Mic Drop

Insights from a Booming Bureau (ft. Angela & Richard Schelp)

Episode Summary

In today's conversation, we explore the winning moves of keynote speakers that stand the test of time rather than quickly fizzle out; the dos and don'ts of bureau outreach; how to optimally connect with a new bureau agent and forge a lasting relationship; and how speakers who are up and running best scale their practice to that magic $1 million per-year mark. But that’s not all. We also explore the ins and outs of exclusive representation and ponder the future of the speaking business, the impact of artificial intelligence, and get a peek behind the curtain of the juggernaut known as Executive Speakers Bureau.

Episode Notes

Insights from a Booming Bureau (ft. Angela & Richard Schelp)

Wit and wisdom from the dynamic husband-and-wife leaders of Executive Speakers Bureau

OPENING QUOTE:

“People will always claim that we're a mid-range size bureau when we're not anymore. Now we're a large bureau, we just don't have George W. Bush as an exclusive, but we generate the kind of volumes and numbers that those people with the exclusives generate. So I think that's an area where I believe a lot of people underestimate us.”

-Richard Schelp

GUEST BIO:

Angela and Richard Schelp are the dynamo husband and wife team that runs Executive Speakers Bureau. Their Memphis-based bureau is on a growth tear, nearly tripling their size over the last seven years. With humble roots dating back to 1993, Executive is now one of the largest and most respected speaker bureaus on the planet. Angela and Richard have enjoyed massive success while maintaining the highest standards of integrity, care for others, and deep commitment to professionalism. They serve clients, speakers, and team members with huge hearts — and a little dose of southern hospitality.

Links:

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[10:26] - Playing the Long Game

How speakers can burn bright without fizzling out

Why do some speakers endure the test of time while others fade quickly?

Angela and Richard have seen the full range of careers for speakers — from the great to the not-so-great. They’ve found that the difference is strategic, long-term thinking. The speakers who play the long game, sacrifice their fee in strategic settings, work on projects with long-term potential even if they don’t come with big short-term gains, are all vital.

The other difference? Innovation. A willingness to reinvigorate and innovate on their speaking business day-in and day-out is what makes a speaking career that lasts.

[14:59] - The Dos and Don’ts of Contacting Bureaus

How to make a powerful connection

With a bureau as successful — and busy! — as Executive, the sad truth is that cold emails and calls often have to be disregarded. That highlights the importance of the “connection before the connection,” the contact that can give you a warm introduction to someone at a bureau you’re pursuing.

Further, bureau leaders want to see speakers who have invested in their careers. They want to see diligence, progress, and tenacity in continuously building their brand, message, and client list.

[23:35] - From Early Traction to Massive Acceleration

How to move from growing to flowing

What things have Richard and Angela seen that turn early, promising speakers into rocketships to massive success?

Often, according to Richard, it comes down to that extra commitment to marketing. They may have a dedicated marketing team to develop a campaign, improve their assets, or reach new audiences.

SEO can also be important to help with discovery, as can honing in on specific niches. The basics like testimonials also provide a strong foundation for future momentum.

[26:04] - Exclusive or Not?

When to go exclusive in your bureau relationship

Richard and Angela outline some of the key considerations when determining the right time to go exclusive with a bureau.

If you have momentum, you’re struggling to manage your career on your own, and you’re commanding fees in the $15K-$20K range but want to bump up to $25K and beyond, then an exclusive partnership can help take you to that next level.

That said, you must find a bureau that “gets” you, that has a vision for what you do, and which genuinely cares about your message and approach.

RESOURCES:

[1:49] The Executive Story

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Follow Josh Linkner:

ABOUT MIC DROP:

Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter it’s starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.

Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com

ABOUT THE HOST:

Josh Linkner is a Creative Troublemaker. He believes passionately that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.

Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.

Today, Josh serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession with greasy pizza.

Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com

Episode Transcription

Richard Schelp:

So people will always claim that we're a mid-range size bureau when we're not anymore. Now we're a large bureau, we just don't have George W. Bush as an exclusive, but we generate the kind of volumes and numbers that those people with the exclusives generate. So I think that's an area where I believe a lot of people underestimate us.

Josh Linkner:

Hey, Mic Drop enthusiast, Josh Linkner here. Delighted to be bringing you season two of Mic Drop. I love our conversations with speakers and industry leaders alike so we can unpack the industry and we can all perform better. Let's get after it and get better together.

Maria Cairo:

Mic Drop is brought to you by ImpactEleven, the most diverse and inclusive community built for training and developing professional speakers to get on bigger stages at higher fees with greater impact faster.

They're not just elevating an industry that we all know and love. They work with thousands of speakers to launch and scale their speaking businesses, accelerating time success, earning tens of millions in speaking fees, landing bureau representation, securing book deals, and rising to the top of the field.

