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Michael Vickers

Business Performance Coach; Personal & Sales Performance Expert; Author

Michael Vickers is a business performance coach who helps great companies and individuals increase the value they bring to their clients to become the Preferred Provider in the markets they serve. Michael has been spreading his message of excellence fas a business author, coach and speaker for over 25 years.

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Bio

Michael Vickers inspires success! Michael redefines the possible for sales professionals, leaders, and managers. Whatever the sales or business opportunity, Michael will enhance the odds. Every person who has an idea to promote, a team to motivate, or a competitor to challenge will attain a new level of success after an event with Michael. Whatever result you are striving for, if it involves influencing others, or achieving success through others, Michael will build your confidence and accelerate your team’s performance.

A popular speaker, consultant and educator, Michael coaches thousands of professionals across Canada and the United States, every year to grow individual and organizational performance. Summit Learning Systems, Michael’s training organization, brings leading-edge strategies to clients in every sector of the North American economy.

Michael’s success is completely grounded in and built on his personal experience. A consummate entrepreneur, Michael is a graduate of his own franchised retailing enterprise, a manufacturing and distribution company, and a highly successful publishing venture. A ceaseless innovator, Michael is constantly researching leading companies, searching for best practices, and distilling the experience of success, many of which can be found in his best-selling books entitled, “Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell Your Competition”, and “Dance of the Rainmaker: Creating Authentic Differentiation in Today’s Competitive Marketplace”.

Michael also shares weekly insights as the host of the podcast, "Becoming Preferred,” available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Michael’s unique gift is his mastery of the art of influence, and his ability to translate that mastery into practical, powerful techniques anyone can use. His presentations are entertaining, intimate and unabashed. He is hilarious in his stories, boundless in his enthusiasm, and relentless in his message that success is available to everyone!

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Keynotes

Featured Keynote

Staying Relevant: Future Proof Yourself in the Age of AI
The world of work is changing faster than at any point in history. Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, redefining roles, and raising a critical question for every professional: How do I stay relevant?

The good news? AI isn't here to replace you

— it's here to elevate you. But only if you're willing to evolve. The professionals who thrive in this new landscape won't be the ones who fear the technology — they'll be the ones who harness it while doubling down on the uniquely human skills that no algorithm can replicate.

In this powerful presentation, Michael draws on over 30 years of helping professionals stay ahead of the curve, combined with the insights from his latest book, Staying Relevant: Future Proof Yourself in the Age of AI. He delivers a practical, energizing roadmap that shows your team how to turn disruption into their greatest competitive advantage.

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:
- Embrace AI as a professional advantage — not a threat to your career
- Develop a personal learning system that keeps you ahead of industry shifts Identify and strengthen the uniquely human skills AI cannot replace
- Build a future-proof mindset that turns disruption into opportunity
- Create a 90-day relevance plan you can implement immediately
- Leverage AI tools to amplify your productivity and professional value Position yourself as indispensable in an increasingly automated world
- Cultivate the curiosity and adaptability that define tomorrow's top performers
"Staying Relevant" is not just a presentation — it's a wake-up call wrapped in a game plan. Michael's approach is refreshingly optimistic and firmly practical, showing your audience that the age of AI is the greatest opportunity of their careers — if they choose to lean in. Packed with real-world examples, actionable strategies, and a contagious energy for continuous growth, this session will leave your team inspired, equipped, and ready to take ownership of their professional future.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 45-90 minutes
Target Audience: All Professionals & Cross-Functional Teams

Becoming Preferred: Level Up the Brand Experience
Becoming Preferred: Level Up the Brand Experience
To effectively stand out in today's crowded marketplace, businesses must not only offer high-quality products or services but also create a unique brand experience. This session will explore how to engage customers, build loyalty, and ultimately level up your brand's experience.

This session is a blueprint for brand elevation and creating a client experience that will set you apart from the competition. We will explore actionable examples and results-oriented tactics to empower you and your team to elevate the key touch points.

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:

Establish an authentic and memorable brand experience that separates you from the competition

Foster trusting relationships with clients from every interaction

Deliver a distinctive, high-touch brand experience that creates customer advocacy

Strengthen brand loyalty and build lasting economic relationships with your clients

Elevate your brand's value beyond price, moving past the need for discounting

Build a brand experience that protects your clients against customer erosion

Leverage AI, data, and automation to enhance personalization and empower human connection

Design and deliver with intention

Stop selling what you make, and start selling how you make people feel. The product or service is the souvenir they take home from the experience. Focus on the experience, and you will build a brand that people don't just buy from, but belong to. That is how you authentically differentiate and win.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Sales, Marketing & Customer Service Teams
Becoming Preferred: Out-Position, Out-Sell & Out-Experience the Competition
Becoming Preferred: Out-Position, Out-Sell & Out-Experience the Competition
Today’s marketplace is more competitive than ever. With the proliferation of competition in every sector and the ever-growing digital landscape, businesses struggle to differentiate themselves in a sea of similar offerings.

