Bark

[Excalibur]

Being rock bottom price, I'm guessing they're not the ideal client for future work

And that would be absolutely correct.

True, but if it fills gaps in the diary...

As would that also. When your total income comes from being self employed, there's a saying always in your mind: " Don't work, don't eat ". Simples.

And yes, I'd far rather do 25 gigs at £300 than 50 at £150, but if you need to achieve that £7,500 target, how you get there is less important than actually getting there. ( Figures plucked out of the air for illustration purposes only )

Yup - and I can confirm I've actually seen a genuine request at last

Trouble is, the budget was less than half what I'd quoted him for his wedding reception in a plush country house type of place just an hour beforehand

So many jests spring to mind, but I've taken the pills, so I should get a couple of serious posts in before they wear off. I've just seen the closure of a NaD lead, wedding at private residence, long hours, interested in uplighting. Almost an all day job, so I quoted a figure of half what many here would have done, exactly on their ( quite sensible ) budget. Who got the job?
Well taking into account the code " a fair bit less " I'd say it was the person who quoted the sort of price I'm getting for a straight 5 hour disco on Saturday. Mine however won't involve being on site for over twelve hours.

[DJWilson]

Little update.

Managed to get three confirmed bookings at at rate we're happy with. Low conversion on the whole though.

Not a bad trial until I just recieved an email saying I'd been charged 6 credits (£7.92) for replying to a customer!

Haven't sent a message to anyone - so a very angry email has gone off and if the money and my card isn't taken off their system tomorrow morning, a very angry call will be made.

[Excalibur]

Little update.

Managed to get three confirmed bookings at at rate we're happy with. Low conversion on the whole though.

Not unlike my experience. Never mind a low conversion rate, the notification rate is even lower! I've got one pending that I'd have expected to book by now, at a good rate, and if I got that one I'd be well ahead of the game. It's very expensive to reply to, so I've dipped a toe in with add to event. Early days yet, but it's a lot cheaper.

[Imagine]

Early days yet, but it's a lot cheaper.

Cheaper to respond to, and in the quality of the leads.
Honestly, some of the stuff coming through there at the moment puts NaD to shame

[Excalibur]

I've got one pending that I'd have expected to book by now, at a good rate, and if I got that one I'd be well ahead of the game.

Back of the net! Lovely couple, lovely venue I've played before ( you can virtually reverse the van into the function room ), playlist to kill for ( 50s, 60s, Doo Wop, Tamla, Northern and a bit of 80s ) and at full price.

Will simply cherry pick where to use my last credits on there now, I think. NaD still the most effective source for me though.

[DJ Jules]

It turns out that asking DJ's to put their hand in their pocket and PAY for something is a far better way of filtering out the idiots than DJMark or any of the other tests that are designed to raise the bar

I've pretty much had it with NaD for 3 reasons:

1. I had a Diamond DJMark award until I received negative feedback from a 21st Birthday party where the Mum booked me and the daughters friends took over (they organised a limo that made all of the guests late to the party, and then they booked a stripper and it all ended badly with the daughters' boyfriend being none too happy). It's taken me TWO YEARS to build up my feedback to the point where I can almost get the Diamond award back (I needed an additional 10 positive feedback to get the right ratio). In that time I've done 20+ gigs and only received 9 feedback reports through NaD despite getting positive unsolicited feedback by email or feedback via my website from every single one of them and asking (and reminding) every single one to leave feedback via NaD. My customer from Jan says she spent literally HOURS trying to get in and leave me feedback - there's something really not right with the feedback system.

2. Bristol gigs aren't making it onto NaD. I get lots through for Gloucester, Swindon and Somerset, but I've only seen a handful for Bristol in the last 2 years. Either their SEO is messed up for Bristol, or people round here are intentionally avoiding NaD.

3. Bidding against 15+ people for every gig.

[yourdj]

It turns out that asking DJ's to put their hand in their pocket and PAY for something is a far better way of filtering out the idiots than DJMark

Your not right there - money talks, I started a charge of £30 per year for the HDA, which was an attempt to get rid of the unwanted members. We lost all of the undesirables in 2 days and still have the members that we held dearly. All for £2.50 a month. paying £2.50 a month to be part of an elite group is is a no brainer, ignoring the leads, advice, meetings and general camaraderie, but cheapo-disco-dave can't see beyond the money he could have spent on a 5 pints of beer.

Unfortunately this industry is a very poor one when it comes to the Sids as it's such an easy & fun way to make money. Plus the work is on weekends, when the job centre is closed. I think that this is slowly changing though as its splitting in two with the all day DJ/MC influences & better communication between DJ with the internet (i.e. this conversation).

As for Bark, i feel that this is probably a good way to get leads if executed properly and ideal for any fledgling business struggling for leads, but its far too much of a gamble when compared to paying £x to attend a wedding fair, an SEO expert, Adwords etc. If I knew that I would get good leads at good local venues (i.e. its not another DJ testing the system) then I would go for it, but it all seems a bit iffy. They do rank well on Google mind you for a local search.

[Benny Smyth]

Unfortunately this industry is a very poor one when it comes to the Sids as it's such an easy & fun way to make money.

Seriously?

[Daryll]

I joined bark some time ago , never brought any credits.
Just had and email from them..

As you’ve not used Bark for a while we are offering you the leads below completely free of charge.
Nobody has responded to them yet so you'll have a good chance of securing the business. You can view all your free leads in your Dashboard here.
You can contact the customer completely free but only if you respond in the next 24 hours, so please review the leads as soon as possible. They're waiting for a response!

worth a punt

Daryll

[yourdj]

Seriously?

Yes good point, maybe the wrong use of word, not meant literally.

SID would have been more appropriate.

Mod note: Sid it is. Please would all members be careful about using terms/language which could easily be deemed offensive. Thank you all.