At PracticalAdultInsights, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.
How Do I Become a Home Shopping Host?
If you want to become a home shopping host, you should consider taking acting classes or public speaking courses, working to improve your personal appearance and taking a job selling products that require demonstration. It might also be to your advantage to try to get jobs in which you appear on television or on the radio. Some home shopping stations actively recruit new hosts online and on the air, so pay attention to the information that they provide about auditions and submitting an application. Responding to a direct call for new talent might be the fastest and most direct way to become a home shopping host.
Home shopping host duties include making show guests comfortable on the show, interacting well with the audience and quickly and succinctly introducing new products and persuading viewers to buy them. Many of the shows are broadcast live, which might require you to be able to improvise and to quickly come up with verbiage if a guest is lagging in conversation or if there are technical difficulties that prevent you from showcasing an item. You must also be able to ask inventors, entrepreneurs and company owners good questions about their products so that viewers will take an interest and want to buy them.
You might consider taking public speaking or communications classes through a community college or university in your area. Other good classes to consider include marketing and consumer psychology. Nothing will substitute, though, for real-world experience in sales and public presentation. Joining a community public speaking club typically is a good — and inexpensive — option. Another option is to take acting or improvisational comedy classes, both of which can help you develop stage presence that can help you in your quest to become a home shopping host.
Review the websites of home shopping shows. If they offer an opportunity to become a home shopping host, read the information carefully. You might be asked to submit a video demonstration of the product. It probably is a good idea to have your hair professionally cut or styled before having your video made.
In situations where you are called in for a live audition, it might be best to develop two or three different presentations of varying time lengths. This will ensure that you are prepared for whatever limits the producers place on your audition time. Once again, professional hairstyling and grooming on the day of your audition can only help your chances of becoming a home shopping host.
AS FEATURED ON:
AS FEATURED ON:
-
![Taking public speaking courses can help you become a home shopping host.]()
By: Minerva StudioTaking public speaking courses can help you become a home shopping host.
Discussion Comments
Unless their was a passion for the product, I do not think I could be a host on the shopping network!
When I am flipping channels I usually speed right on through any of the channels that involve programming that wants me to do some shopping for the home or at my home, I feel like it is just like one long commercial, and that is one of the reasons I love DVR - no commercials.
However, if I had a passion for the product, I would love to be a part of the promotion of the product as host - you could interview people, get people to try something new, as well as extend a little witty banter!
I think there are several skills that are involved in being a good home shopping host. Not only do you have to have good people skills, but you also need to be persuasive without being too pushy.
When someone feels like this is a product they just have to buy, and you see those numbers flashing on the screen, it can be kind of addicting.
I enjoy doing a little in home shopping from time to time. I am not one that likes to spend a lot of time looking around a mall or trying to figure out what to buy for a gift.
If I see something on a home shopping show that I am interested in, I love having the convenience of taking care of it right then and there.
I could easily waste a couple of hours watching home shopping shows. I think a good host really makes a big difference in how well a product sells.
I have watched enough of these shows that I have my favorites. One day I realized that I bought several things from one particular host that I really liked. This may have been something that I would not have even been interested in if someone else was trying to sell it.
She is very good at engaging the audience and has a lot of positive energy that I think many people are drawn to.
I have to limit the time I spend doing tv shopping, because it is easy to get caught up in the whole process. Many times I have ended up with something that I really didn't need or even want all that bad.
I don't think being a home shopping host is as easy as many of them make it look. You can tell when someone has a lot of experience or feels very comfortable at this job.
I have several friends who love shopping from home, and have been able to get some good bargains. A successful home shopping host does a good job of convincing people why they need whatever product they are trying to sell.
Being a good sales person is helpful, but I also think it is just as important to understand how people think, and what it takes to motivate them to buy something.
This can be especially difficult over the TV because people can't touch and smell the product. You have to be very good at explaining why the product works and using testimonials from other people to help boost your sales.
A background in retail might help for someone who wants to be on a show about at home shopping. While the environment is much different, the goal is essentially the same. Sell, sell, sell. People who are used to this kind work might do better when they are put in front of a camera and asked to sell a blender.
I would think that one key skill of being a home shopping host would be being able to think on your feet.
As far as I know most of the dialog on these shows is unscripted. They might follow an outline or a format but for the most part the hosts are choosing their words on the fly.
This would be a real challenge on a network like QVC where you might have to fill an entire half hour talking about one dress, or a piece of jewelry or a knife. These hosts have to find ways to be interesting and engaging when talking about things which do not merit much discussion. That's not an easy skill to acquire.
I had a friend that used to work with me that was home shopping network host. She was a model and got the job on a shopping network through her agency. I think that you also have to have a lot of stage presence and charisma in order to work for a home shopping channel.
My friend was very articulate when she spoke which was important for the job, but she was also very striking as well. I always felt kind of ugly next to her.
Dealing with guests and people who call-in to talk about products can really be tough. I have seen a lot of awkward pauses on home television shopping when a person has asked a tricky question, or a guest has looked confused.
A home shopping host really needs to be able to think on their feet and be great at public speaking. I think if you want to become a home shopping host then you really have to be honest with yourself and figure out if you have the people skills needed to be successful at giving interviews and making guests comfortable.
If you can't afford acting classes, you may find college courses in journalism cheaper. They often have interviewing skills and on-camera work, that can get you started. Plus, if you work at a college station on-air it is easier to make demo tapes.
Taking acting classes is a really good idea if you want to become a home shopping host. While it may seem like a relatively easy job compared to others in television I think learning some improvisation is very important.
There is a pretty famous video online of a rather epic product fail on air. A ladder ended up giving way while one of the hosts was trying it out. When you have live callers talking to you, knowing how to handle all kinds of situations can really take a lot of acting skill. Being able to save the product by blaming anything but the product is also a good thing to learn. Salesmanship and good acting skills are pretty similar in my opinion.
Post your comments