To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impacteleven.com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

On today's episode of Mic Drop, I sit down with Angela and Richard Schelp, the dynamo husband and wife team that runs Executive Speakers Bureau. Their Memphis-based bureau is on a growth tear, nearly tripling their size over the last seven years. With humble roots dating back to 1993, Executive is now one of the largest and most respected speaker bureaus on the planet. Angela and Richard are also dear friends and all around wonderful human beings. They've enjoyed massive success while maintaining the highest standards of integrity, care for others, and deep commitment to professionalism. They serve clients, speakers, and team members with huge hearts and a little dose of southern hospitality.

In today's conversation, we explore the winning moves of keynote speakers that stand the test of time rather than quickly fizzle out; the dos and don'ts of bureau outreach; how to optimally connect with a new bureau agent and forge a lasting relationship; how do speakers who are up and running best scale their practice to that magic $1 million per year mark, and from there, take it beyond; and also the ins and outs of exclusive representation, who's a fit and what you should do when considering a partnership. We also ponder the future of the speaking business, the impact of artificial intelligence, and get a peek behind the curtain of the juggernaut known as Executive Speakers Bureau.

Angela and Richard Schelp, welcome to Mic Drop.

Richard Schelp:

Thank you for having us.

Angela Schelp:

Thank you, Josh. We're excited to be on.

Josh Linkner:

Awesome. Well, the two of you have built one of the most successful, respected, prominent bureaus in our industry. I've had the great honor to be friends with you and have had worked with you for like 15 years, and it seems that every time when I think that you have reached a level that you couldn't get further, you keep blowing past it. So I really wanted to start a little bit so people understand your story, how you got the bureau off the ground, and how you keep sort of reinventing and growing. So maybe just give us a little bit of the backdrop of how you started it and how you got to where we are today.

Angela Schelp:

We've come a long way from those days in 1993. I got started. Richard and I were both at IBM back in the day, and one of us wanted to leave and do something different, and so we chose to have me go first. At that point I started just, of course, one person working out of my house, and just kind of grew it from there. Back then, there was no internet, so I had to make personal calls, go visit companies, local companies like FedEx, and really build from there. Went to NSA, got to know the speakers at NSA, and use those speakers and the topics that they were focused on at that time, and sold those to local companies. But then as time went on and the internet came along, grew bigger, finally Richard was able to join as well. Since then, we have just grown leaps and bounds. Every year we're looking for new changes, what we can do different, and I think that's what really makes us stand out, is we try to stay ahead of what's coming next.

Richard Schelp:

Yeah, and I agree with everything you're saying. We never consider something as we go along a challenge or an issue or whatever. It's more of just another change that we go through over a period of time. So right now, as you mentioned, we are about three times the size that we were seven or eight years ago, and it just continues to explode. And as you probably know from our most recent conversations, we went from a headquarter-based organization to now we have people in more than a dozen different states all across the United States as well as a person in Toronto. And that's not going to slow down. We are going to continue to do those kind of things, and we get our employees involved in what we do as well.

Angela Schelp:

I would say, our employees, really and truly, and I know I feel like the mom here and I've got the best kids, but we have the best employees that you could ever imagine. They're just great. They all love what they do. They're bought in. They're invested, and they do. They come up with great ideas as well, and we are so fortunate for that.

Richard Schelp:

Absolutely.

Josh Linkner:

It's funny, and I love the way you speak about your team, and it really actually speaks to the two of you because you built a culture where people love what they do. You build a culture where people can share their best ideas, and they're showing up in their best way because you've given them the platform and the opportunity to do so. One of the things that I love about you two is that you're in Memphis, I'm in Detroit, so people often underestimate folks that aren't in the coasts.

Angela Schelp:

Yes.

Josh Linkner:

Maybe they're like, "Oh, these guys in Memphis." And the fact that you're playing at the highest levels, you're winning consistently. I just love it when someone who perhaps is underestimated, ultimately carries the day. What else do you think people misunderstand about you? What do they get wrong? What are the myths that we can bust about Executive Speakers Bureau?

Richard Schelp:

Well, I think a lot of it goes to the underdog role that we're in, underestimate, because one of the things too is that the bureaus that have the really high profile exclusives get most of the attention, and people assume that those are the highest volume bureaus. So people will always claim that we're a mid-range size bureau when we're not anymore. Now we're a large bureau, we just don't have George W. Bush as an exclusive, but we generate the kind of volumes and numbers that those people with the exclusives generate. So I think that's an area where I believe a lot of people underestimate us.

