Michael Wickett, Wickett Corporate Training
“After 15 years of
hearing all the great speakers, the two best speakers in America are Zig Ziglar
and Michael Wickett.”
-- Dan Strutzel,
Vice President of Nightingale-Conant, the world's largest producer and
publisher of personal development products and services.
After thirty years of speaking and training, Michael Wickett is considered one of the top speakers, trainers and seminar leaders in the industry.
Wickett is known for both his sales and communications
skills training, as well as his presentations on such topics as goals,
visualization and forgiveness. He has
recorded well over 20 different audio programs on success, the most of anyone
in the world. His signature program, It’s All Within Your Reach, played
on American Airlines flights around the world for over a year. Wickett also recorded the world’s first complete
forgiveness program, Forgive and Be Free.
In part one of this two part exclusive interview, Wickett
reflects on his career and the lessons he’s learned in hopes of sharing these
thoughts and insights with the next generation of speakers, trainers and
presenters. He also shares candidly his
opinions about two of the other big names in the profession, Zig Ziglar and Dr.
Wayne W. Dyer.
DL: Thank you Michael for your help and
support in launching The La Douceur Letter. Our core audience is composed of
both people who aspire to be speakers, trainers and presenters, as well as
those who have been in the industry for some time. Let me start by asking you, what do you feel is
the most important idea or suggestion that you would give someone to improve
their skills?
MW: Speaking is really an art form. The payoffs are enormous. You can be extremely well paid. You can earn
a substantial living. You can make great
connections by being an impactful speaker.
But if you are really going to go into it, you need to work with a coach
with a wonderful reputation as an outstanding speaker.
DL: I know we hear about the value of
coaching for athletes and performers. Talk to me about the value of a coach for
a speaker.
MW: I’ve had ten coaches. Each of them had
different strengths and I made it a point to listen to them live or work with
their books and recordings. As a result,
my presentations became more and more impactful, people loved my storytelling
which I learned from working with others, and I was able to generate a
prosperous career as a result.
DL: And so, you are now offering all this
wisdom and experience as a coach yourself?
MW: I have actually done speaker coaching for many years. As one of the highest rated speakers in
America, I can help speakers become dynamic on the platform and develop an extraordinary
reputation. This ultimately leads to more bookings and greater demand for their
services. I also know how to help my
clients produce highly profitable products with this much experience. This is a
critical part of the speaking industry as well.
DL: As someone who has spoken in front of
hundreds of thousands of people, what do you see as the key to an effective
talk?
MW: When an effective talk is your objective,
you have to be able to get favorable attention.
DL: Talk about that. What do you mean by ‘gaining
favorable attention.’?
MW: You have to get in people’s mind; the
subconscious mind thinks 40, 50 maybe 60,000 thoughts a day. People are preoccupied all the time. You have to get people off all the issues of
their life and into your message. There
are six different ways to get favorable attention. People have to learn what
they are.
DL: Many people who are successful sales
professionals feel that they can just segue into speaking and training as a
result of their sales success. Having
been successful yourself at both, what do you see as the important distinctions
between speaking and selling.
MW: Dale Carnegie said “exemplum docet” or “The example teaches.” So you have to have very specific, crystal
clear examples in order to be a better communicator.
The highest paid, hard work in the
world is professional selling and yet, eighty percent of the people don’t do it
very well. You have to learn how to use
very specific illustrations. For example, you have to use very specific
examples to eliminate doubt or to demonstrate the value you offer. Selling and communicating is an art
form. Most people don’t do it very well.
It doesn’t mean they’re not nice people or they don’t have good
intentions. There are people in my own
life who are not great listeners. They
talk and talk and talk and talk. When it comes to selling, the most important
thing is to get feedback on what the other person is challenged with or what
the other person is missing, wants to accomplish or needs most. Listening is a real art form.
DL: Sales people have to listen that’s the
main difference. So as a speaker, you’re selling your wisdom, your thoughts,
and your ideas to others. Do good sales people also make good speakers?
MW: Not necessarily. I have some friends that are number one in
America in their field. One is a great speaker, but the others are not.
Speaking is very different than when you’re selling. You’re selling to one or
two people … maybe a small committee.
As a speaker, you could be in front of hundreds of people. Capturing their attention is much more
challenging. I have seen some very
famous speakers who got initial attention because they were famous, but they
didn’t get the attention based on what they said. I have also seen very famous speakers get off
course and ramble on with advice. Again,
it’s the example that teaches and not your advice as a rule.
