Wedding music requests

[Ricesnaps]

Well I hate to tell you this Alan, but I have already hired out several PA's for weddings for this very reason.

The first time this happened, I hired a small PA to a chap for his wedding as he wanted to put his laptop through it.

You can understand why I might have got that impression though

[theoloyla]

My word this has been a heated thread again. As I see it a lot of what is at stake here is the confidence of the customer that you will provide what they want. It is true that many pig headed, cowboy dj's have tarnished our industry so that the perception is that all dj's play ear busting mind numbing head bashing music that will only appeal to them and their trendy friends. What is required is to give the client confidence that you WILL provide what they need. In the case of older dj's like myself this is easier. I have 40 years of experience and if I am good enough for The Savoy etc then I should be able to entertain at most weddings. This also increasingly works against me for kids parties and 18th's (although I can and still do do them). As I said in an earlier post if a client wants me to work to a playlist then I will and if that is the route that dj's need to take to prove to their potential clients that they will not just play Prodigy and Metallica all night then so be it. There is nothing worse than a big headed dj who thinks he knows it all and knows best. I have been doing this all my life and I still learn something at every gig.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Thanks I need to check with my Insurers anyway--I would stay with the kit--do you have Hire Conditions in writing I could borrow?

thanks

Alan
CRAZY K

Where would you like it?

You can understand why I might have got that impression though

Indeed, but I did say 'hire' is where the money is.

[CRAZY K]

[QUOTE=Solitaire Entertainments Ltd;121527]Where would you like it?

Darren thanks for your help --but I have turned this enquiry away as I now realise I dont have PLI cover for Hiring out--well I know I havent --im not sure my Insurance people understand that though saying im not liable if the hirer has a problem with my kit causing an accident due to an electrical defect in my equipment

Not correct. I MIGHT BE LIABLE AND NOT INSURED.

I used your idea of selling a full hire with DJ operator--not sure they will like the price

Thanks again

Alan

CRAZY K

[PropellerHeadCase]

its the age old marketing debate I did 4 months of a marketing degree and left uni as I decided its all about selling your soul to the devil ..... my whole family are in marketing and exceptionally well off from it ...... but ..... its not for me for example ............

i worked in a sports shop :

customer came in "hello ive got £20 and I want a par of trainers what can I get?"

marketing answer :

"well let me show you these at £19.99 exceptional value for money designed for xxx in mind and a really popular choice with many customers wh excersise for fun and more seriously"

Dragonflys response:

"for 20 quid mate you are going to get kak my advice come back when you have £40 and we will see what we can do for you that will last you at least more than one jog around the block"

good marketing is all about giving people exactly what they want from a service .......and heres the catch ......... be that good bad or indifferent.

This post has been niggling at me since I read it and I've now figured out why...

Dragonfly, when did you do those four months of the marketing degree?

The reason I ask is that my last full time job was for New Zealand's Direct Marketing Association (now just The Marketing Association).

What you said up there isn't the "Marketing Answer" it's the 'Sales Answer', the marketing answer is more along the lines of (to continue the analogy)...

"Well, these are about the best shoes that you will get for £20 but you will be spending £20 to replace them in about 3 months. If you buy this £40-pair they should see you right for 9-12 months. If you do decide to go with this pair we'll send you out a 10%-off voucher for your next pair in 9 months."

Of course to do this you need to get an address and probably a phone number so you can call after a month and see if they are happy with the £40 shoes.


Maybe that's where Rice is finding his frustration with some peoples' responses. A web-site is a marketing tool, yes. The look-and-feel of your web-site and your forms and any hard copy materiel you have goes towards your image which is an aspect of your marketing as well as "the way you do business". Customer service and how you give that service is part of your marketing strategy, whether you realise it or not, as well as being "the way you do business". Marketing is a process of which the sale is a part - the sale itself is just an outcome which defines ensuing behaviour, it is not the ultimate goal.

I don't think anyone on MDD has the attitude of 'sale made, job done' (that's the virtual definition of 'cowboy' to my mind), but I think the difference that is leading to no small amount of contention is that your post-sales/pre-performance service should be a cohesive part of your marketing strategy - all that's changed is that you've gone from one-to-many (your web-site) to one-to-one (client meeting, email, etc.).

You might argue that what you do at the disco is the 'total experience' that your client is paying for, I say that, especially in the case of weddings, the consultation process leading into the disco itself and finishing with a post event round-up, be it a feedback form or whatever, is in fact the 'total experience'. If you meet with your client you make a human connection, few people would call even a long phone call a 'human connection' unless it was to a loved one. But you're not a loved one, you're a DJ. In making a human connection and hopefully a favourable impression you are far more likely to a) get some lee-way if you drop a clanger, and, more importantly, b) have a loyal customer.

