How I Turned a $2,500 Public Speaking Fee Into $33,000…& How you Can Too!

I mailed out 74 letters to student conference coordinators and received 4 paid public speaking engagements. Not bad for only a total cost of about $44.50. It’s easy to do when know what to mail, who to mail it to and when to mail it.

Getting booked to speak at these four conferences was nice, but that’s not even the best part.

One of the conferences I was booked to speak at only had a speaker budget of $2,500 for a keynote speaker. When I learned there would be 3,000 students and 400 advisors I immediately accepted their budgeted fee because I knew of the potential.

Most public speakers would simply accept the speaking fee, sign the contract then move on. Huge mistake! Remember, you are running a business and why are you in business? That’s right, to make a profit.

Smart business-people try to make as much profit as possible from every transaction. The same should be true for you as a public speaker. You should be trying to make as much profit as possible from EVERY public speaking engagement.

Let me explain exactly what I did to illustrate how I turned that $2,500 into about $33,000! Pay close attention because I want you to begin thinking this way, and if you will, I guarantee you’ll begin making a tremendous amount of extra money, rather than just relying on getting a speaking fee.

I asked the event coordinator if he would be interested in having each student receive an autographed copy of one of my books, but it wouldn’t cost him anything? Naturally he said yes! I then asked how much the registration fee was for the students to attend the conference? He said he would be setting the fee probably at $89, but it could go as high as $99. I said that if he would set the fee at $95, then each student could get a copy of my book (3,000 total students) and it wouldn’t cost him anything.

He would keep $89 per attendee for conference fees while the remaining $6 would cover book printing, shipping and handling and a small payment to me. In addition, we would set up a booth at the conference so that each student can get his/her book personally autographed. He could even promote in all of his conference promotional materials that each student who attends will receive an autographed copy of my book (which retails for $11.95). He loved the idea and said yes to the deal!

Let me share some financial numbers with you:

Cost to print each book: approx. $1.00 per book (Total $3,000)

Shipping each book: approx. $ .46 per book ($1,400 for 3,000)

Total Revenue: $18,000

Total Cost: $ 4,400

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Book PROFIT: $13,600

NOTE: You MUST have a book to do this type of deal. In my experience, conference coordinators WILL NOT do this for shirts, hats, posters, flyers, CDs etc. A book is perceived to be of more quality. I learned this the hard way. Once I created a book, deals like this began happening.

ACTION STEP 1:

Get your book finished. Many new and experienced public speakers who have hired me for consultations have heard me say NUMEROUS times! You can’t make money like this until your book is actually done! Make it a priority to get it done!

ACTION STEP 2:

Start thinking-outside-the-box when you are booked to speak! Suggest this exact type of deal. Will it happen each time? No! But what if it did happen only one time? Would you have a problem accepting the extra money? Didn’t think so! By the way, this is the THIRD deal I’ve done THIS YEAR and I’m currently working on another right now! Do the math on the extra money!

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Here’s the rest of the story of how I took the $16,100 ($2,500 Speaking Fee + $13,600 Book Profit) to $33,000:

I’ll be speaking at 8:30 p.m. on a Friday night at the conference so I mailed to all the college coordinators within a 3-hour drive of where I’ll be speaking asking if they would be interested in a «block-booking» for their campus at a reduced rate since I’ll be in their area. In addition, there wouldn’t be any expenses. Out of the 34 colleges 4 said yes (12% return….not bad). My normal college rate is $5,500-$10,000 but I offered them a block-booking rate of $2,500 flat (meaning no expenses).

4 Colleges x $2,500 = $10,000

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I then mailed to about 20 high schools in the area with the same block-booking offer. I offered them a very low speaking fee of $1,000 flat, rather than my normal $5,500-$10,000 youth speaking fee. Two high schools said yes (10% return)!

2 High Schools x $1,000 = $2,000

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TOTAL INCOME: $28,100

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Plus, at the conference I’m keynoting I’ll be selling my other books and motivational CDs. Typically, I can count on about 10% of the audience buying additional products (I know this from tracking my results from past conferences. You should be tracking all of your results too).

3,400 Audience Members x 10% = 340 buyers

I’ll offer a great package deal at the conference to make sure it’s too good for them to pass up. I’ll give them two of my other books and a CD of my live talk for $20. Why $20? Because when people go to conferences they typically carry $20 bills in their wallets.

My total cost for each package = $5 ($1.00 per product plus shipping them to the conference)

My total profit per package = $15

340 Buyers x $15 = $5,100 PROFIT

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TOTAL INCOME PROJECTION:

Speaking Fee: $ 2,500

Book Deal: $13,600

College Talks: $10,000

High School Talks: $ 2,000

Product Sales: $ 5,100

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TOTAL: $33,200 (Can you say Cha Ching!)

YOU should be following the exact process I just described above!