How long do you spend?

[Corabar Entertainment]

Just curious as to whether other people spend as much time as I do on a quote, or whether it's a quick reply for you (I'm talking about on-line here).

When I get a request for a quote, as well as entering it on my system, I spend a bit of time looking at what they've said. then doing a bit of research (eg looking up details of a venue - not just on their website, but other sites as well, and reminding myself of details of venues we know, and even phoning the venue if there's a reason). I might put together suggestions based on things they've said / ask additional questions, find photos to illustrate a salient point, and certainly mention details about their venue.

All of this personalised information, I incorporate in to an out-line template I have, and obviously I prepare a quote as well.

All-in-all, I can easily spend an hour doing a quote (some times more, and fewer times - a little less), and (like everyone) I may never hear from them again.

But, I am curious to know how long other people spend doing their quotes.

[funkymook]

I'm pretty much the same as you Angela, but I don't have a template so every reply is started from scratch.

I've experimented with a more generic response but its just not for me.

[Excalibur]

How long? It varies, some can be as little as filling in the details on my reply template, and pressing send. Others involve much more effort, but rarely approach an hour. I'd say my longer ones amount to about fifteen minutes, maybe. Sometimes time spent is repaid, as I rang a prospective client to get enough details to give an accurate quote, had a long conversation, and sent a detailed quote from scratch. That one paid for itself, because she booked.

[Leicester Ben]

For a disco / wedding enquiry it dosent take us long, about 10 minutes to enter the clients details on our booking system, generate a quote and send it if as a PDF.

We get about 15 quotes a day and so have to be pretty streamlined in firing them out and moving onto the next one. The DJ quotes are by far the easiest, for the bigger jobs it can involve site visits, a meeting and only then can we send a quote.

Templates are great and we customise them for every client.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

If its a venue that i know, and a straight forward "asking for a price" then it takes about 20 minutes to do the reply. If theres a lot of questions asked (or to be asked), or a venue I dont know then your looking at up to an hour.

As with ben, the DJ ones are usually easy, its the uplighting jobs that take more time, especially if I dont know the venue.

[musicologydisco]

My prices are the same, be it wedding, party or pub so really easy and quick for me . Although I am rarely asked for a quote as my prices are clear on my website. As I have a full time job it works for me.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Depends on their requirements, anything from 5 minutes to several emails and a site visit.... Most I'd say are 5-10 minutes each as they are venues I've done before

[surround sounds]

Same as Ben really. We get between 10 - 15 enquiries a day. I would say it takes around 15 Mins for each quote i send. I do use a detailed template but if there are questions the customer as asked, I put it in to my Quote..I do look on Venues websites if i am not sure on the venue, to help sometimes with quotes etc

[JAMdisco]

If it's a generic enquiry (i.e. from a forum/website I'm a member on) I usually use my template and change the details accordingly so usually amounts to around 5 minutes.

If it's a direct enquiry from my website or direct to my email address then I usually start the reply from scratch - this can take 10-15 minutes depending on how much detail they want.

It's very rare for me to get an enquiry at a venue I haven't been to before but if I am unfamiliar with the venue I will state this in my reply.

I am in a fortunate enough position to choose which bookings to reply too, I tend to stay away from teen birthday's unless it's a 13-15 year old disco - that's not really my market anymore but that's not what this thread is about so I'll shut up now before I get told to :ontopic: lol

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I'm the same as most of the above in that I have a ready made template that I edit so it doesn't take that long at all really.
I've had a couple of customers who booked me after receiving the quote tell me that it had all of the information they needed and I had answered all of their questions in advance.

On another note though, it must be that time of year again as I've had a couple of suspect enquiries over the past week. I treat them all the same even though I can't prove it. The reason I mention it here is because if I didn't have a ready made template and I was creating individual quotes every time I received an enquiry, I'd be pretty narked. Like I said, it doesn't take long anyway so it's not that much of a problem.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Probably not the most streamlined of ways to go about it but every quote response is done from scratch.

I should probably make up some form of template with the basic list of everything I provide in the price but I do like making every quote tailored to that person / event and I'd like to hope it shows that there's been time, care and effort taken over it.

This might just be coming from me being quite anal about stuff like this but if I was shopping for a DJ, the quotes that came back obviously from a template would be at the bottom of the pile compared to the ones where the person had took the time and effort to write up a quote.

For those of you with templates, is it just a Word doc you fill in the blanks or is there some fancier way you go about it?

