Speaking

When Don Shapiro speaks, people learn, laugh, and leave inspired!

Don Shapiro, President First Concepts

Customized speeches, seminars and executive development programs that share his discoveries about how customers think, decision making, strategy and implementing change.

Read what client’s say about Don’s speeches

Don Shapiro gave his first speech before an audience of 800 when he was 14 and they haven’t been able to stop him since. He has spoken before thousands of groups including businesses, associations and community organizations.  Applying his consulting methods to the art of speaking, Don takes time to learn about each group he is speaking before so he can customize the speech for them and connect with their current interest, goals and challenges. His speech topics are listed in three major areas:

Eyes Of The Customer Programs

Employee & Leadership Programs

Top Management Programs

Today, Don Shapiro is available to speak anywhere on the planet earth…and possibly outer space when that becomes an everyday reality. He lives in the Southwest so if you are planning a meeting in Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Los Angeles or San Diego and want a family friendly, insightful, inspiring and humorous talk… go with a local!

EYES OF THE CUSTOMER PROGRAMS

Don Shapiro weaves his discoveries about how customers think, feel and act into every program he gives.  He takes audiences deep inside their prospects and customers mind to identify powerful concepts for improving sales, service, strategy and profits.

The ABC’s of Closing The Sale

Closing the sale is more about the choices salespeople make then the use of techniques. Throughout the sale, salespeople make choices based on all the information they have available about the customer and their situation. Trouble is the number one reason they lose sales is because they didn’t have as much information as they should have…and that additional knowledge would have lead them to make different choices about what to do next.

The ABC’s Of Closing The Sale teaches salespeople more about why people buy, what affects whether they say yes or no and how customers figure out their perceptions of value. This deeper understanding about what affects a customer’s decision to buy motivates salespeople to seek out much more information from their prospects and customers and use this to make better choices that will help them close more sales.

This customized, high energy, interactive education program takes salespeople on a safari inside the mind of their customers and prospects. They learn about the conclusions of over 25 years of research into why people buy and how they figure out value. This research was conducted by observing hundreds of salespeople and thousands of buying situations. This research is translated into an easy to understand, down to earth message that is customized to deal with the prospects salespeople actually call on and what they offer for sale. When salespeople apply this deeper understanding about their customers, they close more sales.

AUDIENCE: sales, sales management, marketing, executives

Read more about what salespeople will learn from this program

Only The Customer Can Define Value

Value lies inside the mind of the customer not in a product or service. Products and services have no value themselves. Prospects and customers place a value on those things they consider important and place zero value on those things they consider unimportant. Add up all the things they consider important and that’s their perception of value which determines the price they are willing to pay. When salespeople, sales management and marketers understand how people really figure out value, they can take deliberate actions to influence their prospects perceptions of value. Price resistance is addressed by getting at the cause of it…the customers perceptions of value.

There is no such thing as selling value. Effective sales and marketing practices help people discover what is important to them and provide them with information that can help them raise the level of importance they place on a benefit or need. But only the customer can define value and no one can sell it to them.

AUDIENCE: sales, marketing, management

Learn more about Customer Value

Perfect Marketing Means Zero Advertising: How To Promote Your Business By Boosting Word Of Mouth Advertising

The best and lowest cost way to grow your sales is by getting your customers to talk positively about your business more often and build a buzz about what you do. So much about what a business offers remains invisible to the customer.  Either they aren’t aware of all that has gone into the product or service or they take it for granted.  By making this value visible and memorable to customers, you can help them talk more about your business more often. This program teaches creative ways you can get your customers to mention you more often to their friends, family and co-workers.

AUDIENCE: sales, service, marketing, management

Win More Customers With The Laws of Customer Satisfaction

Over 25 years in the making, these Laws describe the way customers actually feel about what happens to them. They identify the subtle, obvious, often overlooked issues organizations must address to satisfy a customer. These Laws can be used as a foundation to create a customer driven culture. Audiences remember these easy to understand concepts because they see themselves in each Law. And when they remember the laws, it gives them a foundation concept to influence their performance and the decisions management makes.

