Kevin Kelly
Participant of, and reporter on, the information technology revolution for more than 30 years
Topic Categories:
- Has keynoted in over 35 countries worldwide.
- Consistently receives 4.5/5 speaker ranking at conferences around the globe
- Broke Sales Records across industries during his career.
- Worked with such high profile clients as Microsoft to create a video series for its Worldwide Partner Community
- Advisor to the next generation of Xceptional speakers through his Speaker Academy business in the process redefining how one speaks in an attention deficit market
- Author of five books including the critically acclaimed “DO! The pursuit of Xceptional execution” described by Tom Peters as the book he would loved to have written.
- In his last book he delved deep into the DNA of Leaders of successful startups.
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Kevin Kelly is an internationally acclaimed Speaker, best-selling author and expert on the execution strategies underpinning Sales, Leadership and Entrepreneurial success.
From the age of six, Kevin was selling in his family retail environment. On graduating with a Marketing degree Kevin, consistently broke sales records in each of companies he worked for culminating in him being continuously head hunted. Finally in 1990, (after being offered a job by an Italian business man who couldn’t speak English) Kevin honoured his entrepreneurial DNA and set up his own company, Advanced Marketing. The company dedicated itself initially to increasing the sales of small and medium businesses in addition to exhaustively researching the area of personal and business potential.
In 1996 Kevin committed to writing a Best Selling book on motivation – the first of its kind on the Irish market – even though he had a poor academic record in English, had no background in writing and was written off by the self-proclaimed experts before he even began.
“How? When You Don’t Know How” sold 15,000 copies, which is an unparalleled feat for Ireland, and Kevin learned a very valuable lesson in terms of Doing and execution: knowledge may give you enough reasons not to act but Do! it anyway and be prepared to end up in a place you recognise and accept as better than your starting point.
Since then he has written four more books, including the first ever graphic novel which aims to educate the next generation on the key skills of emotional intelligence.
His most recent book is the critically acclaimed “DO! The Pursuit of Xceptional Execution”, in which he uncovers the success strategies of the Leaders of some of the most exciting start-ups on the planet. Tom Peters described it as “the book I would have loved to have written.”
Staying true to his Irish roots, Kevin is a master storyteller who has worked around the world with Fortune 500 companies and prestigious associations like the Million Dollar Round Table. He has consulted with some of the biggest brands on the planet, including Microsoft, for whom he developed a unique video series for their World Wide Partner Community.
“Working with Kevin on our Xceptional Execution Video series was a fantastic experience. He is passionate, committed, creative and cooperative. The feedback was excellent. Meanwhile his 92.5% speaker satisfaction rating at the World Partner Conference in July 2015 speaks for itself.”
Margie Gradwohl, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft Kevin’s keynotes consistently deliver an interactive conversation that engages, informs, inspires and empowers attendees with a toolbox of invaluable takeaways. His consultancy projects are built on delivering results for you. You set the agenda, and Kevin works with you and your team to address your specific challenges and reach your stated goals.
In Summer 2016, Kevin Kelly took on the challenge of raising €450,000 with a budget of just €5! He took his distilled learnings about sales, summarised the story in a hashtag (#fiveraweek) and blew the target out of the water. Naturally he used the best of social media to raise awareness but more importantly, as Kevin has advocated for more than 25 years, he put the human voice back into selling. This is the simple secret of a successful sales campaign.
That’s why Kevin’s new favourite hashtag is #SalesInVoice
The latest research shows that the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds, a human being – 8 seconds. Engaging and building brand loyalty has become an extreme challenge. Drawing on over two decades of breaking sales records in client companies, Kevin highlights the secrets to developing a successful sales campaign.
Takeaways:
- Just how distracted are we? The Attention Deficit Society breakdown.
- The Power of Storyselling.
- How to tell your story in a hashtag – ref the #fiveraweek campaign that raised €450k in three months with zero marketing budget.
- How to deliver the most powerful drug in business – ATTENTION?
- The importance of selling people back their product.
- How to build friendships, not customer relationships – Goodbye sales person, hello business consultant.
In 2016 Kevin organised the first and critically acclaimed Speaker Summit in Ireland enjoying 1,650,000 impressions on Twitter. To his surprise none of this activity resulted in one enquiry about the event in its aftermath. This coupled with other research inspired Kevin to ponder the Future of Social Selling with one inevitable conclusion. Regardless of how clever your social media campaign is – at the end of the day people buy people and the majority of deals are closed P2P. As technologies converge these relationship may prove to be your unique competitive advantage.
Takeaways:
- People buy people – the facts! How presence persuades and how to make those first impressions count.
- Robots can’t deliver! The Customer as a concept is gone – we need to build friendships, not customer relationships. You can’t progamme friendships.
- The greatest challenge in business is not solving but seeing the problem – how to ensure you see situations clearly.
- How to create a selling culture.
- Big data can mean BIG trouble for great ideas.
- The instant gratification employee – how passion precedes persistence and how persistence is the new sales strategy.
