Community dance

[rickryan.com]

We had our 2nd community dance last night at my venue. I'm trying to make this a monthly event, the first Sunday, 5p-8:30p. I have a couple of line dance instructors who do the first hour then we do live band for the remainder. I'm patterning this after another dance at a Methodist church that I worked for several months last year (as a musician). They've been doing theirs weekly for the past 17 years. What surprised me last night was a batch of teenagers who showed up. They said they saw it on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1833096700542227

View: https://www.facebook.com/RickRyanMusic/videos/1833096700542227/

 

[tunes4046]

We had our 2nd community dance last night at my venue. I'm trying to make this a monthly event, the first Sunday, 5p-8:30p. I have a couple of line dance instructors who do the first hour then we do live band for the remainder. I'm patterning this after another dance at a Methodist church that I worked for several months last year (as a musician). They've been doing theirs weekly for the past 17 years. What surprised me last night was a batch of teenagers who showed up. They said they saw it on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1833096700542227

View: https://www.facebook.com/RickRyanMusic/videos/1833096700542227/

That’s good won’t be too many years and they’ll be wedding clients

 

[djtaso]

Tunes is 10000000% spot on. This is your future! SO many of my past Sweet 16 clients have become my current wedding clients. This is where being able to use social media can be a huge advantage. Hire a professional photographer (or your own), have them take photos of people mingling and dancing... post a gallery on fb so they can view em and tag themselves... post them on instagram. New people will follow you... they'll see your other events and then if you did your job well, they'll remember you for years to come. This is literally the tactic I used 15 yrs ago to gain thousands of followers when I was starting out. Did community events, posted a gallery... they started following me so they could see photos from future events.

Go beyond facebook though... instagram and tik tok are bigger platforms to anyone under 30.

 

[rickryan.com]

Tunes is 10000000% spot on. This is your future! SO many of my past Sweet 16 clients have become my current wedding clients. This is where being able to use social media can be a huge advantage. Hire a professional photographer (or your own), have them take photos of people mingling and dancing... post a gallery on fb so they can view em and tag themselves... post them on instagram. New people will follow you... they'll see your other events and then if you did your job well, they'll remember you for years to come. This is literally the tactic I used 15 yrs ago to gain thousands of followers when I was starting out. Did community events, posted a gallery... they started following me so they could see photos from future events.

Go beyond facebook though... instagram and tik tok are bigger platforms to anyone under 30.

I have to say, you guys just opened my eyes. I was excited to see a batch of teenagers walk in the building last and it appears they really enjoyed themselves. I think you're exactly correct, THIS is how to use the property to foster a clientele that will carry forward into wedding events. Now, the question is, how to reach said demographic into making this the HOT place to be?

Thanks for the input fellas. Y'all never fail to dissapoint.

 

[tunes4046]

I have to say, you guys just opened my eyes. I was excited to see a batch of teenagers walk in the building last and it appears they really enjoyed themselves. I think you're exactly correct, THIS is how to use the property to foster a clientele that will carry forward into wedding events. Now, the question is, how to reach said demographic into making this the HOT place to be?

Thanks for the input fellas. Y'all never fail to dissapoint.

You have to make it the cool and hip spot, most won’t continually come to a wedding venue, you current branding will hurt Event center would be a much better description,
Have fun events that cater to them, foam party, nightclub style feel, food and beverage could be huge, but you have to get off the I want a wedding venue mindset, it far to limiting

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Let me say that's a great idea to do this thing on Sundays because how many paying events would you expect on Sundays? I do understand you wanting brand your venue for weddings. You feel that's where the good money is at. That's fine. I do agree with Tunes4046. Don't just limit your venue for weddings alone. The thing I see is set a minimum amount for a client to pay to have their event in your venue.

For example you could have a Sweet 16 in your venue for a certain price. Who's going to pay for the event to be in your venue? The parents. They are the ones who have the money to spend. For those who don't have the money to spend to have that event in your venue, they can look somewhere else.

Another thing I thought of is what Taso does. He has a basic package that just includes him as the DJ and that's it. He has add ons that they want a certain add on they have to pay for it. It's not included in his basic package.

The thing is it has to be attractive enough that people will spend the money to have it at their event. Of course the minimum price has to make sure it will cover the bills that need to be paid so you can keep the venue open. Great idea on adding on a kitchen to the venue.

Let me suggest more pictures of the venue itself inside. What about a picture of the TV in the venue, along with showing the speakers in the venue. Stuff like that. That way people get to see what you can offer at your venue. The TV can be setup to show pictures and videos. Pictures of some things that can enhance the event. For example pictures of a Sweet 16 girl as a little kid up to now. Also the pictures can include other people in them that will be of interest to the birthday girl and others attending the event. If I'm wrong please forgive me.

