Speaking Success Strategies | Mikki Williams on Personal Branding

 

Welcome to Speaking Success Strategies where Frank interviews some of the world's greatest speakers who share tips, ideas and strategies.

 

Frank Furness is a Sales Technology Speaker who has presented in 69 Countries.

 

In this episode Mikki Williams speaks about her experience as a Vistage Chair and what Speakers need to do to speak to CEO groups.

 

Mikki Williams, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is an explorer...  an explorer of life and people and especially of herself. She is an inspirational humorist, business motivator, global celebrity speaker, author, executive speech coach, TEDx speaker, radio & TV personality, transformational storyteller, entrepreneur extraordinaire and mensch!

 

A disruptor and a maverick in today’s evolving world, she is changing the game of how you look at life and business.

 

For those who are interested, you can take a look at Mikki's accomplishments, her pre-speaking business history and her personal story here - https://www.mikkiwilliams.com

 

   

Keynote Speaking Tips | Frank Furness | Sales Technology Speaker

Speaking Globally | Frank Furness | Sales Keynote Speaker

Presentation Skills Tips | Practical Tips for International Speaking | Sales & Marketing Presenter

Tips

·                If speaking in a country for the first time, ensure you have all the details of the venue and mobile phone numbers of the organizers. If something goes wrong or your limo is not there to pick you up, these are essential.

·                Check that you have the correct visas. Very serious immigration officials with machine guns once delayed me for four hours in the Czech Republic because of visa problems.

·                When checking into a hotel, ensure that the organizers have arranged payment. Sometimes they fax booking confirmation and not payment information to the hotel. This happened to me in Japan and I was given a massive bill.

·                Ensure that you have a rock sold, signed contract and receive payment before the talk. It can be difficult chasing your payments from 10,000 miles away.

·                Allow for jet lag. If you have a 13-hour flight and a 10-hour time difference, you will not give your best performance without a rest. Take a natural herb tablet called Melatonin that sorts out the body clock immediately. Before flying have an aromatherapy massage and keep the oils on your body.

·                Try to take day flights, you can get a lot of work done and arrive in time for a good night’s sleep

·                Pack lightly (easy for men). I often to international speaking tours that involve 10 to 15 presentations and 10 international flights, you do not want to be lugging heavy suitcases around with you. For me it is one suit with 2 trousers, 5 lounge and 5 casual shirts, shorts, underwear, socks and toiletries. Every hotel can quickly do any laundry and often I will find a laundry shop near the hotel at half the rates. Many times I travel with hand luggage only and I don’t need to wait around to collect my luggage at airports

Frank Furness CSP is a Sales & Social media presenter and author of two best-selling books.

He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 54 countries. His publications and resources have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com  and for resources take a look at http://www.frankfurness.com  and http://www.technologytoolsforbusiness.com 

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com  Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/ 

Speakers Bootcamp | Learn to Speak | Presentation Skills | Review

Learn how to speak all over the world and be paid high fees.
Frank Furness CSP has run the bootcamp on 5 continents and over 500 speakers have attended, some now amongst the best in the world.
The first day will teach you the speaking skills and the second day how to market yourself and get the high fees.
Take a look at http://speakersbootcamp.co.uk/ for the date and place closest to you.

Your Business Plan
If you want to work the International Circuit, you need to plan for it. Work out how many days each year you want to speak overseas, the market you want to work and develop an action plan.

Your Unique Market
Choose your unique and specialty market. Our market was initially the English speaking International Financial Services market. Over the years this has spread to include the IT and software market as well as any company in any country where people can understand English. Because of our delivery style, we have chosen not to work with translators.