There's a marketing truism that says 'It costs more to get a client than it does to keep a client', which may seem only passingly relevant when most weddings are one-offs, but another truism is that 'it takes ten good impressions to counter-act one bad impression'.

If the only experience your client has of you is a few phone calls, a brief meeting on the night, and the music that you play, they have no real reason to recommend you to anyone beyond a few months after the wedding. If, however, they have met you and you do a good job though-out the consultation-to-performance process they are far more likely to keep recommending your services long after the day.

Humans are social animals, if you can give your service an approachable, engaging human side you will win, every time.

[PropellerHeadCase]

So glad this is the chappie I took my lead from!

That's really nice of you to say, Matt, I'm quite chuffed with such a vote of confidence.

Funny thing is that this whole thing has been a somewhat recent revolution for me, too, I've been working under the 'play list + phonecall = she'll be right, mate' illusion for some time, too. In fact it's only since setting up on my own, researching for my website, and just generally putting some actual thought into what I do rather than cruising along that I have come to these conclusions, and put them into practice... with rather excellent results.

[PropellerHeadCase]

So how many marriages have their been since 1997 and what proportion of those B&Gs are members on Hitched and have made a post?

I am not saying it isn't a useful resource. I am saying that you can't take the views of one particular site to be the view of all people getting married.

What percentage of people getting married go on forums? Work that out and then tell me it gives a proper representation of brides to be.

OK, I'll take the 1% of people getting married in any given year that also post on a forum (no basis for that percentage, just a number out of thin air) and consider that my potential client pool. In New Zealand that would be 1% of about 25,000, it's reasonable to assume that in the UK it's 15-16 times that...

OK, it turns out that it's about 11 times that:
In 2005 there were 283,730 weddings in the UK

[CRAZY K]

This post has been niggling at me since I read it and I've now figured out why...

Dragonfly, when did you do those four months of the marketing degree?

The reason I ask is that my last full time job was for New Zealand's Direct Marketing Association (now just The Marketing Association).

What you said up there isn't the "Marketing Answer" it's the 'Sales Answer', the marketing answer is more along the lines of (to continue the analogy)...

"Well, these are about the best shoes that you will get for £20 but you will be spending £20 to replace them in about 3 months. If you buy this £40-pair they should see you right for 9-12 months. If you do decide to go with this pair we'll send you out a 10%-off voucher for your next pair in 9 months."

Of course to do this you need to get an address and probably a phone number so you can call after a month and see if they are happy with the £40 shoes.


Maybe that's where Rice is finding his frustration with some peoples' responses. A web-site is a marketing tool, yes. The look-and-feel of your web-site and your forms and any hard copy materiel you have goes towards your image which is an aspect of your marketing as well as "the way you do business". Customer service and how you give that service is part of your marketing strategy, whether you realise it or not, as well as being "the way you do business". Marketing is a process of which the sale is a part - the sale itself is just an outcome which defines ensuing behaviour, it is not the ultimate goal.

I don't think anyone on MDD has the attitude of 'sale made, job done' (that's the virtual definition of 'cowboy' to my mind), but I think the difference that is leading to no small amount of contention is that your post-sales/pre-performance service should be a cohesive part of your marketing strategy - all that's changed is that you've gone from one-to-many (your web-site) to one-to-one (client meeting, email, etc.).

You might argue that what you do at the disco is the 'total experience' that your client is paying for, I say that, especially in the case of weddings, the consultation process leading into the disco itself and finishing with a post event round-up, be it a feedback form or whatever, is in fact the 'total experience'. If you meet with your client you make a human connection, few people would call even a long phone call a 'human connection' unless it was to a loved one. But you're not a loved one, you're a DJ. In making a human connection and hopefully a favourable impression you are far more likely to a) get some lee-way if you drop a clanger, and, more importantly, b) have a loyal customer.

There's a marketing truism that says 'It costs more to get a client than it does to keep a client', which may seem only passingly relevant when most weddings are one-offs, but another truism is that 'it takes ten good impressions to counter-act one bad impression'.

If the only experience your client has of you is a few phone calls, a brief meeting on the night, and the music that you play, they have no real reason to recommend you to anyone beyond a few months after the wedding. If, however, they have met you and you do a good job though-out the consultation-to-performance process they are far more likely to keep recommending your services long after the day.

Humans are social animals, if you can give your service an approachable, engaging human side you will win, every time.

Marketing is a process of which the sale is a part - the sale itself is just an outcome which defines ensuing behaviour, it is not the ultimate goal.