Using his methodology of Xceptional Execution, Kevin highlights how to mirror the mindset, attitudes and success strategies of the outstanding Xceptionalists interviewed for his book “Do: the Pursuit of Xceptional Execution.”
From these exclusive interviews and over two decades experience working with companies, Kevin distils the attributes of the modern sales manager/director/leader.
This keynote is great for anyone that leads and manages!
Takeaways:
- The four pillars underpinning xceptional Sales performance.
- Attention – the ability to get your message across and stick in an Attention Deficit Society.
- Awareness – an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, fears and dreams. And most importantly the desire to act on same.
- Dopamine Junkies! A commitment to life long learning with a twist!
- DOERS….not just Dreamers.
Kevin prides himself in a thorough understanding of your needs before customising the keynote. The more people you can get involved in information sharing about the event – the more powerful the impact Kevin will have on your audience. The above three keynotes are samples of his work.
According to Gallup Daily tracking, 32% of employees in the U.S. are engaged — meaning they are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace. Worldwide, only 13% of employees working for an organization are engaged.
A 2017 study by Aon Hewitt showed that less than one quarter of employees are highly engaged.
Meanwhile trust in CEO’s recorded its biggest drop –down 12%. Very simply the model isnt working
In this keynote, Kevin highlights how to mirror the mindset, attitudes and success strategies of the outstanding Xceptionalists interviewed for his book “Do: the Pursuit of Xceptional Execution.”
From these exclusive interviews and over two decades experience working with companies, Kevin distils the attributes of the modern manager/director/leader. From the Co- Founder of the Talking Tom app who went from eight cofounders with no clear business idea to being sold for one billion dollars in 2016 to an asthma sufferer who is currently teaching the world how to breathe, Kevin reveals their leadership secrets.
Key takeaways:
-Leadership has failed – we need a new model
– The Deluded Employee?
– The ultra informed customer.
– The Disconnected Leader.
– AA+ the keys to engagement.
Authentic Attention the drug to engage internal and external customer?
How to lead with a story and make your message stick?
Self awareness described by Stanford Business Advisory Committee as the attribute a leader should develop. How YOU are the key to building a high trust culture. The ability to learn…..from everyone from the cleaner to the Guru.
-VV+ – the importance of doing/executing a vision underpinned by values.
In the noughties a research study by Colombia University showed that 88% of breakthrough companies were the result of xceptional execution of an ordinary idea. 12% were the result of a new invention. Fascinated by this research Kevin Kelly undertook research with some of the top startups on the planet and distilled from this the four pillars underpinning xceptional sales performance. In this one day interactive experience Kevin will share with you the secrets behind these successful firms plus the a-z of how he consistently broke sales records in his career ….starting at the age of eleven right up to consulting with brands such as Microsoft on Xceptional selling techniques.
Agenda:
1.Attention – the ability to get your message across and stick in an Attention Deficit Society.
Just how distracted are we – Attention Deficit Society breakdown.
The power of story to make your message stick #whatsyourstory.
How story sticks and how to craft a compelling story? How to tell your story in a hashtag?
How to build friendships, not customer relationships? Goodbye sales person – hello business consultant. (How an Xceptionalist went from four guys in a restaurant to multimillion dollar business with starting capital of $5000.)
The power of social media and its limitiations.
2. Awareness – the ability to persuade beyond words.
Moment by moment your sales target is giving you instantaneous feedback to each one of your thoughts – are you picking up on these cues?
Moment by moment you are telling people who you are – do you know who you are? How?
Each of the Xceptionalists I interviewed had an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, fears and dreams. Have you this clarity? In this session we will show you how to see clearly?
3. The five most powerful words in Selling and in Life. What you are not taught in the top 100 Business Schools.
How adopting this philosophy will geometrically transform your sales figures.
The importance of selling people back their product.
4. The need to DO! How dreaming is good but Doing even better!
How one of my Xceptionalists, Outfit7 creators of the Talking Tom app went from zero turnover with no clear idea of what business idea to pursue seven years ago to being sold for one BILLION dollars in 2016.
Time to dream – how to set and achieve big goals for 2018?
The latest research shows that the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds, a human being – 8 seconds. In the past you had to deal with a single decision maker – now there tends to be multiple influencers in the process.
All told, engaging your target audience and building brand loyalty has become an extreme challenge. Drawing on over two decades of breaking sales records in client companies, Kevin highlights the power of the story in helping develop a successful sales campaign. The good news is you don’t need to be a gifted Seanchai (Irish storyteller) or a Hollywood scriptwriter to develop a message that sticks.
Key takeaways
– Just how distracted are we – Attention Deficit Society breakdown.
– The science of successful storytelling.
– HERO – the key elements of a compelling story?
– Flow….and let it flow.
– Everyone and every organisation has a story. #whatsyourstory.
– Story Success Stories – how to tell your story in a hashtag?
By attending Kevin’s interactive session #storyselling participants will leave empowered, inspired with a blueprint to close more sales ….tomorrow.
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