By Kevin Gault
If you’re a white paper writer, this situation is all too familiar: You’re interviewing a content expert and hoping for interesting answers that will make your paper worth reading, but all you hear is nuts-and-bolts tech talk. How can you manage this situation and come away with compelling material for your paper?
Tell Them What You Need
According to interviewing expert John Brady, visiting professor of journalism at Ohio University and former editor-in-chief of Writer’s Digest magazine, you must remind your interview subject—before and, if necessary, during the interview—of the type of information you’re looking for.
“Most subjects want to be helpful, but you have to put them at ease and enable them to focus,” Brady explains.
“Tell the subject up front what sort of information you need. Call or email them before the interview, saying, ‘I’d like to discuss the widget business in a wide-ranging sense. I need general observations as well as technical specifics.’ Then, if they get bogged down in specifics during the interview, get them back on track: ‘That’s very interesting, Mr. Smith, but I wonder if you can give me more of an overview of this subject.’”
Choose the Right Questions
What type of interview questions draw out this type of information? Brady, who is also the author of The Interviewer’s Handbook: A Guerrilla Guide (available here), says there’s no magic formula-stick with the basics.
“There are six basic types of questions that all journalists know from Reporting 101: who, what, when, where, why and how,” Brady says.
“To get specific details, the interviewer should bear down with closed-ended questions: who, when and where. But to get overview responses from someone who tends to give detail-oriented answers, ask more open-ended questions: what, why and how.”
For example, if you ask the closed-ended question, “When was the new software created?”, your subject will give you a specific timeframe. Asking the open-ended question “Why was the software created?” will elicit an answer that gives insights into the business problem that made the new software necessary.
What If They Won’t Talk?
Okay, you’ve reminded your interview subject about the type of information you’re looking for and you’ve asked the right questions. What if that dreaded situation occurs—the subject is quiet or introverted and won’t open up?
Most interviewers change strategies, ask different types of questions or inject humor into the conversation—anything to get a good response. But Brady suggests a different tactic.
“Interviewing is like going on a blind date,” he says. “The first encounter can be disappointing; the second one is usually better. When you don’t get expansive answers the first time, leave the door open—’May I call you again if I need more details?’—and then make a follow-up call. The second time around is usually looser and more informative. You can expand on the short answers you received initially and go deeper, adding more substance.”
Follow Brady’s tips to get information that gives the reader the nuts and bolts as well as interesting business insights that make your white paper a compelling read.
