Adding value and making more money

[dicky]

OK probably a quick intro to this thread is required to explian where I am coming from and where I am now.

As many of you know I started back DJing in November of last year after a 30yr break and built this rig from scratch.

Since then I built myself up from about £80-100 per booking and am now managing £130-£200 a night (got three bookings in at £200 so far but these seem to be accelerating (ie coming more regularly) with two already booked for next summer at that rate. Not only that but I feel I am building something of a reputation locally and also feel much more confident in what I do and how I do it.

At the moment I am mainly woking pub nights on a Friday at £100, private partiies and weddings on a Saturday (at £150 for the former and £200 for the latter) and basically have a full-ish diary generally being booked for 1-2 month ahead, so guess I am working at about 80%-100% of full weekend capacity, with several sunday bookings as a bonus - plus taking enough fri/sat bookings to pass some on to my mate Mac at CMC music because i am already booked. But I still have say 2 or so Fri/Sat bookings available per month not fulfilled

Yet still I am looking forward...... I just got my hands on a logo projector (you know me. 30W COB got it for next to nothing but needs a bit of repair) and I am thinking of adding some optional extras to my offerings

1. custom Gobo projectors - bride/groom Congratulatons/names etc - Happy 18th 21st whatever projected round the room

2. Mood lighting/uplighters - I have some good ones on sale here - no offers just yet so wondrered if they could earn me some extra money if I kept between 8 and 16 of them for myself and used on weddings etc, all DMXed of course

3. Wedding I did this weekend had those giant LOVE letters - shouldnttoo be expensive to buy or even better fabricate some myself

So based on the fees I am managing to attract (are they any good on the general scale of things and should I increase them anyway regardless based on my already 80% booked diary???)

And truthfully how much is reasonable (ie what you would and do charge and what the clients generally will likely pay for it it) for Congratulations 'B&G name' or personalise Happy whatever birthday etc projected gobos + LOVE letters - are these feasible comercial additions?

And how much is reasonable AND ACHIEVABLE for Uplighters/Mood lighting - or would I be better selling them and making a decent profit that way?

I would realy appreciate the advice to make a good commercial decision so OK over to the much more experienced than I on here........ what should I charge and based on a 80%-90% current booking rate (weekends) am I too cheap with what I have already?

Or given the whole of the above, and declared booking rate, am I just charging much less than I shoud for what I do anyway. Or am I doing it about right given how short a period I have been back as a DJ?

cheers
Rich

[funkymook]

Or given the whole of the above, and declared booking rate, am I just charging much less than I shoud for what I do anyway. Or am I doing it about right given how short a period I have been back as a DJ?

The short answer to that is if you’re happy with what you make for the effort you put in then your charging the right amount. If you’re not then you should be charging more. (and charging more is simply asking for more, you don’t have to do anything extra to justify it).

The longer answer involves running a business and making a profit and all the financial number crunching that's involved to see if you’re making money, breaking even or running at a loss.

[Imagine]

This thread takes me back to about a year ago, where I was in the same position as you (similar prices as well). I got some brilliant advice at the time.

Firstly as Martin says, charge what you're happy with. If you're happy at those prices and feel valued then there's no problem. It's not necessarily all about the money (although in my case my "backup" job is looking flaky so I'm trying to build my business up into something that will support the family and myself when the worst happens in around 12 month's time so the more I can make, the better we'll be able to eat!).

Now - this one could quite easily turn into a pricing thread, and I really hope not as there's plenty of those in other places. Hopefully we're all professional enough to avoid willy waving and "my rig's bigger than your rig" conversations.....

I managed to double (and in some cases triple) what I was charging without any extras. My average evening only wedding is now £350 minimum, with a "standard" Friday/Saturday night being in the £300 region (occasionally £250). The prices are rising for next year already.

What did I do.....???

Tricky to put into words but I'll try. Basically, I upped my game.

I tidied up the rig beyond what it was last year (OK, it cost me money but it's an investment), so as far as I'm concerned I've got a setup that I think looks respectable and good value for money (without I might add, taking hours to rig/derig at either end of the party). I'm also in a position where I've got three very distinct setups, so a selling point is that I can tailor to suit absolutely ANY situation (and I've done posh country houses, village halls, somebody's back garden and a beach in the last 6 months with more to come).

I also tweaked my marketing (unfortunately that's now a huge part of what we do it would seem). Just making sure that the website wasn't getting people falling off the landing page etc. was all it took.

The most important part - having the confidence to say "hey - I'm worth a lot more" and actually charge what I thought I was worth. As I say, as my confidence in this particular area grows, then so are my prices (there's room for a lot of growth on the wedding side of things with the service I offer - and that's without things like uplighting etc., which although I own I don't actively market as yet).

I don't own a set of love letters - although there aren't many out here with them at the moment and talking to my last couple of brides who were looking at them there might actually be a market for them in my neck of the woods.

And here's something interesting for you....love letters round here are going out for between £250 and £350 for the day. That's just for someone to buy them, walk in and plug them in, then turn up later, unplug them and take them home (OK, simplistic as there's other costs such as transport, maintenance, storage etc. as we ourselves have), but in reality no more than around an hour's worth of work. Now compare that to what YOU do. You're there for many hours and actually WORK for those hours (damned hard at times if last Saturdays' wedding for me was anything to go by). From where I'm sitting at the moment, evening only for me should be in the region of around £500, and I'm slowly getting to that point, from where I was a year ago and where you are now.

