How do you handle 2 hour gig requests on a in demand Saturday Night?

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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Just curious how you approach booking in demand Saturdays during the season.

I have recently received a coupe of inquiries for people looking for a Party DJ. The date for both events is on May 21st. I happen to have 2 DJs available still on May 21st. ...Myself, and my brother. Sister, Dad, and other DJ already booked that date.

This is my only Saturday left open in May.

Both recent inquiries have stated that while they just want a DJ for 2 hours. ...One is a 50th wedding anniversary. She said they will play light background music during dinner, then wants a DJ for 8 to 10 for Motown, and oldies music.

The other one wants a DJ for just 2 hours for a girl's Sweet 16 and stated she is on a tight budget. She only has the hall for 4 hours and that includes set up and clean up, and must allow 1 hour for clean up. (Must have booked hall with minimum time frame)

I have quoted both, but I wonder how other DJs handle these types of inquiries? ...The date is just under 3 months out, so still time to book in case a nice paying wedding or a prom comes in (since it is Prom season), but then again...brides should have booked their wedding DJ by now for a May 21st wedding. So the odds of wedding inquires still coming in for May 21st are starting to get slim.

So what do you do?

A. Pass on these events all together?
B. Only bother with a price that fits the small event if the date is open a few weeks out?
C. Or if money earned is money earned no matter what, and try to book the client?
D. Or do you treat in demand dates with a high minimum starting price and if they want to book for only 2 hours fine, but they are paying $XXX or more regardless if they want you?
 
I would pass on the first one based on the music wanted
I would probably pass on the second as they probably wouldn't want to pay my minimum price.
 
azdeejay said:
I would probably pass on the second as they probably wouldn't want to pay my minimum price.
Click to expand...

I understand many DJs won't do certain events due to the type of music. For me, I LOVE playing Oldies, and Motown, so it's right up my ally. The older generation is pretty darn easy to deejay for as long as you know the music to play, and can handle their song requests with ease.

...As for the 2nd one, are you saying you would just walk away from the request all together, and not even quote a price? Would you respond to their email, and just tell them you are "already booked", or ignore it all together?
 
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Quote them at normal price - minus any savings you would have in prep time and leave it at that.
 
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steve149 said:
Quote them at normal price - minus any savings you would have in prep time and leave it at that.
Click to expand...

So basically, your answer is:

D. Or do you treat in demand dates with a high minimum starting price and if they want to book for only 2 hours fine, but they are paying $XXX or more regardless if they want you?

Essentially you will quote them your minimum price that you might book a Wedding or large party for, and maybe discount it by $50 - $100 because you might save some time in prep (ie. Less time on obtaining their music...no in person meeting, or a lot of time spent on phone calls)
 
DJ Ricky B said:
So basically, your answer is:

D. Or do you treat in demand dates with a high minimum starting price and if they want to book for only 2 hours fine, but they are paying $XXX or more regardless if they want you?

Essentially you will quote them your minimum price that you might book a Wedding or large party for, and maybe discount it by $50 - $100 because you might save some time in prep (ie. Less time on obtaining their music...no in person meeting, or a lot of time spent on phone calls)
Click to expand...

I don't do weddings, so none of my dates are "in demand" (except maybe New Years), but if the date is truly in demand, quote it as if you were quoting a typical customer for the date .. just if you have to do less prep and that frees up some other time, their may be a discountable value for that. Maybe it nets to 80% of normal or something. Given that it's only 3 months out, maybe you have more flexibility to discount.
 
steve149 said:
I don't do weddings, so none of my dates are "in demand" (except maybe New Years), but if the date is truly in demand, quote it as if you were quoting a typical customer for the date .. just if you have to do less prep and that frees up some other time, their may be a discountable value for that. Maybe it nets to 80% of normal or something. Given that it's only 3 months out, maybe you have more flexibility to discount.
Click to expand...


I gotchya. I just feel that quoting them in this fashion will very likely cause them to fall silent and look else where. I am use to booking weddings, corporate and mitzvahs majority of the time. The 4 hour weddings and mitzvahs can be had for $1,000, and corporate MIGHT pay that, but a 2 hour sweet 16 at a fire hall for 50 people isn't going to pay any where near that. I have to look at it as "Do I want to book this date right now, or wait until hopefully a potentially higher paying event comes my way for this date".

At about 80ish days out from the date it's looking a bit iffy. But then again, I never know! :shrug::scratchhead:
 
DJ Ricky B said:
I gotchya. I just feel that quoting them in this fashion will very likely cause them to fall silent and look else where. I am use to booking weddings, corporate and mitzvahs majority of the time. The 4 hour weddings and mitzvahs can be had for $1,000, and corporate MIGHT pay that, but a 2 hour sweet 16 at a fire hall for 50 people isn't going to pay any where near that. I have to look at it as "Do I want to book this date right now, or wait until hopefully a potentially higher paying event comes my way for this date".

