Dr. Nick Bontis is recognized internationally as a leading strategy and management guru.
1) Transparency is king
It is very important to maintain what I call price integrity as a speaker. You must have a standard fee schedule (with variations by length and by geography if you wish). Regardless of whether you do business directly with clients or through Speakers’ Spotlight, that fee must be the same. The speaking industry is small and you will “be outed”. All it takes is for a new client to speak to an old one. Or worse, a client contacts you directly for a quote immediately after finding out your fee through Speakers’ Spotlight. If you tend to wiggle downward under pressure, you will pay for it in the long-run. Your professional reputation is at stake and in the end, you can’t afford to negotiate that down.
ACTION: Publish one standard fee schedule that is universal
2) World class or bust
The top earners in the speaking industry are considered world class on a certain topic. In other words, when someone utters the phrase “XYZ”, the name of a certain speaker pops into everyone’s head automatically because their name has become synonymous with that topic. Speakers who strive for that premier brand identity rarely need to negotiate downward with clients. The reason is that “you always get what you pay for”. As long as you exceed expectations you will always be golden. A premier performer always gets paid a premier fee. As a speaker, you must identify and exploit your own special niche … and always over-deliver. As a client, a Lexus will always get you to your destination in style, a Yugo might not. Can you take that chance?
ACTION: Pick a niche and strive to be the world’s best
3) Offer bonus giveaways
If budgets are tight (and in most cases they are), offer a bonus above and beyond your presentation. Instead of stressing yourself with lower revenue, offer a giveaway that costs you little but is of high value to the client. Several examples of this tactic include: translating your materials into French yourself instead of having the client pay for it; providing the meeting planner with a bunch of books or articles for free that can be given away as door prizes; sitting through several other presentations at an event and writing a concise summary of takeaways at the end; using your frequent-flyer miles and swallowing the cost of travel; providing special content on your website after the event; conducting a VIP session for key sponsors before or after your presentation; and finally, presenting multiple times through a volume discount deal.
ACTION: Stick to your fee, offer more value
4) Be nice not arrogant
The speaking industry is a gift. Speakers’ Spotlight is your angel in disguise. There is no other business like it (travelling to exotic places, enjoying stimulating environments, networking with VIPs). To get paid while doing all that is truly a blessing. Big egos must be checked! It doesn’t matter if you are a Nobel prize winner, a world’s expert PhD, or just a student of the profession, your personality match with the client is critical for signing the contract in the end. Speakers’ Spotlight has the nicest people in the industry. Period! As a speaker, you need to be “even more nice than them”. Clients want to do business with people they like.
ACTION: Forget the “super star attitude”, stay honest and humble
5) Price equals supply and demand
Dynamic pricing involves the constant ebb and flow of market forces based on the neo-classical tradition of supply and demand. However, in this industry, we don’t have an on-line eBay auction for speakers (yet!). The implication here is that speaking fees must be set “a priori” and should be adjusted infrequently. But what is intellectual capital worth? Speakers (and their clients) need to do their research and benchmark themselves against others with similar experience, brand, and content value. An important function to consider is tenure. Speaking rookies need to get clients under their belt so pricing under the market is a useful tactic to drive volume. Speaking veterans can pick and choose their engagements so pricing over the market is justified.
ACTION: Be realistic with your relative market positioning.
For more information on Nick Bontis, please contact Speakers’ Spotlight.
Tags: action, keynote speaker, maximize speaking revenue, niche, Nick Bontis, transparency, universal fee schedule
