I think this is perhaps the EASIEST question to answer (at least from my experience). WOW THE GUESTS! How do you know when you're doing this? People are coming up to you on a regular basis complimenting you, asking for cards, adding you on facebook or instagram. When people want to talk to you that is a sign that you impressed them to the point they had to stop by. Last night a mom that was a guest at my Sweet 16 came up to me and said, "everyone said you were the best and I hear your name from the kids all the time... but after tonight, I had to come up and tell you you're incredible. The best dj I have ever seen"... This Sweet 16 was in a multipurpose room at a Rec Center... so obviosuly the venue was nothing to talk about. Just about every event I do, I always hope get some sort of response from someone. To me that's a good sign. Thankfully the responses tend to be like the one above. My events may have moments that pertain to the specific requests of the client, but the overall atmosphere is still amazing, and those requests tend to be ones that anyone will enjoy... rather than discourage. I think the overall ATMOSPHERE you provide is more important than did the dj play a song or two. JUST BE AWESOME! Don't do what the majority are doing, do what most aren't. People see me on here and say to themselves, that's over the top, it's too much, I can't buy that, my market doesn't want that. Don't do what everyone else is doing, and everyone will start noticing.
In terms of "WOWing" my philosophy is simple (and this right here is what led to my immediate change into the high end market back in Aug of 2012). People only talk about two types of experiences. First off NO ONE talks about an avg experience. No one will say you gotta try McDOnalds burger... its amazing. People only talk about bad experiences and amazing experiences. If you go to a restaurant and you paid money for a steak that came out cold, overcooked, or tasteless... or just overall had a bad experience at the place, you'll tell your friends its not worth it. If you go to a restaurant and have the most amazing experience ever and every detail was perfect you'll tell friends, that despite the ridiculously high price tag, you gotta experience it just once in your life. When someone explained this to me, I knew right away I needed to start WOWing so people would talk about me in that manner. That year was when I went to moving heads, and made a bunch of other significant changes into how I did things.
From my experience over 80% of my BOOKINGS come from either someone that has actually seen me at an event or directly referred to me from someone that has booked me or seen me at an event. In regards to my INQUIRIES... probably 9/10 of my inquiries come from a direct referral or someone that was a guest. Unfortunately I can't book them all, hence why the booking ratio is slightly less. Yes I get referrals from vendors and venues... but they suck... they're not prequalified to expect a price of around $2000 (starting). Being that I am not the only person the venue or vendor may refer, chances are they're calling others as well... and theres a higher chance I am the most expensive. In their mind their thinking... well if they're all recommended, I'll be just fine with the cheaper option. I think I've only booked 1 direct referral from a venue... and it was after I gave them a huge discount. I only did it because I wanted to expand into a new clientele, but realized it was NOT worth it, when I could generate a much better clientele on my own. Last night the venue manager that rents the rooms out said he's never seen a dj like that in his life and asked me for my cards. He asked me my price... I said expect a minimum of $2k to book me... and that what they say was over $3k... his face was in shock, and said most people spend $3-$500. That is why I don't care for venue referrals... I don't care how good a venue is, most of those inquiries will not fall in the top percentile of spenders for their entertainment. Even one of the most expensive venue in NJ says they experience cheap dj's all the time. To me a referral from the venue is equal to any other type of generic inquiryl... completely unqualified.
