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SpeakersU Podcast with James Taylor

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SL028: The Perfect Follow-Up Process For Speakers

Aug 22, 2019

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Jonathan Low, keynote speaker on sales success, service experience and leadership performance.

 

Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript

Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors.

Hey, there's James Taylor here and I'm delighted to welcome Jonathan Low. Jonathan Low is a speaker and executive coach who works with organizations and senior executives to measurably improve their leadership effectiveness and business performance, especially in the areas of service quality, sales, performance, leadership, communication and team development. Jonathan has more than 25 years of professional and international business experience and executive positions in the service industry, and has worked with executives and leadership teams throughout Asia and the Middle East. He is a certified speaking professional CSP, one of Asia's leading sales and service, mastery and leadership success coaches, a certified coach with Marshall Goldsmith sec, and a certified global certified Canfield mythology trainer. He has lots of qualifications, this gentleman, he also has a new virtual summit is going to be happening very soon called the Global success summit that we're going to be learning about in just a moment. So first of all, Jonathan, welcome. Great to have you with us here today. Thank you, James. Thank you for having me in part of your program.

So I was mentioning which is the end there this the global success summit. And you were just tell me before we came on, you've got one day coming up, you're doing 12 interviews in one day for for creating this new summit that you're doing with, with Shah and casino. So tell me first of all, tell me a little bit about this. This global success summit was about why we decided to create this summit. Well, you know, did the summit really came about because of you, you know, you you inspire others, you give us the opportunity to reach out and both shine myself. We are graduates of jack Canfield. So obviously the success principle. And because of that, we say hey, you know what, why don't we do something on the area of success. And let's explore things that we can do to you know, create better success for everyone in the world, whether they're speaker, whether they are entrepreneur, whether they're in a corporate environment. So we came up with Why don't have the global success summit, right. And we developed five different pillars. So they want us on the pillar of sales, second day is on customer service experience, 30 days on leadership, four days on communication, and 50 days on the power of digital marketing. So we thought, you know, these are elements of success that people will generally meet in their life. And we say, hey, great, and I'll let's do it. And yeah, my first on my summit coming up in August 26 to 30 years, so excited.

So a lot of people I know where I deal with speakers, like yourself, my speakers, you program and, and the hear about doing online summits or virtual science, they get really excited because they see the possibility in terms of helping them position themselves and bringing more speaking gigs and other revenue streams. But the thing that often puts them off is the technology piece, they get worried they get little bit worried about I have to deal with the web pages. And now that I do that, so how are you finding the process? Because you don't come from a technology background? You come very much from a speaker, service leadership side. Yeah. So one thing I noticed was, you know, find people so Charlotte's actually done the online Fisher global summit. And I thought we have expertise in running dash you are probably have the backend already done. So I gave her a call and say, Hey, you know, share, you have done the backend, I'm pretty well connected to a lot of good friends globally, during my tenure as the global speakers Federation president of three years ago, and I say, Hey, why don't I just connect with the right people. And let's see how we can, you know, bring more global experts to share their expertise. And you know, I'll take care of the front end, and you work on the back end to support. So I think that's working out pretty well. And it's about collaboration, I like to say, you know, the back end really is like so much work. But you know, it's been a great ride, you know, and she was very comfortable in doing that she's got a great team supporting us. So that's a good balance. And collaboration is key, especially in the speaker's world, because we have caught respective talents, respective expertise, and just begin to focus on those.

They talk about this idea about collaboration, you mentioned that you were the president of the global speakers Federation, which kind of sits I always think it kind of sits above all the the National Speakers associations are happening around the world as well. And everyone, I know this, this, take it on that that role is a very, it's been quite an intense job to have to do that, that role as well. But I know it's very rewarding for the people that do it as well. So what what were your key takeaways from being so deeply involved in the speaking into the association side of speaking? Well, actually, and I spent about 20 plus year in the hospitality business, you know, working different hotels around Asia Pacific. So I really come from a platform of service. And when my hotel Korea, you know, gave me an opportunity to become a professional trainer speaker, I learned it myself in this association in Malaysia, which is called the Malaysian association of professional speaker. And I serve, you know, ran into the premise of what can I do for you, you know, because of my hotel background, I kind of like this asset ruin, if there's anything I can be of service to you, how can I assist you? And never did I know, opportunity came and I was elected to be the president, then at the Malaysian association of professional speaker. And then after, when that finish, I open my mouth and say to the global in the global team and say, Hey, you know, I'm done with my Malaysian duties, is there anything I can be of service to the global speakers Federation, and, you know, I came in as a treasurer, I became the secretary. So I went through the whole different roles.

