Quality of new enquiries

[CRAZY K]

Since the start of the month we have had an incessant stream of really poor quality enquiries ranging from people with no dates, people with no venues, people with no money, lots of Charity events pleading poverty and worst of all a load of Weddings for 2012 and beyond which are no use this year to us.

January was satisfactory all round but we seem to have hit a really poor spell.

Im off to China and Thailand Thursday for a welcome break thank goodness--
with the Notebook WIFI ;)

Anyone else suffering:eek:

We are seriously considering placing a note on the websites--if you dont have a definite date please fix one and then ask us for a quote.:daft:

Even had a quote for a function with two alternative dates and two alternative venues today -- :eek:

[DB Entertainments]

Exactly the same here down in South Wales.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Yep, im getting my fair share too...

[James]

Not noticed any change really, more christenings & communions maybe and i don't even do them!

[DazzyD]

Since the start of the month we have had an incessant stream of really poor quality enquiries ranging from people with no dates, people with no venues, people with no money, lots of Charity events pleading poverty and worst of all a load of Weddings for 2012 and beyond which are no use this year to us.

January was satisfactory all round but we seem to have hit a really poor spell.

Im off to China and Thailand Thursday for a welcome break thank goodness--
with the Notebook WIFI ;)

Anyone else suffering:eek:

We are seriously considering placing a note on the websites--if you dont have a definite date please fix one and then ask us for a quote.:daft:

Even had a quote for a function with two alternative dates and two alternative venues today -- :eek:

Off to China and Thailand. And you're suffering. Poor you, Alan! ;) I'm one of the lucky ones. I managed a week in Scarborough last year!!!

[Andy Goodtimes]

I have had pretty much a mixture. I find that generally the WDJA ones are pretty decent, the AMPDJ ones are a bit of both and the ones from my own site and existing clients are pretty good.

WDJA has membership requirements and aims at the higher end of the Wedding market, AMPDJ is primarily about PLI and has no entrance requirements so gets all sorts, personally I view the enquiries as a welcome extra. My own clients know pretty much what to expect and they are generally my sort of customers to start with...some of them don't even ask a price till its actualy booked.

Slightly off-topic; one of my regular venues that is a top venue has decided to do Winter Wedding Deals and the standard has dropped without a doubt. The usual clients are very rich and famous but with these deals which include bacon sandwiches for the evening supper its attracting the average kind of Hilton / Ramada type clients. I have taken 42 Weddings for Jan, Feb & Mar out of it, still get paid the same and they're doing the same again next year so guess I mustn't grumble.

I don't quote if its no specific date or venue or past 2013. I ask for more info or for them to get back in touch 2 years prior.

[nisfo]

I'm pretty much fully booked until June. With 4 weddings, 1 corporate and 1 leaving 'do' for a young girl about to pack off to Afgan for 7 months. The rest is for regular gigs at a local venue.

All of my dates are set in stone (as far as I know), but the deposits really do come in handy for buying more kit and music ;)

[DiscosMobile]

Start of the year I was receiving 3 phone calls a day and booking 1/2 of them each day. Now I am getting 1/2 a week and not getting many booked to be honest.. Still very busy though as have regular work from an agent

[Charlie Brown]

It's been my best year yet (not many to go by) and I'm turning over at least 70% of my enquiries.

Pre wedding meets also seems very popular with at least ten booked in for this year.

[surround sounds]

I am well up from last year.In january i have had 32 confirmed bookings and june till sept i have 3 weddings a week.So its all good here.More to come all going well

[paulg]

How odd! Same here - I'm getting some terrible enquiries through AmpDJ some of which are clearly spoof e.g. asking for a DJ at a venue that has only ever provided it's own dodgy house DJ's! Most are for 'yoof' type events. I've stopped taking any of them seriously.

[StarZSoundS]

How odd! Same here - I'm getting some terrible enquiries through AmpDJ some of which are clearly spoof e.g. asking for a DJ at a venue that has only ever provided it's own dodgy house DJ's! Most are for 'yoof' type events. I've stopped taking any of them seriously.



I'm a bit dissapointed if I was honest Paul.I'm not using third party sites at the moment as I have enough repeat business.However in Six Months I have only received about 10 referrals from AmpDJ.....I certainly haven't had any of the type you describe and i'm only 5 minuites from you...



I'll be doing some research!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

[paulg]

Glad you're doing well. For once South Yorkshire doesn't seem to be too badly hit by all the recession shenanigans.

I've no idea how these referral sites work! Do they send out enquiries to a certain geographical area or type of DJ or both? They don't seem to generate quality work - more the cheaper end 18ths and so on. How do potential customers find the sites? What do they search for? I can't find the AmpDJ site without either Googling or typing in their full URL.

[Charlie Brown]

# I can't find the AmpDJ site without either Googling or typing in their full URL.

Same!

I thought I was going crackers. :daft:

[StarZSoundS]

Glad you're doing well. For once South Yorkshire doesn't seem to be too badly hit by all the recession shenanigans.

I've no idea how these referral sites work! Do they send out enquiries to a certain geographical area or type of DJ or both? They don't seem to generate quality work - more the cheaper end 18ths and so on. How do potential customers find the sites? What do they search for? I can't find the AmpDJ site without either Googling or typing in their full URL.