To stand out from the crowd, it is essential for businesses to not only offer high-quality products or services but also to create unique brand experiences, engage with their customers in meaningful ways, and continuously level up their game.

In this popular presentation, Michael presents leading-edge strategies, tactics, and frameworks to give you and your team the frameworks to out-position, out-sell, and out-experience the competition and become the preferred provider in your marketplace.

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:

Become the emotional favorite in the markets you serve

Create authentic differentiation in a crowded marketplace

Build relationships of trust quickly

Deliver ‘High Touch’ and Distinctive Value to your client base

Build long-term economic relationships of trust with your clients

Deliver a client experience that unleashes customer advocacy

Overcome discounting by employing the “Five Customer Values”

Insulate your clients from competitive erosion

“Becoming Preferred” is not just a presentation; it’s a strategic roadmap that engages your organization and enables you to deliver a client experience that sets you apart from the competition. This presentation is entertaining and informative, with real-world anecdotes, practical examples, and proven strategies to empower you and your team to achieve immediate, tangible results.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Sales, Marketing & Customer Service Teams
AI Is Your Selling Superpower: Boost Productivity & Effectiveness
AI Is Your Selling Superpower: Boost Productivity & Effectiveness
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming every industry, and sales is no exception. But the narrative isn't about robots replacing reps; it's about empowering sales professionals with intelligent tools that enhance their capabilities, automate tedious tasks, and unlock unprecedented insights. This session will cut through the hype to explore the practical, real-world applications of AI in sales today.

You will learn how AI can become your ultimate co-pilot, augmenting your skills in prospecting, personalization, forecasting, and more, freeing you to focus on what you do best: building relationships and closing deals. Walk away with concrete, actionable strategies you can implement immediately to boost your productivity, refine your approach, and achieve greater sales success in the age of intelligence.

Key Takeaways

How top sales performers are employing AI

AI-Powered lead scoring & prospect prioritization

Leveraging Generative AI for personalized outreach & content

AI for sales forecasting & pipeline management

Automating administrative tasks with AI Assistants

Utilizing AI for sales coaching & call analysis

Building an AI-Enabled Sales Mindset

Future Trends: Hyper-Personalization, Predictive Sales Plays, AI-Driven Workflows

The sales landscape is evolving rapidly. Understanding and embracing AI is no longer optional – it's a necessity for staying competitive. This program provides the essential knowledge and practical steps needed to leverage AI effectively, ensuring you are empowered, not intimidated, by the future of selling.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Leadership, Sales, Marketing & Customer Service, Business Development
7 Triggers To Booking The Business
7 Triggers To Booking The Business
Our emotions wield incredible influence over our decision making process. Whether conscious or subconscious, they often influence our purchasing choices based on how a product or service resonates with us emotionally, even as we seek logical reasoning.

Discovering and activating these emotional triggers in your sales conversations and customer experiences can revolutionize your results to help you build trust and credibility quickly, streamline the sales cycle, accelerate the buying process, and position you as the emotional favorite in your market.

In this captivating and practical presentation, you'll explore the powerful emotional drivers that fuel success. Discover profound insights into your customers' motivations, allowing you to craft compelling marketing and sales strategies and messaging that deeply resonate and elevate your results to new levels.

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:

Build trust, credibility, and authority quickly

Position the “Why” and sell the “Because”

Make dynamic, results-oriented sales presentations

Accelerate the buying cycle and crush your targets

Increase profit margins with the five customer currencies

Overcome buyer resistance effectively

Get the customer to take action quickly

Confirm the business with make-sense solutions

Unearthing the secrets of human behavior and psychology is key to unlocking any thriving business's potential. Delve into the captivating realm of consumer decision-making, a labyrinth of conscious and subconscious emotions that shape our choices. "7 Triggers to Booking the Business” is a game changing framework empowering you to skyrocket your sales, secure more deals, and become the emotional favorite in your market.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Sales, Marketing
How To Sell When Nobody's Buying
How To Sell When Nobody's Buying
How we influence and sell has changed! The strategies, methodologies, and techniques commonly employed today are worn out and obsolete. Whether it's a sluggish economy, a national tragedy, a shift in consumer needs, or Mother Nature wreaking havoc, these changes can be massively disruptive, and even paralyzing. True professionals committed to continuous improvement and leveling up their skills hit these challenges straight on and thrive regardless of market conditions.