But, and that was where I got the opportunity to become the first Malaysian the first Asian president of the global speakers Federation, a huge honor, lot of responsibility. But fantastic, rewarding experience of just, you know, learning from an individual perspective, from a speaker's perspective. And just from a service perspective to if anyone is watching or listening to this just now who is a speaker or aspiring speaker, but they're not a member of Speakers Association, what do you see the benefits of joining Speakers Association? Think the Speakers Association will give them a collective network of professional speakers who are really active. And sure, you know, there are a lot of great clubs, you know, they can help build your public speaking, competency like Toastmasters is fantastic clubs. My personal experience joining a professional speaking association is that you really have people who are actively involved in the business. And the member association is really there to help you to become better in doing your business, giving you new tools, giving you new insight, providing resources, that generally may not be available in a Toastmasters because there's just the speaking side of it, but also the side of building the business, which is very important. So you learn a lot of perspective, right? And with all this perspective that you gain, it's about what resonates with you, you know, some people like this large scale businesses, some are pretty happy with a smaller size business and are quite happy with it.

And you get insights with a lot of opportunities, virtual assistants, so that the whole campaign. So sometimes, you know, when I first came into the business, I was really blown away, I went to an NSA convention, which is in the States. And I was like, wow, there's so much to learn. Read, where do I start? Am I ever even going to succeed in this business because it was so overwhelming. So So for me, it was the the the education perspective, that was great. But more importantly, was the people in it that made it really great. So something I didn't really realize, last time I was in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur that we were together, was just getting us a better feel on the speaking industry in Malaysia itself as a place to speak. And the thing I hadn't really realized was how big the training industry is in Malaysia. Now, I also know that it's gone through some difficult times recently, there's been a lot of changes in the speaking and the training side of the business. So we, I think it'd be useful for anyone that doesn't know that part of Asia. What are some key things that you find it but people coming in from outside and not from Malaysia, and they're looking at the speaking or the training industries in in Malaysia, that they can have to recognize that it's useful to know about?

Well, current training is big, you know, in terms of the government, they actually set up a place that is called a p SME, or what we call the Human Resource Development Fund. So organization have to contribute a certain percentage of their revenue you set aside for training and development for their own team members in the company. So that fund is available. And if it's not utilized, it's going to be burning and everything. So which means it is going to be compulsory for organization to set people into training. Now they are slowly moving into coaching, allocation. Speaking, is somehow you know, a little bit in between, because speaking, keynotes, is usually one hour, one and a half hours. And so from the training perspective, they like to see more of the nine to five, you get some tangible skills take back as part of the deliverables. So this is where the focus of training has been much more, I would say, in Asia, unless you are a speaker is traveling around different region. So that's a little bit different. So primary, a lot of the people in Malaysia would be trainers, come speakers I started started as a trainer. Right? So So I still do, perhaps about 50% sound of my work currently is your workshop facilitation, two or three days, workshop facilitation, and speaking is about 20 to about 30% of my business mix.

And if you do it also a lot of work in the Middle East, as well as in Asia and North America as well. What do you notice as you start to move around different countries different territory, there's that there's that blend change for you? Do you find that you're doing more keynote speaking and speaking in Middle East, for example, where Asia tends to be more on the training side, in the Middle East to, especially in Saudi is still a little bit more on the training side of it, that has got more engagement, in terms of the keynote is really events that happen, and it may select the destination. So primarily, the business is usually for people who are working there. And this is where you get a little bit more of the people who are resonates towards their. But I see more of like destination like Hong Kong, right? Singapore, which is very popular for North American companies that will have their annual conferences in Asia, you know, they will have it a perhaps Bangkok. And this is where a lot of the keynote speaking primarily in those cities. But the audience may not necessarily be from those countries. Yeah, I was amazed in Singapore, how, how, how many events conferences are going on there? You go to some of those. There's conference venues? And it's I don't know the exact numbers. But it all seems there's a lot of international speakers who use Singapore as their as their hub of places to go as well. Does that does that? Does that benefit you in Malaysia? Or is actually is that correct? Does that cause a bit of a challenge? Because you've got all this competition is just sitting over the board of it?

