Ahh the typical answer to if they want Up Lighting or Not...

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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"We've decided we don't need uplighting. The Club looks great without it.
Thanks!"
xxxxxxx

Well...at least they are booking for DJ for reception!


After a solid 6 years of offering Up Lighting add on, I am realizing that there just isn't any breaking the "1 in 10" wedding clients actually adding the Up Lighting on. I've tried everything in terms of selling. Sending Pictures. Showing Videos, offering my lighting ideas pre sale...Discounting the prices to create value. ....It's still about the same portion of brides/grooms in my area who are willing to pay for the add on.

I have concluded that "It is what it is"

I find it interesting that I hear of DJs in other areas selling Up Lighting at 50% or more of their bookings. I can't get no where near 50% in my market. It stays at about 10% of weddings adding the lighting in.

...I do have a birthday party with Up Lighting added on for this Saturday booked though. Nothing on any of the weddings in September. I have I think 1 wedding in October with Up Lighting added in so far. My last gig with Up Lighting was in June.
 
"We've decided we don't need uplighting. The Club looks great without it.
Thanks!"
xxxxxxx

Well...at least they are booking for DJ for reception!


After a solid 6 years of offering Up Lighting add on, I am realizing that there just isn't any breaking the "1 in 10" wedding clients actually adding the Up Lighting on. I've tried everything in terms of selling. Sending Pictures. Showing Videos, offering my lighting ideas pre sale...Discounting the prices to create value. ....It's still about the same portion of brides/grooms in my area who are willing to pay for the add on.

I have concluded that "It is what it is"

I find it interesting that I hear of DJs in other areas selling Up Lighting at 50% or more of their bookings. I can't get no where near 50% in my market. It stays at about 10% of weddings adding the lighting in.

...I do have a birthday party with Up Lighting added on for this Saturday booked though. Nothing on any of the weddings in September. I have I think 1 wedding in October with Up Lighting added in so far. My last gig with Up Lighting was in June.

I think I've been asked 3 times in 10 years if I do uplighting. If I had bought in and advertised it would be more I'm sure but I never seen a profit for the cost and work. In this area decorators handle it and I'm happy to let them
 
I've never tried that hard to sell uplighting and I never have! Also at my age and physical condition (back pain) I don't want to do a lot of bending over setting up fixtures. The 12 uplights I bought years ago are now not as effective as newer fixtures. Similar fixtures can now be picked up for less than $50 each. I use a few of them at some gigs to highlight my DJ setup or throw in 5 or 6 to seal a deal.

It would have been an easier sell, but I wouldn't know how to set them up at most of the venues I've been to. i.e. venues with lots of full glass windows, tents, ugly VFWs!
 
Same with me .. I don't do weddings, so it isn't a big interest. I have a few for general lighting needs (4 Blizzard Q12A, 1 Chauvet Freedom PAR) and would like to get a few more Freedom PARs, but I use them if I need them. Same with dance floor lighting .. I have 2 4Bars, 2 Inno Pocket Scans and some small lasers .. they are part of my price and I bring what I need.
 
Same with me .. I don't do weddings, so it isn't a big interest. I have a few for general lighting needs (4 Blizzard Q12A, 1 Chauvet Freedom PAR) and would like to get a few more Freedom PARs, but I use them if I need them. Same with dance floor lighting .. I have 2 4Bars, 2 Inno Pocket Scans and some small lasers .. they are part of my price and I bring what I need.


This particular client said that some of the other DJs they received quotes from (This client came from Gig Masters) were offering up lighting as part of their quote (Throwing the up lights in). Many of the other quotes were lower than us as well...But he still booked with us after speaking with my brother for 5 minutes over the phone. We simply have a more professional look and sales pitch than many of our competitors.

He said one DJ offered DJ + Up lighting for $400 total for a 3 hour wedding reception. ...Our price was near double that without the lighting and she booked with us. She did like the fact that we have been to the venue before as well

It is what it is with up lighting at this point. I'm not going to try to hard sell it any longer. I simply list it as an add on feature.
 
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I'm going to submit that you're selling it wrong. Don't make it an "add on". Setup tiered packages and make it part of your middle-level and upper level packages. I average 33% lighting jobs for the past several years, although I will say that number has backed off a bit since I'm focused on selling photography. Setup packages that have it included and see if it doesn't work the same for you.
 
I'm going to submit that you're selling it wrong. Don't make it an "add on". Setup tiered packages and make it part of your middle-level and upper level packages. I average 33% lighting jobs for the past several years, although I will say that number has backed off a bit since I'm focused on selling photography. Setup packages that have it included and see if it doesn't work the same for you.


I don't know. I did packages back in 2010, and everybody wanted our "Standard Package" at the time which was basically bottom tier. Then again we were coming off the recession in 2010.

I don't know. The pricing wouldn't change whether the up lighting is a la carte or in a "Silver" level package so to speak. I guess I could try it via the initial bid on Gig Masters letting them know the options we have up front with spiffy package names.
 
