Under cutting djs are getting me sick to my stomach! (RANT!)

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good points here, recently an associate who does catering called (we use to work together at a bank) and bargained me down on a gig, said he had another one and he needed the best price for two, ok nice guy here gives a discounted price, been six months now, I facebooked him and told him his coupon was running out , havent heard from him,,,,,
 
First to the DJ that posted nobody would pay a DJ in his town or surrounding area $500.00, that's not really true if you do things right. See the problem is i'll bet in your area all the DJ's are doing the exact same thing. So would someone pay $500.00 when they know they know they can get a DJ in that area to do the same thing for half that price? The thing you need to look at is how can you get your business to that price point and beyond? The way you do that is to offer clients in your area something that no other DJ is doing and do it well enough that people will want to spend the $500.00. You got to think outside the box. If people planned for their event months in advance then they should be able to afford to pay a DJ in your area $500.00 over a period of time. I'll bet they like to wait till the last minute to book the DJ.

Now yesterday i called a lady up about us being the entertainment for her wedding. The conversation went well. I didn't have a lot of time to talk because i was on my way to a funeral. I told her who i was and the company i was with. I got her info from Wedplan. The wedding is to take place next April. It's to be 6 hours all together. She needed the DJ for the ceremony and reception. She told me she just had another baby and couldn't really afford a lot for the DJ. I already saw that she had a generated price from Wedplan of $500.00-$750.00. I told her a little bit about us and asked if she had any questions. She didn't have many since she's never hired a DJ before and wasn't sure what to look for.

She mentioned to me that other DJ's were contacting her telling her their price was 2k. That's wat she was getting for quotes from others. SHE said that was way out of their budget. She also informed me that she wouldn't be able to give a DJ a retainer until the end of December or sometime in January. I told het to first make sure the dj she booked will have a contract for hee to sign and to make sure they'll have a wedding planner form to go over all details of their wedding to the tee.

She finally wanted to know how much would we do her wedding for? I decided not to chicken out and feel sorry for them because they are on a tight budget. I quoted her the time price she gave on Wedplan of $750.00. She said that was fine because that was in her budget. I also explained to her that my job is to leave her and the guest with big smiles on their faces as they are leaving the reception feeling very happy they got us to be the entertainment at their wedding. I'm just proud i didn't do things i've done in the past by quoting a really low price figuring that automatically get them to book us.

The last thing is i need to get this new website up and running asap. She asked me did i have a site? I had to tell her that i had to have the old site taken down and was in the process of having a new site built. The last site wads horrible and got us nothing. Also i explained to her that as far as getting us the retainer which our contract states it's to be 50% of the price quoted and due at the time of the signing of the contract.

I told her i understand that for a lot of people to come up with $375.00 in these tough times all at once might be hard for most. I told her as long as you gave us $200.00 towards the retainers fee that would be fine. I told her i wouldn't accept anything less then that and that i've had some who will try to get by with telling me they have $50.00 right now. I told her what i do with such people. I simply hang the phone up on them. I decided if she doesn't call me back after a week that i would call her and see i can schedule a meeting with her and her fiancee. I just don't think talking to person over the phone is good enough as to explain to them as to why they should choose us to be their entertainment at their wedding.
 
JPDJSC50 said:
good points here, recently an associate who does catering called (we use to work together at a bank) and bargained me down on a gig, said he had another one and he needed the best price for two, ok nice guy here gives a discounted price, been six months now, I facebooked him and told him his coupon was running out , havent heard from him,,,,,
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Sounds like it expired.

:)
 
Houston thanks for the thanks and i'll tell another story that i told her that another dj posted on another forum. He said he talked to a client and they agreed on a price that his company would come do their wedding for $1,200.00. He said he sent them the contract and the retainers fee was to be $600.00. He said 7 months later he hadn't heard a thing from them. No phone call or email and didn't even send him part of the retainers fee. They finally contacted him over 7 months later wanting to know if he was still going to do their wedding. That's without them paying him anything at all at that time. He's the crazy part. They said they would meet up with him the night before the wedding and they would pay him the whole $1,200.00.

