Media training for estate agents and real estate consultants – five top tips

Given the importance of the property market to the economy and to individuals, journalists will always want to talk to estate agents and property consultants.

It’s essential, though, that senior leaders and spokespeople for property companies are trained to do interviews with the media effectively. Our media training courses for estate agents are becoming increasingly popular among property PRs and in-house communications teams as well as others in the industry. 

That’s because shrewd communications experts realise that even if they secure an interview with a journalist or news outlet it doesn’t mean that their spokesperson is going to make the cut. They also understand that putting somebody up for a media interview involves serious risks as well as opportunities.

So, if you’re looking for media interview advice for estate agents and property consultants, here are five things to bear in mind.

1. Define your message

One of the points that we stress in our media coaching for property consultants is the need to be really clear on one key message in your interview. Not only does this give you more control over the interview but it helps the journalist. If you make clear what you want them to take away and use in their report, you’re saving them a lot of time and effort. They’ll be very grateful for this – and so they’ll come back to you again for another report. You’ll develop more control over the interview because you’ll have a better idea about what exactly the journalist will take away news from your conversation.

This is particularly important in print interviews where you might speak to a journalist for 10 or 15 minutes, giving them a couple of thousand words from which they will take just 50 to 100 perhaps. But which ones? Being clear about your key message will help you to feel more confident about the end result of your interview.

2. Use examples

Journalists love stories, case studies, examples and even little anecdotes. In our media training for property consultants, we spend some time working with them to identify stories that they can tell in a concise but engaging way during media interviews. The value of examples and case studies is that they explain what you’re talking, and they prove your points. We recently worked with a large property consultancy to prepare one of their spokespeople to talk about changes in the London commercial property market for a BBC interview. This involved finding some stories and examples that would illustrate the interviewee’s points and add to their authority.

“These are the kind of conversations I have with clients and potential clients,” the spokesperson said, sounding slightly surprised. We explained that, in fact, they all talking to clients and potential clients in the interview, they would just be doing it via the journalist.

We also point out in our media training for property consultants that people don’t easily remember messages and statistics, but they do remember stories. Stories connect with us at a very basic level and light up more areas of the brain than simple facts, making them memorable and powerful. 

3. Take the initiative during media interviews

Often at the start of our media coaching for property consultants the participants on our courses give very short answers during the role play interviews. People tend to think that the journalist should be driving the interview, and they should simply be answering their questions.

However, we point out that the interviewee is the expert and they will almost always know more about the subject than the journalist. As we move onto the next set of interviews the participants on our media training courses for property consultancies begin to realise that they can take the initiative. They can set out their stall and deliver their key message right at the start of the interview and take control as the interview continues. Not only does this allow them to make more of the opportunity but it also reduces the chances of the journalist asking some difficult or irrelevant questions.

All of our media trainers our working journalists (operating under strict non-disclosure agreements) so they know that it’s when an interviewee is not giving them anything interesting and relevant they will look to make some mischief just to get a story. Taking the initiative during media interviews can help you to prevent this.

4. Remember – it’s a performance

As part of our media training courses for property consultants we provide advice on vocal skills and body language so that our course participants will really look the part when they pop up on TV.

It’s not about shouting at people or coming across as a bug eyed maniac but adding extra energy and emphasis to your comments will really help drive them home in the minds of the audience. “I thought I was going over the top there but actually, looking back, it just seems natural,” a board director from one real estate consultancy told us after he had viewed the role play TV interview that we had just done with him. It was really encouraging for us to see how he had put the advice on body language and vocal skills into action, developing his confidence and coming across as an authoritative and compelling commentator.

We also point out in our media training for real estate consultancies that even when you’re doing a print interview for an outlet such as the Financial Times or Estates Gazette, adding a bit of passion and energy can help to drive home your points and make you sound more knowledgeable and authoritative.

5. Look out for difficult questions 

One important lesson that we teach in our media training for property consultants and estate agents is that you need to do your thinking before you do a media interview. Having to deal with a difficult or controversial issue that you had not thought about beforehand can turn a media interview into a nightmare.

We work closely with property PRs and the in-house communications teams of property consultants is to help them to identify difficult or irrelevant questions that might be thrown at their spokespeople. In some cases, it’s obvious. But in others the “While I’ve got you here…”, question can really throw an interviewee and even cause them to say something that takes the whole interview in a different and dangerous direction. One property PR brought us in specifically after the chief executive of one of their clients had been ambushed by a journalist with an unexpected question during an interview. It related to a deal that the company was doing and that the chief executive assumed was not common knowledge.

In some situations, you simply cannot identify every difficult or irrelevant question that a journalist might throw at you. That’s why in our media training for property consultants we teach a number of techniques to help interviewees to move away from these potentially dangerous subject areas and to get back to their key messages.

Media coaching for property consultants

Come and talk to us about our media training for property consultants and our media coaching for estate agents. We work closely with property PR’s and in-house press offices to increase the chances their clients’ and colleagues’ media interview going well and promoting their business as a result. You can follow us on LinkedIn here.