 

[rickryan.com]

You have to make it the cool and hip spot, most won’t continually come to a wedding venue, you current branding will hurt Event center would be a much better description,
Have fun events that cater to them, foam party, nightclub style feel, food and beverage could be huge, but you have to get off the I want a wedding venue mindset, it far to limiting

So how does that work, financially? I don't see it.

 

[PhaseIIPro]

How many people showed up?

 

[rickryan.com]

How many people showed up?

Not many. Maybe 30. To make it at all worth doing, I need to get 75-100 consistently.

In response to tunes' suggestion to re-brand and try to make this into a youth center, that's NOT going to happen. Last year, I made the decision to re-brand and specifically took "event" out of my name. I also stopped offering rentals to non-weddings. Of the non-weddings I've done in the past, about the best I could get was $250-$500 for a single day's rental. Those events all came with similar problems that come with weddings but the difference is it takes 10-15 non-weddings to equal the net profit from a single wedding. Not saying that I'll never go back and incorporate non-weddings but at this point in time I need to concentrate on my main line of business.

Now the exception, as of this time, is this monthly community dance and a few school-based events. On those, my goal is merely to break even and to gain goodwill in the community. On the dance, I patterned this after a gig I was playing every Friday night last year (about an hour away). That one is at a church and they've been running it every Friday night for 17 years.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Not many. Maybe 30. To make it at all worth doing, I need to get 75-100 consistently.

In response to tunes' suggestion to re-brand and try to make this into a youth center, that's NOT going to happen. Last year, I made the decision to re-brand and specifically took "event" out of my name. I also stopped offering rentals to non-weddings. Of the non-weddings I've done in the past, about the best I could get was $250-$500 for a single day's rental. Those events all came with similar problems that come with weddings but the difference is it takes 10-15 non-weddings to equal the net profit from a single wedding. Not saying that I'll never go back and incorporate non-weddings but at this point in time I need to concentrate on my main line of business.

Now the exception, as of this time, is this monthly community dance and a few school-based events. On those, my goal is merely to break even and to gain goodwill in the community. On the dance, I patterned this after a gig I was playing every Friday night last year (about an hour away). That one is at a church and they've been running it every Friday night for 17 years.

I didn't see Tunes4046 suggesting you turning the venue into a place for young people. I heard him say to not stay stuck on just featuring only one kind of event at your venue.

You said more than once that with such other events besides a wedding you can only get paid $250-500. Did you ever think why is that? As I said before this is your venue and that means you set the price. Not the other way around. Agreeing to have an event in your venue for those kinds of prices makes you look desperate. When it comes to an event that's not a wedding you need to let it be known that this is the price. So that means letting people know this is how much it will cost to have your event in your venue. So once people know what your price is and it's much more than say $500, those people will go away. They won't even bother contacting you about having an event in your venue.

There are DJs out here that the tire kickers don't even consider contacting them because it would be a waste of both their time.

 

[rickryan.com]

You said more than once that with such other events besides a wedding you can only get paid $250-500. Did you ever think why is that?

Of course. All I can say is, I've tried higher prices and with ZERO bookings. I've pitched tons of inquiries at $750-$1500. None of them booked. It's not worth it to spend my time and energy trying to sell something that simply won't sell. You move on to something else that does. BTW, I just booked a 2025 wedding today at $7.5k.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Of course. All I can say is, I've tried higher prices and with ZERO bookings. I've pitched tons of inquiries at $750-$1500. None of them booked. It's not worth it to spend my time and energy trying to sell something that simply won't sell. You move on to something else that does. BTW, I just booked a 2025 wedding today at $7.5k.

Please don't take this as I'm beating you up. How did you get that bride to have her wedding at your venue paying 7.5K?

 

[rickryan.com]

Please don't take this as I'm beating you up. How did you get that bride to have her wedding at your venue paying 7.5K?

Just like any other gig, you sell it. Things were dead for several months, up until about 2-3 weeks ago. I had 5 tours this past week and this bride was one of them. On my packages, the $7.5k is the middle tier. Here's how I structure my pricing (and I rarely ever custom quote):

$2.5k - basic rental, venue-only but I do have add-ons available (DIY)
$7.5k - all-inclusive with everything except the photographer (my son shoots)
$9.5k - all-inclusive including the photographer

 

[sonic-vision]

Please don't take this as I'm beating you up. How did you get that bride to have her wedding at your venue paying 7.5K?

Ever heard of the internet?

