Getting to that 90/10 talking ratio

While scrolling Instagram the other day, I saw a video from an ADHD creator about how they made a desktop app, SaleSpot, that helps people monitor how much time they’re spending talking on video calls.

It’s intended for sales people or for team meetings, but I thought, maybe this would be a helpful tool for people who are learning how to interview to feel what a 90/10 interviewee:interviewer talk ratio feels like?

It’s free, so why not try and see?

My friend Adam Palozzi, an exited founder and developer, was kind enough to try it out with me.

Unfortunately both of the mini-interviews I recorded with him for this demo have been lost in the ether, so this video is visual-only. (I’ve asked him to come on Software Social sometime in the next few months to tell the story of selling his in-person music school in the midst Covid so you can get a chance to hear it—such an interesting story!)

Notice the timer in the right hand corner that measures the percentage of time I spend talking:

Also… notice how Adam’s face lights up and how much more engaged he is when he’s the one talking. That’s why limiting how much you talk is so important — it makes people feel good to talk about themselves and their experiences, even a fairly mundane experience like finding a business broker!

(Scroll to page 23 of the PDF copy to read more about the fMRI brain imaging studies that back this up.)

I encourage you to try it out with a friend before using it in a live interview—perhaps use the practice interview script while you’re at it. Some people might find it distracting to see the percentage in the corner, so just test it out before using it in a real interview.

Also: when you download the app, it asks to monitor clicks across all applications. I’m not sure why, and I denied this permission. It still worked fine.

I was thrilled to get a chance to be on The SaaS Podcast recently. I loved talking to Omer and he posed a really thought-provoking hypothetical based on a real scenario a founder friend of his is working through.

I was also on Startups for the Rest of Us in January.

You can listen to the full playlist of all of my podcast book tour stops here.

Just a quick update: the audio engineer is 99% done with editing the audiobook. Now it’s just some finishing touches! I’m cautiously optimistic it will be available in the next month or so.

This means the audiobook will be transitioning out of pre-sale soon. The pre-sale is currently $29 and the final version will be $39. (Note: the audiobook will not be available on Audible due to their author-unfriendly practices.)

Everyone who pre-orders will get the final files.