I hate these types...

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jokerswild said:
I see what your saying... but I'm not after the Median Income clients... mostly because I don't want to be a median income resident myself....
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jokerswild said:
I think truely this has a lot to do with lack of exposure at this point as my reputation for quality shows increases along with WoM I believe the internet shoppers will turn into buyers.... more and more.
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You are looking to book high end clients in a low end market. They are there there is no doubt but high end clients don't generally hire someone they don't know and by alienating the median income clients it makes exposure that much harder to get. If I remember correctly you haven't been in the business that long.

At this point you can book a few high end clients and get a little exposure or you can book a lot of medium paying jobs and get alot of referrals. The busier you are the higher your rate can be


jokerswild said:
I predict that by this time next year I will have little trouble booking and will be turning people away, crossess fingers that this prediction comes true.
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It's going to take alot more than crossed fingers. Get lots of legwork in to venues and local business see if you can generate referrals and bookings. People are more likley to pay extra for your services if they are referred

jokerswild said:
To that end I am attempting a marketing method for my online shoppers... when they request a quote they get the quote showing my rates along with an Early Bird Discount of $100.00 off their total. I'll run this as an auto-discount for a couple of months just to see if it generates business... it effectively makes my price range 499-799.00, crossing my figures on this too.... I need the business to build business.
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Thats a good idea. What other marketing do you do
 
Jeff:

I understand the point you are driving at...


Other marketing includes other online promotion sites... talking with local rental locations and just generally spreading the word with anyone with even the merest of intentions on hireing a DJ for some event....

I've done a free fund raiser... good cause but also shameless self-promotion.... got two enquiries based on that alone... neither panned out though.... my fault really for not getting contact information from them...

Heck, I'm doing another freebie Feb. 16th for my boss.... again there will be shameless self promotion going on... hence the bags of candy with business cards... and there will be several company name drops durring the show too.... If I could get a banner I'd hang one from my booth but money is tight.... and daddy has to feed momma.

I just don't feel lowering my rates any further is going to generate that much business, I think like you said I need to do more leg work.
 
I would like to chime in on some marketing......Every year we attend two bridal shows and give away something so they register (thats the key) in your case a free DJ for the wedding and reception?

Then we start calling thanking them for visiting our booth and direct them to our website. I spend as much time talking to the bride as I can (bonding:sqrolleyes:) I ask them what they imagine their reception to be like and if they have been to any other weddings and what they liked and dislike about what they saw. We dress to the nines and really pay close attention to our mannerism's and the look of our booth and sell sell sell..

I hope you realize that your going to call them and they probably won't answer no big deal just keep calling them. Every time you call you are leaving a commercial impression on the client. I can't begin to tell you how many times we have called and left 9 or 10 messages and all of a sudden they call back saying," I'm so glad you called I have been meaning to call you guys back" . It works for us
 
Do you think that kind of persistance with online quotes would work as well?

I get what I call tire kickers that get the free online quotes but leave me little to no information... most of the time I at least get a name and email some times its a name and phone number.... either way I will send an email or call depending on what contact information was givin... but I usually give up after the third attempt to contact...

Also, with regard to emailing and phoneing what would be considered pestering vs selling as far as the number of times you attempt to make contact by leaving a message or email... and at what frequency should this contact be made.... once a day, once every couple days, once a week, once a month... what is considered proper here? I'm always concered that it either makes me look pushy or desparate.

For example today I get this:

online quote system said:
Name: April
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number(s):
Address:
City, State/Province, Zip/Postal:

Event: Wedding Reception
Location: Other
Venue ZIP Code: 46617
Guests: 140
What kind of DJ/Karaoke service are you looking for?: Average
Date: Saturday, September 20, 2008
Times: 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Total Time Needed: 5 Hours
Package Selected: WEDDING BASIC PACKAGE
Time Included with Package: 6 Hours
Price for Package: $599.00
FULL EMCEE: $95.00
KARAOKE: $199.00
LIMITED EMCEE: $65.00 (Editors note: This option not needed since she asked for the FULL EMCEE option)
Early Bird Discount: $-100.00

TOTAL: $858.00
RETAINER (as part of total): $429.00
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So as you can see she's left me only her first name and email... she's also asked for about every option I have so my guess she doesn't really know what she wants....

I sent her an email to let her know I could save her money on her package if she simply went with our Gold package which included every option she asked about when generating her quote... the big question is how many times and at what frequency should I attempt emails to make contact before I give up?
 
Just my opinion...

I will reply once with a thank-you and cost quote in accordance with the info provided. If there is no response, I dismiss it.

I am serious. If I receive a query for a five hour reception I will respond with availability and cost. If they're still interested and reply, fine. Let's go from there. If not, I forget about it.

I do not pursue prospects who are looking for the cheapest DJ company. I'm not in the price war business.