AUDIENCE: sales, service, management

EMPLOYEE AND LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS

Turn Off Your Employee Turnover

Reducing employee turnover makes good dollars and sense. Organizations who retain employees longer, satisfy customers more.  They also gain better control cost and produce higher profits.  This program goes way beyond fads and tips typically offered to keep employees. Employee retention requires a comprehensive, integrated program involving the entire organization. This program will open management’s eyes to the subtle, complex, and surprising things that affect employees.

AUDIENCE: supervisors, managers, executives

Seven Steps to Hire the Right Person the First Time

Employee motivation and retention only work if you start with the right raw material. Surprisingly enough though, studies show the average manager only hires the right person 33% of the time. Raising successful hiring rates to 80% or higher can dramatically reduce employee turnover, improve quality and service, and lower cost. This takes more than mastering the art of interviewing.  Learn how to construct an integrated system of selection where each step makes the next step more effective and reduces the amount of time spent evaluating poor fits.

AUDIENCE: supervisors, managers, executives

Walk The Talk: Character Based Leadership In Action

In today’s turbulent, chaotic, changing times, organizations need people who can stand up and make the tough decisions. It’s not enough just be good at leading people anymore. Leadership involves more than people skills. Leadership is about who we are inside, not our title or authority. It’s starts with character.  This program shows how to lead today’s employees and today’s organizations through the type of character that builds trust and respect. Leadership isn’t just about how someone leads….it’s just as much about where the place they are leading people to.

AUDIENCE: supervisors, managers, executives

Learn more about Character-Based Leaders

TOP MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Strategy Follows Structure; Structure Supports Strategy

Form follows function. Throughout the world, everything performs a function that matches the way it’s built. Try to get something to do a task it wasn’t designed for and you end up with nothing accomplished. The same goes for organizations. Strategy and structure are married to each other. There is no such thing as a good or bad structure. What is the purpose of the organization? What is its strategy, direction, goals? What markets or constituents does it serve? What does it offer them? A structure must support the answers to these questions. Change the answers and you must change the structure. If you don’t, the organization will revert back to a strategy the structure can support on its own. Either that or die. Don Shapiro explores the all too common reasons why organizations fail to realize any lasting improvements when they implement new strategies, programs, or structures and what to do about it.

Learn more about Strategy And Structure

Find More Customer Value for the Competitive Edge

Here is the ultimate program about Customer Value and how to use it to increase sales, profits, customer loyalty, and return on investment. Only the customer can define value. Sometimes a focus on great service or top quality misses the point. These strategies only make sense when based on understanding what customers highly value. A customer driven organization is one that uses Customer Value to guide all its decisions and actions. Executives and business owners learn how customers figure out perceived value, how customers use value to decide what they buy, what price they pay, and how Customer Value changes the purpose of an organization. The program shows how to apply Customer Value to define mission, products and services offered, marketing strategy, organization structure, sales methods, and customer relationships.

Learn more about Customer Value

Tap Into The Rhythm Of Change

Executives, consultants and academics have all sought that illusive answer to how you actually implement a real, major sustainable change. There comes a point in every organization’s life where minor adjustments, a tweak here or there, introducing a new program or initiative just isn’t enough. Yet, when organizations undertake a major change to their operation, structure, strategy and culture, more fall short of the mark then make the grade. Don Shapiro has firsthand experience creating and implementing major change initiatives in organizations as well as studying the process of change since the 1970’s. Any organization that wants to successfully make a major change will learn some priceless lessons about what to do and what to avoid.

GENERAL AUDIENCE PROGRAMS

Life Is A Fork In The Road

Every choice we make in business is a fork in a road. There are always more than one path,  more than one way to proceed. Whether big or small, each choice contributes to the overall direction and results of the firm. Add up everyone’s choices and that’s where you are today. Change those choices and you can change everything. This speech is the organization version of the book Don Shapiro is writing “Life Is A Fork In The Road.” He has been studying how we make decisions, solve problems, generate creative ideas, analyze issues and more for over 40 years. After combining his observations of thousands of managers, executives and business owners in action and combining that with his latest research, Don now shares some powerful ways everyone can make better decisions.

AUDIENCE: all employees, supervisors, managers, executives, community groups, general audiences

Learn more about the Life Is A Fork In The Road book project

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