Hockey Stick Growth
The Art Of Becoming An "Overnight Success"
How does the "overnight success" happen? Some businesses seem to rocket from relative obscurity to quickly achieve enormous success and prominence within their market sector. Their secrets will likely rattle your core business building assumptions and challenge your paradigms about achieving explosive growth and market penetration for your company.
In this program, Gil Gerretsen will walk you through practical tools and methods designed to translate a short, flat incubation period into extended periods of rapid ascent and meteoric growth.
The Connectorati Manifesto
The Art Of Reaching The Few Who Influence The Many
Feeling like networking is purposeless and fruitless? Don't know the people you need to know? Not getting results from the connections you have? The solution is in the Connectorati Mantra ... Create, Connect, Conquer!
Many emerging entrepreneurs and professionals know they need to lead a more connected life to move their company and/or career forward. However, building profitable and effective connections in a world that is increasingly disconnected from one-to-one interactions stifles many potential leaders and achievers.
In this program, Gil Gerretsen will explore how to become a Connectorati by identifying and reaching out to the right influencers, how they differ from each other, and how they influence the people in their orbits.
Web Hives Are In Your Future
The Transfiguration Of Personal Networks
One of the hottest topics in almost every business community is discussions about the future, power and potential of internet and social media tools (i.e. Blogs, Google Buzz, Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, and YouTube). But, research is starting to indicate growing stress fractures in business social network methodology and the emergence of new paradigms that will shift the ways businesses connect with their world.
In this program, Gil Gerretsen will discuss new findings, explore trends and showcase how businesses can (and need to) parlay these changes into competitve advantage before they reach the mainstream.
Conquer Creative Reinvention
The Art Of Moving From Safety To Vulnerability Back To Safety
There eventually comes a time in the life of every business when it's marketplace crumbles. When that happens, the business must shed its old shell and regroup in a new one. This transition can be very dangerous, and in fact, few survive the process. Certainly, every business in transtion will be vulnerable for a short duration, but if the transition is staged and handled properly, it will ultimately thrive and prosper.
In this program, Gil Gerretsen will walk you through the steps and tactics required to transform a troubled business into a newly vibrant and profitable enterprise.
Gil Gerretsen's Philosophy As A Business Marketing Speaker
10) No Sales Pitches: When invited to speak, the host is expecting knowledge and entertainment. Their purpose is seldom (if ever) to provide an opportunity to pitch. Gil doesn't pitch anything ... ever! He is there to help you and your audience.
9) Pack Them In: If given the choice, get the smallest room possible for a speech. If it's a large room, ask that it be classroom style (tables and chairs) instead of theater style. A packed room is more energized and emotional. Gil loves it when there is "standing room only."
8) Know Your Audience: If a speaker can quickly prove that they understand their audience, then the audience gets engaged. To do that, all a speaker needs to know are the trends, competition and key issues facing the audience, with appropriate command of industry lingo. Gil works with the host in advance to get the pulse and knowledge he needs.
7) Pre-Circulate: Talk to the audience before the speech (especially the ones near the front). Then, when on the stage, the speaker sees friendly faces. Those friendly faces spread the warmth throughout the room and everyone leaves more energized. As much as possible, Gil likes to connect his message to real stories gleaned from the audience.
6) Move Around: Speakers who hide behind a podium are boring ... and likely reading notes. That disconnects the speaker from the audience. Gil hates podiums! In fact, he has been known to leave the stage entirely just to stay connected with his audience.
5) Reveal Yourself: People want to connect with the speaker. To do that, an effective speaker should share real world stories from their own experiences, even if they are embarrassing. After more than three decades in business and marketing, Gil has a lot of stories (and yes, some are embarrassing -- to him).
4) Be Entertaining: The goal of a speaker is to improve the lives of the audience members. If people are entertained, it will make the nuggets of wisdom grab hold more effectively. If the speech is dull, no amount of information will make it great. Gil often recounts the story of a national speaker and author he once hired (for $7000) who proceeded to READ his one hour speech. UGH!
3) Have Something Interesting To Say: If you have nothing to say, you shouldn't speak - end of discussion! It is better to decline the opportunity so nobody knows you don't have anything to say than to make the speech and prove it. Rest assured, Gil has a LOT of interesting things to say!
2) Tell Stories: When a speaker tells stories, the audience gets involved in a conversation and quickly lose themselves in the message. They start to visualize the point being made. Good speakers are good storytellers, but Gil tells stories that support the message.
1) Use An Interview (Q&A) Format: Gil once discovered (quite by accident) that audiences stay more engaged during an interview / Q&A style of talk. A host serves as an interviewer and the speaker answers the questions. The reason many speakers eschew this style is that it may be hard to control, and heaven forbid, they get a question they can't answer. Gil is okay with that ... in fact, he loves that! He knows his stuff, so he's not worried (too much).