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The Essential Negotiation Tool Speakers Need

Are you a budget-airline speaker or a Happy Meal speaker?

Marketing

Sales

Getting booked

New students

Andrew

Davis

Partner, Speaking Business Thought Leader

minute read

Published on

October 28, 2024

Bundling all your expenses into one all-inclusive quotable fee makes negotiation much easier—and builds more trust with your clients.

For a lot of professional speakers, negotiating with event organizers is one of the most stressful parts of their job. Even for speakers with backgrounds in sales and finance, bringing up your speaking fee and talking money can be nerve-wracking.

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And sure, the traditional negotiation tips for speakers might help—a little bit. Of course it’s important to set the right fee, understand the event budget, and be confident and calm while negotiating.

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But the truth is, the majority of speakers make negotiation harder than it has to be—both for themselves and for the event organizers they work with.

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Don’t be a budget-airline speaker.

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Remember the last plane ticket you bought? Perhaps you do a quick google search: “cheap flights from Chicago to Sacramento.” To your delight you find a $183 flight.

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But when you click on the airline’s website, you find a few unpleasant surprises. Want to bring a carry on? That’ll be $45 more. Want a snack and drink on your seven-hour journey? That’s also an additional $22. Oh, and would you like to make it back to your home in Chicago? Well, you’ll have to buy a return flight too. (You thought that was included? You thought wrong.) That’s another $212.

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Your $183 flight has quickly turned into a $462 flight. Oh, and don’t forget to add the tax and airport fees to that.

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It’s annoying and even infuriating. But that’s exactly how a lot of speakers treat negotiating their speaking fees.

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They quote the event planner their supposed fee—but then start upselling. They add $1,600 for travel expenses, $1,200 for the book signing, $3,000 to be present during the entire three-day event, $2,500 for the meet and greet, and on and on and on.

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How might that feel to the event planner? Maybe a little like booking a budget-airline plane ticket.

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What you can do instead: introducing Happy Meal pricing

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Now, some event planners do prefer to have travel expenses billed separately (sometimes they have separate budgets for speaking and travel). Every meeting planner is different.

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But, generally speaking, you can make your life and the lives of your clients much, much easier if you bundle all your expenses into one all-inclusive quotable fee.

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I call it Happy Meal pricing.

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Yep, just like with those delicious Happy Meals your kids love, the hamburger, chicken nuggets, French fries, drink, and toy are all included. One easy price that makes purchasing simple.

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You can do the same with your speaking fee. Include everything: the keynote session, a breakout session, domestic travel, hotel and lodging, cases of your book, a book signing, a promo video—everything you have to offer.

Full Transcript

Don't

try to upsell your services; for event planners, this can make everything feel very expensive.

be easy to negotiate with by quoting one all-inclusive fee.

Why this works so well

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Happy Meal pricing is such a competition-crushing tool (not that you’re out to crush your competition, remember, speakers get speakers work) but it truly makes you so appealing to event planners. Here’s why:

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You look much more valuable.

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Imagine an event organizer is considering two speakers for their upcoming event. One pitches their speech and quotes a fee of $20,000.

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The other pitches their speech, then shows everything that’s included as part of their speaking fee—a promotional video, six cases of books, a book signing, and a follow-up webinar two weeks after the event. All for just $15,000.

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Suddenly, the second speaker appears much more valuable than the first, even though they have a lower fee. They think, “Wow, all that for just $15,000? What a steal!”

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When you show your event planner your fee includes everything, they start to see a value exchange happening. The number you quoted isn’t just one you plucked out of thin air, it’s one that’s directly correlated with tangible resources you’re offering to your client.

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You can be flexible with your negotiation.

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Without Happy Meal pricing, negotiation is complicated. How much do you lower your fee if they don’t have a big enough budget? How can you justify suddenly cutting your fee in half?

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When you have one all-inclusive fee, you don’t have to worry about the price you quote looking like a made-up number. Why? Because you can easily subtract parts of your Happy Meal as you negotiate. The result? Negotiation becomes much easier—both for you and your client.

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Let’s say you quote your fee of $15,000, but it’s outside of their budget. Now you can say: “Well, if we remove the promotional video, the cases of books, and the book signing, we’d be at $7,500. Does that work?”

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Everything included in your fee has a price. You don’t have to reveal these prices while negotiating, but you can help the event planner understand that by removing things, you can lower your fee accordingly.

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This not only justifies your speaking fee, it also helps the event organizer feel satisfied with the agreement and ensures you’re fairly compensated for your contribution to the event. It lets you be very flexible and easy to negotiate with—allowing you to close more deals and book more gigs.

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You often become the dominant figure at the event.