Or to put it into a context that most people will understand - why do people buy iPhones? There's other smartphones out there (IMHO a lot better but hey - I've just brought into the fruity dream), and the others can be a lot cheaper. What does the iPhone do that's different from for example, a Samsung Galaxy? Answer, not a lot, but it's about brand and trust, and that's what people are buying into.

Now there'll always be folk that say "you can't get that round 'ere".....yes you can! It depends who you're marketing to though. Out here in the Cambs/Norfolk/Suffolk borders, it's not the most affluent of areas with a lot of people still working in retail/agriculture etc. However, look just a little further afield and it's Silicon Fen with those people living guess where? Yup, right on my doorstep. Make the marketing target those people and the prices can rise if you have the confidence to do it.

You won't be the cheapest out there (there'll ALWAYS be someone that'll do it for less), and you'll have to sell yourself a lot harder (people buy people so meet them, smile and laugh with them, show you're a human being but also a professional that what you do. You need to ooze confidence and show them that you absolutely love what you do and can make their function work).

[dicky]

@funkymook
Yeah I was rambling a bit - I tend to do that late in the evenings lol - What I make covers the effort I put in (bear in mind I do this for additional 'nice things' - foriegn holidays and running/showing my classic car) not for a living

But then is that really relevant why I do it - if there is more money to be made for not much more (or no extra) effort then wouldn't anyone want to do that?

So I think my questions on what these extras are likely to be worth is a reasonable one and those of you who offer these things already are a good place to ask

@imagine - crossed posts with you there - just read yours. Useful info.

I didn't mention but think it may be relevant, when I quote at £200 for weddings (recent ones have been quoted at another wedding/party so they know exactly what they are getting) I seem to get a bit of a 'pained look' on the clients face and then sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say 'Ill think about it'. But they certainly don't seem to think it is a too cheap 'snatch your hand off' price

Rich

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Personally I do very little in the way of moodlighting and gobos. Not to say it can't be popular but I'd rather sell myself than some extra fripperies and bring in higher money every gig as standard rather than aim to scrape more in by selling mood lighting to my clients. Plus there's a lot of guys who offer free moodlighting just to sweeten the deal / pull in punters. Sack that.

YMMV

As for upping the price - you need to a. actually provide quality and have the client perceive the value in your pricing and b. not be afraid to push your price up for fear of losing gigs. That's the tricky part but if you do genuinely offer the value then quoting an appropriate price and not wavering on it are key.

Don't downsell other DJs but upsell your service.

Not wanting to turn this into a pricing thread but...

I recently did a wedding where the feedback was great culminating in "you provided amazing value for money." this was for an evening only gig where I charged £X and she'd initially tried to haggle with me because two of the other DJs she'd contacted had quoted 1/2 £X and one had quoted 1/3 of £X. I explained (without being patronising might I add) that I cost that much more because of A,B,C and D that I offered (as in experience, planning etc... not gear and flashy toys) , she saw the value in what I offered compared to the other two guys although they were much cheaper and went on to book and ultimately have a great night.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I hire out DIY disco packages all the time for £180+ just to put your fees in perspective. Sod the extras just up your disco prices!

[Imagine]

I hire out DIY disco packages all the time for £180+ just to put your fees in perspective. Sod the extras just up your disco prices!

Something I've been asked for a few times recently (and probably one for a different thread entirely).
Just one question though Neil....I'm assuming they provide their own music and you're basically giving them lights and PA for that price?

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Something I've been asked for a few times recently (and probably one for a different thread entirely).
Just one question though Neil....I'm assuming they provide their own music and you're basically giving them lights and PA for that price?

Yep, deckstand, couple of lights and a couple of powered speakers.

[yourdj]

I hire out DIY disco packages all the time for £180+ just to put your fees in perspective. Sod the extras just up your disco prices!

And increase attention to detail, customer service and other improvements (such as better music programming, formalities preparations, client meets/personalisation etc.).

I have always refused to do DIY discos as all the ones i haste seen or heard about have been really bad - no flow, guests changing the music etc. etc. I would probably charge about £195 for sound lighting and then a further£100 if they wanted me to pre mix/select the music and lock it in a box so no one can fiddle with it on the night.

[Pe7e]

I have always refused to do DIY discos as all the ones i haste seen or heard about have been really bad - no flow, guests changing the music etc. etc. I would probably charge about £195 for sound lighting and then a further£100 if they wanted me to pre mix/select the music and lock it in a box so no one can fiddle with it on the night.

I think you're missing the point of a DIY Disco Toby, they want to choose the music themselves, not have the choice imposed on them by a DJ. Most I come across have a pre programmed playlist on VDJ or similar music program, prepared in advance of their party, they're a bit more tech savvy than you give them credit for. Regarding sound quality, I could justifiably say quite a few mobile discos I've been to, have also looked and sounded dire, and that's usually down to the standard of equipment they have. All the professional equipment suppliers I know, only provide good quality kit, they wouldn't be in business for long if they didn't. I've come across a few folk hiring out their 'back up' kit, but they don't seem to last too long.