Frank Furness
Jul 29, 2017 · 4 min read

Speak for High Fees in Many Lands

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 Hospitality & CEO Market and now massive in the International Health & Fitness Market.

I have presented in 58 Countries, worked with translators globally and recently presented at the first International Online Conference for the Health & Fitness Industry.

There were 4 speakers and it was filmed in Z Studios in Manchester in front of a live audience of about 100 people, but was beamed out live to thousands of Health & Fitness Clubs around the World

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 spent 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. 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 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, 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 whom 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 last July, I met with the leading bureau. This resulted in bookings in November in Sun City and Mauritius.

· Web site – Have a Killer Website and Incredible Social Media Strategy. 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.

· Please do a search for ‘Sales Technology Speaker’ on Google and see how I dominate the first page. I have developed an Online Program with 160 videos and 12 EBooks showing how to build an International presence and get found on Google, YouTube and LinkedIn searches.

· 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, I spent some time with the German CEO and now following up to present the same talk to the German counterparts.