I wonder if that was going to be in cash or would they try to give him a check? My other thought was where were they getting this money at the last minute to pay him? He's what i would have done. I would have told them that we could meet somewhere so they could pay me the whole $1,200.00. Come time for us to meet at the place i would have never showed up and wouldn't answere my phone. I know i would have been called everything but a child of God online by these people but i just would have ate that one. Let them lose their mind when they don't have a DJ to come do their wedding that day.

Originally i said i would have went to meet up with them for that kind of money but i thought about it and considered the business end of it all. If i let them get away with it without a good explenation then anybody would think they can get away with this too. It's nothing personal. It's called running business like it's a business.
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
Houston thanks for the thanks and i'll tell another story that i told her that another dj posted on another forum. He said he talked to a client and they agreed on a price that his company would come do their wedding for $1,200.00. He said he sent them the contract and the retainers fee was to be $600.00. He said 7 months later he hadn't heard a thing from them. No phone call or email and didn't even send him part of the retainers fee. They finally contacted him over 7 months later wanting to know if he was still going to do their wedding. That's without them paying him anything at all at that time. He's the crazy part. They said they would meet up with him the night before the wedding and they would pay him the whole $1,200.00. I see nothing to worry about so far.

I wonder if that was going to be in cash or would they try to give him a check? My other thought was where were they getting this money at the last minute to pay him? Why do you care? He's what i would have done. I would have told them that we could meet somewhere so they could pay me the whole $1,200.00. Come time for us to meet at the place i would have never showed up and wouldn't answere my phone. I know i would have been called everything but a child of God online by these people but i just would have ate that one. Let them lose their mind when they don't have a DJ to come do their wedding that day. WHY DO THIS? ARE YOU AN EVIL DJ?

Originally i said i would have went to meet up with them for that kind of money but i thought about it and considered the business end of it all. If that is good business sense I hope you did not have to spend money at a College to learn that nonsense. If i let them get away with it without a good explenation then anybody would think they can get away with this too. I thought I was bad but man, you take the cake! It's nothing personal. It's called running business like it's a doomed business.
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My comments are above in Red. (Was it you I thanked a few posts ago?)
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
have been djing since 81. I'm 53 years old and never married.
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So after 30 years in the business and never being married, what do you have to bring to the wedding market that's going to sell you as a $1,200+ DJ?
...and what has prevented you from being where you want already?
 
ahoustondj said:
My comments are above in Red. (Was it you I thanked a few posts ago?)
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My whole point was this. The dj said it had been 7 months and he didn't hear a response from mthem at all and like i said they didn't even make an attempt to pay this DJ some of the retainers fee if not all in those 7 months to at least show good faith that they plan on paying him the money. Now they say they will pay all the money to him the night before the wedding. That would make me very suspicious and raise a whole lot of res flags for me. Especially cdonsidering were talking that much money. We're not talking s couple of hundred dollars. We're talking $1,200.00. And what's the reason why they hadn't paid something towards that $1,200.00 in 7 months? That's too shakey for me to say i would trust someone i didn't know like that.

Hell for that kind of money it would be hard to even trust someone i did know considering that much money and like i said how were they going to pay this DJ? I certainly wouldn't accept a check the night before. How many on here would do that? It's all about protecting my interest which is our company. The bottom line is they should have shown a better interest that they truly wanted this DJ to do their weding to me anyway. That's how i see it. Maybe to them the DJ wasn't all that important.
 
If I am open on that day I will gladly take cash the night before I dont have any concern where it came from. Otherwise I wouldnt waste time trying to figure out the big picture. Worry about solid fact when running your business versus watching or getting involved in the soap opera you have mentioned.
 
Hmm this seems like way to much complication and drama to me. Here is some good and free advice for you mix. Go to bludomain pick up one of there 50 or 100 dollar templates. Pay the 100 dollars per year they charge to host your site. Do your own sit with a taste of flair. When booking do your contract, take a smaller retainer fee like 200 if they cancel you have there money. Get paid for the rest 2 weeks in advance.