The real magic lies in your teams' ability to skillfully navigate and capitalize on these changes, ensuring profitability and success. Don't "sit tight and ride it out" when crises strike. Take action and thrive!

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:

Develop a recession-proof mindset

Identify new market opportunities

Gain access to the decision-makers

Build relationships of trust quickly

Create authentic differentiation

Level up the sales conversation

Hack buyers' motivation

Use Value-Add positioning

Insulate existing clients from competitive erosion

Present make-sense solutions

With the changing economic landscape, sales teams must adapt their strategies and mindsets to survive and thrive in any market. This popular keynote or breakout workshop will give your team the tools to develop a recession-proof mindset and capitalize on market disruptions.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Sales, Marketing
Position The Why, Sell The Because: Creating Authentic Differentiation in a Crowded Marketplace
Position The Why, Sell The Because: Creating Authentic Differentiation in a Crowded Marketplace
In today's crowded and competitive marketplace, effectively communicating the value proposition of your product or service is essential to attract and retain customers.

Simply offering a better relationship is no longer enough; customers seek a more VALUABLE relationship. This keynote or workshop presentation will provide your team with a framework and practical content that can be implemented immediately, helping you stand out from the competition.

By positioning your “WHY” and selling your “BECAUSE,” you can differentiate your offerings in a way that customers truly value.

Employing these strategies, tactics and frameworks will help you:

Create messaging that clarifies and cuts through the competitive clutter

Understand how the brain engages, prioritizes, and decides

Learn to remove friction from the buying journey

Understand the power of transparency in selling

Build trust, establish credibility, and pique interest quickly

Accelerate the sales cycle and close more business

Position an upsell and increase the share of the wallet

Position the “Why you” and the “Why now”

This program is designed to help you and your team more effectively identify your ideal customer, clarify your messaging, shorten the sales cycle, and create customer advocacy. The best product or service doesn’t win the business; the best experience does!

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Business Development
Become The Preferred Employer In A Competitive Marketplace
Become The Preferred Employer In A Competitive Marketplace
Attract top-tier talent, retain your top performers, and level up the employee experience. You can unleash your organization's potential with "Become the Preferred Employer in a Competitive Marketplace." This revolutionary presentation is designed to transform your company into a magnet for top-tier talent. Boasting an innovative approach that prioritizes employee experience, it promises a new and exciting era of organizational success. This program isn't just about attracting top-tier talent, it's about retaining them, too. This framework ensures that key performers stay committed, engaged, and loyal to your company's vision. The result? A highly motivated, skilled workforce ready to propel your business to unprecedented heights.

Understanding and employing these strategies and frameworks will help you:

Unlock the power of employee engagement

Learn the strategies that identify your employees' values and motivation

Create high-value conversations to build trust and pique interest

Elevate your “you should work with us because” positioning statement

Accelerate the candidate commitment cycle

Employ the five employee currencies to enhance your compensation package

Exceed employee expectations with “High Touch” strategies

Handle recruit reluctance more effectively

This informative and practical presentation isn't just a tool; it's a roadmap to an enhanced employee experience. It emphasizes the importance of the 'Employee Experience' (EX), suggesting that satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers. It presents an intriguing twist on conventional wisdom: To thrill your customers....first thrill your employees.

Michael’s strategies and frameworks have been helping his clients attract top clients and win the business, and they will help you attract and win the hearts of top-tier talent and Become Preferred.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources
Becoming Preferred: Virtual Selling
Becoming Preferred: Virtual Selling
Virtual selling has become a necessary tool for businesses, especially with the rise of remote work and virtual meetings. However, mastering this form of communication can be challenging without proper guidance.

That's where Michael comes in - with years of experience in sales and technology, he has developed a complete framework to enhance your existing sales strategy.

Establishing personal connections in a digital environment can be challenging. The strength of virtual selling lies in its ability to connect with a larger number of potential clients and existing customers with minimal time and financial investment.

In this presentation, Michael provides a complete framework that integrates video, telephone, text messaging, live chatting, social media, and direct messaging into your sales strategy. The aim is to enhance productivity and compress sales cycles.

This game-changing Keynote or Breakout Session will teach you how to:

The importance of adapting and mastering virtual communication channels

Understanding the power of virtual selling

Overcoming the challenges of virtual selling

Developing an impactful virtual presence to build trust quickly

Crafting an effective virtual sales process

Engage prospects with compelling content and personalized messages

Leverage technology to optimize productivity and sales results

Integrate virtual selling into a comprehensive sales process

This program is designed to help you and your team adapt and thrive in a virtual environment. With technology constantly evolving, it is more important than ever for sales professionals to master virtual communication channels to stay competitive.

