When Sales Mattered...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, it was a basic requirement of being a television shopping host that you had to be able to sell products... alone... without help... that means no guest expert.  Alas, those days are gone, or at least vanishing VERY quickly.  

I was having a conversation with a friend who has been in the business for almost 20 years and he made the observation that the days of the self-sufficient show host are almost gone.  They are a dying breed.  Time was that a host had to carry the whole show by themselves, moving from product to product and making the most of their presentation.  Nowadays though, well, let's just say the priorities have changed.

As a person who makes their living as a professional on-air guest, you'd think that I'd be "all about" this situation.  But, in all reality, a host who's not into the sales aspect of the gig only makes my job that much harder.  I want to focus on the features and benefits of the item;  they want to chat about anything else.  

So here's to that dying breed of hardcore presenters... the hosts that sell.