Then show up and rock their wedding. Separate yourself from your competition with your flair. Dont show up to play music. Show up to help the plan the flow and MC there event and play some great music . Go to wedding word and for free have past clients post about you. Pick your clients, you do have a day job so its a little easier to turn down an event.
 
nextgen1 said:
Hmm this seems like way to much complication and drama to me. Here is some good and free advice for you mix. Go to bludomain pick up one of there 50 or 100 dollar templates. Pay the 100 dollars per year they charge to host your site. Do your own sit with a taste of flair. When booking do your contract, take a smaller retainer fee like 200 if they cancel you have there money. Get paid for the rest 2 weeks in advance.

Then show up and rock their wedding. Separate yourself from your competition with your flair. Dont show up to play music. Show up to help the plan the flow and MC there event and play some great music . Go to wedding word and for free have past clients post about you. Pick your clients, you do have a day job so its a little easier to turn down an event.
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I'm getting our site done through Yahoo. They give up the tools to build the site and will host it for almost $120.00 for the year. They even host the domain name for free. Unlike most that make you pay for your domain name.

Now with that said to the DJ that called this to be like a soap opera i saw this. What the problems that i had with the $1,200.00 wedding deal are these. Remember this DJ said it had been 7 months and he hadn't heard a thing from the client, hadn't gotten back the contract with the retainer being paid or anything like that.

I do understand that maybe the client having to come up with $600.00 at one time might have been rather difficult in such tough times in this country but the client could have at least let the DJ know if they were having a tough time getting that much money up at one time. They could have at least contacted the DJ if that really was the case and see if the DJ would allow some type of payment arrangements to satisfy getting the full payment for the retainber to the DJ and then they could go from there once they know that with the tetainer being paid that locks them into that date to do their wedding.

I feel what they did showed 2 big things to me. One that they really didn't care how their wedding goes and totally disrespecting the DJ in my eyes. You said if that date was still open for you and you had nothing else planned you would have gotten the money at the last minute and showed up to do the wedding. Remember this is not just a simple party but a wedding. Don't you have to go over details with the client on exactly how their wedding is to go? Meaning that don't you need to have the exact songs for their special dances? What about if you don'6t have such a song? That means you got to buy the song don't you? What about if someone has died, don't you need to know exactly what to do in such a case for that special dance? The point i'm trying to make is i wouldn't go out of my way for this couple and they haven't paid anything to us after all that amount of time has passed.

If i would have seen them treating me with a lot more respect then that i might have considered still doing their wedding. I just say it's better to be safe then sorry. I just would hate to get stiffed on the money. Either them only paying us part of the money (which is totally unacceptable) or nothing at all because they could easily come up with an excuse as to why they can't pay you all the money the night before and stil expect you to show up to do their wedding the next day. Basically what choice would you have since you took a partial payment? I've heard of too many horror stories of DJ's getting stiffed on the payment.

You can do what you want for your business but i say i would have told them after the way they treated this DJ that they would be in need to look for another DJ because i don't beleive i'm the right DJ to do their wedding.
 
I have to say I'm slightly surprised when I hear about DJ's saying they would cancel their contracts with clients because of certain issues. I'm pretty sure most good contracts protect the DJ and the clients as well. Most clients that are willing to pay for services that they have not received (which are all of mine, I'm paid in advance) Generally want a since of protection. Your contract should do that for them as well. Remember this Mix there are many people out there right now that are spending plenty of money on a wedding and the economy has not touched them at all. I had one gal call me and I gave her a price for her wedding for next year. But I also told her the price is only good if booked this year, because we raise our prices every year. She asked me why I would do this even in a bad economy. I asked her if the economy was hurting her and she said no.

I then told her it was not hurting me either and since we only have so many days we can book per year. We always seek to be busy but don't devalue our services. I'm lucky to have a full time job that pays decent so that I can put up that velvet rope. There are many folks looking to profit at your expense even though they have no financial problems. As far as payments these are all things that should be discussed when booking with someone, if they need that option. I'm in an area where venues with food go for 5,000 to 55,000 dollars. Given that we are generally expected to be responsible for about 80 percent of a wedding. Your pricing should reflect that value we will have for them and their event. Just remember there are some folks out there that when comparing options don't look for the cheapest one but look for the person or persons that will help them plan and facilitate their special day. And just to be clear, no contract and retainer. Then not considered a booked event.