Well, I see it a little bit different. Some people they will see it as competition, for me personally, is about what can I do better, to upscale myself, right, so that I'm in the same playing field. And I can be just as great as one of my peers in Singapore. Right. So I think, you know, bringing that level of playing few really helps one another. So it's not so much about a the internet to my pie. But we always believe in the speakers were the pie is big enough for everyone to have a slice of it. And we didn't speakers, we can do everything. And the thing is, you know, I like my James, you focus a lot on creativity. And for me, I do a lot of on sales and service. So you know, if things are creativity, I would probably say, Hey, you know, reach out to James Taylor, you know, he's one of the best in creativity and innovation. So we also cross reference, we cross support, because the conference organizers they may be engaging me for this year, but may not be the same speaker for next year. And this is where the opportunities, and when we see someone have spoken as a speaker, we are going to be more comfortable to promote or to recommend. So what one of the great benefit as a member of a professional speaker Association, when you get a chance to be there. Other people get to see you in action, too. So highly recommended for you to visit as many as possible.

Yeah, I've recommended a lot of those, you know, when we've been united been together in Singapore or in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, we've seen speakers together and oh, I want to recommend her she's great, you know that she's got something you know, I know you have, you know, everyone has websites, and all those good things as well. But I should to see someone in, they can really do their thing on stage, it just makes you feel confident that the when you refer that person to a client, because maybe you've spoken there one year, and then they come back to you like just last week, I had three clients who I spoke for last normal 12 months ago, and maybe 10 months ago. Who came but James, can you recommend some speakers? These are the topics that with all themes for our conference. And I'm immediately going back in my mental Rolodex and thinking like to Oh, I see it seeing polio, who do they see in India in Chennai, it's an Oh, who's this great that Bureau, they'll be a great person to connect with them in that territory. So you talk a lot about services. And whenever I think of jobs, I always think of ServiceNow that's, that's what you're going to know and for that. So as you're with your part speaker, hat on and part service hat on, when you look at how other speakers are delivering a great service service excellence for the clients and for the audiences. Can you put me to some people you've seen do some speakers or do things recently, where you went? Actually, that's great. That's, that's an example of giving great service either to, to the client or to the audience.

But it's a great question. So in terms of examples, I think a lot of the speakers in, for example, in APSS, to or even in the different member Association, what one thing that I like, is, you know, when when they actually finish an engagement, they follow through processes really good. And the sharing of the knowledge is a very powerful in terms of how they are developing the relationship and the sharing that openly amongst speaker, but with the client, I also see a lot of them doing pairing up opportunity. Now what is pairing up opportunities or parallel opportunities, you know, when you see, when you visit a speaker's bureau, you know, you go as a pair. So again, you may be a different discipline. And this is where you can actually support one another. I mean, if I were to say, Jonathan, Jonathan is really a great guy. It looks funny if I say about myself, but if I am there with you, James, I think you know what James James is an excellent speaker and interview via concert in James on at the end of you, James, you're there with me, and you speak about them. Me. So it's much more credibility. And I began to see more speakers buddying up to do that I did in a networking event, or when a going together to meet clients, potentially a lot of cross opportunities happening. And that was really giving service, you know, really not about thinking about the next transaction or the business. But how can we best give value to the customer? Because this is really a long term business. And industry is really small. Because everyone after a while pretty much know who is who, and if, and the same the speaker's bureau, right, because they also talk among themselves. And they also process they, you know, who is the recommended people, you know, that is going to be really reliable, who are the prima donnas kind of a day very difficult to work with, you know, we shy away from that or just make it easy for the customers to what we do, right? Whether it is a bureau whether it is because because that represented professionalism, and as member of the global speakers, Federation member Association. I mean, personally, for me, it is so good that people will speak highly of the member Association for professional members. And people say, Oh, you belong to a professional Singapore or you belong to match or you know, Australia. They'll say, Wow, they have got the quality of the speakers that you should highly consider. Yeah, that would be my aspiration.

But essentially, that you just mentioned that about the buddying up. I think that's that's an interesting, I mean, obviously, you were with your, your online summit you're doing just now with a char. That's it. That's a form of buddying up. And you're actually I think there's something really powerful about I remember doing that with event professional sort of myself and a speaker from California, Aaron Gargan, as a great speaker on social media. And a lot of people commented about because it's so unusual to see, you know, you normally see the speakers out on their own and these kind of lone wolf characters, to see two people working together that well, that's, that's, that's an, especially if you get a nice, a good chemistry together, you know, either in person or whether you're, you know, you're filming together, for example, I think that could be really cool. But you actually got me thinking there about, about that.
Solving the customers problems and helping them solve their problems. I'm often you mentioned, I speak about creativity. And, and I'm talking often more about generation of ideas, developing those ideas. I don't often focus so much on the what we call it more innovation processes, which is, you know, the standard operating procedures, different things about creating innovation, on what ongoing innovation processes in your business, right. But that's, maybe for example, we IO actually, maybe why should be doing is I should be connecting with some of those great innovation speakers are out there. And saying, why don't we buddy up together, and we'll go in and pitch on certain pieces together, or maybe even the stage before me, when on strategy I work I'm often brought in because they've done some companies some big strategy document into actually we need to be more creative. And that's why they will they'll bring me in and help work with them there.

