. But after hearing some of their stories, I can understand why blood pressure levels rise as often as they do. 

Ok, so getting back to the PR/sales person comparison. Here’s what you can do to avoid a negative impression when making your call:

- Introduce yourself upfront.
Only untrained telemarketers selling dodgy products start a conversation with a bubbly “hi, how are you?” in an attempt to “build rapport”. The only thing this does is build scepticism. First say who you are and what company you’re calling from. No-one wants to make small talk when they don’t know who they’re dealing with; journalists generally don’t want to make small talk at all.

- You don’t need to be everyone’s best friend.
Get to the point and then be friendly, in that order. Once you’ve built a good relationship with a journalist, then you can chat away about your weekend plans and the weather. But up until that point, simply give the journalists what they need in a professional manner.

Please, for your own sake and for the sanity of the journalists you’re dealing with, understand why “hi, how are you?” just doesn’t work. Then pass on the tip to all of your colleagues too (despite its obviousness), because somewhere out there some PR people are unknowingly sabotaging all your hard media relations work.

What’s obvious to one is obviously not obvious to everyone.

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