Sam Geist’s business roots were first established in a small sporting goods store in Toronto, Canada. With his belief that at start-up, business operation is 90% hard work, 10% know-how, he gradually grew The Outdoor Stores into a 15-store national sporting goods chain. In 1980, he sold his multimillion dollar organization to his largest competitor. That experience was invaluable in clarifying his understanding of sales and marketing, the marketplace and its customers. Capitalizing on this extensive experience, Sam opened his own advertising, marketing and consulting firm. His 14 years of agency experience taught him well about the rigors of marketplace demands—and marketplace unpredictability. He was able to hone his marketing skills, while he developed a valuable double-edge perspective—that of client and marketer. He closed the agency in 1994 to concentrate on lecturing, presenting seminars and consulting. For the last 13 years, he has worked as a professional speaker, consultant, and facilitator to companies and associations across the globe. He has extensive experience consulting to companies involved in restructuring and is the author of "Why Should Someone Do Business With You…Rather Than Someone Else?," "Would You Work for You?" and "Execute or Be Executed." His customized programs focus on business strategy, leadership, customer service, the changing marketplace and maximizing staff productivity. Before each session, Geist conducts industry-related and company-specific research. Utilizing his years of experience he prepares and presents a variety of specialized actionable programs. While he has spoken to organizations in a great many industries, some of them include the automotive, finance, insurance, banking, construction, manufacturing, government, retail, franchising and service sectors. As a facilitator during hands-on, interactive discussions and brainstorming workshops, Sam uses the Socratic method to encourage participants to question themselves, to think about their business in new ways in order to change, improve, and grow. He insists that asking tough questions—and answering them honestly—is crucial to the well being of every organization. He shows participants how to capitalize on their resources, and how to turn their knowledge into action. By each program’s end, Sam Geist's participants have so much more than “just stuff” to think about. They have the ammunition, know-how, and incentive to turn their strategic thinking into strategic doing. Titles Why Should Someone Do Business With You...Rather Than Someone Else? Tactics to get and keep customers better Would You Work For You? Strategies to better your leadership skills Execute...or Be Executed. Tactics to move strategic thinking to strategic doing If I Hear Customer Service One More Time, I'll... Shaping Tomorrow...Today. The strategies to prepare for tomorrow...today Differentiate...Or Die! Strategies to use differentiation as a competitive advantage The Wake Up Call (strategy is cool, execution is work; the rules have changed; how do you compete today?) Topics Leadership, Customer Service, Marketing, Change, Business Click topic above to see more speakers on that topic Speaker's Asking Fee Range $7,500 - $9,999 Click on fee range to see more speakers. This is the starting keynote fee range - other programs may be higher. State Canada/FL Click on state above to see more speakers from that state. Fees The fee range quoted means the speaker's fee starts somewhere within that range. Note that speaker's fees are subject to change and some speakers may have special fee quotes.