The $10K Speech Blueprint Part 4: Prestige Pricing

To become a high-value speaker, the quality of your speech is paramount. The saleability of your Core Message is important. Knowing how to generate demand? Indispensable. And your ability to deliver a reliable, entertaining, and insightful performance is vital. 

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But many new speakers forget one essential quality almost all highly sought-after professional speakers possess. They’re extremely easy to work with. 

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After first testing your content's viability, then iterating your speech to create demand, and finally turning it into an entertaining and insightful performance, you’re ready to tackle the last step in the $10K Speech Blueprint. 

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This last step is one of the most valuable strategies you can implement to be easy to work with. This powerful tool, masterminded by top Keynote Speaker and Author Andrew Davis, simplifies the negotiation process, increases your value even further, and can even turn you into the key player at almost any event. 

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It’s a valuable pricing strategy that can get your speech to $10k, then take it far beyond that. It’s called Happy Meal Pricing. 

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What Is Happy Meal Pricing? 

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Happy Meal Pricing takes its genius from the McDonald's marketing strategy, where multiple menu items are bundled together for one simple price. Instead of ordering a burger or chicken nuggets, fries, a drink, and a toy separately, it all comes in one convenient and customizable package (of course, with the signature yellow smiley face on the box). 

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Here at HEROIC, we encourage speakers to take that same pricing approach: group all your speaker-related services and expenses into one comprehensive, all-inclusive package. 

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Rather than presenting your keynote, flight, hotel, book cases, promotional videos, and other services separately (or as add-ons, upsells, and customizations), you present it all as one clean number that covers everything your client might need.

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Instead of making your client feel like they’re being upsold for your additional services, with this pricing strategy you show that you understand their needs and make them feel like they’re getting a fantastic deal because of the value you’re going to provide. It makes you much more appealing to event organizers and much easier to work with.

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Most importantly, this all-inclusive fee positions you as a genuine event partner, not just a speaker. You won't merely appear for your speech and leave; you'll actively engage throughout the event, significantly enhancing the value you provide.

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The Benefits of Packaged Pricing

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I’ve used this pricing technique in different ways over time. I’ll admit that, at the beginning of my speaking career, I used Happy Meal Pricing to look like a bigger speaker than I was. You see, when you show your event organizer the full package, it justifies your speaking fee because it clearly displays all the valuable features that are included. 

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Over time, as I’ve solidified my speaking business, I’ve used this pricing strategy to give the event organizer ideas about different ways we can work together, to solidify business relationships by over-delivering, and to increase my impact at each speaking event. 

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This prestige pricing strategy works like a charm because it allows you to:

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Justify Your Speaking Fee 

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When you first present your Happy Meal Pricing, your event organizer immediately understands that they’re not just getting a speaker who will share a presentation for 45 minutes and then disappear; they’re getting an event partner who will play a valuable role before, during, and after the event. 

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This helps justify your speaking fee because instead of feeling like they’re paying $10K for a 45-minute presentation, they see all the additional and valuable components included in your speaking fee. 

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Adding things like signed copies of your book, author sessions, special VIP events, and extended engagement options can help you increase your fee and overdeliver. Happy Meal Pricing helps you build up your fee and get to $10K faster. 

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I’ve included a VIP cocktail reception the night before the event for the event sponsors as part of my fee. It makes the sponsors feel special because they get to ask questions and meet the speaker in advance. 

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You want to add as much value as you can. Not only does this upscale the event, it also positions you as a prestige speaker and justifies your speaking fee. 

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Negotiate Without Devaluing Your Speech 

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This pricing strategy makes the entire fee conversation as easy as possible. Negotiation is much less complicated, both for you and your event planner. You feel confident you’re getting a fair deal, and your event planner gets a price that works for their event budget. 

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When you quote your full-day fee (everything in your Happy Meal Pricing package) and you sense the event organizer starting to balk at the price, you can easily negotiate to find what works for their budget. Simply respond, “Well, let me see what I can take out of my overall cost, so we can get closer to your budget.”

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This is completely different than saying, “Well, I can lower my price to X amount.” Saying that can make it seem like you’re just pulling numbers out of thin air (and that won’t get you a vote of confidence from your client). 

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On the other hand, when you suggest removing items like your promotional video, cases of books, or the VIP session, your client immediately understands that there's a logical reasoning to the price reduction. It’s not the same speech, just cheaper; it’s an adjusted package with fewer items.

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Since each of these items is assigned a dollar value in your Happy Meal Pricing plan (a dollar value that’s for your eyes only; you don’t need to share it with your event organizer), you can quickly and fairly reduce your fee to fit the event organizer's budget. When you do your research and know your numbers, negotiation becomes much easier and much clearer, both for you and your event planner. 

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By talking out loud about removing value-packed items, you not only give the event planner the impression that you have a high-value, complete experience to deliver, you actually justify your fee without devaluing your speech. 

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Simplify Your Event Organizer’s Decision-Making Process

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No more nickel and diming. No fighting over travel fees. With packaged pricing, the Happy Meal method makes your event organizer’s life so much easier.  

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By giving your client one full price that has everything, you simplify the decision-making process. They know exactly what’s included in your speaking fee, without the unpleasant hidden surprises. 

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Event organizers have a lot on their plate. When you are easy to work with, it makes you the obvious choice, helping you win more gigs and solidify more business relationships. 

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Safeguard Your Fee Integrity 

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Event organizers talk. If one finds out you charged much more to speak at their event than their colleague's event, they might start to wonder why, doubt your integrity, or even feel tricked. Remember, you’re in the relationship business, and integrity is essential for long-lasting and sustainable success. 

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When you have a clear negotiation process and can justify differences in pricing, maintaining fee integrity is simple. Your fees will make sense, not just for one client, but across all the gigs you land.  

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Become the Key Figure at the Event 

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Another fantastic side effect of using Happy Meal Pricing is that you subtly become one of the key figures at the event. In the pre-event promotion video, you’re one of the first faces your event attendees see. 

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At the event, between the VIP cocktail reception, the book signing, your keynote, and the Q&A session, you’re all over the place (in a good way). You become a familiar face and connect with more event attendees. You also have more opportunities for stageside leads. 

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Add the post-event sessions and you’ve successfully made yourself known as the event’s most important figure. As you do this at more and more events, you’ll quickly make a name for yourself in the speaking world, for event organizers, key players in your industry, and your fellow speakers. 

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What to Include in Your Happy Meal Pricing Plan

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So, how do you actually create your Happy Meal Pricing? It’s pretty simple; in fact, we can boil it down to just three steps: 

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Step 1: Decide what you’ll include in your Happy Meal Pricing. 

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Here are a few ideas of value-packed items you might include in your Happy Meal Pricing plan: 

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• 60-minute or 45-minute keynote speech 
• A breakout session 
• A panel discussion 
• A few cases of your books 
• All domestic or international travel expenses (airfare, transportation, lodging) 
• Workbook or handouts 
• VIP cocktail reception 
• Post-event consulting session 

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I’ve included signed books as part of a marketing integration in my Happy Meal Pricing. Everyone who registered for the event by a certain day received a signed complimentary copy of my book. 

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By helping organizers use your books as registration incentives, you become increasingly valuable. You’re helping build anticipation for the event, fill seats, and make your event organizer look like a hero in the eyes of higher-ups. 

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In an interview with HEROIC CEO Josh Staske, Kim Campbell mentioned she includes a book signing as well as a virtual post-event book-club discussion as part of her Happy Meal Pricing plan. This is another fantastic way to add value and create stronger connections, both with readers and event organizers.