What are the keys to success for your team and your organization in the year ahead? Among them:
- Create a positive, engaging workplace.
- Understand your target market and communicate the appropriate message.
- Put a well-trained, modern sales force on the ground (or on the phone, web, etc.).
With a mix of new names and familiar faces, below are nine business speakers whose expertise may be just what the doctor (or CEO) ordered to help you in those areas in 2009 (in alphabetical order):
- Jonathan Salem Baskin
How he can help: Author of Branding Only Works on Cattle, Jonathan is out to help you get more out of your brand by fundamentally changing the very conversation about brands and branding. “It’s about shifting it away from the narrow definitions and expertise of marketers,” he says, “and opening it up to functional, organizational, systems, and other areas of expertise across your entire company.” Jonathan wants to help you empower every employee, from the top executive to the outsourced part-timer, to collaborate on inventing a new, more proactive and sustainable model for your brand.
- Bob Burg
How he can help: Through his dynamic “Endless Referrals, Winning Without Intimidation” (based on his book, Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales) and “Go-Giver” (based on his latest bestseller, The Go-Giver) systems, Bob teaches business professionals how to leverage their network of everyday contacts into a never ending stream of new prospects. “No matter how the national economy is doing, you can truly recession-proof your business and take advantage of the power of today’s networking, referrals and positive persuasion to leverage your time and relationship assets and generate a constant stream of new sales!” Bob says.
- Rolfe Carawan
How he can help: It is well documented that only 29% of today’s workforce are fully engaged on the job, 55% are partially engaged and 16% are actively disengaged. That means 71% of employees are not giving their best at work. In today’s competitive marketplace, where organizations are trying to do more with less, it is not enough to have only some workers on board. Leaders need all workers on board, in unity – working together, sticking together, and giving their best. Rolfe teaches leaders how to create a committed workforce, raise employee morale, effectively implement change initiatives, and strengthen communication – releasing the power of unity that lies hidden in your organization.
- Keith Ferrazzi
How he can help: The author of the bestseller, Never Eat Alone, offers the real secret to our unlimited career and personal success: develop an inner circle of deep trusted friends and advisors who care enough to help us unleash our fullest potential. In 2009, Keith Ferrazzi helps us move beyond Never Eat Alone with a new book (and supporting keynote), WHO’S GOT YOUR BACK, due in May. Ferrazzi focuses on the necessity of forming even deeper bonds with a few key people who can help guide us in our day-to-day actions and our long-term goals. As Ferrazzi says, “Once I lined up an ironclad team of deeply trusted advisors, success came quickly. I was able to overcome the things that were holding me back. I tripled my earnings at my company. Even better, every day I wake up knowing that caring, trustworthy people are watching out for me. Don’t wait for these guardian angels to magically appear in your life. It’s up to each of us to create these relationships. And I can show you how.” BONUS: Keith can also help you demonstrate to your clients that you’ve got their back!
- Jill Konrath
How she can help: “Selling in today’s economy is tough,” says Jill Konrath, in an obvious understatement. “And, it’s likely going to get a lot tougher in the upcoming months. That’s not news that we want to hear, but it is the reality we face so it makes sense to address it head on. Tough times call for different sales approaches, new offerings and stronger business cases. It’s not enough to just make more calls or have more meetings. We have to be better than we’ve ever been – in every aspect.” Jill, author of the acclaimed book, Selling to Big Companies, specializes in delivering highly interactive, content-packed workshops and keynotes focused on helping salespeople crack into corporate accounts, speed up their sales cycle, generate increased demand for their offering, and win big contracts.
- Andrew May
How he can help: Do you spend half your day responding to email? Do you have Road Runner Syndrome, racing from crisis to crisis? Do you suffer from Constant Partial Attention? Do you get sick on weekends and on holidays? Are you too busy to take proper time out to relax and recover? The rapid speed and intensity of modern business demands a new way of approaching performance. Armed with the iPhones, Blackberries and productivity gadgets, we are cramming more and more into our already jam packed schedules. Rather than running at a fast pace and then taking time out to recover – a vital strategy used by high performing teams in the sporting world – every working day now requires the stamina of a Grand Final. Based on proven research, Andrew’s presentations and tailored conference programs deliver key strategies to give your team the power to really Switch On when they need to… and the ability to recharge and Switch Off when they can!
- Harry Paul
How he can help: Harry Paul’s first book, FISH!, is one of the best selling business titles of all time. Harry has been in the training, motivation and people development business for almost 25 years, working with some of the top business consultants including Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson along the way. With a new book and a new program – both titled “Instant Turnaround” – in 2009, Harry shows managers at any level what they can do to start an immediate, dramatic increase in productivity and profitability by transforming their workplace into a welcoming, rewarding space full of dedicated, energized and enthusiastic colleagues. By tapping into the discretionary effort of their employees, managers and leaders will begin looking at measuring success in decades, not quarters.
- Neil Rackham
How he can help: The results of Neil Rackham’s study of professional selling – the largest ever, including more than 35,000 sales calls in over 20 countries, at a cost of $40 million in today’s dollars – revolutionized the way we think about the complex, consultative sale more than 20 years ago. Today, with a market more complicated and challenging than ever, Professor Rackham’s insights are invaluable. Having spent decades observing the world’s best sales forces, he understands like few others what these top sales forces are doing differently from more than half of the world’s sales professionals who are failing today – and it’s getting worse. Taking a scientific look at successful selling, Neil Rackham’s presentations go beyond motivation to help your managers build and equip a sales force with the tools they need to outperform your competition.
- Lewis Schiff
How he can help: Lewis Schiff’s latest book, The Middle-Class Millionaire: The Rise of the New Rich and How They Are Changing America, charts the rise of America’s growing affluent middle-class through original research and analysis. What does this mean for you and your business? Lewis makes “success” come alive as he presents the results of thousands of interviews with “success stories.” For those aspiring to join the ranks of these Middle-Class Millionaires, Lewis connects the dots between the affluent and the middle-class. He talks about financial choices in a way that respects the basic ideals of the middle-class but leverages the best practices of the moneyed class. Lewis can teach people how to be successful and he can get them excited about the process. For those engaged in luxury and other sales and marketing-driven businesses, this is essential to close the deal. Lewis prides himself on helping the person behind the counter “connect” with his or her best client, turning the experience into one that’s about relating and less about selling.
It’s no secret that event budgets are being scrutinized more than ever before, and speakers must deliver more relevance and value than ever before – there is no room for fluff or hype. This list of nine speakers – available through TSG speakers bureau – represents just a few of the candidates you can call on with confidence to help you, your team and your organization succeed in 2009. Do you have other favorites to add to the list? Please comment.
