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| Consulatations
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The idea of a personal consultation with a client prior to an event may be a completely new concept to many readers. Equally, many DJs may think that it simply is not necessary - and in many cases I would agree. I certainly fell into the first category for many years of my DJ career. Generally the only contact I had with potential clients was by telephone, and those conversations generally only covered the minimum details, of where when and what for. However, more recently I have discovered that meeting face to face with clients before an event has many advantages both for myself and for my clients.
Before I continue, I would like to stress that I don't claim to know everything there is to know on this subject and am certainly not trying to 'preach'. This article is based on my own experience of booking and performing at various types of function over the years and also things that I have learnt from conversations with other DJs along the way. I plan to simply layout my thoughts and ideas on this subject and explain why I think consultations can be very useful. I am certainly not suggesting that my way is the only way to operate, but challenge readers to consider the points covered in this article and then look to see if any of them could help with their own businesses.
To start at the beginning, what do I mean by a consultation? Simply a meeting between yourself and a client to discuss their event and find out what they want from you. The idea is to ensure that you have all the necessary details to provide the service that each particular client wants, so that you ultimately end up with a happy customer who will be pleased to recommend you. I think it is worth mentioning at this point that I am writing from a 'single operator' perspective; that is to say that I only have one disco and I am always the DJ. However, if you are a 'multi-operator' and have other DJs working for you I am confident that much of what I am going to write about could be applied to your business.
Although there are a number of types of function that consultations could work for, I am going to focus on wedding receptions. There are a number of reasons for this, the first of which is simply that I mainly DJ for wedding receptions and therefore that is where my experience comes from. A lot of money is often spent on wedding celebrations, which means that couples are willing to pay very good money to DJs who can supply what they are looking for.
A 'Sales Consultation' can help to assure a couple that you are the right DJ for their reception and allow you to justify the fee you charge and explain why it may not be the lowest in the area(!) Because Wedding receptions can take many different forms and involve a number of formalities, a consultation can also allow you as the DJ to gather all of the necessary information to help reduce surprises and hiccups on the day. This can then help you to deliver a smooth and professional performance, which in turn will help you to secure further bookings through referrals.
Written by James Humphrey |
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The full article can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 20, Pages 26 - 29 |
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Copyright EJ Media 2003 - 2010
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