“Why would ANYONE pay you commission on Speaking inquiries you didn’t find for them?”

Because a commission-based compensation model motivates behavior that MAXIMIZES SPEAKING FEES for you, because it motivates that person to negotiate the best financials possible. If they don’t convert inquiries to deals you accept, they don’t earn anything.  They work for free on the vast majority of inquiries – since 85-95% folks who send emails, direct messages, leave voicemails, fill out forms, or comment on social media will fizzle out BEFORE reaching a firm offer.(More on that percentage below).

That is a lot of unpaid work.  The few that do result in an accepted firm offer must produce enough income for the speaker to be thrilled and the agent to get a solid return on their invested time.
If your speaking inquiries are handled by a staff person with guaranteed compensation, it is logical for that person to respond in a manner that MAXIMIZES EFFICIENCY. Nurturing speaking inquiries and offers is rarely their sole priority. More typically, it is one of 6 or 7 hats this person wears in supporting you.

Efficiency and multi-tasking do not create the highest earnings and best positive reputation building from paid speaking.

Expertise, ‘skin in the game,’ available bandwidth, warmth, tact, and a relationship-nurturing process do.

I offer the latter.  It is what I love to do.

Here is a peek behind the curtain at some IMPoRTANT NUMBERS:

For every 100 inquiries, regardless of source, I spend 10-20 minutes on EACH:

1. researching the event, host, & client
2. checking my client’s calendar and placing a soft hold if the date is available and adding a note about this inquiry
3. writing a custom, warm reply, and
4. scheduling my followup.

That is 17 – 34 hours of INITIAL work for every 100 inquiries received and only on STEP ONE: Initial response.

Why so much time so early, before I even know if the inquiry has ‘legs?’ Because I know what world-class representation takes.  A process that is ‘light on details,’ shows zero interest in the entity inquiring, and maximizes primarily for speed/efficiency doesn’t cut it at the $25k – $250k speaking fee level.  My style is thoughtful, thorough, and professional. It is the ANTI-Transactional approach. It builds my client’s reputation, encourages good will, and results in strong financials.

My approach is exceedingly rare — especially among those responding to inquiries for well-known figures.  Sadly, many of those folks are overwhelmed with other priorities, or worse, overwhelmed AND condescending to the entity inquiring. (Yes, it happens. Far more often than many people realize and it burns bridges instead of building them.  Arrogance & delay cost speakers dearly in terms of lucrative speaking offers and damage to positive personal reputation.)

From there, I move to STEP TWO: Considerate, methodical follow up.

I am known as The Tactful Stalker. Emphasis on tactful.
Excellent followup requires:

1. An average of 11 ADDITIONAL touchpoints beyond the initial inquiry reply.  That work equates to approximately 2-3 hours, spread out over 4-6 weeks, for EVERY SINGLE inquiry.
2. If the inquiry came from a reputable speaker bureau or agency, I add them to the client’s agency contact list, and provide commission details.  I also ask them to consider adding my client to their roster of non-exclusive speakers and provide all the assets to create a compelling online profile for my client.
3. If the inquiry comes from a booking entity or individual agent I’ve had highly negative experience with (from my other clients’ work), I let my client know the details and let them decide if they wish to consider the inquiry.
4. If the inquiry came directly from an event host, I add them to my client’s prospective host database, and set up a custom follow-up schedule. I keep the ball rolling until the opportunity window closes or I secure a firm offer.
5. For every 100 inquiries, that equates to 200-300 hours of follow-up. That’s 6 to 9 full-time weeks of custom follow up.  But not every inquiry, even well handled ones, results in a firm offer. The vast majority do not. Only 5-15 of those 100 inquiries will make it through to STEP THREE:  Firm Offer.

STEP THREE: FIRM OFFER PREPARATION and PRESENTATION

• For every 100 inquiries, just 5-15 make it to the firm offer stage and then must be tactfully ‘scrubbed’ – to ensure that the scope of the commitment is clear, the fee offered is the strongest one I can negotiate, and that I have all the relevant details of importance to my client (audience profile, event location, event venue, other speakers confirmed, signature speech or custom one, any extras being asked for, who is the host, do they expect the speaker to post anything on social media or record a promotional video, do they want to order books, how much turnaround time do we have, will they likely buy another paid speech if this one goes well, special payment terms or requirements, etc. etc.).
• That detail oriented work takes another 2-6 hours per firm offer, spread out over phone calls, emails, and videoconference meetings with various involved parties.
• I then slot it into a template that is concise for my client’s consideration, along with my recommendation and a high level pro/con assessment, based on my speaker’s priorities.