Alan ,If thats the case why did I work as Consultant/ Salesman for 30 years being offered extremely attractive commissions and benefits to achieve company sales targets which were crucial to the development, expansion, profitability and shareholder value etc of whatever companies I worked for?

If you dont close those Disco sales--you are out of business

CRAZY K

[Dragonfly]

This post has been niggling at me since I read it and I've now figured out why...

Dragonfly, when did you do those four months of the marketing degree?

The reason I ask is that my last full time job was for New Zealand's Direct Marketing Association (now just The Marketing Association).

What you said up there isn't the "Marketing Answer" it's the 'Sales Answer', the marketing answer is more along the lines of (to continue the analogy)...

"Well, these are about the best shoes that you will get for £20 but you will be spending £20 to replace them in about 3 months. If you buy this £40-pair they should see you right for 9-12 months. If you do decide to go with this pair we'll send you out a 10%-off voucher for your next pair in 9 months."

Of course to do this you need to get an address and probably a phone number so you can call after a month and see if they are happy with the £40 shoes.


Maybe that's where Rice is finding his frustration with some peoples' responses. A web-site is a marketing tool, yes. The look-and-feel of your web-site and your forms and any hard copy materiel you have goes towards your image which is an aspect of your marketing as well as "the way you do business". Customer service and how you give that service is part of your marketing strategy, whether you realise it or not, as well as being "the way you do business". Marketing is a process of which the sale is a part - the sale itself is just an outcome which defines ensuing behaviour, it is not the ultimate goal.

I don't think anyone on MDD has the attitude of 'sale made, job done' (that's the virtual definition of 'cowboy' to my mind), but I think the difference that is leading to no small amount of contention is that your post-sales/pre-performance service should be a cohesive part of your marketing strategy - all that's changed is that you've gone from one-to-many (your web-site) to one-to-one (client meeting, email, etc.).

You might argue that what you do at the disco is the 'total experience' that your client is paying for, I say that, especially in the case of weddings, the consultation process leading into the disco itself and finishing with a post event round-up, be it a feedback form or whatever, is in fact the 'total experience'. If you meet with your client you make a human connection, few people would call even a long phone call a 'human connection' unless it was to a loved one. But you're not a loved one, you're a DJ. In making a human connection and hopefully a favourable impression you are far more likely to a) get some lee-way if you drop a clanger, and, more importantly, b) have a loyal customer.

There's a marketing truism that says 'It costs more to get a client than it does to keep a client', which may seem only passingly relevant when most weddings are one-offs, but another truism is that 'it takes ten good impressions to counter-act one bad impression'.

If the only experience your client has of you is a few phone calls, a brief meeting on the night, and the music that you play, they have no real reason to recommend you to anyone beyond a few months after the wedding. If, however, they have met you and you do a good job though-out the consultation-to-performance process they are far more likely to keep recommending your services long after the day.

Humans are social animals, if you can give your service an approachable, engaging human side you will win, every time.

I did it about 8 years ago for the record , but every other member of my family , mother , father and sister until recently when my mum retired earned a combined 180k a year from marketing which is where most of my advice comes from.

my step mum also runs and owns a succesful region wide business and has some input into ideas.

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumers' requirements profitably "

[PropellerHeadCase]

OK, to clarify, that one sale is not the ultimate goal it is an opportunity to generate more sales by providing your service to an audience of which a percentage are likely to be in the market.

It was pretty stream of consciousness typing, so you'll excuse me if not all my points quite hit home.

Alan ,If thats the case why did I work as Consultant/ Salesman for 30 years being offered extremely attractive commissions and benefits to achieve company sales targets which were crucial to the development, expansion, profitability and shareholder value etc of whatever companies I worked for?

See above comment first, then...

My question to you is, how many of the sales that you made in that role where as a follow on from previous sales, and how many future sales were as a follow on from them? Each sale was a mini platform from which to launch future sales. It's a very fluid process, is it not? When you reached your sales targets did you stop selling?

My wife was reading me something about the difference between 'targets' and 'goals', I'll have to see if I can find it.

I did it about 8 years ago for the record , but every other member of my family , mother , father and sister until recently when my mum retired earned a combined 180k a year from marketing which is where most of my advice comes from.

my step mum also runs and owns a succesful region wide business and has some input into ideas.

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumers' requirements profitably "

I realise my original post may have come across as a little accusatory, it was not my intention, I recall that you had said that you cam from a marketing background, in the blood, like.

Regarding your finishing quote, there, I refer back to what I said above. In order to be profitable you don't stop at one sale, each sale is an opportunity to up-sell, cross-sell, or create customer loyalty.

Maybe this, which just came to me, says it better...

Any one sale is not your ultimate goal, sales, plural, are.