Wolfie can be had but he ain't cheap. :D
 
I will reply twice using two methods if they are available . Otherwise two email attempts due to glitches etc. Then its on them.
 
Rob:

Interesting, there's a similar thread on Pro DJ right now.

Here's my pattern:

1. Receive lead and send initial e-mail indicating that it has been received and that I will be in contact.
2. If the phone is available:
a. Make first call to try to get an interview. If no answer, leave message with a follow up e-mail.
b. Two weeks later, second call and follow up e-mail.
c. Two weeks later, again.
d. Two weeks later, this time if I haven't connected with them, I leave a quote and move on.
3. If no phone is available, I'll fall back to e-mail with the same pattern.

I am actually now thinking about increasing the frequency after the third attempt to one week in between and making the total attempts ten before the quote is sent.

Honestly, usually by the third attempt I have either gotten an e-mail reply or a phone reply. If these are positive, I won't drop it till they say so or I land the interview.

Think about it from this perspective for a miniute:

You're getting married, young, and have never done this before. What should you do? Hit the web of course. So, you hit Google and type in "DJ", "(my state) DJ", "(my city) DJ", or even the dreaded "wedding DJ" and you get thousands of hits, many of which have some sort of availability checker or contact form. So, you fill it out an viola, you are now inundated with scores of e-mails from DJs and your phone starts ringing off the hook.

Most of our fellow DJs will only call once and stop, some will call two or three times in the same week and stop, but very few will space it out because most of us have the opinion that these folks are just tire kickers. While this may be true to some extent, most of the time it is just sheer ignorance because they simply don't know how to hire a DJ.

Never feel that you are pestering them. If any come back to you with that line, remind them that they contacted you or the lead service first and you are only doing what was requested of you by them; giving them information.

It is up to you to determine if this is worth your time. One short follow up phone call could just land the next event.

My method landed me an interview Friday, Saturday, yesterday, tomorrow, and Wednesday. So far I am batting 1000 at $1,000 each with retainers of $500 in my pocket; that's $1,500 after three interviews. When I got home from last night's interview there was a phone call from a new prospect wanting to talk and he and I will talk on Friday.
 
Here's one to cheer you all up.

Got a phone call last night from someone that wanted to book a DJ for her birthday party.

I was pleased, because not only had she called me, she had already been to one of the functions that I played at over Christmas, and said that I had done a 'blinding' job, that she'd had a 'brilliant' evening, and said that was why she was contacting me.

She also informed me that her cousin has also booked me for a gig in March '08, (which I checked, and sure enough - it was there), but before I even quoted a price, (only letting her know I would be available so far), she said that she had some other DJ's to call first before she made her mind up.

So it wasn't about price. (She knew what I charged before she even called)
She knows the sort of job that I can do, and that I am reliable.

So with all of this already sewn up, why would she want to get a quote from someone she didn't even know - bearing in mind that before her job is even on the horizon, she will have been to two of my functions, and was well impressed with the first one.

Beats me............!! :sqerr:
 
Well that would leave me scratchin' my head too....

I'd be curious to know why she felt the need to contact other DJs if she already knows you, your price and your work.... the only reason I can think of for her need to "shop" more would be: A. To satisfy her hubby that she did a comparative shop before landing on you.... or B. She's still shopping price despite the fact that she knows you'll do a great job she still wants the best "Deal" she thinks she can get... after all, all DJs are all alike and just press play, right?:sqconfused::sqwink:
 
I think it just adds weight to the notion of how fickle the public can be, and that you can never second-guess what the customer might do, or even work out their train of thought!!

This lady just didn't seem to have one!!

The reason I mentioned it was that I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that you can sometimes beat yourself up trying to get that booking, and you don't get it through no fault of your own.

Don't forget also that some of the 'enquiries' you are getting might be coming from rival DJ's checking out your pricing policy..........

I had a spell of that about two years ago. :sqmad:
 
Looks like things might be looking up.... I've got one wedding booked for May 31, paid in full no less.

And in the last 24 hours my site has become a little hotter with about 10 date checks and 3 quotes 2 of which just came through within minutes of each other..... just now.


Hopefully I'll be doing the happy dance soon.
 
Aside from some site re-designing specifically graphically.... I have only made one other change and that was to my priceing structure...

I now offer 5 Packages:

4 hour basic
6 hour basic

4 hour bronze with lights add on
6 hour gold with lights add on

and

6 hour all inclusive platinum

Price points are very close and maybe that has also helped however of that i'm not sure because they don't know my rates until they request a quote after checking availability .... but maybe with a menu of options it has helped.... if nothing else i have more contacts and potential clients.... time will tell i guess what it was that has drawn them in.... I know at least one came to my site from wedexperts.com which is basically wedj.com chickified....
 
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