So, for every 100 inquiries I’ve worked on, it takes another 10-90 hours to move forward on the few that produce a firm offer.  That’s a wide range because some offers require lots of patience and back and forth and some are relatively straightforward.  At this point, I’m ready to move to Step 4.

STEP FOUR: client decision

High fee speakers are typically very selective. They don’t accept every offer– even if it is full fee. Why? Because they are rarely full time speakers or largely dependent on their speaking fees for primary income. While I love it when they do accept a booking, I believe it is important for them to only accept offers that align with their priorities. I do not push for an acceptance on any offer they want to decline. Period.
Speaking should be a joy for them. I believe enjoyment and enthusiasm for speaking is crucial for Speakers and Hosts to be thrilled with the outcome.

• For every 100 inquiries I work on, just 3 – 5 produce an accepted offer that will then move forward to a fully executed contract and confirmed appearance.
• Any offers that my client declines, I handle tactfully and respectfully with the group issuing the offer.  A humble and polite decline stands out in a sea of harsh ‘no’s.’ Again, I emphasize professionalism, warmth and respect – making the recipient of the ‘no’ feel considered and respected, even if they didn’t secure the services of my client for their event.
• For those that get an acceptance, I deliver the good news and move on to the contract issuance phase of the process. Not covered here….but thankfully much more straightforward and with a nearly 100% chance of producing income.

The sum of that effort = world-class inquiry response for the most discerning speakers

My clients love the combination of bespoke service on all their inquiries and paying for it with commission on the select few that do work out.

Before any of these steps above, I have already:

• Conducted a ‘Category of One’ immersion process with my client – to nail their most lucrative and productive lane for their paid speaking.  It provides the positioning and assets needed to launch their paid speaking work in the most productive and rewarding manner possible.  I designed the process after reverse engineering what made several of my prior clients massively successful in their paid speaking endeavors – generating multiple millions anually from their paid speaking, but NOT requiring them to be on the road constantly.  They were selective and well-paid and to arrive at that combination, we did some crucial positioning that I now do for all of my clients at the outset of our work together.
• Crafted the commission strategy for my client and rolled it out to my personal network of speaker bureaus (500+ individual contacts I have nurtured over the past 24 years).  The strategy is based on my client’s speaking objectives, and my insider knowledge of the industry.
• My insider knowledge comes via decades of booking experience, and my ongoing membership in the International Association of Speaker Bureaus, aka: IASB.  I am a member of the IASB because they allow individuals who directly manage speaking for multiple folks and book engagements through multiple bureaus/agencies to join after they’ve been in business for more than a year. It is $600/year. My membership provides the industry insider perspective so often missing for self-represented speakers.
• Set my client’s pricing strategy based on my 24 years as a private speaker’s agent, my knowledge of their value proposition, & expertise in what hosts pay now for someone with their accolades, expertise, proven speaking prowess, and visibility.

I am an atypical agent for atypical individuals.  I don’t run a speakers bureau. I am a fully freelance, independent speakers’ agent with decades of expertise working with highly visible experts who love non-exclusivity and independence, but don’t love overhead, complexity, or being taken advantage of. I preserve the perks of self-representation and eliminate the risks. A bit more on what a private speaker’s agent is/does can be found by clicking this bold text: What the Heck is a Private Speaker’s Agent?

*The number of inquiries that result in a firm offer (roughly 5-15 offers per 100 inquiries) is relatively low because my clients’ rates range from $25k – $120k. The higher the speaking fee, the fewer hosts can support that amount in their budget. If a speaker has a fee less than $25k, the percentage of offers per 100 inquiries goes up. The higher fee speakers almost always have very high visibility on social media- 50k+ followers on LinkedIn or Instagram (or both), or 250k on any other social media platform. High visibility is crucial to getting high fees.