But maybe I need to be working with the person women before me who's focusing on helping develop the strategy and talking about strategy and companies or positioning guys, that is real value, right. And the beta customers get the whole spread from point A to point z. Yeah, so his journey, and that is really adding value, and you're giving them easy accessibility to the right speaker that can complement the whole experience of the conference, and people are looking for experience these days, you know, because the more engaged and more emotionally engaged in the conference, and that is really about the what what the speakers can actually bring about, then then the whole experience is much better, right? Rather than you have independent speakers, and they're probably focusing on the core expertise area, without really connecting the dots for the whole event. So that that's another opportunity, I feel. And you mentioned that you've seen a lot of speakers at do really well the follow up process, after you've come off stage. And you've done your as a speaker, you've done your thing, and they're very good at that follow up and helping to continue to continue that journey with the client or to continue to add value or to continue to follow up to look for new opportunities related to that, that gig, can you give me an example, as many speakers are yourself things that you do, just to ensure that you're, you're providing great value, and you're helping that, you know, client solve their their problem.

So one of the things from my, the things that I'm currently doing is that give them accessibility to me. So I use the platform LinkedIn, pretty much a lot. And this is one platform that can really connect with me. So whoever I see in a conference, I have a large QR code. And there are some of the speakers already sharing this about connecting via QR code, putting onto the screen and people just a minute camera there and get connected with you immediately. So you have a connection, wishes very good for your follow up. And because you have that immediate, so he was speaking a conference for 100 or 200 people, within the time that you're there is relatively very difficult for you to reach out to so many. But with this opportunity, you can immediately follow up with them. And as part of the follow up, what I do is, I will always say thank you so much for being there. And at the same time, I will provide a videos for myself, because I do a lot of video sharing tips on what people can actually do. So send them a video and say, Hey, you know, I was just in Hong Kong speaking at a conference, and I did a video on, you know, three strategies on how to gain better commitment with your clients. So I hope you appreciate that. And if you like it, you can connect with my YouTube playlist. So adding all these additional things, which is not so much on the selling side of it, but just providing value, helping them to become better in whatever they're doing. And then remember you they will remember yourself. Yeah, so it is what what are some of the things that I do to follow up. So go to opportunity, if you're done a really good job, reach out to a couple of them to share some of their experience right in as part of the recommendation of how the conference has actually benefited them.

So in your time in the past 20 years of speaking and training and speak about global speakers, Federation, and maps as well. you've attended a lot of events, I'm sure you've picked up been given a lot of business cards at that time as well. What have you found x I'm always I have these bags, every time I speak at event, I have a plastic Ziploc bag, each event. And obviously just put all the business cards in that event. And sometimes I've written on the back of them. And also I can process either at the airport lounge and go through them or when I get back back into the office. What do you do with all those those business cards? How do you have a process in terms of going through those to be able to know which ones you connect with? Well, I actually have an apps on my phone and the apps just trying to find the apps I'm using right now. But the FI gives me an opportunity to choose to scan the business card. So I'll have a business card and there it will lead me. He also asked me where do I want to fight which database? It gives me a chance to prioritize in different segment, Oh, I know what corporate whether it's speaker or whether it is you know what conference that I met that person. So it helps me to manage my folder a little bit. because like you said, You know, I use him bags and bags of cards. And after obviously, I'll get someone to get in. But that's someone never really happens. And after all that oh my gosh, discuss all like six months old. What do I do it? What do I do key it is to value. And the other thing is also because of the privacy factor is very stringent data protection. So I'll be cautious when we do emailing when it comes to that. But otherwise, you know, I try to get everyone to continue on social media, because I think that is safer platform that people can still communicate and work with you or find you on just have a relationship bill. So we will find the name of the app, I think I used one A while back called card Munch or card muncher or something which seemed to connect with LinkedIn. Mostly that's still available. But we'll get we'll get the name of the app that you you're talking about. And I was actually caught a abbyybcr business card reader. business card reader I surely guess yeah. But that's the apps. Yeah, yeah, that's great. So we'll put that link in there if anyone's interested in that as well. Because there is that thing when you go and speak in event you get so many business cards, I have to I've got such a terrible memory, I have to almost immediately write on the business card. I don't like writing and business card in front of someone. I think it's disrespectful. But as soon as I get to a quiet place, I'm immediately writing down all the notes from these business cards. But maybe that's a sense that you've got much more streamlined way of doing it. So definitely check that out.