Angela Schelp:

I agree. I think because we have the same philosophy that you do, Josh, I mean, we are on it. I mean, if we get a lead in, if a client calls, we are absolutely the fastest to respond. We've always been that way. We are there 24/7 for our clients, and they know it, and so they come back over and over and over. Sometimes if they go off and they book through somebody else, the next year they come back because they'll say, "Service wasn't the same. Response time wasn't the same." And I think they know how invested we are, so that's why our clients just continue to come back to us. Again, because we've built that culture, we instill that in our employees, and so it just continues to grow as we've added more salespeople as well.

Richard Schelp:

I'll go back to what you were talking about. You coming from Detroit, us coming from Memphis, a lot of people here, Angela's Southern accent, I don't really have one. But anyway, they'll hear that little Southern accent and they'll say, "Oh, well, these guys, they can't possibly know as much as the people who are in D.C. or New York or Los Angeles." And then they start working with us and they actually find out that we know more, which is incredible. And that's part of our pride thing, is that we tell employees on the very first day that they join us, that one of our goals is that everybody is to know as much as they can about the industry, not just who we exclusively represent or who's on our website, but everything about the industry.

Angela Schelp:

I was going to say, I think too, just feeding off of what Richard said, we honestly, if we're working with a client, we are going to give them the best recommendations. So it may be one of our Exclusives, but also it could be one of Washington or one of Premiers or somebody else's because we are going to look at what that client wants and we are going to find the best speaker, and we don't worry about the commissions or the price or anything like that. Money always works out in the end, so we don't worry about that. We give them what's absolutely best for that client at that time.

Richard Schelp:

Yep, that is correct.

Josh Linkner:

It's such a great model, not only for you and your success, which I'm so happy for, but for speakers as well. I see often there's two types of speakers: one who's playing the short game and one who's playing the long game.

Angela Schelp:

Exactly.

Josh Linkner:

The short game is, grab every dollar, do whatever you got to do, and what ends up happening is they really get burned later on. They build a bad reputation. You're exactly the polar opposite. The way you built your business is based on integrity and generosity and kindness and contribution and leadership in the industry. And Angela, exactly as you said, the money will take care of itself, and I've always believed that. Money will follow if you do the right thing. It doesn't lead. It's a good segue, I think, when I think about the speaking industry, and you've seen speakers shoot up and fizzle out, you've seen people make it for the long-term, what are some of the characteristics, maybe some of those we talked about, and if you could even build on that, that the speakers that you see that endure the test of time? What are they doing that's different than those that might fizzle out?

Angela Schelp:

You want to start?

Richard Schelp:

Yeah, I'll start. First of all, all the things you described are part of what they do. People who play the long game, people who are willing to sacrifice their fee potentially when it makes sense, or they're willing to work on a project that maybe is a little questionable but it might be a good investment for them in the long haul, all those kinds of things are very important. But then to me, I think one of the most important things is how much they reinvigorate their speaking business. They innovate their speaking business. They don't just stay the same person doing the same thing that they did today as time period goes. Now, you can't make a total shift. You can't all of a sudden be known as a great innovator that has a musical background to being, well, I'm actually an NBA star now. Now, you can't do that. But what you can do is slowly migrate and reinvent yourself over a period of time. And that has been pure success for most people. And that's what we encourage our exclusives to do because don't just sit there, continue to evolve. That's what we've done as a business is continue to evolve. We don't look the same way we did five years ago, 10 years ago, et cetera, even though we have the same core values. But that's what each speaker needs to do. And if you migrate over time, people don't notice that you've changed. They just know that you've become better.

Josh Linkner:

Such good advice.

Angela Schelp:

No, I agree. I think reinventing yourself after a while, I think continuing to stay current and being flexible, like Richard said. When we are working with a big client, we're looking at the long-term. And they may need a discount, but they are looking at doing five or six events, we need people to be flexible with us because we know that, in the long run, it's a great event. And I think just having flexibility at times and, again, staying current and reinventing when you need to, I think those are great things.

Richard Schelp:

And one other thing I would add, don't panic when the challenges come. The people who stay the course, they... Okay, maybe it's a pandemic that hits, maybe it's high inflation, whatever. Don't panic in those situations. Just ride it out, do what you know is best, and it'll work its way through. And speakers that do that are best. I've seen some that just are going crazy and they're frenetic because, oh, we're facing this terrible thing. Or they're having a little letdown in their business. Don't panic. Stick with what works and try to reinvent yourself.

Angela Schelp:

I think the pandemic was a great example because we firsthand saw the speakers that jumped in immediately, learned to do virtual, and they were collaborating with each other and with us. I mean, we were talking to speakers all over collaborating, okay, how do we do this? How do we do that? And I think those speakers are the ones that jumped out and made it versus the others that just sat back and the whole time just kept feeling sorry for themselves and didn't do anything. So you saw a big difference there.