Format: Keynote or Breakout Workshop
Time Frame: 60-90 minutes
Target Audience: Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service

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Topics

Branding & Marketing
Business Growth Strategies & Trends Trending

Productivity
Sales Trending

Michael Vickers - Demo Reel

Michael Vickers - Promo Video

Michael Vickers - Promo Video - Extended

Michael Vickers - Demo Video - Brief

Chatbots Can Turbo-Charge Your CRM

With customer service and sales leaders looking to improve the customer experience continuously, the chatbot race is on, and there are many things to consider before implementing your chatbot strategy.

Your Customers Want Authentic Connections. Is Your CRM Strategy Creating Them?

Some simple strategies to improve your customer relationships.

How to Sell Virtually in a Turbulent Marketplace

It may seem simple to move your meetings online, but technology isn't all you need. Being a great virtual salesperson doesn't just mean long days of videoconference calls.

Is Your CRM as Intelligent as It Should Be?

An AI-infused CRM can help predict buying patterns and trends from purchase histories while offering highly targeted product and upsell recommendations.

It's Time to Deploy, not Dabble with, Social CRM

If you haven't fully embraced social CRM, you're opening yourself up to competitive erosion from the companies that have.

Do you know your customer's generation?

Different customer cohorts don't all speak the same language, or react to the same messages

6 Data Categories Your CRM System Should Be Capturing

Go beyond contact information to connect with clients on a deeper level

CRM Leverages Your Relationships by Capitalizing on the Details

A big part of your core strategy? Staying on top of all of your clients' needs

Is Your CRM System Aligned with Your Entire Business?

Your CRM solution can allow you to map each customer touch point and help you understand the data generated so you can meet and exceed customer expectations.

Is Your CRM System Social Media Friendly?

Social CRM empowers customers to collaborate with the companies they do business with and gives companies the ability to create customized experiences while building relationships with customers.

Using CRM to Create Real Relationships

Before we can recommend a solution to our customers, we need to understand them. Purchasing history and communication records are important, but it's the answers to some well-thought-out questions that will really give you the insights necessary to influence your customers.

From High Task to High Touch

Use your CRM technology to exceed expectations and build trust.

How to Become Preferred in Business

If you learn to identify your customers' stress points better than your competition, you'll be ahead,

Becoming Preferred: Up-Level the Brand Experience

In today's competitive market, organizations need to stand out.

2026 Staying Relevant: Future-Proof Yourself in the Age of AI
2015 Dance of the Rainmaker: Creating Authentic Differentiation in Today's Competitive Marketplace
2002 Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell Your Competition

test

I just want to say thank you for the insight, help and spirit you’ve provided to us, our salespeople and distributors. You’ve really provided insight and richness to our process.

Honeywell Marketing

Just wanted to drop you a note to extend a huge thank you for incredible presentation last weekend. Laura and I continue to hear such incredible feedback from the weekend and so many comments about your inspiring talk and workshop. To see the engagement of our owners during your workshop was fantastic. You were great to work with and it was so nice to meet Beth.

Medicine Shoppe/McKesson Canada

On behalf of Michelin Canada, we want to express our sincere appreciation for your presentation. It was truly a learning moment for all of us, and you were able to break the complex business relationship into parts that we can all understand and act on. I have received many very positive comments.

Michelin North America Inc.

Kudos back to Michael for his wonderful presentation and for hanging out with our crew this week. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad he played a role in that!

Modernfold Inc

Michael's sales training event with the NPSA membership was thought provoking and filled with usable content for even the most seasoned sales professional. He entertained, informed and involved the audience. His visit to one of our member's business sites prior to the event gave him valuable insight and immediate credibility with the group. Starting with breakfast, during lunch and the 2 scheduled breaks he engaged with members and then referenced discussions with them during his session. He delivered a relevant meaningful approach that could be used by all. The feedback was very positive!! Mark and I have had numerous sales training sessions over the last 20+ years. We believe that Michael's how-to examples were worth their weight in gold and that anyone who attended could immediately use them in their day-to-day sales activities. You packed a tremendous amount of content into our single day session, and we greatly appreciate the effort that it took!!