DL: What sort of a mental check list
should someone put themselves through if they are considering this as a
profession?
MW: First, we connect with stories. So, which stories are going to most going to
impact the audience? My rule of thumb is
if I love the story, I’ll tell it. If I
don’t love the story or the illustration it makes, I won’t tell it. It doesn’t
matter if it’s about a famous person or the publication the story came from.
You know that from working with me. If I
really like the story, I’m glad to tell it. One of my ground rules is be very cautious about
telling stories about famous people, like Donald Trump or Mary Kay Ash, because
90% of the audience can not relate to them.
You want to talk about really relevant, believable stories that the vast
majority of the audience can relate to.
Number two, be very cautious
with humor. Sometimes people tell jokes
and they are not funny at all. You have to make sure the mantle of humor has
descended upon you, as I heard someone once say about the use of humor in
presentations.
Third, you need a very strong opening.
You need to have a very strong close … especially a very strong close. You want
to make learning easy. Human memory isn’t really all that great after a
month. I saw a statistic that people
retain less than 10% a month later. So you don’t want your audience to retain
less than 10% of what you told them or what you were paid to show them. You
want to reinforce it with a hand out. I
use a 4” x 6” card and I put down the three or four most important action
steps. You want to make learning and
retention as easy as possible.
It’s all about them and it’s not about us.
That’s why gestures are not the most important thing. Looking
appropriate is important. You can be beautifully dressed and still not engage
the audience.
DL: While you have received many great accolades
and acknowledgements over your career, the quote from Dan Strutzel of
Nightingale Conant about you and Zig has to be up near the top. Who do you consider the top speakers?
MW: I think Zig was brilliant. I really believe
that he was the best speaker in the world. I think however he made a major
mistake. He talked about his religious
beliefs. I
heard Zig said that on many occasions, and I saw people get up and walk out.
They didn't come to a business meeting to have religious beliefs looking for someone to proselytize to them. I respect whatever
people want to believe and if you're in your church, that’s fine. If you're in a
business meeting with managers, leaders and owners; they might not want to hear
that your specific religious belief is the only thing that’s right and true. That’s the mistake that he made.
My personal favorite is a man
named W Mitchell. Do you know his story,
Dean?
DL: Yes I do. He overcame great personal
adversity. He endured a major motorcycle
crash where he was burned over 90% of his body; and then experienced a crash in
an airplane which he was piloting and was confined to a wheelchair. It is truly
a story of overcoming adversity. I met
him at a convention of the National Speakers Association.
MW: I thought he was a brilliant speaker. I
heard him speak several times. I was on
the platform with him once. He engaged
an audience as well as anyone I’ve ever seen.
He spoke from a wheelchair, and that’s a huge attention getter. I just thought he was wonderful. I don’t know
if I would have the sense of humor he had in that situation. Part of his charm was the humor he had about
the way he looked. Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield are also were brilliant in their story telling.
DL: Who inspired you in the early
days? Who did you see and think, “I
could do that.”
MW: Zig Ziglar and Wayne Dyer. In 1980, I had only been in the speaking
business one month and I was asked to introduce Wayne Dyer at Ford Auditorium,
which I did. It was his “Your Erroneous
Zones” talk. At the beginning, I thought
Wayne was great. That’s before he headed in so many different directions. In my opinion, this literally lost half his core
audience. He did an however do an extraordinary
film, The Shift , about one’s direction
and meaning which was captured at
a retreat center on the Pacific Ocean.
DL: So, speakers need to stay on message?
MW: Absolutely.
On several occasions, I have heard many famous speakers wander all over the map
in a sixty minute talk. I once heard speaker Bob Richards, who was coaching a
former Miss America on speaking. He told her, “You need to have a whole series
of stories that support your point and not wander all over.” I feel it is the power of specificity that
makes you as a speaker. You have to share stories that support your main point.
In part two of the next La Douceur Letter, Michael details
more about the critical mistakes that speakers make when working with corporate
decision makers and how to overcome them, who he feels is the greatest seminar
leader ever and offers more practical insights on how to move your career forward in
powerful and dynamic ways.
PUBLISHERS NOTE:
Michael Wickett is available for individual coaching on speaking and training and has several programs available on both CD and DVD. For more information on his products and services, contact him directly at michaelwickett@yahoo.comand indicate your interest and objectives. Included your full contact
information and he will return your message.