Ooodles of work on offer.......but going to take a self inflicted mini-sabatical shortly.

I would have considered AmpDJ a poor investment if the PLI wasn't half the price I would normally pay.......The referral side has been poor.However I know of others who rely heavily on the referrals.....some are on here!!;) ;) ;)

[tony hollis]

awful january,but looks like it's starting to pick up now,not easy when you've been blacklisted by a main agent haha.

[NKR]

Figures for this year are patchy-ish. However, I use Excel to run stats for me and date each booking as it comes in.

Same number of bookings in Jan as last year, but down on unit price per job (however, I can see why due to a shift on a contract job, so effectively up as the figures fall in later in the year).

Feb is best to date. March is level on jobs, but down on unit cost (but see Jan as I expect that to be a shift down the months rather than a loss of jobs, so technically putting the year in front.)

I won't bore you month by by month.

However, I can now confirm we are Burnely FC's official main corporate DJ and meal singer for 11 dates in December. Yep 11 dates, well chuffed (sorting out web back links with them too. Good traffic!!!!!!). We also have several decent weddings lined up in the middle of the year.

I think we should have our best year to date.

[Andy Goodtimes]

As for the remarks re AMPDJ...firstly in all fairness I should say it is ran by very close friends of mine, however, that doesn't influance what I say because if I thought it was rubbish or a con I would say so regardless.

Remember you are paying £49 to be insured by Royal Sun Alliance, many insurance experts have stated that they have gone over the policy and it is very good. There are cheaper options but in all fairness the AMPDJ policy has always come out on top in terms of its inclusions and exclusions...not saying the cheaper ones are rubbish just that the AMPDJ one does represent good value for money.

You don't have to expect too much from the enquiries. as far as I am concerned I find they are a mixed bag of good and bad. AMPDJ cannot target the high end only or state that their DJs are something special simply because membership is open to all...there are young and inexperienced members and also members that do working mens for £80 and there are members that won't get out of bed for less than £500.

From my own experience I have had a few decent enquiries from AMPDJ that have matured into well paying jobs and I have had lots that have been price shoppers and I'm sure some of them have been other DJs spying to see what the competition are up to...TBH I have suspected a few of these and quoted £50 just for devilment.

Thing is you pay your £49 and IMO get good value, no promises are made so really the choice is up to you. You have to ask yourself if you had a claim leveled against you would your insurer pay out and also when renewal time comes and you are still in commitment can you trust the providers to renew so that your cover continues?...I mean it is now the largest organisation of mobile DJs in the UK so surely they can't all be wrong.

[Andy Goodtimes]

Just seen your post NKR...nice one sounds impressive.

[NKR]

Just seen your post NKR...nice one sounds impressive.

If you mean Burnley - yeah it should be brilliant. 5500 covers over 11 dates is going to be big. Long room, so need to install 8 cabs for full coverage (In line horizontal - imagine a full length main stand room working across the room not down it, so no phasing issues, just need to order an additional 100m of speaker cable and make some damn big cables up.).

Big job with various bands also needing to be plugged into my FOH desk to provide ambient coverage throughout the rest of the room. I would have papped myself 2 years ago, but paced the room, did my calcs and know what I need. No issues, love it.

Also got free tickets in the comfy seats for Burnley v Norwich last Saturday after my our meeting, which was a fab game and a few beers.

Great day and great bookings.

[Daryll]

About 10 confirmed so far this year , well that's 40% of my years bookings , a bit slow , but hey , it`s only February , personally I don't count enquires , only confirmed bookings.

Daryll

[Andy Goodtimes]

Yeh that Burnley thing sounds really good, hope it all goes well...sounds like you are a supporter too so makes it even nicer.

I have given up counting enquiries, so many of them appear to be false or price shoppers that I think it clouds the figures and don't feel it is of any real business use to count them all...I mean out of 7 yesterday I have replied to 2 and one of them was an existing client which is now booked and even the other one I replied to might not be genuine.

[CRAZY K]

Yeh that Burnley thing sounds really good, hope it all goes well...sounds like you are a supporter too so makes it even nicer.

I have given up counting enquiries, so many of them appear to be false or price shoppers that I think it clouds the figures and don't feel it is of any real business use to count them all...I mean out of 7 yesterday I have replied to 2 and one of them was an existing client which is now booked and even the other one I replied to might not be genuine.

I agree Andy that to look at any stats based on hit rates for web sites is not
particularly helpful, I work on business converted to make money, much of the other stuff seems a bit irrelevant, possibly the stats relating to how long people stay on the site MIGHT be useful although I bet in a lot of cases visitors leave when they reach the price page:D :D :D

Back on the thread someone wrote to us today ( obviously gloating ) confirming they had found a Barn Dance Band who were cheaper than my quote.

I should have written back ( cant be bothered) pointing out that they wont be getting Coloured Lighting Rig, Country Disco with proper Country Music, a Stars and Stripes backdrop and Line Dancing (which they specifically wanted when they enquired) from their chosen Band.

Trust me they wont;)

Coincidentally its the 2nd July and treated as a 4th July ( American Independence Day) event so obviously no one will ask for something appropriate to that date---such as only we can supply.

All this to save £100.:daft:

Its not an important event---its only a Wedding:bang: :bang: :bang: