C. Lee Smith
As seen in:
Manage Smarter,
SalesFuel,
Travels by Carriage,
Apple Podcasts,
LinkedIn,
MSN,
Yahoo Finance,
Entrepreneur,
Entrepreneur en Español,
Flipboard,
EIN News,
Selling Power
and
Covers:
sales, AI in sales, credibility, trust, marketing, advertising, executive presence, personal branding, executive leadership, hiring, pre-hire assessments, workforce management, consumer behavior
Doesn't Cover:
Politics, anything NFSW
CEO of @SalesFuel | Bestselling Author of "SalesCred" | Keynote Speaker | Certified Behavioral Analyst | Global Sales Credibility Authority
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Reporting on weather for The Marietta Times in Marietta, Ohio as a high school student.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
It is the way most people, especially those under 35 years old, get their news.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Lou Grant (the newspaper version of the same name, not Mary Tyler Moore)
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To be the objective eyes and ears of all readers, not just those who agree with team red or team blue. I'm about team green - money.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email. Review my blog, my podcast and my videos to determine if your pitch is relevant to my audience first.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
AdMall, BIA, Nielsen, AdAge, BLS, Perplexity, Comscore, Kantar
What's your favorite social network?
X and Instagram
Who do you wish followed you?
WSJ, SiriusXM Business Radio, CNBC, American Business Journals, Forbes, Inc., Fox Business, Columbus Dispatch
Why did you become a journalist?
I love applying the scientific method to reporting, teaching and storytelling
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I did not, but I did work for my college newspaper. I sold advertising and managed the sales team.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
The Four Fits of Hiring
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Always use your critical thinking skills, especially when using AI to help with researching a topic.
When's the best time to pitch you?
5-6pm
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Fox News Radio pitched me on guesting on their morning drive shows in multiple markets to discuss the impact of business buzzwords
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
An SEO agency pitching me on a cryptocurrency article that had no relevance to my audience. They were relentless.
What's your favorite drink?
Midleton with an ice cube, Coke on the side.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On my bicycle, doing long rides to raise money for cancer research
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Entrepreneur, WSJ
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That small businesses a less important that public companies or startups with large rounds of new funding.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.