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Professional Speaking - How to break into the International Market
Professional Speaking - How to break into the International
Market by Frank Furness
Choose your unique and specialty market. My 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 my delivery style, I have chosen
not to work with translators (at this stage)
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 I started out, I
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 me to speak to their clients around
the world. * Find five clients that will provide you with 50% of
your work each year. I have five large international companies
that each book me for between six and thirty talks each year. I
also have two or three Companies that I am developing should any
of the 'big five' drop out. * Actively prospect when speaking
abroad. When speaking overseas, I will scan the local papers,
magazines and yellow pages for potential clients. I'll then
phone and establish who the decision makers are and endeavor to
set up a meeting and sell my services. A lot of these Companies
are open and receptive to meeting with you. * Referrals - always
ask for referrals. Apart from existing clients who I do repeat
business with each year, I have over 200 potential clients that
have been given to me 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 I
speak in the world, I add on an extra day to see potential
clients and bureaus. I 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 I 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 I met with twenty of the most influential
business leaders in Singapore. This was only achieved because I
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 last year I spoke at a large software
company
in Dubai. The CEO from London was in Dubai at the time and heard
me speak. After the talk he asked me 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 I visit a country for the first time, I'll
always take an extra few days to see the place. This normally
includes a half-day bus tour. It's amazing who you can meet on
these tours. I'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 I spoke
in South Africa two years ago, I met with the leading bureau.
This resulted in bookings from this bureau to speak in Sun City,
Mauritius for both Cape Town. * Web site - Pay a company to
generate hits to your site. By doing this I 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. I was 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.
Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer
specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated,
entertained and inspired audiences in 42 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 or telephone+ 44 (0)
1923 248200. 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
About the author:
Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer
specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated,
entertained and inspired audiences in 42 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 or telephone+ 44 (0)
1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com
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