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
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