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The typical professional speaker blows in, does their speech, and leaves. They don’t spend time getting to know the event attendees, they don’t do any meet and greets (that is, unless the event planner paid the additional $2,500 to add the meet and greet), and they definitely don’t help stuff goodie bags.

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Why? Because they have the attitude that they are being paid to speak—and only that. If you’re famous or very, very well known, that might work for you—for a little while. But what event planners really appreciate is a speaker who adds value to their event.

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Speakers add value not just by delivering a transformational message, but also by being helpful to the event organizers, being a pleasure to work with, and going above and beyond throughout the entire sales process.

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When you use Happy Meal pricing, you’ll find that if you add a lot of pre-event and event-day features (like promotional videos, Q&A sessions, meet and greets, book signings, etc.), you’ll become the dominant figure at that event.

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You’ll deliver more value at events, build stronger relationships with meeting planners, earn better event reviews, and get more stageside leads and invitations to speak. And you’ll quickly become known as the easiest speaker to work with—and that’s extremely valuable.

Don't

get caught thinking that your job is only to speak on stage.

focus on adding value during every step of the process—from the initial client call all the way through to the months after the event is over.

How do I use Happy Meal pricing when I’m just starting out?

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Using Happy Meal pricing makes negotiation much easier and helps you land more gigs—and bring more value to your speaking engagements. But if you’re just starting out, you might be thinking: “I don’t have a book, what else can I add to my Happy Meal pricing?”

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Chances are, even if you don’t have a book, there are still a lot of things you offer for free during your events (or can start doing without investing too much time or energy).

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First, make a list of all the things you’ve done for free, or given out for free in the past. This list might include:

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A 45-minute follow-up webinar
An article you can write for your client’s website
A guest speaking appearance on your client’s podcast
Downloadable worksheets, checklists, or additional resources from your speech
A half-hour of consulting for CEOs and company leaders
Pre-event promotional video
Pre-event social media promotion

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What you include in your Happy Meal pricing will be unique to your specific audience, your expertise and abilities, and the topic of your speech. Think outside the box (see what I did there?) and maybe you’ll create a fun surprise your meeting planners will love.

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After you have your list, rank them in order by value, from highest to lowest. Then add these items to your all-inclusive fee. When negotiating with clients, you can start removing the less valuable items first, then move up the list until you agree on a specific fee.

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Transparent prices. No surprises.

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So many speakers in the industry today struggle to effectively negotiate and create win-win agreements for both them and their event planners. Happy Meal pricing can be an invaluable negotiation tool that can help you and your client understand your value and what you offer. It helps you avoid unpleasant surprises and contract confusion, and makes you easy to work with (something event planners really love). Both you and the event organizer feel confident and satisfied with the exchange taking place.

Don't

“I had a client theme call yesterday and it went so well! It is a dream come true. I tweaked the discussion document that I worked on during GRAD | Speaking Business Mastery and I’m thrilled with it. And I used my Happy Meal pricing with the fee, just as Andrew taught us. I am so grateful for the tools and learnings from the past 12 weeks and wanted to share my gratitude with you. If anyone in GRAD has any question as to the ROI of this work, I was able to recoup my investment from one call.”

Francesca Zampaglione

Keynote Speaker, Dress Code Whisperer, International Podcast Host

Happy Meal pricing is just one of many tools you can use to uplevel your speaking business. In GRAD | Speaking Business Mastery, Michael Port and I dive deep into negotiating speaking fees, building client relationships, and using data to build a thriving, sustainable speaking business.

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Master the business side of the speaking world. Get all the resources, templates, steps, plans, and connections you need to finally land more gigs, more often, at higher fees—to create the speaking business you've always dreamed of.

Don't

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GRAD

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Speaking Business Mastery

Happy Meal pricing is just the beginning. Discover all the tools, resources, templates, and strategies you need to take your speaking business to the next level—in just 12 weeks.

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Why this works so well

‍

You look much more valuable.

‍

Imagine an event organizer is considering two speakers for their upcoming event. One pitches their speech and quotes a fee of $20,000.

‍

Suddenly, the second speaker appears much more valuable than the first, even though they have a lower fee. They think, “Wow, all that for just $15,000? What a steal!”

‍

You can be flexible with your negotiation.

‍

Without Happy Meal pricing, negotiation is complicated. How much do you lower your fee if they don’t have a big enough budget? How can you justify suddenly cutting your fee in half?

‍

You often become the dominant figure at the event.

‍

Dont

get caught thinking that your job is only to speak on stage.

focus on adding value during every step of the process—from the initial client call all the way through to the months after the event is over.

How do I use Happy Meal pricing when I’m just starting out?

‍

Chances are, even if you don’t have a book, there are still a lot of things you offer for free during your events (or can start doing without investing too much time or energy).

‍

First, make a list of all the things you’ve done for free, or given out for free in the past. This list might include:

‍