by Certified Speaking Professional, Michael Scott Karpovich
You have probably heard it all before... "If you do this presentation you will have incredible exposure!" "The people in our audiences are the type that hire lots of speakers!" "We have a limited budget." "Do this presentation for less than your fee and we will probably bring you in again and again!" "After all, we are friends!" All of these statements are promises we’ve heard from meeting planners to make us to give our presentations for less or for FREE!
For me, it is a rare client that doesn't try to negotiate. No one seems to have any money. Yet I have walked into meetings that "couldn't" pay my fee and have noticed that a speaker has been hired who I know charges much more than I do! (Perhaps the meeting planner meant to say, "I don't have any money ... for you!")
Once I received a call from a potential client who really wanted me to negotiate my fee. I wanted the job so badly. To be painfully honest, I needed the money! I told the gentleman I would get back to him. No sooner had I hung up the phone when a bureau called to offer me the same engagement! Apparently this guy called my bureau, got a quote and decided to call me personally! I swallowed hard when I realized what was happening. I longed for bureau relationships, particularly this bureau, and I almost put this relationship in jeopardy! If the bureau had heard that I offered less than my fee to their client, they may have stopped recommending me. I told the bureau what was happening, that their client was trying to negotiate with me individually. Then I called the client and told them that "in all fairness to my other clients, I must maintain my fee integrity." I did not let him know that I had "found him out." My bureau called back the next day... they had gotten me that very engagement for my full fee!
Of course, there was a time when I would speak for any amount of money and my "fee schedule" was nothing more that a wasted piece of paper. Soon everyone that worked with me knew that my "fees" meant nothing! When I started to stick more to my fees it was hard; one client heard that I spoke for a certain amount for a previous client. When they called me they told me what they thought my fee was. I have always told my clients that my fee is confidential, but that seemed to be nothing more than rhetoric. I learned that meeting planners always compare notes on speakers.
At another time I received a call from a client who had previously negotiated my fee down. They wanted me back at the same fee. I explained that I did not negotiate fees and after all the famous lines recorded at the beginning of this article, they acted hurt and chose not to use me.
Another client held national and regional conventions for my market. If I could speak to this convention it would certainly lead to more engagements. She offered me a fraction of my fee for a breakout session (I really wanted it badly). I tried to negotiate it closer to my fee. Before I knew what I had done, she chose not to hire me. I was certain that this was one time I had gone too far. I had lost a very important client because (as I told myself) I was too greedy. However, during the next year, I kept mailing to this meeting planner. She saw my ad in the NSA directory. She heard a report or two on what I was doing. The following year she called back, offered me my full fee (which was higher than it was when we last spoke), a complimentary booth, and asked me to keynote at all of the regional (6) conventions! She is also negotiating with me to co-produce video products! If I had taken a lesser fee, do you think she would have ever thought I was that valuable? NO!
My friend the late, great, Pat Vivo, CPAE, was furious when someone mentioned that they speak to schools for free. At first I felt quite uncomfortable; then I realized that she was pointing out the very reason some do not take the educational market seriously. Over and over again other speakers "donate" their speaking talents to non-profit groups as a way to "give back" to their community. Indeed, there are a lot of worthy non-profit groups that cannot afford speakers but a Colorado speaker, Diana Golden, chose to give back by paying for a professional speaker to speak to her local school, thereby acknowledging the value of what we do. (I commented jokingly at an NSA convention that to increase visibility, youth speakers should donate their services and all go speak to IBM for free.) It all goes back to how we want people to perceive us, our value, our message, or our industry.
You see, "free" or "discounted" suggests that the speaker or the message isn't worth much. Someone once told me that our greatest competitors are the great speakers who don't realize their value. They do great things for clients for next to nothing! I now realize that this isn't true. When I stopped negotiating my fee, I moved into a different league of speakers. The truth is, when I finally leaped the fee barrier, that is when I started making a living at speaking. Of course, for many in our industry, it is difficult to cross that barrier-- that's why we need to realize that FREE is a four-letter word!