[Corabar Entertainment]

I'm pretty much the same as you Angela, but I don't have a template so every reply is started from scratch.

I've experimented with a more generic response but its just not for me.


For those of you with templates, is it just a Word doc you fill in the blanks or is there some fancier way you go about it?

When I am speaking about a 'template', I'm not talking about a standard reply... more of a 'bare bones' document with all the generic stuff in, headers, footers, etc, plus stuff that does come up regularly / things that people often ask, or need to know in order to go any further, which I then use almost as an aide memoir to make sure that I don't forget to include something that I should have! I then type personal items / paragraphs about the particular job from scratch; delete non-relevant points; and butcher the bits that are left to adapt to the current situation, so 'template' was possibly the wrong word to use.

(Bit like 'Lists', eh Martin? ;) )

[DazzyD]

When dealing with enquiries, I'm pretty much the same as you, Angela. Every reply is personalised to the enquirer and is built from scratch (albeit on an email "letterhead" document so to speak). I also include points that I feel are revelant and, therefore of interest, to the client.

What I will point out, though, that I don't get large amounts of enquiries at any one time so I can spend a bit extra time on the quote. I think if I was getting 10-15 enquiries a day then I'd have to have a rethink about how I do things.

[ukpartydj]

If it comes from NaD I tend to just change the name around pop in the reference number unless they have any comments or unusual times.
Of course if I think I can sell some of my extras I tend to look up the venue and get some info first.

If it comes from my website however then I spend a fair bit of time farmiliarising myself to the venue and their requirements and I don't use a template.

[Corabar Entertainment]

If it comes from NaD I tend to just change the name around pop in the reference number unless they have any comments or unusual times.
Of course if I think I can sell some of my extras I tend to look up the venue and get some info first.

If it comes from my website however then I spend a fair bit of time farmiliarising myself to the venue and their requirements and I don't use a template.

Nice post... shame you did everything except answer the question :lol:

[ukpartydj]

Nice post... shame you did everything except answer the question :lol:

:lol: indeed ... if you want an answer here it goes... I'm going to open up NaD and answer one of my quote requests ...

....

...

...

It took 93 seconds to answer a generic NaD email (one that I doubt I will get as the price I've quoted is higher than their budget).
However I found one that I liked the look of and it took me just over 13 mins to do a bit of groundwork and reply with a template email but edited slightly because of some comments they added.

I should mention that I have around 6 templates already made up for most common types of event and budgets which need much less tinkering with than a blank canvas.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

At the moment I am spending ages 'cos I can't get my templates to justify or space properly in Mail...:mad:

[Jason]

I take around 15mins on average.
Most are for venues I already know well (Fanhams, Ponsborne, Theobalds etc), so no need to contact the venue.

Assuming I know a bit about their requirements, I type a personal reply, but then copy & paste some key points that re-enforce what I offer.

I also copy and paste links to online gallery and some videos.

I then sign off, thanking them again.

The quotes are generated from a template with key information added (venue with address, dates with day, setup, start, end times etc)- so the quote contacts all the key info.
This is then turned into a PDF and attached.

If I add to DJEP, then its another few mins to add the event and then add their account details.

I see quotes as factual, so I don't get too wordy in the actual quote document, just facts.

"Selling the Dream" (ugh!) is for phone/meetings or the occasional email. By the time I'm quoting, they don't need any sales patter.

[funkymook]

I see quotes as factual, so I don't get too wordy in the actual quote document, just facts.

"Selling the Dream" (ugh!) is for phone/meetings or the occasional email. By the time I'm quoting, they don't need any sales patter.

So have you already had the meeting/sales talk before sending the quote?

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

"Selling the Dream" (ugh!) is for phone/meetings or the occasional email. By the time I'm quoting, they don't need any sales patter.

I don't think that's the case at all unless you are actually phoning or meeting with the people in advance of the quote being made.

[funkymook]

Perhaps it's a slight difference in meaning.

I suspect Jason is talking about the contract stage where the booking has been agreed. Obviously that just needs the facts.

Prior to that though may be a more sales orientated reply to the initial enquiry.

[chrisj]

I spend from 5 to 25 minutes with my quotes as I occasionally contact the venue to find out about access equipment requirements etc..

This evening I spent 10 minutes, I hit the cancellation button once, sending a quote for full mood lighting (26 lights) and disco from 5 until midnight as I could not call due to phone being switched off. I have just spent 21 minutes discussing the clients wedding on the mobile so total 31 minutes. Positive feedback so far.

Average time is around 6-7 minutes but it depends on what is required.