And just a couple days ago, we had the opportunities to I had an opportunity to interview Gil Gil Pepita, sir Yeah, and you know, he's called the networking mastermind and he was sharing some tips on how you know about how he collects the card and how he has caught p one p two p three p for and what he does with that. So that's going to be happening on the online global success summit. Right. So again, opportunities to learn from some of the great people who are practice you know, who actually did the masters of doing that? Well get Gail is amazing. So if anyone's watching this listening, and you want to know about Gil system, because he I mean, Gil works with Tony Robbins, he's an absolute master when it comes to networking, then you're going to want to sign up for that the password global success summit, so you can hear your Jonathan's interview with Gil and just start to finish up here. I always ask this question of any speakers I'm with I'm always intrigued about the gadgets and things that they carry with them. What's in your speaker bag? What do you carry with you to all those various speaking engagements, customer speakers by a mic, I have a mic and really go on road ROD. Right. And I'm always ready if there's opportunity to get a quick video or recording, especially in conferences that are spoken in. And if I know that a couple of people who resonate and they're really intrigued, I was just kind of asked them to share a couple of things that we should have found really useful. And what was really exciting about it, so always have that handy. And possibly for me, every city that I go to, I will also have a tripod ever ready so that I can do video recording. And use your phone to do the video recording you have like a separate cameras the iPhone, so I use the iPhone. And there are a couple of apps that supports that too.

And the mic you're talking about is that the the road I think it's called the lab the lab smart lab one which you just connect on you put on a lovely Oh my god, yeah, I've got one there's they're great. And I think it's especially because I remember doing my my first few events and people ask that we'd love to give you a testimonial. And I would go at that with my phone. And it would give me testament I didn't they didn't have a mic on. And I've go back to try and look at the video. And I couldn't hear what they were saying because it was so loud in these conference recording. So that's that's a good tip. Just have one of those the road mics, one of those mines and also have another extension. Hmm, you know, it's always good, because sometimes people may be a little bit further. So when you have an extension, it gives you the opportunity that they a little bit further away. And you can get a little bit more of the background of the convention too. Because if not, it's going to be proximity is going to be just face to face at this distance. So if you have a longer Mike extension that connects much better. And what about things like clickers? Do you take you click it your own clicker on the road with you? Or do you just use whichever clicker you're given this? Yes, I do have my own, and I use one by Congress. That's fantastic. And then if people want to connect with you to learn more about Jonathan louder, the speaker and everything you're going going on there. And then also if they want to go and find out about global success summit, where the places that they should go to do that.

If you want to connect with me, I have to website, I have a personal website that is triple w Jonathan Lau l o w.net. Or they can visit my company's website, which is triple W. Global success learning. net. So that's the company you want. That's great, fantastic. I also make sure that I have a we have a link here to the summit, as well. So people want to because I think this interview will be coming out just probably a few weeks just before the summit begins. So you'll be able to go in there. Learn all about that summit, as well. Jonathan, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing. You've a huge amount of experience in terms of speaking and the train business globally as well. So I always learned lots whenever we get a chance to hang out together and speak. So thank you so much for coming on. And also thank you for being a speaker. You remember, first of all, I had to ask how you how you enjoying being a speaker as you've ever been part of the community? Oh, it's fantastic. How about the speakers? You community? Yeah. Fantastic, fantastic. You know what one of the best investment I've really done, because of the value, especially I am just filled with gratitude about you know, the way you've been sharing the way you've been passionately helping speakers, the way you've grown your business, and you're Happily helping other speakers to do the same. And that's the wonderful thing about the speakers community. It's not about what I know. But what I know that I can help other people become more successful. When we see success in others, everyone becomes successful. So that's a great thing that you have done, James. So thank you so much for creating that and just sharing your wisdom, selflessly. Well, thank you for sharing your success and sharing what ways people can become more successful, whether their speakers, or anything, anything else they're doing in their life in business. I wish you all the best for the summit. Jonathan, I'm sure you're just going to do a phenomenal job. I can't wait to see when it comes out. Thanks so much for coming on. And sharing all your speakers like thank you so much for inviting me are the best James.

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