A lot of success is how you market and sell the item.

As I stated in another thread (on the genset), there MUST be a payback and profit on such an investment as uplights. Seems no DJs really want to do the math on such things though.

If uplights cost you $5,000 and you do 30 weddings a year and sell them 1/10 of the time at $400, to just pay for the lights will take about 4 years. To make any profit will take a few years more (since you have to pay for setup time, storage, etc).

Now if you can sell them 10 times a year (1/3) at $400 they'll be paid for in 15 months and putting a profit in your pocket this time next year or so - a good investment IMO.

I want 1 year payback on this type of gear investment.

A simple cash flow payback as I've done above.
How do you calculate the payback period? | AccountingCoach

This goes into more detail, but still an easy read.
Payback Period Formula - AccountingTools

I'm going to submit that you're selling it wrong. Don't make it an "add on". Setup tiered packages and make it part of your middle-level and upper level packages. I average 33% lighting jobs for the past several years, although I will say that number has backed off a bit since I'm focused on selling photography. Setup packages that have it included and see if it doesn't work the same for you.
 
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A lot of success is how you market and sell the item.

As I stated in another thread (on the genset), there MUST be a payback and profit on such an investment as uplights. Seems no DJs really want to do the math on such things though.

If uplights cost you $5,000 and you do 30 weddings a year and sell them 1/10 of the time at $400, to just pay for the lights will take about 4 years. To make any profit will take a few years more (since you have to pay for setup time, storage, etc).

Now if you can sell them 10 times a year (1/3) at $400 they'll be paid for in 15 months and putting a profit in your pocket this time next year or so - a good investment IMO.

I want 1 year payback on this type of gear investment.

A simple cash flow payback as I've done above.
How do you calculate the payback period? | AccountingCoach

This goes into more detail, but still an easy read.
Payback Period Formula - AccountingTools
1 year payback on larger investments is a pipe dream .. 3-4 years is more reality. Don't get me wrong, 1 year is great if you can do it, but a good business plan wouldn't normally be that aggressive.
 
if an item has a depreciation life of 5 years and you want to make money on it, you should have a faster payback than 5 years.

Some assets are expected to last longer - depending on the business - a car (vs a dump truck that lives a hard life), etc. Buying the right asset can make a difference - a commercial mower vs a residential one for a lawn care company.

You songs don't have a lifespan - they never wear out in a way that say, the computer does, but they do have a lifespan of use as far as what people want to hear. More of a consumable than a depreciable assett IMO.

If we go with your 4 year time frame, then what should your assett cost/invesment be as a percentage of sales? I use sales as the benchmark because how else can we do it? New lights or a new sub won't 'save' us money or increase our efficiency by any measureable amount.

I see mcdonalds, walmarts, etc remodeling every 10 years maybe (don't really track it too much LOL).

If you have, say $5k in gear, and replace it every 4 years, that's $1250/year in gear expenses, a small percentage of the total sales (i hope!). But you dont' replace all your gear like that..cables probably last a lot longer, laptops maybe not, speaker stands probably forever.

But it's hard to measure ROI on your base gear over time - a new sub won't allow you to raise prices or offer a new product at a higher price, an add on item, etc. (it could, but generally not). same for that new laser/truss/etc you got - odds are it's not gonna give you a new revenue stream the way, say a second op or photobooth would.
 
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If uplights cost you $5,000 and you do 30 weddings a year and sell them 1/10 of the time at $400, to just pay for the lights will take about 4 years. To make any profit will take a few years more (since you have to pay for setup time, storage, etc).

Being a bit more realistic, I spent about $2k on my first lighting setup. I've averaged roughly 25 lighting jobs, let's say at $500 average (it was actually more like $800-$1000). It didn't take long to get ROI on that one. If I didn't have bigger fish to fry at this point I'd be pushing the heck out of them.
 
What's with this it would be the same price? Just give a price for a package and be done with it. Either they buy it or they don't. They don't have to know everything about what you're doing.
 
What's with this it would be the same price? Just give a price for a package and be done with it. Either they buy it or they don't. They don't have to know everything about what you're doing.

Mix that's what usually happens, and you are right most have no idea when you tell them i'll set the lights to run in dmx mode or sound activated. All you need to do is tell them you can make the room look outstanding.
 
Mix that's what usually happens, and you are right most have no idea when you tell them i'll set the lights to run in dmx mode or sound activated. All you need to do is tell them you can make the room look outstanding.
I was talking about the money side. Just give them the price and let it be done with. If they feel it's worth the price they will buy it. If not they won't. It also has to do with your presentation. Does it leave them breathless? Also like we always talk about. It's about finding clients that have a budget that would suggest they may be interested in paying for you to provide uplighting.

My take is a client looking to spend $500-600 for a DJ would be a tough job trying to sell them uplighting. Normally they will be looking for you to throw it in for free if they agree to having it at their event.
 