Richard Schelp:

But that really goes across everything.

Angela Schelp:

It does.

Richard Schelp:

You have speakers that did that, you have agencies and bureaus that did that, and you have clients that did that. I had to do pep talks with clients to say, "Get out of the corner and take the blanket off your head."

Angela Schelp:

That's right.

Richard Schelp:

The world is still here-

Angela Schelp:

It's going to be okay.

Richard Schelp:

... and let's be part of it. You know?

Angela Schelp:

That's right.

Josh Linkner:

Well, they always say the measure of people's character is not when times are good, but when there's times of struggle and adversity. And I think you guys have really done that in the way you've led through a difficult time in our industry and come out stronger on the other end. And a question for you, many speakers, especially getting started, really want to connect with bureaus. It's sort of like if you were a Hollywood agent and someone is an actor, they want to get in touch with you. So I know you're besieged with people wanting to team up with you and the team. What are some of the things that people do right? And what are some of the common mistakes that people make when trying to initiate and build a working relationship with your team?

Angela Schelp:

I think the hardest thing is because we get so many emails and phone calls from people just cold calling, reaching out, most of those now they just get deleted. We don't even look at them. And I hate it because I'm sure that there's some gems out there we're missing, but we just don't have the time. And I think the best way is if they come through somebody that we work with a lot, say. Or even if they came to us and said, "I've been at Impact Eleven and here's some of the things I learned and I wanted to share and..."

Anything where we feel like they've invested in their career and they've come to us, that's really big. If a speaker recommends them, the most important, I think, is if a client recommends them to us. They bring a deal to us, like we've talked about before, and say, "I am so sure that you're going to be happy with what I'm doing that I'm bringing this deal to you so you can see what it's like to work with me." And I love that. And then it does give us an opportunity. But I think the hardest is when they just reach out cold call or cold email.

Richard Schelp:

Well, yeah. And I would totally agree with what Angela is saying. I mean, first of all, I always say, if you want to get our attention, bring a friend that we know. So that could be Josh Linkner recommended you. It could be a client. Oh, that's huge if a client brings you to the table. We will take those meetings. We will take those calls because we know and it's been vetted in our opinion. That's really part of the key. We literally, and probably shock you, and I think this is common for all the large bureaus, we get at least about 5,000 of these a year. And so when you have that many, you just can't look at even a fraction. It's literally impossible. But I think people get very creative. And I'm not going to say the name of the speaker, but I have to tell you that I appreciate their creativity in trying to get in touch with us.

It can be all kinds of things. They'll send us junk in the mail. They'll send us little trinkets. They'll try to call, they'll get somebody that, yeah, I mean, I've even had them drop a balloon from the sky for us or whatever. But one of the things that I thought was the most hilarious is a speaker called and left me this message. He said, "Richard," he said, "I have two main goals in my life. And that is to climb Mount Everest and get a return call back from you. Right now, I'm not sure which one is going to happen, but I think it's more likely that I will climb Everest." And so just that creativity gets your attention. And so I think that's also a way that people can approach us as well.

Angela Schelp:

I agree.

Josh Linkner:

And you called him back, I assume?

Richard Schelp:

Yes.

Josh Linkner:

Good, good. That's great.

Angela Schelp:

I do suggest, because it's interesting, if somebody does finally get through to us, we need to have everything right there. So, I mean, we may have 10 seconds to look at an email. So it's important that we have a video clip and the speech, everything right there so it's simple. I can just glance at it and see, click on the link and go. And then if it's something I want to invest more time in, I can do that. But if I have to all of a sudden email back and say, "Well, could you send me this and could you send me that?" Then that even takes it down to a lower [inaudible 00:19:27].

Josh Linkner:

Exactly right.

Richard Schelp:

Well, and it's really just already being a professional. So the speaker's already truly being professional, understanding what they need to have. I need to have a good video and a clip ready for them to look at. I need to have my fee structure set up before them. I need to have some program descriptions that they can look at and some bio information. Having that ready for us is huge, and that's being a true professional. Some of the people that approach us that'll call into our office or whatever, they know nothing of what they need. And that's not the time to talk to us.

