Customer wants to come to one of my gigs!!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I personally avoid the "every event is different" spiel because it puts you on the defensive and essentially reads as - you might turn up and no one is dancing.

Saying my full focus at each gig is on the client and their guests, not touting for business, just as it will be at their wedding where I'd never dream of inviting a stranger is usually enough to do the trick.

I think I've only ever had one person really not accept that and walk away from the booking but she came across as hard work from our communication any way so win win for me

[mark@pegasus]

I have to agree with everything that has been said. You have to ask them how they would feel if you were to invite someone to their wedding, also musical taste is a very personal thing they may not like the style of music you are playing but that may be the paying clients choice (slightly different in the OP's case as booking and deposit are confirmed)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I would also agree with what has been said already.
It happened to me quite a few times over the years. I didn't really promote videos of me at work back then (always worked alone and didn't have the time or enough hands to do it).

I always used to say that every booking was different too, in fact I still believe that. You can bet your life that you agree to let somebody come and have a look at you whilst working, and you have a bunch of guests who have as much energy and enthusiasm as the local morgue.

Somebody once asked me, "would it be ok just to pop in and poke our heads around the door?". It's funny as I don't actually remember my answer to that question, and I don't remember anybody saying anything (that person still booked me anyway), but I must admit that I would feel slightly uncomfortable about people popping along to somebody's big day so they could suss out the DJ.

[Excalibur]

I personally avoid the "every event is different" spiel

Ah, so you do the same thing every gig then?

It's a wedding, so Macarena and Cha Cha Slide.
It's an 18th, so all chart bilge.
It's a 50th, 60th, 70th Birthday, so all 80s, 70s, 60s.

Somehow I don't think you work that way, so I'd have to say that your argument falls at the first hurdle.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Ah, so you do the same thing every gig then?

It's a wedding, so Macarena and Cha Cha Slide.
It's an 18th, so all chart bilge.
It's a 50th, 60th, 70th Birthday, so all 80s, 70s, 60s.

Somehow I don't think you work that way, so I'd have to say that your argument falls at the first hurdle.

As I said in my comment - every event is different but saying that to a potential client, to me, is you essentially making an excuse that you might not be able to get a room rocking.

Saying, in a diplomatic way, that's it's not appropriate for strangers to turn up to a wedding to check you out is much more positive.

Apart from that, I've got 100+ gig and venue videos on my page that I can go: this was in your venue, this was a rock wedding, this was an Indian wedding, these guys wanted a nice relaxed "catch up" etc... so there's really never a point where I can't show them a decent approximation of what they envisage their night to be,

Maybe that's why I haven't had anyone ask to see me in ages...

[funkymook]

Along with the ‘sorry no, I can’t invite you to someone else’s wedding/party’ you should also ask them why they want to see you live, is there an underlying doubt or concern you can put their mind at ease about another way.

[Excalibur]

Along with the ‘sorry no, I can’t invite you to someone else’s wedding/party’ you should also ask them why they want to see you live, is there an underlying doubt or concern you can put their mind at ease about another way.

Underlying doubt? Hell yeah, the nagging fear that we play Oops and Birdie song at every gig.

[funkymook]

Underlying doubt? Hell yeah, the nagging fear that we play Oops and Birdie song at every gig.

You mean you don’t?

[Nakatomi]

Underlying doubt? Hell yeah, the nagging fear that we play Oops and Birdie song at every gig.

My name is Justin & it's been six weeks since I played The Cha Cha Slide m'lud.

I'm frankly astonished how often a customer will mention that they don't want me to play the birdie song. I think I probably still own it, but I honestly don't ever remember playing it in my entire career, or being asked to play it!

It's actually scary to me the kind of assumptions some customers make. That I work off a master playlist (as if it's the mobile DJ LAW or something), that I won't take requests, that I won't mix, that I won't structure my sets.. Are other DJs really that bad?

There are a lot of great mobile DJs in the world but an awful lot more mediocre ones who don't give a stuff about anything but where their next beer is coming from (usually the pack they brought in with them). We have them to thank for our customers being so wary. But then, that's not entirely a bad thing. They make the rest of us look SO much better

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

There are a lot of great mobile DJs in the world but an awful lot more mediocre ones who don't give a stuff about anything but where their next beer is coming from (usually the pack they brought in with them). We have them to thank for our customers being so wary. But then, that's not entirely a bad thing. They make the rest of us look SO much better

You're spot on:

At a meeting yesterday a client said something along the lines of: "we just knew you would be great and really professional compared to the other quotes and info we got."

I'm good at what I do but it's not rocket science, I've not done any courses or seminars so you could say I'm self taught, I do it alongside a very time consuming and stressful main job and I started out doing rubbish gigs for rubbish money for an agent but I still took a pride in what I did and I genuinely believe that anyone with the gumption and desire could operate at this level, the problem is most of them don't have that so it makes people who are even that little bit more invested in the kind of service they provide stand out against them.