New Policy: Updated Nov. 9, 2008
First the amusing
part....
Since launching CommissionFreeSpeakers.com I have paid
attention to what speakers (non-members) tell me and show
me about membership. Listen to this:
What they
DO
want are:
1. Free profile page on the CFS directory.
2. Free promotion by CFS to all the speaker bureaus. (Why?)
3. Telephone calls made to meeting planners on their
behalf. (Not effective.)
4. Payment only in the form of commission on speaking
engagements brought to them. (A percent of nothing is
nothing.)
5. Free brain-picking sessions with me by telephone.
6. To be told how much to tell a meeting planner to pay
them without having to read the book.
7. To sell books without being paid for expenses or for
their presentation.
8. To see a contract I've already negotiated
for someone else without paying for it.
9. To see my complete marketing plan and contacts list
without paying for it.
10. To earn a great deal of money as a speaker without
sharing sufficient, necessary information
with me or
meeting planners to "sell" them.
What
they
DON'T
want are:
1. Membership fees or payment of any kind.
2. To have CFS involved in discussions about fees or terms.
3. To discuss their track record as speakers or how much
they have been paid to speak in the past.
4. To purchase any manuals or materials that will help them
generate income.
5. To participate in the free, private forum to learn better
marketing methods that work.
6. To charge a fee for their presentations if they can sell
a few books.
7. To have a written contract in place.
8. To take a class on designing speaker
contracts that work in their best
interests.
9. To have to contact CFS when they have an inquiry or
invitation to speak.
10. To consider they may be going about the business of
speaking with ineffective methods.
Sadly, none of these terms are helpful or acceptable to the
person who is required to do all the work, namely me. What
the majority of speakers tell me they want is a
free
service that makes them wealthy
with no strings attached. Don't you love their
chutzpah!
Now the serious part....
I want to support entrepreneurs
- who by their
very definition are risk-takers - but I have no incentive
or interest to subsidize anyone who isn't willing to make
an investment in their success or make an effort to promote
themselves using the tools and resources I have provided on
the web. One speaker said she refused to order even
a $2 tip sheet as payment for a year's
promotion on the CFS directory. Ouch! I love to work
with people who make an effort to market themselves
effectively, and leave their egos at the door.
(Successful speakers do.)
This is a business, not a charitable organization. So, in
order to make this a profitable business, and I won't do it
any other way, I am inaugurating some changes to
membership.
1. All
existing members - I count 13 including
myself - will have their membership extended for a
second year at no extra cost. I want to reward those
who came aboard early on when they weren't receiving much
for their investment, albeit at a lower fee.
2. All
existing members will be urged once again
to join the forum if only to receive
important announcements even if they don't want to
receive important information that could help them
increase their income. This forum will be very valuable
to those who participate by asking good questions about
marketing. I'm known for giving great marketing advice.
Just click on the link at the bottom of the
forum page to request your
invitation. (Only
members may
join. Or send an email
to: CFSpeakers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)
3. Who
do you know who should join at the current rate?
As soon
as
7 new members join, at the rate of $99 a year
- also
extended to two years - the membership fee will rise to
$199 per year. I hope news of this price hike will bring 7
new members to the roster by early November so I can take
advantage of the slow holiday season to promote all of us.
(The $199 a year -
Bronze - will include only the
speaker's page profile, forum access and inclusion in group
promotion.)
4. As
soon as we have 20 full profiles on the directory, I will
begin promoting our roster of speakers like crazy. I said
early on that I would only start promoting when we were 20
members strong, to avoid the appearance of being skimpy.
One editor remarked, "I see what you mean about needing to get
more people on board before you can promote it effectively.
What a Catch 22."
5. I will then offer two more membership
categories:
a. Silver:
For $100 more ($299 for one year; subsequent years will be
the regular rate) the member will also receive the
trilogy of speaker materials
I offer on this web site
for $139.00, and everything the Bronze membership
offers.
b. Gold: For $300 more ($499 for one year;
subsequent years will be the regular rate) the member will
also receive the trilogy and a private negotiation tutorial
with me to custom-design a confidential contract that looks after the speaker's best
interests which normally costs $359.
6. If you have already
purchased any of these services or materials your future
membership fee will be adjusted according to what you have
paid. Also, you may purchase any of the listed services or
materials at any time, without having to join in a higher
category. However, you won't be able to enjoy the
membership discount if you haven't chosen one of the 3
membership levels: Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
7. By
the new year, it's very likely that I
will be
eliminating some services for lack of speaker
interest: the online classes, apprenticeship, platform
training, resource listings, exclusive representation,
negotiation of fees and contract terms, and possibly
speechwriting. My marketing advice by phone has been
offered to members at $100 for 30 minutes (versus $300 on
my consulting web site), but as nobody has taken advantage
of this discount for more than a year, I'll be eliminating
phone advice. The speaker marketing forum
will
replace the private phone consults with me...unless you
want to pay my full consulting fee of $10 a minute.
8. I will be able to devote more time and attention to
promoting our directory now that I have left Canada where,
it seems, Capitalism is not acceptable, especially for
women - I didn't realize how truly socialist a country
Canada is - and now that I have leased a comfortable,
affordable place in a friendly location where I can
re-establish my work.
9. I've been a speaker advocate for unknown and little
known speakers since 1990 - not a
profitable business - and it's time I made some good money
again. My personal plans
are to do
more
one-on-one consulting, book and article writing, and
speaking on 1. earning income and 2.
surviving tough times. These 3 activities
bring me 10-12 times what I have earned as a support
person to other, newer experts, so after 30 years I've
decided to stop taking on clients as my full-time work
and, as a kindness, simply provide an inexpensive
service (this CFS directory) as a replacement. This
speaker directory is not a money-maker for me; it is
simply a way to help other
speakers attain some visibility and I hope, generate
some income without a large outlay
of funds, and without a huge commitment of my time. As
I've indicated, the $99 (soon to be $199) membership fee
replaces my $5000 to $20,000 public relations campaigns.
10. As I promote myself as a speaker, I will be promoting the
speakers who are smart enough to choose to be present on
this directory. In addition to monthly
promotion, I will refer the expert-speakers on this
directory as I speak to meeting and event
planners - and to
reporters and
journalists who are looking for
experts to interview, to producers
who need guest
experts to appear on talk shows, and to editors
who are
looking for experts to write articles, columns, books on
contract.
If you want to comment on any of the above policy changes,
or have a question, please use the feedback form and I'll gladly respond
to anyone who does not write anonymously.
And don't forget to join the members-only marketing discussion
forum.
Andrea Reynolds, adviceempire@gmail.com
10-25-2008