Marketing yourself – the key to success
· Identify clients you have spoken for in the past that have international offices. Get a referral to the decision maker in the overseas office. Email or send a letter and follow up with a phone call.
· Dial and Smile – Pick up the phone and cold call. When Frank started out, he identified companies and banks that have international offices and phoned the President. One of those calls resulted in a business relationship with a company that spends between $50k - $100k each year sponsoring him to speak to their clients around the world.
· Find five clients that will provide you with 50% of your work each year. We have five large international companies that each book us for between six and thirty talks each year. We also have two or three Companies that we are developing should any of the ‘big five’ drop out.
· Actively prospect when speaking abroad. When speaking overseas, we will scan the local papers, magazines and yellow pages for potential clients. We’ll then phone and establish who the decision makers are and endeavor to set up a meeting and sell our services. A lot of these Companies are open and receptive to meeting with you.
· Referrals – always ask for referrals. Apart from existing clients who we do repeat business with each year, we have over 200 potential clients that have been given to us as referrals. If you leave the client satisfied, they will always give you referrals – IF YOU ASK!
· Add on an extra day to meet with potential clients – Wherever we speak in the world, we add on an extra day to see potential clients and bureaus. We can normally fit in 5 appointments for the day and this always results in at least one extra booking. On a recent trip to Singapore Frank managed to give a keynote speech to a large Insurance Company and in the same day have five meetings with potential clients. One of these meetings was a cocktail party where he met with twenty of the most influential business leaders in Singapore.
This was only achieved because Frank had developed a center of influence in Singapore who had arranged the talk and all of the meetings. He is rewarded with a percentage of the fee, which makes it a win-win situation for everyone.
· Find the other offices – When speaking internationally, find out where the International client for whom you are speaking has other branches around the world. Find out who you should contact at the other offices to do the same talk. In January we spoke at a large software company in Dubai. The CEO from London was in Dubai at the time and heard us speak. After the talk he asked us to contact him to replicate the talk to their other international offices. They have offices in 33 countries.
· Network and socialize – Before going on an international talk, surf the net to see what social events are happening while you’re there. Then arrange an invitation, as you’ll always meet potential clients at these events
· Have fun and take a tour – If we visit a country for the first time, we’ll always take an extra few days to see the place. This normally includes a half-day bus tour. It’s amazing whom you can meet on these tours. We’ve met and become friends with the Vice-President of one of the largest insurance companies in the USA and a grand old lady who turned out to be the wife of the owner of one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains.
· Bureaus – find out who the bureaus are internationally and meet with them. When Frank spoke in South Africa last July, he met with the leading bureau. This resulted in bookings in November in Sun City and Mauritius for both Brendan and Frank.
· Web site – Pay a company to generate hits to your site. By doing this we have just secured a talk with a USA bank from the Internet. This has also generated three other enquiries, one with an International Company who needs someone to speak in five different Countries for them.
· Always meet with the decision maker at the event. We were recently booked to speak in Scotland to a company who had just merged with a German telecommunications Company. After the talk we spent some time with the German CEO and now following up to present the same talk to the German counterparts.

Here are the details of the bootcamp:

Day 1 agenda

Your speech structure
• Relaxation techniques
• The impact of a powerful opening
• The 7 Es of a successful talk
energy
excitement
entertainment
emotion
enthusiasm
education
endings
• Signatures
• The use and misuse of PowerPoint
• Multimedia
Music
Video
• The power of stories
• Creating impact
• Humour
• Discovering the magic of the moment
• The correct use of microphones
• Working with event teams

Day 2 Agenda

The business plan
Setting up and running an efficient office
Planning and tracking your business
Creating a niche market
Sponsorships
Publicity and promotion
Your unique press kit
Contracts
Building a profile
Essential equipment
Marketing with articles
Generating repeat and referral business
The importance of an excellent web site
Working with production houses
Developing and marketing products
Tips booklets
Publishing
Working with speaker bureaus
Breaking into the International market
Dealing with different cultures
Unforgettable titles (‘Walking with Tigers’ has secured
me more business than I thought possible)
Emarketing & affiliate selling
Creating and marketing with video and multimedia

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and technology. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. He is the author of ‘Walking with Tigers - Success Secrets of Exceptional Achievers’ which is available from http://www.amazon.co.uk
For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/
Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm

Speaking Tips - Presenting in Hong Kong

Welcome to Hong Kong. How many of us can remember the old airport with the runway in the sea and the greatest challenge for every airline pilot. All that has changed now and Hong Kong airport is amongst the most modern in the world. A short train ride on a clean modern express takes you into either Kowloon or the Island of Hong Kong.