Maria Cairo:

Becoming a keynote speaker is an amazing profession. The top performers earn millions while driving massive impact for audiences around the world. But the quest to speaking glory can be a slow rut with many obstacles that can knock even the best speakers out of the game. If you're serious about growing your speaking business, the seasoned pros at Impact Eleven can help. From crafting your ideal positioning to optimizing your marketing effectiveness to perfecting your expertise and stage skills. As the only speaker training and development community run by current high-level speakers at the top of the field, they'll boost your probability of success and help you get there faster. That's why nearly every major speaker bureau endorses and actively participates in Impact Eleven. The Impact Eleven community provides you unparalleled access to the people, relationships, coaching, and accountability that compresses your time to success. To learn more about the Impact Eleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's Impact E-L-E-V-E-N.com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

Yeah. You only get a chance to make a first impression once. And we always say you have to be bureau ready. And there are requisite assets that you need. You can't say, "Oh, dude, I'm working on my video." I mean, you have to have it ready to go, and professional grade photography and testimonials. So a friend of mine in the bureau community said something to me I really liked. He said, "Bureaus are great. Once you've got a little momentum to accelerate momentum. They're not necessarily there to help you from a dead stop." And I think that your comments really support that as actually, Angela, when you were talking, it reminded me, I've forgotten this until just now, but I think the first opportunity we collaborated, I probably introduced myself or whatever. But I think I brought you a deal.

And so for anyone that's listening to say, "Oh, should I really do this?", back to this notion of playing the long game, I remember it was the University of Michigan hired me for some speech. And I think I called up and did this with Pam on your team, who's awesome and lovely, by the way. But what ended up happening is that was the beginning of what's blossomed into not only a professional relationship but a friendship over more than a decade. And I think when someone does that, you're not buying your way into a bureau, to be clear.

I think what you're doing is you're going with a sense of partnership. And you're there to serve and contribute, not just take. And the other thing I think, what does it say about you if you're doing this with a bureau? Number one, that you have demand. That people want to hire you to give speeches, that's a good sign. Number two, Richard, to your point, that you're ready. You're a professional already at that point. And number three, you're approaching it with a sense of long-term partnership, not near-term shorthand gain. So I think it's a terrific strategy. And I'm glad that we're sitting here today perhaps as a small result of that.

Richard Schelp:

Well, I love-

Angela Schelp:

I love that, yes.

Richard Schelp:

... what you said, Josh, there because one of the key things is collaboration. And that begins a level of collaboration between you and the bureau because even if you become an exclusive of that bureau eventually, it's all about collaboration. They're going to bring you deals and you're going to bring them deals, and it's going to be a sharing environment. And so collaboration's at the key. And that's a good way to start saying, "Not only am I going to bring you something, but I'm going to tell you I'm a collaborator."

Josh Linkner:

When you think about speakers that now have some momentum, maybe they're doing, I'm just making up a half a million dollars a year in speaking revenue, and they want to get up to a million. What are some of the things that you've seen speakers do when they've got a little bit of traction that they start to really continue to climb the mountain and accelerate their business?

Richard Schelp:

Part of it that we see is adding an extra level of marketing to it. They may elicit a marketing team or whatever to develop a campaign for them to help them with their assets and improve their assets, whether that's their video, their website, those kinds of things. They will develop using an expert in that way to help them. Also, they start to concentrate a little bit on SEO. One of the things speakers don't do a lot of times, is they go about their business and they do everything the traditional way, but they don't realize that if you do like some of the bureaus do and set up SEO properly, you're going to get searches that are going to come your way and you're going to get a lot easier leads. When people start, they've gotten the basics done, then they use some things like that to go to the next level usually.

Angela Schelp:

Exactly. I'll just feed off of that. I would take that too as, as they're working in different industries and they've found some industries where they've gotten really good feedback, take that, really dig deep into that industry, and you can use the SEO and extra marketing campaigns to go after that. Clients like to see when you have been successful in their industry and you've obviously done that research in their industry, then they feel like you really know who they are. You can build momentum that way. I think that's why you see a lot of speakers that go in certain niches because they've really taken that and built from it. Then once you get your testimonials, it really starts to build in that area. You can go different industries, but I think that's a way that you can dig in and really get that momentum going.

Josh Linkner:

I'd love to switch topics a little bit and talk about exclusives.

Richard Schelp:

Sure.

Josh Linkner:

Many folks who are building their career, obviously not day one, but they've got some momentum and they've either been approached by a bureau or considering an exclusive relationship. I know that you have a good number of exclusives and you also represent folks like me that are non-exclusive, so you're not all or nothing, but could you help us unpack that a little bit? When is a good time for someone to be exclusive? What are the considerations that they might want to think through? What are the pros and cons as someone explores an exclusive relationship, perhaps with ESB or even another bureau? Richard, maybe kick us off with what do you think we should be thinking about in terms of exclusives?

Richard Schelp:

First of all, I love the question. I think it's important to all speakers to eventually you're going to have to think about that in one way or another. You're either going to have to decide that's not something for me or it is something for me.

