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Thread: Bride and Grooms Attitudes / Current Trends

  1. #11

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    With the majority of my bookings being at one venue I started going to their wedding showcase evenings & meeting customers. The majority are on the same page as me - they're after their guests having a great time, while still hearing some of their essential tunes etc.

    Extras wise, everybody seems to love uplighting (when they see it).. I've just booked a load more of it tonight.

    I'm not seeing dancefloors or love letters as often as I used to, but they're still a 'thing'.

    Photobooths - they've not been going anywhere - still about half the weddings I play where I'm recommended supplier book a booth or what laughably passes for a photobooth.

    At my outside bookings, I'm more often than not the only 'entertainment'.

    Bands, are massively down on previous years, but where they've been on & I've been 'and disco' they've generally done a decent job of getting people dancing. Solo artists like singing pianists, guitarists are on the up though, as are the notorious 'Singing' Waiters it seems.

    I suggest on my site & in my quotes I'm happy to meet couples & everybody takes me up on it - they ask for it. We're in the same neck of the woods Chris & I presume our customer demographics are similar.

    Reviews & recommendations - there's a school of thought that you should bowl the customer over to the extent they simply can't wait to leave you a multi-paragraph review & deeds to their 1st home of their own accord. I generally have to give them a little nudge but there've been times I haven't, and got very glowing feedback indeed.

    What am I doing so differently from before when I wasn't getting ANY feedback from customers in spite of gentle nudges? I'm not sure.

    Things I've noticed that've changed of late..

    1st dance choices are getting WAY more esoteric - dare I say it even QUIRKY. Gone are the Christina Perry, Ed Sheeran & John Leg End tracks.

    Generic 'discos' are dead to most of my customers. They seem to care about the 'rig' & how the music is presented. Just tonight I met no less than 3 customers who want a mixed 90s/00s dance set.

    They also tend not to want chatty or scream-if-you-wanna-go-faster DJs either and they DO want their guests to have a great time. They give me an outline of what they like & what they don't like - then I fill in the blanks. I basically set out my stall as such. If they don't give a stuff if their guests have a good time or not, I'm very much not the DJ for them & I've told one bride to be so this year & we mutually agreed to cancel including a return of their deposit. Good customer service is more than just unquestionably delivering what the customer demands. If they wanna hijack their own wedding reception fine, but they can book some other mug to help them

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nakatomi View Post
    I suggest on my site & in my quotes I'm happy to meet couples & everybody takes me up on it - they ask for it. We're in the same neck of the woods Chris & I presume our customer demographics are similar.
    Very interesting that as apart from the specialist DJs and newer ones who are still in the 'learn from certain peoples books etc' stage I have heard a lot of my competitors saying that they have noticed a decline in meetings, although an increase in skype, BUT this past couple of weeks I have done 4 meetings and had 5 other DJs popped out to meet clients so wondering if there is a swift change again.

    Every email I send suggests meeting but can't remember the last time I met for an evening only booking, certainly not this year. In a way I like it as it prevents the Jekyll and Hyde effect which bugs me no end.
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by ppentertainments View Post
    Very interesting that as apart from the specialist DJs and newer ones who are still in the 'learn from certain peoples books etc' stage I have heard a lot of my competitors saying that they have noticed a decline in meetings, although an increase in skype, BUT this past couple of weeks I have done 4 meetings and had 5 other DJs popped out to meet clients so wondering if there is a swift change again.

    Every email I send suggests meeting but can't remember the last time I met for an evening only booking, certainly not this year. In a way I like it as it prevents the Jekyll and Hyde effect which bugs me no end.
    I dunno. I've kind of had the impression they all want to meet & they thank me profusely for taking time out to do it.. I'll put my hand up & say it's a double win for me because a) it fits their expectations & b) they're generally at venues new to me so saves me a separate recce.

    What do you mean by the 'jekyll & Hyde effect? Clients who meet & seem nice as pie then go cold or worse at the event? I had that a couple of times before I started meeting.

    Anyway I think we have to consider maybe our customers are very different. Some want to control minutiae & don't need to meet - just issue lists... And some don't. I prefer the latter - greatly

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nakatomi View Post
    I dunno. I've kind of had the impression they all want to meet & they thank me profusely for taking time out to do it.. I'll put my hand up & say it's a double win for me because a) it fits their expectations & b) they're generally at venues new to me so saves me a separate recce.

    What do you mean by the 'jekyll & Hyde effect? Clients who meet & seem nice as pie then go cold or worse at the event? I had that a couple of times before I started meeting.

    Anyway I think we have to consider maybe our customers are very different. Some want to control minutiae & don't need to meet - just issue lists... And some don't. I prefer the latter - greatly
    Yeah, That Jekyll & Hyde effect lol. Used to bug me that upon meeting they were nice as anything, looking forward to everything, then come the big day boom, totally different.