Being a bit more realistic, I spent about $2k on my first lighting setup. I've averaged roughly 25 lighting jobs, let's say at $500 average (it was actually more like $800-$1000). It didn't take long to get ROI on that one. If I didn't have bigger fish to fry at this point I'd be pushing the heck out of them.


I have deejayed 4 jobs in all these years where Up Lighting was added in at $1,000. 1 was at $1,100, and the 3 others were at $1,000. They were all booked through the talent agency, and the agency had their lighting guy handle the lighting. One of the jobs they were short lights, so I supplied half the lights, and them the other half.

My first set of up lights were 8 old par cans with the halogens. I paid about $120 total for all the lights. Every time I booked up lighting I would order the gel sheet color. I managed to get brides to pay anywhere from $100 on the bottom end to $200 tops for 8 up lights in a static color. I probably booked that old set on maybe 15 gigs. Let's say I made $2,000 total. I spent $120 plus maybe another $130 on gel sheets over the years. For $250 total expense, I earned $2,000. Not a bad investment at all.

Then comes LED Up Lighting. I have probably spent $3,000 on all my LED Up Lights. Let's say I average $250 a sale (It's probably a bit higher than that, but just being conservative because I know I'm not near $400 on the average). I have had my LED Up lights out maybe 15 times in 3 years. The LED Up lights have yielded me $3,750 over 3 years on a $2,500 expense. Have I made my money back on the LED Up lighting? Yes...Did I really make much of a profit once you factor in my time spent learning how to use LED Up Lights, and set up, tear down, load in, load out? ...Not really. Looking back, from a business stand point, getting into LED Up Lighting hasn't been worth it thus far for me.

The older Up Lights were a much better ROI.
 
I have deejayed 4 jobs in all these years where Up Lighting was added in at $1,000. 1 was at $1,100, and the 3 others were at $1,000. They were all booked through the talent agency, and the agency had their lighting guy handle the lighting. One of the jobs they were short lights, so I supplied half the lights, and them the other half.

My first set of up lights were 8 old par cans with the halogens. I paid about $120 total for all the lights. Every time I booked up lighting I would order the gel sheet color. I managed to get brides to pay anywhere from $100 on the bottom end to $200 tops for 8 up lights in a static color. I probably booked that old set on maybe 15 gigs. Let's say I made $2,000 total. I spent $120 plus maybe another $130 on gel sheets over the years. For $250 total expense, I earned $2,000. Not a bad investment at all.

Then comes LED Up Lighting. I have probably spent $3,000 on all my LED Up Lights. Let's say I average $250 a sale (It's probably a bit higher than that, but just being conservative because I know I'm not near $400 on the average). I have had my LED Up lights out maybe 15 times in 3 years. The LED Up lights have yielded me $3,750 over 3 years on a $2,500 expense. Have I made my money back on the LED Up lighting? Yes...Did I really make much of a profit once you factor in my time spent learning how to use LED Up Lights, and set up, tear down, load in, load out? ...Not really. Looking back, from a business stand point, getting into LED Up Lighting hasn't been worth it thus far for me.

The older Up Lights were a much better ROI.
But the modern bride probably isn't interested in old school cans .. and the mere fact you have it available, might have sealed the deal on gigs without them.

There is no wrong/right answer on when to jump in .. you make a plan, identify the plusses and minuses, take your best shot at understanding the cash flows and ROI, and move forward. Some things work out, some don't. I might be more worried if most things didn't pan out.
 
But the modern bride probably isn't interested in old school cans .. and the mere fact you have it available, might have sealed the deal on gigs without them.

There is no wrong/right answer on when to jump in .. you make a plan, identify the plusses and minuses, take your best shot at understanding the cash flows and ROI, and move forward. Some things work out, some don't. I might be more worried if most things didn't pan out.

Well, I have LED UP Lighting for when I have clients who want it. That's all I can really say about it at this point. I do not plan to purchase further LED Up Lights moving forward. What I have now is what I will have until the end. If I ever book a real large lighting gig, I'll rent the additional lights
 
Well, I have LED UP Lighting for when I have clients who want it. That's all I can really say about it at this point. I do not plan to purchase further LED Up Lights moving forward. What I have now is what I will have until the end. If I ever book a real large lighting gig, I'll rent the additional lights

There's a lot to be said for renting versus owning. My typical uplighting gig calls for 10-20 uplights. However, there are times where I've needed 30, 40 or 50 (sometimes we run into multiple lighting events on the same night). I just have a basic problem with renting. I hate it. What I've done is to build up inventory slowly, over time. I own every light that I contract for gigs. I believe I'm at 50, last count, and am looking at buying a few more, stronger cans (I'm using Chauvet slimpar 56s currently). If you set up packages which feature lighting prominently, I contend that you'll have more uplighting gigs. Pitch it consistently and they will buy.