Your Agent’s Job is to Sell You
Plain and simple: your agency is there to sell you.
That's how agencies make money, and that's how agents are compensated. An agency's revenue depends on bookings. No bookings, no revenue.
So your agent should be selling.
All day, every day.
They should be tapping away at their keyboards, reaching out to event planners, pitching you, sending proposals, negotiating fees, following up, and closing deals.
That is what you want your agent spending their time doing.
Here's what you don't:
Your agent is not your speaker strategist.
Is it helpful for your agent to get to know you and understand what you speak about?
Absolutely.
Is it helpful for your agent to rewrite your bio, completely overhaul your topics, figure out your positioning, or spend hours helping you determine your pricing strategy?
Not if you'd like them spending that time getting you bookings.
That work takes time—and it takes them away from what they're actually there to do: sell you.
If you need help developing your positioning, refining your topics, determining your ideal audience, building your speaker brand, or creating a strategy for your career, find someone who specializes in that work and is paid to focus on it.
That's what a speaker strategist does.
Your agent is not your booking-status concierge.
If your agent has a hold on your calendar, they're working on it.
And if they get an offer?
Trust me. They're going to call you. Wild horses couldn’t keep them away from their phone/laptop if they have an offer to present.
If you have a competing offer for the same date, absolutely let them know. That's important information they need to have.
Otherwise, you don't need an hourly update because an event planner hasn't made a decision yet.
Your agent isn't sitting around waiting for you to ask what's happening.
They're trying to make something happen.
Let them work.
Your agency is not your publishing house.
Your agency's job is to negotiate your speaking engagement.
Your publisher's job is to sell your book.
Does it sometimes make sense to negotiate a book buy as part of a speaking engagement?
Absolutely.
And your agent should negotiate it as part of the overall deal—and take their commission on what they've negotiated.
But if your primary goal is to sell books, that's a conversation to have with your publisher and their publicity team.
Your agency is not a charity.
This one is controversial, but I'll say it anyway:
Stop asking your agent to find you pro-bono speaking opportunities.
I've heard of pro-bono lawyers.
I've yet to come across a pro-bono speaker agent.
If speaking for free is part of your strategy—and sometimes it absolutely should be—there are people who can help you identify the right opportunities and develop a strategy around them.
That's speaker strategy.
It's not agency representation.
Your agency should be focused on finding opportunities where someone is willing to pay you to speak.
And you should let them focus on that.
So, what should your agency do?
Sell you.
Your agent should be pitching you, positioning you with buyers, negotiating on your behalf, managing the booking process, and getting you on stages.
Your strategist should help you figure out what you're selling, who should buy it, and why they should choose you.
Those are two very different jobs.
And when you understand the difference, you get much more out of both relationships.
Sprout Speakers helps experts, authors, and executives turn their expertise into a speaking business, from first keynote to full-time career. Explore our services or get in touch to talk strategy.