    Personally I don't benefit that much from meeting (personal opinion) but the likelihood is, most people I will have met one way or another, just not at an official client meeting. One reason I prefer not to meet is costs and time admittedly.

    When I was doing this as a hobby, I did try and meet everyone and thought it was great which is strange as this was when time was at a premium, although I didn't do the volume of discos then. What really changed my mind was after 2 separate meetings, the B&G said afterwards 'was this not a waste of time for you?' - got me thinking, although took 6 years for the penny to drop lol.

    At least now the couple have the choice and I try not to enforce anything on them - most seem to like to just pop to a wedding fayre / open day for a quick chat.

    Like everything it is horses for courses and what suits one, doesn't suit another.
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

  5. #15
    Jim - Scotland's Party DJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ppentertainments View Post
    Yeah, That Jekyll & Hyde effect lol. Used to bug me that upon meeting they were nice as anything, looking forward to everything, then come the big day boom, totally different.

    Personally I don't benefit that much from meeting (personal opinion) but the likelihood is, most people I will have met one way or another, just not at an official client meeting. One reason I prefer not to meet is costs and time admittedly.

    When I was doing this as a hobby, I did try and meet everyone and thought it was great which is strange as this was when time was at a premium, although I didn't do the volume of discos then. What really changed my mind was after 2 separate meetings, the B&G said afterwards 'was this not a waste of time for you?' - got me thinking, although took 6 years for the penny to drop lol.

    At least now the couple have the choice and I try not to enforce anything on them - most seem to like to just pop to a wedding fayre / open day for a quick chat.

    Like everything it is horses for courses and what suits one, doesn't suit another.

    I've noticed recently a lot more couples deciding they don't have time to meet or preferring to do it over Skype.

    I did change my e-mail wording a while ago from a "hey guys it's time to sort out our meeting" to a "hey i'd love to meet but if that's too much hassle we can skype or do it over the phone" vibe.

    I think my original e-mail made it almost an expectation that we HAD to meet which totally isn't the case - I certainly couldn't be ersed meeting the majority of my suppliers when I got married.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ View Post
    I've noticed recently a lot more couples deciding they don't have time to meet or preferring to do it over Skype.

    I did change my e-mail wording a while ago from a "hey guys it's time to sort out our meeting" to a "hey i'd love to meet but if that's too much hassle we can skype or do it over the phone" vibe.

    I think my original e-mail made it almost an expectation that we HAD to meet which totally isn't the case - I certainly couldn't be ersed meeting the majority of my suppliers when I got married.
    Yeah, I am the same - meeting is a bit 'last year'. I even have all-day weddings in the diary where couples don't want to meet. Fine by me, there are many other ways to sort things out.

    My emails used to also be worded as 'we WILL meet', now they get the option on EVERY email I send but few take me up on it. Only difficult thing can be spotting who is the groom on the wedding day haha.

    The plus side is, I get so many people complementing me on how easy I make everything. I think a lot of DJs are so intense it creates a lot of unneeded pressure and worry. Let's face it - what information do we actually need ?
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

  7. #17

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    I've relaxed my wording around meetings now as well, especially in the pre-sales phase. I used to use the phrase "meet to have a chat with no obligation to use my services" and I think a lot of people mentally connected me with double glazing sales tactics and thought I was going to use the meeting as an opportunity for a high pressure sales talk.

    I think there are some people who want to meet their DJ and care about their personality and appearance (and a lot of the time these are the people who have been burned by experiencing bad DJs at other weddings), but the majority just don't have the time.

    Julian
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  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Jules View Post
    I think there are some people who want to meet their DJ and care about their personality and appearance (and a lot of the time these are the people who have been burned by experiencing bad DJs at other weddings), but the majority just don't have the time.
    I did find that a lot of people who asked to meet before booking just wanted to make sure I wasn't just some young lad, in fact I have had a few meetings where they have said they just wanted to make sure I was old enough to know what to play and how to conduct myself - as mentioned, mostly due to past experiences especially with many kids now having great websites which make out they are mature and experienced.
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

  9. #19
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ppentertainments View Post
    I did find that a lot of people who asked to meet before booking just wanted to make sure I wasn't just some young lad, in fact I have had a few meetings where they have said they just wanted to make sure I was old enough to know what to play and how to conduct myself - .
    Yay, I'm in clover here. Fireproof.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    Yay, I'm in clover here. Fireproof.
    I can beat that - a couple of years ago they wanted an OLDER DJ
    Semi-Retired Multi Award Winning DJ

    www.ultimateweddingdj.co.uk

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