NPSA - National Portable Storage Association

Shortly before I attended Michael's session, I began the sales process on what would be the largest project PRGT had ever done. It would put us on the map as a real player in the window film market. I was dealing with a manager, a board of directors and a consultant. Tough sell. It didn't look good for closing the deal, but the manager and I were determined to make it happen. Then I sat through Michael's presentation. I was blown away. I bought Becoming Preferred, took it home and read it straight through. The next day I read it straight through again. That night I began to dissect the book highlighting the points that struck a chord with me in regards to the people I was dealing with on this sale. I broke it down to the different types of people I was dealing with, and systematically worked on each individual the way I had learned how to do. It was tricky sometimes when I had eleven people firing questions at me in a board meeting. I had to change the type of answer I gave to one individual, to a different way of giving the same answer to another. I would not have been able to accomplish this if I hadn't memorized the technique's form the book. Long story short ( too late! ) I signed the deal, and delivered above and beyond what I had promised. Two months later, I signed another large project. Pacific Rim Glass Tinting grew 400% that year, and was acknowledged with an award as the number one growing company in the nation. PRGT is also a top twenty dealer in the nation. We continue to grow and I will always use Becoming Preferred as my guide to sales success.

Pacific Rim Glass Tinting

The feedback from our guests was overwhelmingly positive. Michael was well received. As one guest told me, “He wasn't presenting us with rocket science, but it's the kind of stuff that we often forget and having a reminder can help propel your career.” Michael was funny and a great presenter and his content was GOOD. Overall fantastic. Michael's wife and business associate, Beth was also there and she was charming and lovely! I had a great chat with both of them before dinner on Wednesday night. They are both so charismatic and it was definitely awesome that they could join us for dinner.

PPI

You certainly motivated our troops! Your session was the most talked about after our conference.

Syspro Software Ltd.

Michael, we wanted to let you know that you are the talk of the town here! Everyone loved your sessions, and the participant survey proved it, with your sessions drawing an incredible satisfaction rate of 98% - congratulations!!

Transat

Thank you Michael for your presentation at our summits in June. The entire team here was truly invigorated to change our approach to customer interactions in the most positive way. We have had positive feedback already in such a short period of time. Easy to implement, meaningful changes that everyone can do will make such a positive impact on our customer interactions – thanks to what we have learned from you. We appreciated you taking the time to hear from our customers in the first part of the day and building that into our discussions – made it relevant to our group and meaningful. You will be pleased to know we are on our way to becoming the emotional favorite in our industry!

Wawanesa Insurance

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Michael Vickers

Bio

Keynotes

Staying Relevant: Future Proof Yourself in the Age of AI

Topics

I just want to say thank you for the insight, help and spirit you’ve provided to us, our salespeople and distributors. You’ve really provided insight and richness to our process.

On behalf of Michelin Canada, we want to express our sincere appreciation for your presentation. It was truly a learning moment for all of us, and you were able to break the complex business relationship into parts that we can all understand and act on. I have received many very positive comments.

Kudos back to Michael for his wonderful presentation and for hanging out with our crew this week. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad he played a role in that!

You certainly motivated our troops! Your session was the most talked about after our conference.

Michael, we wanted to let you know that you are the talk of the town here! Everyone loved your sessions, and the participant survey proved it, with your sessions drawing an incredible satisfaction rate of 98% - congratulations!!

Let's find your perfect speaker!

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Michael Vickers

Bio

Keynotes

Staying Relevant: Future Proof Yourself in the Age of AI

Becoming Preferred: Level Up the Brand Experience

Becoming Preferred: Out-Position, Out-Sell & Out-Experience the Competition

AI Is Your Selling Superpower: Boost Productivity & Effectiveness

7 Triggers To Booking The Business

How To Sell When Nobody's Buying

Position The Why, Sell The Because: Creating Authentic Differentiation in a Crowded Marketplace

Become The Preferred Employer In A Competitive Marketplace

Becoming Preferred: Virtual Selling

Topics

I just want to say thank you for the insight, help and spirit you’ve provided to us, our salespeople and distributors. You’ve really provided insight and richness to our process.

On behalf of Michelin Canada, we want to express our sincere appreciation for your presentation. It was truly a learning moment for all of us, and you were able to break the complex business relationship into parts that we can all understand and act on. I have received many very positive comments.

Kudos back to Michael for his wonderful presentation and for hanging out with our crew this week. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad he played a role in that!

You certainly motivated our troops! Your session was the most talked about after our conference.

Michael, we wanted to let you know that you are the talk of the town here! Everyone loved your sessions, and the participant survey proved it, with your sessions drawing an incredible satisfaction rate of 98% - congratulations!!

Let's find your perfect speaker!

Explore

Quick Links

Keep Up To Date