The reason I was talking to you about bludomain is they are nice, attractive and and your cost per year is about 150 dollars total and is much easier to work with than you think. Yes it is flash but I have many other sources that send people my way, wedj, google adword etc etc. Many of our clients have booked us site unseen based upon our conversation done in a professional way, giving them all the help they need and to them having a highly professional website. I have had some DJ's say my site and logo seem somewhat mechanical. Yet our brides and grooms seem very happy. I just tell them the same professionalism they see in our site is the same professionalism we take to their event.
 
Next i heard what you had to say and i agree with you. My issue with this situation has to do with the fact that this client didn't make a valid effort to pay the DJ anything signing the contract and then expecting this dj to show up. Plus they want the dj to wait the day before to get paid to do this wedding. That's where i draw the line at regardless of how much the pay is to do the event. It could be $5,000 and i would tell them to find themselves another DJ to do their wedding. It's about both parties showing each other respect and courtesy to one another.

Now if he were to do this then what good is it having a contract that you want the client to sign. I say to stick with the details in your contract and go from there. Don't allow a client to alter the terms in your contract. Lastly i've made the mistake myself of being this nice trusting guy and have gotten burnt in the past. Not many times but any time is one too many.
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
Next i heard what you had to say and i agree with you. My issue with this situation has to do with the fact that this client didn't make a valid effort to pay the DJ anything signing the contract and then expecting this dj to show up. Plus they want the dj to wait the day before to get paid to do this wedding. That's where i draw the line at regardless of how much the pay is to do the event. It could be $5,000 and i would tell them to find themselves another DJ to do their wedding. It's about both parties showing each other respect and courtesy to one another.

Now if he were to do this then what good is it having a contract that you want the client to sign. I say to stick with the details in your contract and go from there. Don't allow a client to alter the terms in your contract. Lastly i've made the mistake myself of being this nice trusting guy and have gotten burnt in the past. Not many times but any time is one too many.
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I got you Mix, I'm just saying that this should have been nice and easy. Let's say they should have been straight forward and told them if they have no contract and retainer in the next 7 days or what ever limit they would put on it then there would be no problem. It would have been simply they had not, nor were they going to book so, next. Rule of thumb "Cover thy ass". To me everything about this reeks of getting screwed, we must use our heads in business.
 
jokerswild said:
Devils advocate here, how y'all doin'... ok right. ;)

I believe what was stated above is partially right on certain levels... but, here's the problem I have with the above quote: It is not the individual venders position to maintain a certain price level in order to maintain the value of the profession for other vender's benifiet. Each vender's sole purpose for their particular price point is to drive their market share up and only theirs.... trust me it's everyone for themselves. The above quote makes it sound like we are all in some sort of Coop.... not true... if I come to your city and want to charge what I feel is fair value for what I offer and it's less than or more than the average vender's price point that's my perogative and screw the rest of you....

Thanks for reading....
Devils Advocate General
Satin's Spawn
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The quote I did only said not to charge below the market. You can charge what you want above the bar, but to go below it is bad for the industry. I have been listening to some Mark Imperial marketing stuff and the same info is repeated there so if wedding planners, Marketing people and other industry's are all saying the same thing, giving the same advice, then why is it that DJs for the most part, are the only ones NOT doing it because DJs are always singled out, even among all the other wedding vendor types it's the DJ who is setting the bottom feeder mentality and being blamed for setting the precedent.

My favorite examples. Chair covers ($600-$800 for avg 150 people) and photo booths ($800+ Locally). How can a $200 DJ think they are doing the wedding and DJ industry any kind of service? Everything else is going up in price, at least locally, but DJs are the only ones lowering their prices... As an industry we are functionally retarded in how we do business and we have people defending the retardation and stupidity. Not saying we need to all charge $1500, but what is the market average for all the other vendors and remember that we add value to everything else they do.
 
TJtheDJ said:
The quote I did only said not to charge below the market. You can charge what you want above the bar, but to go below it is bad for the industry.
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Who's been elected to set the bar? I never got that memo. Oh yeah, it's because we're all free to set our own bars.

