Are you having a lag in productivity? Does your workforce seem stressed out and in need of a mental boost? You may be considering hiring a motivational speaker to come put some of that zip and drive back into your employees.

Motivational speakers are people who are paid to come speak at your work. You may use them just on their own, or as the key note speaker for a conference or team-building workshop. They can be someone who has succeeded in business athletics or some other field, someone famous, or someone who is just really good at getting the best out of people.

If you find the right speaker, you will see a marked improvement not only in performance but also in general morale. Instead of sitting around the water cooler gossiping or complaining about work and family, they’ll be talking about they’ve learned, coming up with new ideas, and lighting a fire under each other to get more accomplished.

In order to get the most out of a motivational speech, you need to find a speaker that meets the needs of your company or workforce. While there are some problems that show up in almost every work environment, each workplace is unique. If your workers are having problems because they aren’t working together, a speaker talking about finding motivation isn’t going to help much. You have to tailor your solution to your problems.

In addition to increasing the productivity and morale of your workforce, if used properly, motivational speakers can also help promote your company and encourage new hires to want to come aboard. Often you can take speakers and use their speeches for recruiting videos, and even as training videos for new hires. They can also be used in materials for potential investors to show how you motivate your workers and emphasize your company philosophy. Of course, use of the speech is something you need to check on with your potential speakers before you hire them.

The biggest con of hiring a motivational speaker at work is probably the money. Depending on who you hire to come in, speakers’ fees can go from reasonable to astronomical. Not only will you have to pay their fees and sometimes expenses, you will also lose profit from lack of working during their speech. And no speaker is going to guarantee a rise in productivity or profits after they’ve made their speech.

Even if a speaker does motivate your workforce and raise productivity, it’s probably not going to last forever. The luster of a speech fades with time. If you want to keep the boost going, you’re going to have to make a plan to continually remind people of the speaker (and this is hit and miss on whether it will work).

If you put thought and effort behind it, choose an appropriate speaker, and back up their presentation with further learning and support, you’re probably going to notice a big difference in your workers, and in your company as a whole.