Strategy requires consideration one level higher than your choice of representation.
You may wonder:
- Am I optimizing my use of speaking to fuel impact, income, and longevity of influence?
- How can I grow my average booked speaking fee, the number of inquiries, and the quality of my speaking appearances?
- What is my best ‘niche’ for my expertise?
- Why am I seeing plateaued or decreased demand for my speaking?
- Is my chosen model of representation the right one for my priorities around my speaking work? How do I know?
- Is my chosen provider of representation building my brand or detracting from it? What can I expect from their involvement vs. what is my responsibility as the content expert?
- What factors truly move the needle of success in speaking today vs. last year or pre-pandemic?
All of these questions are important and their answers lie at the level of strategy. They indicate a need to take a bird’s eye view of you, your priorities, your definition of success, your stage of life and career, and ask yourself some tough questions.
The good news: A clear strategy frequently offers relief without the need to change representation. In fact, it often makes it work better. Customized strategy is my specialty. A well-considered strategy optimizes your choice of representation and makes it more impactful and profitable.
We kick off with a 1:1 Strategy Consult via ZOOM – self-booked and focused on the biggest challenge you currently face. That session alone may be enough to get you back on track. I offer thoughtful listening, focused attention, and a uniquely valuable ‘triple threat’ combination of expertise: Elite personal speaker’s agent for a select few high-profile figures, seasoned corporate keynote buyer/event producer, and extensive knowledge of speaker bureaus and talent agencies around the globe.
What I know can help you.
INVEST IN STRATEGIC GUIDANCE
For $595 USD, you receive:
- A 60-minute 1:1 Strategy Consult with me – self-scheduled at a time that works for you.
- A recording of our session for your personal/private use.
- Straight talk and insights designed to increase your ‘agency’ as a speaker.
- Custom recommendations on how to achieve your highest and best good in paid speaking. Whatever that may look like.
- Access to my wisdom from three decades of negotiation and representation work at the highest levels of paid corporate speaking.
- A human decoder ring to the ‘black box’ of the paid speaking industry.
- Insight to accelerate your learning curve, achieve success faster, and remain relevant longer.
- Context and balanced perspective on your unique situation.
- ZERO sales pitch: Our session will be immediately practical and helpful. This is not a ‘bait and switch.’
- If I can assist you with your best next step, I provide details via a follow-up email. You consider that information without any sales pressure from me.
- OPTIONAL: Invest in 1 hour of my advance review of your material(s). Details are at the scheduling link.
- Please see the important considerations below.
Important Considerations
Advance review of your materials
I come to each session with an open mind and a deep understanding of the paid speaking industry. The fee for the session is for one hour of my focused attention and the insight I possess after more than three decades in this work. If you’d like me to review information on your background ahead of our conversations, I’m happy to do so – please select the option that offers 1 hour of advance review when scheduling your session.
Pre-work is purely optional. About half of my clients have me conduct pre-work. I can review up to three hyperlinks you provide during the scheduling process (typically a website, social media profile(s), highlight reel, recent press coverage, an Amazon page for your book(s), and/or your current full speech. It allows me to come to your session with some initial impressions and immediate feedback for you, but it is not required for us to have a highly productive session.
realistic expectations
You are investing precious funds in our time together and seek maximum return on that investment. My goal is to be as immediately useful and candid as possible. I will listen intently to your biggest challenge with paid speaking work, ask thoughtful questions, provide context, and offer some specific guidance for you to consider. You’ve likely spent years, possibly decades, working on your paid speaking, and that complexity requires nuanced conversation and consideration.
We’ll work our way through your biggest challenge and, as time permits, we may get to additional ones. We may not. If you seek a fully personalized strategy for your paid speaking, exactly how you’ll move from $X to $XXXXX in paid speaking fees, an in-depth critique on your current reel or speech, full editing on your speaking page, or a comprehensive comparison of all the top speaker bureaus in the USA or abroad, that requires more than a single session.
You have options:
- Schedule additional session(s) to tackle additional questions.
- Work on the recommended best ‘next step’ I share with you during our session and return for additional guidance when ready.
- If applicable: Consider the proposed custom project outlined in my follow-up email. I will only suggest one if I believe I could best assist you.
Choose the best option for your needs, without pressure from me. This process creates speakers with ‘agency’ which minimizes cost and maximizes personal commitment to your process of advancement.
representation or management
I don’t offer public representation or management services for new clients. Instead, I invite clients to consider my private label services if they have reached a level with their paid speaking where those services could benefit them. Overall, less than 1% of all paid speakers will attract the services of a personal speaker’s agent. If your heart is set on finding representation, I recommend booking a 1:1 Consult to gain:
- Clarity around what a speakers agent does and doesn’t provide.
- Context on what milestones are needed to work with a speaker management company, a traditional speakers bureau, a speakers agency, a talent agency, and a personal speaker’s agent. Those levels of representation have some clear prerequisites to ensure the arrangement is mutually beneficial and lucrative.
Most speakers will not retain the services of professional representation in their paid speaking career because their speaking fee is too small to support adequate commission or monthly retainer. My 1:1 advisory sessions offer ‘spot expertise’ to those who might not otherwise have the benefit of guidance from a seasoned speaker’s agent or speaker management company. I can offer additional clarity on this complex issue during a 1:1 session.
On-demand guidance for elite speakers. I ensure you make the BEST decision for YOU at each crucial juncture of your paid speaking career.
10 years as a global keynote buyer, 22+ years as a personal speaker's agent to ambitious outliers, decades of experience negotiating profitable deals with all speakers bureaus, personal network of more than 530 agents at bureaus and agencies worldwide.
ZERO Pitch promise
Our consultation will contain ZERO pitching. I do not promote ANY services (mine or anyone else’s) in our time together, nor will I suggest that you adopt a specific style of representation. If the focus of your session is to understand the various ways a modern speaker can manage their paid speaking, I can educate you on the different options, offer balanced pros and cons for each model, and indicate if that style of representation is likely available to you at this point in your speaking career. No one type of representation is best for everyone.
That reassurance is crucial. You can trust me to equip you with balanced information and offer it with no hidden agenda. That assurance is vital to me.
My consultations are true ‘no-strings-attached’ sessions to educate speakers on topics of vital concern.
Consultations are the only service I offer to every single person who values paid speaking. For those who have reached crucial milestones in their paid speaking work, I may recommend additional services for your consideration. I do not chase or ‘pitch’ – I offer you my best advice, distilled from more than three decades of work in paid speaking. You decide your next step.