Negotiating for Higher Fees - What Speakers Should be Doing

Roundtable with David Lim CSP 2009

In essence, many of our members’ inability to set and negotiate higher fees stemmed from 1) a lack of confidence in their pricing position for no better reason than a fear of pushing a client away with the price. 2) entering a negotiation where they had not established a firm (and confidential) walk-away fee, or an alternative if a negotiated agreement is not reached.

I shared them techniques of how to actually address the pricing issue, as well as how to put their fee forward confidently; for example, just keeping silent after they have shared their price with the client. The first party who talks after that usually 'loses' (!)

Of note is that many women get less than they deserve owing to a mental approach where they value empathy, compassion and such 'others' focused approach. This is quite separate from their actual competencies in business and technical skill. By giving themselves permission to treat a negotiation as a 'game', a 'conversation et al, they can do better. Another tip is to ask for something in a negotiation but make it sound as though someone else asked for it, eg "My boss wants to know if XYZ could be included for the same fee."

In addition, I shared how they should enter a sales conversation with more preparation, in order to anticipate needs, as well as to sell value outcomes, rather than a 'day'/'hours'/price per pax - which would then commoditize what they were offering.  Many workshop leaders may overemphasise their methodologies, 'tools' (eg assessments) when these perceived advantages are easily countered or replicated by the competition.

As such, a client often sees such 'features' as being easy to substitute.This commoditises what we do.

 Instead, a conversation should steer the client towards articulating their highest outcomes desired, and then matching that with one's ability to achieve those outcomes. If a monetary value could be placed on that, the fee is often far less than the future gain or loss prevented.