It is a country of fascination, history, and wonderful foods and of course the best shopping in the world. The main business district is on the Island of Hong Kong in the “central” district. It is easy to get around as the MTR underground is fabulous, clean, efficient and always on time. I normally buy an “octopus” ticket for HK$150 (approx US$20) and this can be used for a week. The hotels are first class as are the restaurants but be prepared, Hong Kong is an expensive city. Taxis are efficient but get your hotel to write out the address, as many taxi drivers don’t understand English. Most speaking venues are in the hotels or at the World Trade Centre and are super efficient. Do your homework before you go. I made some unforgivable blunders in the beginning. The first time I went to Hong Kong, I spoke to a group of approximately 100 Chinese business people. After the talk, many came to meet me and handed their cards to me, which I put into my pocket. I was politely told that I had insulted everyone and was then shown the correct behaviour. The card is handed over and accepted with both hands. You should read it, show appreciation by feeling it and making some gesture and then put it away in your pocket. Always carry a supply of business cards as the culture dictates the swapping of cards immediately.

As I travel to Hong Kong about 4 to 6 times a year, I bought some books on Chinese etiquette, which has assisted me tremendously. The Chinese can appear almost shy to start with, but they enjoy entertainment as much as anyone else. Your talk must contain many educational points, as this is a priority. The people are serious, professional and the hardest working nation I have come across. Never be late for an appointment.

Always expect the unexpected. On my trip last month I spoke to the sales force of a Chinese client that I had worked with twice before. They had moved into new offices where I would be speaking. They have a sales force of around a hundred people and I was expecting to speak in an auditorium. I was surprised to find that I was speaking in a huge office where they would all be sitting at their desks watching me on three giant TV screens. I was standing at the front of the office on a platform where a cameraman was filming and projecting the images (it reminded me of the old machine shops where everyone would be sitting working while an overseer controlled things from the front.)

My next talk was at the FCC (Foreign Colonial Club) and I arrived very early to get a feel of the venue. It was a breakfast talk and the room had been set up taking every last bit of space and leaving no room for the speaker. I quickly had to rearrange things and a factor that I take into account when I speak anywhere in the world is to be very specific about the arrangements and still always arriving early. I arrange a lot of my own speaking tours and it is up to me to ensure that everything meets the client’s expectations. I always tell my Chinese audiences that they can laugh, ask questions and enjoy themselves. Their culture dictates that normally the leader of the group would answer all questions. I am a very enthusiastic speaker and tend to speak fairly quickly, when speaking English to the Chinese I need to be very aware that I need to slow down and ensure that I am understood.

If you enjoy shopping (like me), there is no place like Hong Kong. There are shops literally everywhere. I have found the best places to shop in Mongkok, which contains a ladies market and night market, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. Gadget junkies will lose themselves at Star City and Wanchai Computer Centre. Nightlife abounds with wonderful restaurants and bars around Soho and Lan Kwai Fong. Taking a trip up the cable car will give you a spectacular view of the city. Take a bus ride to Stanley Bay where you can pick up all kinds of bargains at Stanley market like a beautiful silk tie for about US$1.50. Visit Happy Valley Racetrack or take a boat ride to Aberdeen to see a city of boat people. Enjoy the “Star Ferry” from Hong Kong to Kowloon with the locals or take the hovercraft to Discovery Bay for a game of golf. One of my favourite places is the Island of Chin Chau and a half hour ferry ride will take you to the favourite holiday resort of the locals. Beautiful beaches, no cars (only bicycles) and the best seafood will have you returning more than once. Another hovercraft trip will take you to the Island of Macau, which was previously under Portuguese rule and still has all the influences. The Island of Lantau has the giant Buddha and visit Sea Park with its cable cars that will give you a spectacular view of Hong Kong and will take you to the world’s longest escalator. Speaking opportunities abound, so get it to the top of your “opportunity” list.

If you ever get the opportunity speak in Hong Kong, the people are wonderful and the food and shopping great!

Frank Furness CSP CFP TOT is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales, technology and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 48 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com and for resources take a look at http://www.frankfurness.com and http://www.frankfurnessresources.com
NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/
Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm