sending cold emails to speaker bureaus and getting the cold shoulder?  ten ways to shift that.

I’m not a traditional speakers agent but I’ve worked with hundreds of them on deals for my clients (fully independent/non-exclusive speakers) since 2001. I know what makes traditional speakers agents LOVE you and what makes them ignore you. If you have an average speaking fee of less than $25,000* per appearance and want more attention and speaking invitations from speaker bureaus, read on.

1. DON’T BE A SCROOGE: COMMISSION TRUTH BOMBS

Let them know they’ll make a full commission on booking you. Depending on what your average booked (not quoted) keynote fee has been over the past year, the range of commission would be:

20-30% on gross speaking fees of $20,000 USD or less.
Agents at bureaus split commission with the bureau they work for. Typically, 40-60% goes to the agent, before taxes are withheld.
When a speaker’s fee is small, the associated commission percentage MUST be higher to equate to a decent dollar amount for the agent and bureau.
The amount of work that goes into ANY booking is roughly the same, so you want the earnings on your deals to be compelling.

Since MOST inquiries do not work out, the booked appearances must pay the agent for the massive amounts of unpaid work they do: Inquiry response, negotiation, contracting, invoicing, payment handling, logistics, on-site scope management, and follow-up.

In comparison, the speaker only works on confirmed bookings. The speaker doesn’t see the ‘behind the scenes,’ unpaid work. In my experience with premium fee speakers, those at the $25k – $200k fee level, only 5-15% of inquiries result in a firm offer. That means 85-95% of the work agents perform is not directly compensated. This harsh truth means agents must work with proven, high-caliber speakers with decent demand already established. Agents can amplify decent initial demand, but those with low or no traction do not have a good risk/reward ratio for a busy speakers agent.

2. SHOW THE RECEIPTS: AVERAGE BOOKED FEE and VOLUME

Let them know what your average booked keynote speaking rate has been over the past 12 months and how many of those you delivered. This signals demand from hosts already willing to pay for your services. Don’t expect an agent to get excited by the fee you quote – they want to know what you’ve CONFIRMED. (AKA: Receipts!)

3. YOU ARE ON TO SOMETHING – AND YOU’D LOVE TO TAKE IT UP A NOTCH

Let them know how many paid bookings you have on your calendar in the next 12 months –and what the average fee has been on those. (See #2 for why this matters) If you don’t have much booked, and don’t have a new book (See #9) dropping in the next 12 months or a massive amount of visibility (See #10), you should not be reaching out to bureaus. Period. Work on the items in this list first!

4. LOW MAINTENANCE: EFFICIENCY ENDEARS

Let them know you are a BREEZE to work with. No fussy travel requirements, you say ‘yes’ very swiftly, and don’t nickel and dime the host or the booking bureau (drycleaning, tips for the bellman, shipping on your accordion (just seeing if you are asleep). Use their contract for the booking vs. your own and do not redline the h*ll out of it. Custom contracts really only work if you are a highly in-demand speaker and, even then, this is a dance. Anything you do that cuts down on efficiency is going to irritate them. Provide your speaking rates for appearances in the USA, whether those are ‘gross’ or ‘net’ fees, etc.

5. SPARK THEIR COMPETITIVE SPIRIT: AGENTS ARE SALES PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WIN

If you’ve gotten booked by other bureaus in the past 1-3 years, mention those specific bureaus and the agents you’ve worked with — the agent world is a small one, globally, and if the bureau/agents know you’ve done business with their peers in the industry (albeit competitors!), that is a huge credibility booster.

6. HIGHLIGHT REEL: JUST ENSURE IT DOESN’T SUCK

Include a link to a 1-2 min highlight reel of you delivering snips from your paid speaking in the past 2-3 years (if possible do not use footage from pre-pandemic which would be 5+ years old). Do NOT put contact details for YOU at the end – the bureau will want to share it with prospective hosts and they do not want to have those hosts contacting you directly after they have pitched you.

7. HONOR CODE: THEY WILL LOVE YOU FOR IT

Let them know that if they pitch you to an event host and give you a quick, advance heads up with the group’s name and their event date – you WILL refer that host back to them if the host approaches you directly (this is bureau/speaker etiquette 101: Always honor the bureau that suggested you vs. bypassing them to book direct).

8. ONE-SHEET: NOT A 3-6 PAGE MONSTER WITH NO WHITE SPACE and 8-PT FONT

If you have a speaker 1-sheet (1 page, pdf, double-sided) that offers a succinct summary of you and your speaking, include the link to it in your email. Include your signature keynote speech title/subtitle/description/takeaways/bio on why you are the best person to deliver the talk and cite your most highly credible proof points to show that the event host (and broker!) are not taking a risk by hiring you. Again, no contact details for you on that form — the host will contact the bureau.

9. BOOK: BUT NOT ALL BOOKS ARE CREATED EQUAL

If you have a book that supports your keynote speaking, mention it and include a hyperlink to your book on Amazon (so they can see the sales volume and reviews).

If your book is:

• less than one year old, or will be published in the next year
• non-fiction
• clearly linked to a ‘corporate bottom line benefit’ (must be in the title)
• focused on an absolutely BURNING problem that companies MUST address (vs. a problem they SHOULD address but is not imperative)

These factors will help paid keynote bookings far more than a memoir or personal development/inspiration book.

What books don’t help?

• Books with a sexy photograph of you on the cover.
• Books on topics that divide audiences – religion, politics, sex/innuendo, gender, reproductive rights, profanity.
• Books with a title that is ‘cute’ or ‘soft’ – you want a book that an executive would not be embarrassed to read in public.
• Self-published books that your cousin edited for you as a favor.
• Books that are mammoth pdf files instead of printed.
• Books that have no relationship to the keynote you deliver.
• Books you wrote more than 1 year ago (unless they are in the top 100 titles in a major business / money related category on Amazon).

I don’t make the rules.

10. VISIBILITY: IF NO ONE KNOWS YOU EXIST, THE AGENT IS NOT KEEN

If you have a strong / active presence on social media, mention that and include hyperlinks to your accounts. Particularly LinkedIn and Instagram. Follower counts for each of those platforms in the 20,000+ realm begin to be impressive – but 50k – 100k are far more convincing that you are on to something big. Visibility is GOLD. If people are paying attention to you – bureaus and agents will be MUCH more likely to do the same.

*Once you have an average booked speaking fee of more than $25,000 USD per appearance and in-bound demand of 5+ inquiries monthly, you will have entered a very small pool of elite paid speakers. At that point, the bureaus and agencies will approach you!)  You could join the hottest bureau or elite agency, but opt for independence. I make it easy to be independent. Lower commission. No overhead. No complexity. No kidding. Since 2001. See here: Optimized Self-Representation & Non-Exclusivity