First of all, I would tell you, it goes back to what you were asking about, when you get to a certain level with your business, when you know your business has reached a level where you have been doing well, but you want to explode it a little bit more. It actually even goes back to what you were saying with one of the other colleagues of ours in the business, mentioning about a bureau can do that. That's when you want to start looking at exclusivity because now you're going to look at it and you're going to say, "Okay, I want to move forward and I want to have exposure to more clients. I want to have exposure to more industries. I want to have exposure to more bureaus in co-brokering arrangements." When that starts to happen, that's when you need to start considering it.

Also, as you're moving forward and you're looking maybe at a higher fee level, maybe you've been working in the 15, 20 level and you know that based on your career in the market you're going to be able to shift up to 25, that's a great time to start looking at bureaus. That's the timing.

As far as pros, cons, I've got to tell you, it's hard for me to say a con, but I think a con is as if you're not a good fit, obviously with that particular bureau. If they don't get you or understand you and they can't really sell you, that's really something to consider. You have to understand is this bureau not only a good fit in what they care about and what they approach, but are they booking similar speakers to me a lot as well as booking me a lot?

I think those are all important, but I think the pro is you get access to a lot of salespeople that are focused on your behalf. You get access to bureau partners that you may not get access to. It's just an increased focus. We love all the speakers that we work with, but we know we have a commitment to those people to really deliver volumes for them. Hopefully, that answered all the things you were talking about, Josh. I tried to.

Angela Schelp:

I'll add in and say, I think once a speaker gets to a level and they're having a hard time handling everything on their own, it's a great time to go to a bureau because we become their consultant, we become their back office, we become the person that helps with the SEO, the marketing, the campaigns, the reaching out to bureaus, and we take all of that on, and it allows them to really go out and focus on their speaking, which is what they do the best. I think that that's a great opportunity once they kind of hit that wall and say, "This is tough for me to do by myself, I need help." That's when we can step in and take that on and help them grow from there.

Josh Linkner:

A couple of follow-up questions because I think you have so much value to share and there's so much confusion on this whole topic for speakers. One, back to the cons for a second. By the way, I'm a huge fan of the model. I am not negative at all, just to be clear, at all.

One of the cons that I think, imagine that we have a fictitious speaker named Jenny, and Jenny is doing a million dollars a year. She's got 70% throughput through bureau, so she's deep in the bureau channel and she's got friends at ESB, but she has friends at Premier, and Leading Authorities, and Big Speak, and wherever else. And so now, she's considering going exclusive with ESB. The questions Jenny, I think would be asking, I'd love your response, how you would counsel Jenny is saying, "Okay, but if I do this, am I going to alienate the folks at Premier? Are the folks at Kepler going to be less likely to book me now because now they know I'm an ESB exclusive? Am I going to damage relationships that I've worked hard to cultivate with other bureaus because now I'm wearing the ESB jersey?" How do you think someone should think through those potential, I'm not saying they are, but potential cons of an exclusive relationship?

Richard Schelp:

Well, I would say first of all, that is one of the biggest ones that we get when we're talking to people about it. Actually, I heard that from a speaker two days ago, so there you go. It's that appropriate what you just asked.

I think first of all, it's our approach that makes it unique in this particular instance. Not all bureaus do this. We do this, and it's two really big areas that keep the relationships going. Number one, we offer a much higher commission percentage to the bureau partnering bureaus that incense them to continue the relationship with that speaker because they're not giving away money that they used to get. Maybe they used to get 25%. Some bureaus are only giving 10. Yes, that's a huge dropdown, but we don't do that. We continue to keep the commission percentage up, which is huge.

The second thing, is that really more than anything, I think that we really want to get exposure for them with the other bureaus so we don't limit them to their appearance on our website. If they're currently on a dozen websites, we want them to be on 20 websites. We want it to be more better. We want it to be easier for the bureaus that we partner with. To me, part of this whole overcoming that objection, is the fact that we've taken it to a different level in exclusivity. That's usually my answer to people when they bring that up. Ang?

Angela Schelp:

No, I agree. That's why we went to that model. When we first started taking on exclusives, we didn't want to limit our exclusives because we feel that it is our job to help those speakers get as many bookings as they can. By taking that and holding them too close to us, we can't do that. But if we open it up and we act more like a manager to them, then we encourage all the bureaus to put them on their sites and we give bigger commissions. We are their cheerleaders in the background. We want them to be the best they can be. That's where we stand out a little bit different than some of the other bureaus.

Josh Linkner:

It's such a good model and it speaks to, I think, who you two are as human beings too, which is open, and collaborative, and not controlling, and all that. I am not surprised that you embrace it, and I think it's a really smart business move.

