An apt response to “Your speaker fee is too high…”

“To me, bravery is to stand up for what you believe in.” – Sophie Turner

Recently I got contacted by a new client. They’d heard of my public speaking & workshops, and wanted me to give a workshop for a team of 25.

Everything was going great till we reached the $$ discussion. I told him my quote. Silence on the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

“Oh, that’s too high.”

Here we go again. Same old story, client has heard great things about you, client has sufficient budget yet they want a ‘bargain deal’!

People often don’t realize that speakers may be on stage for limited time, but the amount of prep work that goes in take hours if not days. If the client is a non-profit volunteer/small student organization with little to no budget- fine, we get it. But when this isn’t the case, then questioning a speaker’s fee is questioning their quality. Should we cut our quality and content too, to match the fee?

I explained my fee breakdown, mentioned my public speaking experience and the general feedback. Still not agreeing to my exact quote.

I had two choices. Either I cut my fee and avoid the awkwardness. Or, ask two questions:

What’s your hesitation here?

Do you doubt my quality?

I went for the latter. It was quite direct but it had to be done. If we’re not valued for our work and our performance, is it really worth working with that client at all?

Long story short, he was was not expecting those questions, we had an honest discussion and agreed to my fee. This was one uncomfortable talk for me, but we wouldn’t be collaborating if I hadn’t asked those questions.

So the next time your client is raising eyebrows at your fee, ask those two questions. Uncomfortable as it might be, its better than simply cutting your fees, and being stuck in a ‘bargain deal’ zone forever. If they don’t agree to your fee despite having the means- it wasn’t meant to be anyway.