The Function of a Speaker Agency
It's not marketing, but
advocacy and negotiation.
Answer our survey... Why Don't You Have a Speaker
Agent?
Clients of our
promotion
campaigns found that
once we achieved a good amount of visibility and
recognition for them, they began to receive quite a few
invitations to speak. At first client tried to accept every
one until they found they couldn't keep up the
pace.
At some point they decided they really wanted someone they
trusted to assess the inquiries and the invitations for
their merit, but also to handle the discussions about fees
and contract terms.
Andrea Reynolds International launched an agency for
speakers in 1990. It arose out of Andrea's own need for an
agent to handle all the invitations she was receiving. All
she wanted was an agency to handle the contracts and take a
commission from her fees. She contacted talent agents,
speaker bureaus, PR firms, ad agencies, etc. Nobody wanted
to speak on her behalf and take their cut!
She didn't need anyone to market her or generate the
invitations - her appearances on national television, radio
programs across the country, and coverage in the business
press brought her plenty of speaking invitations. Out of
sheer frustration, she created her agency Experts Who Speak
to firstly handle her own speaking engagements, and then
those contracts of other speakers she marketed through her
Marketing and Management firm, Andrea Reynolds
International.
She now only negotiates contract terms and fees for:
1. Speakers who have been, or are,
clients of ARI,
2. Speakers who have reached the point of
success who need an agent to assess the over-abundance of
speaking opportunities and weed out those which are
inappropriate and arrange those which are acceptable.
For resources on self-representation
visit: Represent Yourself.
