Speaker - March 2011

Casting a reality check on real-world conundrums
One Is the Loneliest number

This happened to me with a local company. I told the client that I was keeping the deposit and they owed me the balance; but since it was local, I would reschedule the program the following month. The client was extremely grateful, and I’m a hero in their eyes. If I had flown to the event, I might have offered to come back on a future date for half the fee.

—Laura Stack, MBA, CSP Highlands Ranch, Colo.

I would stick to the payment terms, but I would offer to conduct a seminar on another date at no charge. To help secure attendees, I would offer to work with the event planner on marketing strategies to draw participants. For a preferred or long standing client, I would consider deferring payment until my services are actually rendered.

A client booked a seminar (as an open
enrollment class) at their facility. You
arrived at the appointed day and time to
discover that no one has shown up. The
client paid 50 percent of your fee up front
with the balance due the day of the event.

Now what?

one of my largest clients recently had a seminar out of town and only one person out of 55 showed up. obviously, someone didn’t do his or her job. I cut the client some slack and gave a small credit to use on a future booking. I think it all boils down to the relationship. We need to be business people, but we’re also in this for the long run. Nice people win.

—Marty Grunder Miamisburg, Ohio

1. I would ask the organizers: ‘ This is a tough situation. What are your thoughts?’

2. I would give a presentation to the people in the room, even if it’s only three people who organized the meeting.

3. I would keep the deposit and expect the other 50 percent per the contract. I might offer a discount on a future engagement as a show of good will.

4. I would see if I could round up any people in the lobby. This might turn into a serendipitous opportunity to serve more people. And that can result in new leads.

How you make your client feel is much more important than a fee. Do the right thing. It will pay off big in the long run.

—Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE Highlands Ranch, Colo.

—Sara Canaday
Austin, Texas
—Tom Marcoux
San Francisco, Calif.

What Would You Do? is a regular column that presents a real-life dilemma faced by professional speakers. nSA members are encouraged to submit a dilemma for possible discussion in this column. Please submit dilemmas to ethics@nsa-speaker.org. nSA reserves the right to edit submissions for length and style. All dilemmas will be anonymously attributed. Opinions expressed are those of the individual respondents, not nSA.

The only things a speaker has to sell are time and expertise. If someone books you and doesn’t promote the event, that is not your responsibility. You can’t recreate the time you lost. an unexpected crisis like 9/11 would be grounds for sharing the burden, but a sudden client crisis would not.

It’s happened to me. It isn’t my fault no one shows. I showed up. I expect full fee. With a good client, I did offer a discount if they wanted to rebook.