TJtheDJ said:
My favorite examples. Chair covers ($600-$800 for avg 150 people) and photo booths ($800+ Locally). How can a $200 DJ think they are doing the wedding and DJ industry any kind of service?
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First of all (and again), we aren't talking about a wedding with chair covers and photo booths. We're talking about a backyard party. Second of all, it's none of anyone's business what the clients pay for (or place value on) other services. Lastly, not everyone is out there to do a service to the DJ industry. They are out there to service themselves. If you think the other vendors have it better or easier than you, then switch professions.

Damage control begins and ends at base camp. I don't know about the rest of you, but if any other person, vendor or service is having any affect or reflection on me, I'd be hard pressed to know what it is. I'm working, I'm getting what I ask for and I'm doing a great job.
 
Im seriously considering becoming a mime as they are calling for around 5 bills for the first hour and 250 additional hours.
 
I book from 650 to a grand and once in awhile do a gig for 500, I had a date booked for a 12/3 holiday party and text a bud of mine to see about covering another job on the same day, he came back and set his price way up and wanted a room and all this crap, dang i was just trying to gey him a gig, i guess thats why i work solo ,,,,
 
Next there was another reason why i said i would have told that client no. I feel that if they really wanted this DJ to be their entertainment at their wedding they shouldn't have waited till 7 months have gone to get with him. What i got out of it was that must have been having some financial difficulty to ask this DJ to wait till the day before to get paid. I just feel if that was the case they should have contacted this DJ a long time ago to let this DJ know that and see what steps could be taken to see to it that this DJ was to do their wedding. I would have tried to see if we could have made some payment arrangements to satisfy the contact. It just may have been that things had changed and they could no longer afford to spend the $1,200.00 due to the client going over their budget. In that case i would have simply offered them a cheaper package. A cheaper price would mean they don't get everything they wanted in the $1,200.00 package but they would get something and we would still be their entertainment at their wedding. Now i know some people would just ask why we couldn't just give them everything they asked for in the beginning? I would simply just stick to my guns and not just give everything away at a cheaper price just to get a gig.

As for those who say to just concentrate on what you're doing and forget about what someone else is doing, i used to feel that same way. I understand that there are some DJs who are very busy and making a nice amount per gig but this is about us as a whole. What about those DJs who aren't in such popular demand making a heap of dollars? The DJ that's really good charging peanuts really makes it hard for the DJ that is starving to get gigs and can force that DJ to lower their price just to compete with that DJ so they can get some gigs at least.

I'm working on digging myself out of the hole i dug myself. I used to let my financial condition rule over me for getting gigs. I would give such a cheap price to get a gig so i could some money in my pocket. But the problem with that idea is that would basically make enough money for gas at the end of the gig. So i was a gas DJ. My ego would feel good because we rocked the party and people would be leaving bragging on the great job we did. The problem is in 2 parts with all of this. After it was all said and done after putting gas in the van i would still basically be broke anyway. 2nd all those cheap gigs would do is lead us to another such cheap gig and the beat would go on and on. So we would never make the money we were really worth or for that matter enough money so that we could have money left over so we could work on even making improvements that we needed to make so we could even charge more.

I recently joined some months ago the New Jersey Disc Jockey Network Association. I used to feel like another DJ that posted on another forum. Why give away $150.00 to this association when that money could be better spent. It turns out that this has been one of the best tthings i've ever spent on in this business. I learned a ton of things being a part of this association and have made some great contacts. They have helped me to think outside the box and work on more ways to improve our company. Isn't that the reason for being in business in the first place to improve and not just remain at the same level?

To be a part of the association they require you to have liability insurance which a lot of venues today are requiring that the dj have nowadays. I say what would be nice if it was put into some kind of law that every DJ doing a private gig charge $500.00 or more regardless of the event and how long it is to be. That would then force those DJs that aren't worth that much to improve on being a DJ thus meaning either they do this or get out of the business. I know that's just fantasy island talk but it would be nice. Which in turn would help the industry as a whole and then have others who are starving to make a decent wage at DJing be able to. Have a blessed day everone.
 
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