by Christine Tosi 

We recently received contact from a national television producer indicating that they were interested in doing a segment on technology and how people in any business market want to streamline and spend less. He indicated that their research department found us and our product in particular, an interesting solution for saving money.

Neat, right?

We scheduled a time to talk further. At our meeting this producer skillfully interviewed us and asked us a multitude of questions. He kept us on the phone for nearly a half hour asking about our product and footprint, as well as wondering what challenges we face, what misconceptions might exist in the marketplace, and various other things.

He explained how filming would be done and mentioned the well-known narrator. He explained that they would want to interview someone outside of our organization who was an expert in the field, or perhaps a customer of ours.

At the end of the interview he said he would direct his notes on our answers to a higher executive level producer to review and consider for the segment. This Producer explained that after the Executive Producer reviewed the notes, if he liked what he saw and felt our business and product fit the topic, they would be scheduling filming for about 90 days out.

After this he informed us that there is a fee involved. He went on to explain that we would have 5 minutes of coverage on channels like CNN and FoxNews, along with several others, for a total of 20 airings nationwide. He then told us what the cost was.

We had a bit of sticker shock and told him that the price did "seem somewhat steep…" I was going to go on and say that we would need to think about it, but instead he informed us that they don't have any trouble filling their time slots and they would be happy to find someone else. He told us to watch the show and wished us a happily ever after, in not so many words.

I got off the phone feeling a mild shock and some sadness at how abruptly things ended. No doubt, this technique may work for some people to make them turn around and say, "Yes, yes, yes, take all my money, I want my 5 minutes of fame on TV!" I guess we are not 'most people' however.

What got me about his sales process was how he thoroughly wasted my and his time, when he could have been upfront about the cost. Secondly, the fact that he spent all that time doing the interview, but wouldn't even allow us the time to think it over. Maybe the cost isn't steep, maybe it's an excellent opportunity to get our name out. Or, maybe it's a glorified infomercial that the consumer is unaware is an infomercial.

In the interest of being a good person, I'm not stating the name of the news show, or the exact cost involved even though I did not sign an NDA. I'm not out to slander anyone, I'm just saying… they have a great business model: get people to pay for nationwide television coverage, while the consumer doesn't even realize they are watching a paid infomercial. It made me wonder, "how much news is news, and how much is infomercial?" Above all, I just wish they would have been upfront and patient, allowing me to finish my sentence or thought, at least. Personally, I don't have patience for people that are impatient.