Welcome to world of the “Mic’d and Ready” – if you are looking to communicate what you have say more powerfully and across all platforms, you’ve landed in a great place!
So who am I and what is the purpose of this website (and soon to be Podcast)?
I’ll start out with a bit of background about me.
In 2018, after (at that point) 20 years of broadcast meteorology, reporting, anchoring, and show hosting, I had decided it was time to try something different in my professional life. I was ready for a new challenge, and thought to myself, why not try sales?
Figuring I had likely developed all the “communication skills” I would need for success in sales in broadcasting, the only question for me in this career shift was, “Ok, so what widget do I sell?”
As luck would have it, around this same time, I had recently met the owner of a local / regional solar company on the show I had been hosting for ABC / WMAR-TV in Baltimore.
I reached out to him, of course he remembered me (and most of liked the interview) because I was able to secure a position as solar sales rep with the company, despite having zero previous sales experience with homeowners.
While there was certainly some fairly intense sales and technical training I had to go through to get get to the level where I could begin to run sales appointments in the field, it also didn’t take long to realize that many of the hard won communication skills I developed during my years in television and radio could be translated into the world of solar energy, and more broadly, into becoming a more effective salesperson in general.
In fact, in just his first 24 months solar industry, and having never sold anything previously, I was able to generate over 5 million dollars in new sales from scratch a this regional company. I also often led the entire sales force in several sales metrics even in those early months, including confirming new client appointments with often highly skeptical prospects, then closing a rather high percentage of those as sales.
I eventually shifted over to the marketing division of the company, creating and hosting the weekly segment known as the “Solar Powered Minute” on WJLA-TV / ABC 7 in Washington DC which I still produce and appear on each week.
I decided to develop this website, Mic’d and Ready, because both in the studio and in sales, I have seen many times where someone was not able to communicate their message nearly as effectively as the could have, whether on-air, in a video meeting, or simply just on a key phone call.
Framing and distilling your message properly is the key, especially for these occasions where you must communicate it remotely on camera and even more so if by purely by audio.
So bottom line, whether you are getting ready to go on-air for an interview, about to log on to a vital video conference, or even just want to communicate better on a key phone call, above all else make sure you have already done what it takes to be “Mic’d and Ready!”
Wyatt on the set with Eileen Wheelan on WJLA-TV