At about 80ish days out from the date it's looking a bit iffy. But then again, I never know! :shrug::scratchhead:
Click to expand...
If it's in demand, then there will be another customer coming along. If you're not sure it's in demand with 3 months to go, then quote to get it.

Expect to not get the Sweet 16 .. maybe you focus on the 3-4 hour 50th. That should at least be double the price of the Sweet 16.
 
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Like Steve said, you quote it at full price, based on what you MIGHT get for a full-paying job. It's likely they'll turn you down but I've obviously had cases where the short gig was willing to pay. There's a lot of time left until 5/21. I'm willing to bet you'll have multiple inquiries for the same date.
 
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One other thing you might consider. Go ahead and book the dates, at the price they'll pay. If you have other full-paying dates come in, pickup ANYBODY to fill the cheap one(s) for you. Those are not high-pressure events and I'd be much more confident in sending an unknown commodity to an event like those.
 
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steve149 said:
If it's in demand, then there will be another customer coming along. If you're not sure it's in demand with 3 months to go, then quote to get it.

Expect to not get the Sweet 16 .. maybe you focus on the 3-4 hour 50th. That should at least be double the price of the Sweet 16.
Click to expand...

Some Super Sweet 16 specialists would disagree with you, BUT...The writing is on the wall on that one.

She was able to book a Fire Hall with a total 4 hour rental for a quick event. ...I know what the fire halls around me locally typically charge. On a Saturday they quote for 4 hour events with 2 hours for set up and decorating, and 1 hour for clean up. Total is 7 hours, and price is usually $450 - $700 to rent those fire halls. They usually charge $100 an hour for event time past 4 hours.

This hall is about a 30 mile drive from me. I am surprised they were willing to book it with such a small time period. Maybe it doesn't get booked that often. 4 hours with 1 hour for set up and 1 hour for clean up just sounds so pointless on a Saturday to me. Why not sell with the 7 hour total rental minimum. ...Maybe they had another event booked earlier that day.
 
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rickryan.com said:
One other thing you might consider. Go ahead and book the dates, at the price they'll pay. If you have other full-paying dates come in, pickup ANYBODY to fill the cheap one(s) for you. Those are not high-pressure events and I'd be much more confident in sending an unknown commodity to an event like those.
Click to expand...

The only issue with that is finding reliable legit DJs who are available, and willing to work on 5.21 that I can sub contract to at those low prices.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I understand many DJs won't do certain events due to the type of music. For me, I LOVE playing Oldies, and Motown, so it's right up my ally. The older generation is pretty darn easy to deejay for as long as you know the music to play, and can handle their song requests with ease.

...As for the 2nd one, are you saying you would just walk away from the request all together, and not even quote a price? Would you respond to their email, and just tell them you are "already booked", or ignore it all together?
Click to expand...
Ricky, it comes down not having a music library that would let me do a night of oldies or mowtown, which is my main reason for passing on that one. I am not really sure how I would respond to the email, that is a good question, but I would probably like already stated just quote my full price.
 
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As far as I'm concerned Saturday is my inventory I sell them at full price especially after the first of April. I would quote them full price for that type of event and go from there
 
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I agree with Jeff. If they want to book a prime Saturday night, full price. Most likely I won't get it. It's simply not worth it for me to book up a Saturday with a 2 hour gig for little money. If they can do it another day..or before 4 pm, I can work with them.
 
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I don't have ANY dates that are in demand [emoji1], and I'm a budget DJ by comparison. I have a four hour minimum, so I probably would not get either of those gigs. I'd be the perfect DJ for the oldies gig. I'd decline the sweet 16 unless they were OK with no RAP music. I just lost out on a wedding because the bride wanted some hard core RAP. If I was getting a lot of requests for short gigs, I might consider dropping my 4 hour minimum requirement, but I might raise my rate a little. It's not worth it to travel to a location and set up in order to perform for such a short time, unless the money was more than 2 hours of my standard rate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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This is interesting to me. I can't remember the last time if ever someone contacted me about needing a DJ to play for them for 2 hours. Personally I don't like short events like that. They for me don't give me enough time to really show my stuff. Especially if there is to be some serious dancing. I would quote each one a price and let them decide if they want to book my company or not. I certainly wouldn't expect either of these gigs to be high paying gigs. Now if they agree to my prince quote then the job would get done. If not they can keep searching.

The thing is what would you expect such a client would be willing to pay? I say probably no more than $250 and more than likely looking for you to go lower than that.
 
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