Buyer's Remorse: Signs & Solutions

Gail Davis, 23 February 2023

Buyer’s remorse happens to the best of us. We spend too much on a car and regret it. We go to an upscale restaurant and let our expectations prevent us from enjoying the meal making us extra critical of the service.

I want to share the top four signs of buyer's remorse in speaker selection along with possible solutions.

You selected the wrong speaker - and you know it.

We all make decisions to the best of our ability. Sometimes budget drives the final decision of selecting a speaker. Sometimes the event theme or pressure from an internal stakeholder. You have already contracted a speaker and start to realize that this is the wrong speaker for this event. What do you do? The TRUTH is the best place to start. Hopefully you have a long term relationship with your bureau partner whom you can honestly voice your concerns. No speaker wants to be set up for failure. It is important to articulate why you no longer believe this is the right choice.

Possible solutions include paying in full to meet your contractual obligations or looking at other opportunities in your organization to see if it might be possible to shift this speaker to another event.

You have selected the right speaker - but others are second guessing you.

First, ground yourself in the facts. Be clear on the theme, objective, budget of the event and what criteria was factored in making the decision. Also remember what recommendations were considered and be clear in explaining why this speaker is a good fit. Some people just like to play “Monday morning quarterback”. You will gain respect as a content creator when you can hold strong to those who second guess you. It is part of the territory. Be curious - why are they concerned? Listen and address those concerns when appropriate on your pre-event call with the speaker. 

You have selected a speaker - but are concerned about getting a customized presentation.

Whatever you do - DO NOT over coach the speaker. This is a recipe for disaster. Speakers are hired for their expertise. The purpose of a pre-event call is to brief the speaker on your organization and audience. As you lay out the landscape, they will tailor their content. A custom speech allows the speaker to use their content with an obvious acknowledgement of your organization. This may include specific industry examples and use of industry terms. A custom speech is NOT you telling the speaker what to present.

Knowing you have spent a lot of money, you start asking for extras that were not contracted.

I love the saying, “The reason we have agreements is to avoid disagreements.” It is best to ask for extras upfront to ensure they are contracted. There is no obligation on the speaker’s part to honor any requests that are not in the contract. Remember the most important part of the experience is the time the speaker is on the stage addressing the audience. Be sure to not wear them out before they get on stage. 

I hope you found these signs of and solutions to buyer’s remorse helpful. At GDA, our goal is to help you hit a homerun with both your decision makers and audience. Our team would love to connect with you to provide more guidance and information on booking keynote speakers for your next event.