Michel Neray

It is well-established that stories are more memorable and powerful than facts and statistics. Stories are the basis of leadership, coaching, influence, teaching, sales and team culture. From the beginning of time, stories are how we have passed on our values, made sense of the world and effected change. Today, it’s how we influence our customers, our teams and audiences.

Combining exercises in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), classic story-telling, stand-up comedy, improv, acting and professional speaking, Purposeful Storytelling™ is offered either as a keynote presentation or as a series of workshops to helps participants strategically develop signature and turning-point stories to motivate/inspire/influence team members, customers and audiences in the most engaging and powerful way. It addresses case studies, testimonials and conversational stories to support sales and brand positioning.

This keynote is fun, engaging, motivating and useful! It begins by showing audience members why an ability to stand out is the single most important challenge in this – or any economy. Then it teaches audience members a simple model for finding the strongest and most differentiating market message for their business, product or service.¿¿¿

A differentiated message and brand position is the common denominator that connects leadership in sales and branding to personal leadership. Especially in these uncertain economic times, companies need both personal and business leadership more than ever.

Drawing on his background in advertising, Michel shows the audience some of the funniest television commercials to demonstrate how even the largest companies – including Apple, Honda and Federal Express – leverage this model. Using personal examples and stories, he then shows how the same principles apply for each individual in the room.

With this presentation, audiences walk away with the tools to establish market leadership and the personal motivation to drive it home.

Key Take-Aways and Tools:

• Simple model for developing a unique message and brand position.
• Why an ability to stand out and communicate uniqueness is the single most important challenge in any economy.
• The first steps to discover both personal and corporate differentiation.

This skill-based keynote or workshop is for everyone in an organization who ‘sells’, including salespeople, proposal writers, managers and leaders.

Using principles of change management, neuro-linguistic programming and tried-and-true direct response copywriting techniques, participants learn how to engage listeners/readers in a conversational approach that often feels (to the reader/listener) that you are reading their minds.

A template is provided that allows participants to write extremely rapid first drafts of introduction and sales emails/letters.

All of us sell, regardless of the role we have in an organization. Executives, managers and directors sell ideas, recommendations and strategies. Entrepreneurs sell businesses and business concepts. Salespeople and service providers sell specific products and services.

This keynote or workshop brings together the key elements of change management, neuro-linguistic programming, core challenge analysis and tried-and-true direct response copywriting. Participants learn to elicit the needs of the prospect or recipient of the proposal/recommendation, how to clearly identify the rationale for the recommendation and how to communicate it in the clearest, most compelling way.

This not only empowers managers and directors to link their recommendations to ROI and key corporate strategies, it also makes it easier for other decision-makers to evaluate the proposal for a quicker decision.

Delivered in a fun, interactive style, audiences and groups learn how to get into the head and hearts of their clients  without going out of their minds!

Key Take-Aways and Tools:

• How to start a conversation to improve your chances of finishing with a nod of agreement.
• How to elicit the needs and wants of the customer or people you are speaking to so they ‘sell’ themselves!
• How to create a ‘burn’

You may know the exact, ‘right’ thing your customers or patients should do, but will they gladly accept your recommendations and follow your advice?

It’s a fundamental truth about professional relationships that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care — and that you truly understand them as unique individuals. In neuro-linguistic programming, we talk about ‘establishing rapport’.

You may recognize it simply as ‘empathy’. This is the essential first step that earns you the right, respect and credibility to have your recommendation embraced and followed by your customers and patients.

Can empathy be taught? Certainly not if there is none to begin with, however, it can be awakened, enhanced and integrated into the professional-patient (or customer) relationship for more successful outcomes.

This interactive keynote or workshop is for healthcare and professional service providers who might have the knowledge and professional skills training they need to be proficient, and now could benefit from the human and relationship awareness to help them be more effective.

Delivered in a fun, interactive style, this workshop uses real-life patient/customer scenarios customized to each profession, making it extremely relevant and practical.

Key Take-Aways and Tools:

• How to read the ‘little voice’ in the back of the patient’s head.
• How to establish rapport and demonstrate empathy.
• How to connect with the patient or customer by connecting through personal experience.