Originally Posted by
Centre Stage Discos
Client/elle = customers. Same difference to me. If you are referring to the type of people I am targeting then there is no target. It's 'The public'! if you are able to choose your customers because you have so much work that you can afford to turn it down just because you don't like a certain branch of society then you are very lucky.
The more I look through the posts on this forum, the more I find contradictions to everything I've learnt over the years. The latest one was the light show being of secondary importance. As I see it it's of equal importance to everything else in a show. DJ presentation, the sound, my attire, I could go on, (A good sound would be my own personal 'essential'.) but my own experience has shown that a good light show has often been one the main requirements for any kind of booking. "Do you have a good light show?" Yes, and I couldn't go on the road without a substantial light show. Define 'substantial'. OK, better than 'just enough, 'impressive'. A kind of wow factor but not to detract from the main event - the wedding itself, etc. No disco is more important than the people at the event.
If I could have a £fiver for the number of people who have given advice over the years never to turn down work... Yes, there are some branches of this industry I wouldn't be so keen to take on anymore, children's parties for instance, but I've done scores over the years and without a problem. No, I wouldn't do them. I'm too old and less tolerant of the little ... darlings.
You have to take the rough with the smooth. I'm not about to turn down work just because it's for Joe Bloggs off a council estate. I've done them all. Plush weddings in stately homes right down to an eight year old's birthday party in a brothel. (I kid you not!) I've been extremely lucky to have provided services for more areas in society that I would have ever dared to dream.
I could even generalise here, but this is based on my own experience, but I've always found that the poorer in society have always been the best payers. "Let's have a whip round for the DJ!" Those lavish weddings and functions in people's homes with acres of gardens, you know the kind, you set up your gear after a half mile trek across beautifully landscaped gardens to the huge marquee just next to the pool and the tennis courts, and I've usually never even met the organisers because their personal wedding planners or the butler have been given the job of organising the entertainment.
Sorry, but 'everybody' is/are my potential clients and I'm not about to try and guess or to judge anybody based on their income bracket, social or any other status.
Back on-topic. Getting the price right is surely the thing to do here. How do you know to know what to charge? A bit of research is needed. There should be enough data out there to know what a sensible price is. I don't think it takes a genius to know that most people are a little short after the last year's problems. Money is going to be a little tighter. If I have to reduce my prices due to necessity then so be it, but it is not my intention to lower any prices right now.