The other one I'll just say, as we're talking about you specifically, is your integrity. I think if I'm another bureau and I think, "Oh, bureau X is representing some speaker, but they're shady, and they're going to steal my client, and they have low integrity," that's going to create friction in the marketplace, and perhaps they won't recommend the speaker anymore. If they're working on the end with you, no one's going to say that because you've consistently, over 20 plus years, demonstrated the highest levels of integrity. I think just who you are alleviates that concern altogether.

One other concern though I'd love you to touch on would be the, okay, I've got the ESB sales team really focused on me. This is Jenny. Jenny, now she's signed up. The concern Jenny has next is I'm going to cycle through all of their key clients. They're really big with these eight key clients. I'm going to get a bunch of bookings real quick so I have a great year one or two, but then I've been through all their clients and maybe they don't want to hire me back even if I was terrific. Do I start to fizzle later on because they've already booked me with all their key relationships? How should Jenny think about that concern?

Angela Schelp:

To me, we continue to generate new leads constantly. Because we put so much into SEO, we are getting new leads all the time, so we're continuing to market our speakers to all new clients. I think we have so many clients. Between our 12 reps that we have, we have so many clients that it's hard to run out. It's not like we have eight clients and that's all we've got, but I think there's so many and there's so many opportunities that I don't see it being limiting.

Richard Schelp:

Well, we're not just... Even though I do a lot in the healthcare industry, we are cross industry. We're cross types of organizations. It's one of the beauties of how we develop our sales reps beneath us, is that they all have their own business within our business. They have developed their own book of clients. It is a wide diverse group of clients that we have across the board: From the largest corporations, to small nonprofits, to associations, et cetera. That's one way. Totally agree with Ang on that.

The other thing is that we start to, if we think there's a gap with somebody, so for instance, maybe we're not getting as much attention from the speakers bureaus. We've got some exclusives where we get huge attention from the bureaus, lots of co-brokers, and then others we're not getting as much, so then we start to work on some of our tactics to help get them exposure to those bureau teams. Maybe we do a little swap back and forth like what we've done with Eagles Talent, where one of our speakers presents to their sales team and one of their speakers presents to our sales team. We do things like we'll have a speaker when they're in the city, maybe where a bureau is, meet with that particular bureau and get to talk to them and begin conversations. We'll send some promotions out to some of the bureaus, but it's all to cultivate the bureau business outside of executive speakers. So I think it's a wide mass of clients on top of us recognizing when there's a bureau gap, going after that and helping speakers like Jenny, who may think, okay, we're going to go through your clients and then we're done. No, we're never done. We are never done.

Josh Linkner:

I love that. I love your passion. We are never done.

Angela Schelp:

Never done.

Josh Linkner:

Okay, so Jenny is sold. Jenny's like, "Oh my gosh, you solved it. I'm in. This is awesome." Now Jenny's had two dreams, climb Mount Everest and be represented exclusively by Executive Speakers Bureau. So now switching gears and going back to your side of the table, how do you determine if somebody is a good fit? In other words, I know there's way more people that want to be your exclusives than can be. How do you decide who's a good fit, both in terms of cultural attributes and topical areas or fee range? What are the criteria that you're looking at to decide if Jenny's going to make the cut?

Angela Schelp:

I would say a couple of different things. Yes, culture-wise, it has to fit. It has to be somebody also that's ethical and fits within our culture. That's a must. We do want them to come to us already booking a certain number per year so that we feel like they've been out there, they've been vetted. Most of the time it's somebody that we've been working with quite a bit. As you know, Richard and I are still heavily involved in selling, which helps as we're running everything because we are coming across speakers and we know what is really fitting with our clients. So I think that's a lot of it is it somebody that we feel like we can book enough to where they're going to be happy? They're already booking things on their own, so it's a good match and it's a good match culturally.

Richard Schelp:

The other things that I would add, I totally agree with everything Ang said, but a couple other things. Number one, we do head in a couple of different topic areas a lot. One is just general motivational speakers, people like Everest climbers, Navy SEALs, those kind of things. And then we have individuals that have been heavily in the corporate area, that have been there, done that. Maybe they've been big entrepreneurs, maybe they've been executives with large companies. But most of our exclusives right now tend to flow between the 15 and $40,000 range is where most of them are. And then we've got a couple that are above that. But in general, it's that pricing area, as well as those two areas that I think most of our people are. And then they may specialize in things like innovation or leadership, dealing with change or whatever, but they fit into those two pockets.

Josh Linkner:

Makes a ton of sense. I think you've given us such a good view into this exclusive relationship. Thank you for sharing that. As we round out our conversation and think to the future, the world is changing dramatically, and of course our industry is changing dramatically as well. You've got AI popping in, you've got virtual, I mean there's all kinds of tech stuff and customer needs are changing. The demands on stage, what people want is changing. As you whip out your crystal ball and think about the next five years, what are you seeing are some of the larger trends in our industry that speakers should be aware of? And what advice do you have for people to respond to those changes?

