A few months ago, I was on a call with a speaker who'd just gotten a lead through Talkadot.

Big keynote. Solid fee. Real opportunity.

Before he asked anything about the lead itself, he asked about us.

"Are you guys going to take this from me?"

I told him no.

But the question stuck with me. Because if he was wondering, others were too.

So I want to walk you through exactly how Talkadot makes money. No marketing voice. No spin. Just the math.
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The Principle

Before the percentages, here's the principle that drives every decision we make:

You own what you build. We earn what we bring.

That's the whole rule.

If you brought the lead, it's yours. We take nothing.

If we brought the lead, we earn a percentage. Because we did the work to find them, match them, and introduce them.

Every scenario below comes from that one principle.

Scenario 1: A prospect reaches out through your profile

You sent your Talkadot profile to a planner. Or they found you through your own marketing. Or a past audience member referred them. Or they scanned your QR code at a talk and filled out your feedback form.

Either way, they came to you because of your work. They click the contact button on your profile. They reach out. You follow up. You close the deal.

‍Our cut: 0%.

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That's your business. Your relationship. Your money. We were just the platform that hosted your profile.

Scenario 2: You want us to handle the back end

Same as Scenario 1. The lead came from your work. But you don't want to spend your time negotiating fees, drafting contracts, chasing payments, coordinating travel, and handling pre-event paperwork.

You want to focus on the talk. Not the admin.

So you reply to the lead notification with one phrase: MANAGE THIS.

Our team takes over the entire booking process. First contact through final payment.

Our cut: 8%.

Optional. If you'd rather handle it yourself, handle it yourself. The lead is still yours. The 8% only kicks in if you ask us to run the close.

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Scenario 3: A planner finds you through our marketplace

A planner goes to our marketplace search. They tell us what they need. We match them to you based on your audience feedback data, your topics, your fee range, your location. We make the introduction.

This is brand new business. Business you wouldn't have gotten without Talkadot.
Our cut: 20% on Pro and Elite tiers. 30% on Lite and Essentials tiers.

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The higher your subscription tier, the lower the marketplace fee. The more you invest in Talkadot, the more you keep.

For context: traditional speaker bureaus typically charge 25-30% on every booking they bring you. Talkadot Pro charges 20%. Talkadot Lite charges 30%. And unlike a bureau, you keep your direct leads at 0%.

The Three Things Speakers Worry About

I'd rather over-explain than leave you wondering. So let me address the three concerns I hear most.

"Are you emailing my leads about other speakers?"

No.

When a planner submits a lead through your profile, that lead goes to you. We don't email them about other speakers. We don't add them to a marketing list for our marketplace. We don't pitch them on alternatives.

The lead is yours. Period.

"Are you sharing my audience data with other speakers?"

No.

The audience feedback you collect through Talkadot is yours. Your testimonials. Your ratings. Your audience emails. Your audience phone numbers. All of it.

We use aggregate, anonymized performance data to power matching in the marketplace. So when a planner searches for "leadership speakers with strong audience ratings in healthcare," our system can surface you based on your verified results. But we don't share your individual audience contacts with other speakers. Ever.

"Are you going to surprise me with fees later?"

No.

The percentages above are the percentages. They're on our pricing page. They're in our terms. There's no platform fee hidden in the fine print. There's no surprise commission on direct leads.

What you see is what you get.

Why This Model Exists

Most platforms charge a flat take rate on everything. Bring the deal, take a cut. Don't bring the deal, take a cut anyway.

We didn't want to build that.

The speaker industry already has enough tollbooths. Bureaus take a cut. Agents take a cut. Lead gen tools take a cut. Some platforms even take a cut on speakers' own email lists and audience data.

We built Talkadot for speakers because we believe the platform should earn its keep, not extract value from work it didn't help create.

If you brought the lead, you keep the money.

If we brought the lead, we earn our share.

If you want us to handle the back end, you can opt in.

You're always in control.

The Bigger Picture

The speaking industry is changing. Event planners are searching with AI. Audience feedback data is becoming the new credibility currency. Platforms that help speakers prove their value with real numbers, not self-reported claims, are going to define the next decade of this industry.

Talkadot is built for that future. We're built to make sure speakers win in it.

Your profile is yours. Your leads are yours. Your business is yours.

We're just here to help more planners find you, more easily.
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