 

[djtaso]

Please don't take this as I'm beating you up. How did you get that bride to have her wedding at your venue paying 7.5K?

You ask for it.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

You ask for it.

Taso you know you can ask. The thing is there are those who won't even think of paying that much or nowhere near it. As I said before it's about targeting your business to people who will pay the price you want them to pay.

There are some people who you don't need to talk to because you and the potential client are so far apart in price that trying to convince them to pay the price you quote them, they will never agree with that price. No matter how great a salesperson you are there are some people you can never in 3 million years convince them to pay the price you quote.

 

[rickryan.com]

Taso you know you can ask. The thing is there are those who won't even think of paying that much or nowhere near it. As I said before it's about targeting your business to people who will pay the price you want them to pay.

You're not looking at the big picture. $7.5k for everything except the photographer and your wedding dress is PEANUTS, pretty much anywhere in the country. I've actually had multiple bride tell me "Rick, we appreciate what you've done for us but you have got to raise your rates."

 

[djtaso]

Taso you know you can ask. The thing is there are those who won't even think of paying that much or nowhere near it. As I said before it's about targeting your business to people who will pay the price you want them to pay.

There are some people who you don't need to talk to because you and the potential client are so far apart in price that trying to convince them to pay the price you quote them, they will never agree with that price. No matter how great a salesperson you are there are some people you can never in 3 million years convince them to pay the price you quote.

Those who won't think of paying that much are not calling me or going to Rick... why... very simple... because we have websites with our pricing.

Those that don't share pricing will experience what you always seem to focus on... price objections. In 2024 if you're dealing with price conscious clients on a regular basis, it's because you chose not to disclose them ahead of time to the public. You don't have a website, you don't have a set pricing structure... as such you will experience these issues. All someone like me and Rick have to do is make sure the product we offer reflects the amount that we are asking for and value is seen.

 

[rickryan.com]

Those who won't think of paying that much are not calling me or going to Rick... why... very simple... because we have websites with our pricing.

Those that don't share pricing will experience what you always seem to focus on... price objections. In 2024 if you're dealing with price conscious clients on a regular basis, it's because you chose not to disclose them ahead of time to the public. You don't have a website, you don't have a set pricing structure... as such you will experience these issues. All someone like me and Rick have to do is make sure the product we offer reflects the amount that we are asking for and value is seen.

True. I look at you, and how you've crafted your brand and marketing and it inspires me. Breaking out of that "price leader" mentality is super difficult for a lot of us. I also theorize that in Mix's case, a lot of it is the culture and the clique he's around. If all you know are people with no money, then that's your market and will determine the price you can draw. In your case, my perception, you're in a premium market and with high-value people. It enables you the maximize your profit potential, although I realize you've succeeded in some lesser-affluent markets. In my own case, Alabama is one of the poorer states in the nation, not to mention that I'm 50 miles away from the nearest large city. It remains to be seen but I suspect that by the time I get a few more years under my belt and get a few more construction projects done (paved parking, concrete area out back complete with garden, etc) that that $7.5k will look more like $10k and my top end should be $12k-$15k. If I can keep my costs at $3k-$5k then I think I have potential to start putting up some real numbers. It's all just a process. You come up with a game plan, execute, adjust, execute, etc. etc.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

True. I look at you, and how you've crafted your brand and marketing and it inspires me. Breaking out of that "price leader" mentality is super difficult for a lot of us. I also theorize that in Mix's case, a lot of it is the culture and the clique he's around. If all you know are people with no money, then that's your market and will determine the price you can draw. In your case, my perception, you're in a premium market and with high-value people. It enables you the maximize your profit potential, although I realize you've succeeded in some lesser-affluent markets. In my own case, Alabama is one of the poorer states in the nation, not to mention that I'm 50 miles away from the nearest large city. It remains to be seen but I suspect that by the time I get a few more years under my belt and get a few more construction projects done (paved parking, concrete area out back complete with garden, etc) that that $7.5k will look more like $10k and my top end should be $12k-$15k. If I can keep my costs at $3k-$5k then I think I have potential to start putting up some real numbers. It's all just a process. You come up with a game plan, execute, adjust, execute, etc. etc.

Thanks. My big point is you're doing a great job getting people to check out your venue who have the money to spend to have their event in your venue. Not a potential client that has $1,000 or less to have an event in your venue. As Taso said you have your prices outlined on your website.

Let me also say you're correct with your starting price being a certain amount depending on what they want to pay. Of course you have to make enough money to make sure the bills get paid so you don't have to go in your pocket to get the bills paid. You're doing a great job with your venue. Keep it up.