Angela Schelp:

I see AI as being a huge part of our industry. I don't know exactly how it's all going to take over and work in our industry, but I think that that's an area that we're starting to really dig in and invest in. And I think that's where we're going to see a lot go, with AI on our websites, mobile apps, all different types of things there. So I can see us doing that. We were talking about this some yesterday too. It's just speaker fees are continuing to go up dramatically. Clients' budgets are not. And I think that that we're going to see at some point's got to even out. After the pandemic, we saw such a skyrocketing of fees, which the clients weren't expecting at all. So I think that's been a challenge for us, trying to meet that. So it'll be interesting to see where those go and if they end up leveling out, but I see that's going to be something that we've got to work through going forward. What do you see?

Richard Schelp:

Yeah, going back, I'll go back to the AI thing here for a second. I think that speakers, bureaus, anybody who's in the industry will need to utilize AI to make themselves more efficient in what they do. Because I think whether it's creating a new speech, whether it's responding with a proposal for a client, whatever, those type of things, we need to start thinking about how AI can be mapped into there because it makes us better, easier, faster, and better able to respond. So I think there's going to be a lot of applications in that area that's going to be huge for all of us. And quite frankly, our clients are going to get involved in that and their conferences are going to get involved in that as well.

I think one of the things that's going to be very significant over time ... We know that everybody jumped out when we finally could all go back in person. We've seen so many events, it's crazy. And some people are coming back and saying, "Well, I'm not getting as many people at my events." Other people are saying, "Hey, it's just great." I think we still need to see the dust settle as to what that really means. And I think that that's going to be important as we go along. But I think all of us that are in the industry, speakers, bureaus, et cetera, there's still going to be plenty of business out there for those of us who operate as professionals, those of us who do things the right way, make themselves better all the time, focus on excellence and quality. There will always be business for all of us. And that's an important thing to think about as we go over time.

Angela Schelp:

I think too, after the pandemic, people debated on the holograms and virtual before, but I think after the pandemic, we saw how much people craved just the personal connection being together and having the speakers truly on site with them. And I think that that to me was a great thing to see, that we craved that so much, because I can see us going forward, they're going to continue to want the speakers and their people in person and having them together. So, I love to know that. I think that's a great positive for our industry, knowing that we're heading off into the future with our clients wanting us to all be together.

Josh Linkner:

What a beautiful place to bring our conversation to a close. Richard, what you were saying there for advice for speakers, operate with integrity. There's always room for true professionals that are service-focused and do the right thing. I just want to, again, on behalf of our entire industry, share some gratitude to the way that you are not only winning, but leading the industry and modeling what it means to not only be great professionals but great human beings. We're grateful for the partnership and friendship, grateful for your time today, and wishing you continued success as you scale the mountain. And as you said Richard, many times, I know you're not done. You're never going to be done. I can only imagine the new heights that you'll reach together as you grow your beautiful company. Thank you to both of you.

Angela Schelp:

Thank you so much.

Richard Schelp:

Thank you, Josh.

Angela Schelp:

Appreciate it, Josh.

Richard Schelp:

Appreciate the kind words too.

Angela Schelp:

Thank you.

Richard Schelp:

Thank you so much.

Angela Schelp:

Yes, thank you so much.

Josh Linkner:

Too often, good things happen to bad people or bad things happen to good people. Today's conversation with Angela and Richard warms my heart, knowing that great things can happen to great people. Some highlights that really stood out for me. Number one, I love the contrast between short-term versus long-term thinking. A great reminder for us to play the long game if we really want to soar in this field. Number two, the conversation around exclusive representation was fascinating. The old model of control, split commission and combative co brokering has melted into a much more open and constructive approach. It makes me think that a modern exclusive relationship may be a terrific option for many speakers today. And number three, in a high-tech world, it's so cool to see that good old-fashioned care and service and responsiveness and integrity still mean something. I love that this hyper growth team has refused to change who they are, and in fact, that warmth has fueled their success.

Underdogs know more. Angela and Richard continue to play at the absolute top of the field. And their commitment to excellence, along with plenty of warmth and love, will keep them there. I'm grateful for their friendship. I'm grateful for their industry leadership. I'm grateful that they set a model how to be competitive while still being a good person. And I'm grateful for their contribution today here on Mic Drop.

Thanks so much for joining me on another episode of Mic Drop. Don't forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. If you love the show, please share it with your friends and don't forget to give us a five star review. For show transcripts and show notes, visit micdroppodcast.com. I'm your host, Josh Linkner. Thanks so much for listening, and here's to your next mic drop moment.