I didn't get the convention but.....................
- Thread starter MIXMASTERMACHOM
- Start date
Mix, there was no other DJ bidding on anything. Agian as I stated the day after the job I did for them, they came to me with the offer, They saw what I did and determind that they wanted me to do their events. Is thast the normal maybe not but I would venture to say that I am not the only person this has happened to on this board. You could have charged them 300 for the conecntion and they still would not have given it to you.
Also you really are stuck on "DJs" that are well known and famous yet I have ever heard of any of them. Maybe they are a legend in your little area but that is about it.
Also you really are stuck on "DJs" that are well known and famous yet I have ever heard of any of them. Maybe they are a legend in your little area but that is about it.
Mix what was the difference in the amount of work between the convention and the gigs you are doing?
Sometimes there are not multiple proposals. Sometimes they just want you. Period.
Funny, most of the shows I get, I'm not a member of any fellowships.
I'm pretty sure that they picked him because he conveyed his value to them. What good is a DJ that's done conventions before, but he sucks?
It's not about quoting a super low price. It's about conveying your worth. If they want it and if they believe it, they'll buy it.
No it's not in my little area as you put it. They are legendary all over the city of Newark and through out the Northern NJ area.
You said they came to you the day after you did that event for them. How did you first get to even do the event? Did they contact you and you had a meeting with them to present to them what you could do? That I believe is what happened right? Thank you for making my case. You were the only one they had to consider. That's not to say you're not a very good DJ. That just says you were the only one in the running.
When it comes to doing events for them there is no formal meeting that you have with them like you would a regular potential client. I shouldn't say this because I know some will take it the wrong way but here it goes. I'm just happy to have finally been given the chance to do some of their events. I have some friends of mine to thank for that. They kept pushing for me to come and do some events for them. I heard enough about events that didn't go well because of the DJ they picked to do the event and how they should have gotten me.
Like I said there is no formal meeting to where you present anything to them. They just decide in a private meeting who they are having to be the DJ to do their convention. That's how it works. There's no audition or anything like that. I don't understand why so many on here are so upset. I'm calm about the whole thing. They made their decision and I'm in the process of working on how I can be their DJ for their next convention. No need of sitting around pouting. It's about working on the solution. I can kep on complaining about how I didn't get the convention (which I'm not) then rather work on what I need to do to get to do the convention.
I'm not the only one this has happened to. There are others out there that I know it took time before they got to do a convention. I'm going to do the bowling party for the convention committee and wow them out with that. What is the solution? Keep on pushing. To end it for me for right now as I got to go eat breakfast I did an event for another area which is my home groups area and did things for them they had never seen before. I brought in some lights, with the 2 tops and subs and put the facade up in front of the table. They had never seen all of that before. One person mentioned they were getting lights and someone else thought the black facade was a speaker.
They were used to seeing DJ's who came in where you could see wires everywhere and what most would say on here was an ugly setup. Even though the gear they were using is top of the line.
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AKA: Your little area.
Well known / famous = names that the general population are familiar with.
Jimmy did say that he performed one show for them previous to being hired again. It could have been a cold call - where he simply provided a ballpark price, with no meetings required. I book shows without having meetings - as I'm certain others do too. Unless there are formalities, a meeting is not required. What he did at that show is where the magic is. He delivered a product that met or exceeded their wants and value for the show. That is why he got hired again.
Let me say that again. He delivered a product that met or exceeded their wants and value for the show. That is why he got hired again.
I highly doubt he was the 'only one' they had to consider. Have you looked at a phone book recently? You should know this already .. with your knowledge of how many DJ's there are in the pool - just look how many there are in your local area alone. Several of us here have gotten hired because they want US - and not for any other reason. Your failure to acknowledge and comprehend that will keep you from progressing. This gets back to the same old point - YOU have to convey to YOUR customer what YOU are worth. If they do not agree, they WILL NOT buy it. If they do agree, they WILL buy it. That's all there is to it. You will never sell a product for 'x' dollars if the customer believes it's only worth 'b' dollars.
Jimmy convinced his customer that his show was worth what he was asking. That's it. Is this a foreign idea to you? Would you buy a computer for 5,000.00 if it was only worth 500.00? Would you buy that same computer for 5,000.00 if it was actually worth 5,000.00?
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DjDennis
RIP- My Dad (2011), Sister (2013) and Mum (2017)
No he would wait for it to fall off a truck for $10.
Mix, You just do not get it and never will. Five years from now you still will be chasing the big jobs because youw ill not admit you are just not good enough to do them.
To answer your question on how I got the first job. Simple I was refered to them by one of my former clients. I did the job did and did it right. They didn't comment about other DJs and what they did and didnt do or what type of gear they had. They told me i did a great job and that they wanted me to do all of their work. Also it wasn't a one and done thing so whatever I was doing in Their eyes I was doing it right. Fromt hosejobs I was able to pick up even more business and hereis the amazing part I didn't have to get in to a price war with anyone and no one ever asked me to do a job for $300. To this day even going in to nightclubs/bars I get paid what I ask and not what they pay others.
The biggest issue you have is you let your brain over think everything. If you were that great at the bowling party and you showed them what your value was they would have picked you to do the job plan and simple. All of your other excuses that you use are just ways of making yourself feel better. You talked about a wedding you were trying to get that would have been high priced and meet with the bride but you didn't get the job. The reason is simple, they had no faith in you that you could do the job they wanted for their special day.
This will be my last post on this because like others have said you will never get it. You are like my father he is too old to learn new things and doesn;'t care to. He likes to do what he thinks is best.
I guess we have a different definition of "knocking them dead". "Knocking them dead" to me means they want you back. I mean REALLY want you back to where they are willing to pay MORE to have you.
You put the lowest bid in and they didn't hire you. That should tell you how they feel. Even if they enjoyed themselves at the bowling thing, there is something in your presentation, demeanor, or interaction with them that is telling them that you can't handle a large convention.
You need to do a few things:
1) First and foremost, you need to be able to handle an event like this easily.
2)Once you know you can, you need to understand what is important to them. What are they looking for? How much DJing? What kind of DJing? How much MCing? What kind of MC? Formalities? Toasts? Speeches? Introductions? Background music for any presentations? Video needs? Even if they don't know the answers to the questions you ask, asking the right questions will tell them that you KNOW what to look for, what's important, and will help them in this process.
3)Once you know what they are looking for, you need to be able to demonstrate quickly and easily that you can provide it. And do it with confidence.
4)Every interaction you have with them needs to exude confidence. Confidence that you understand what they want and that you will make sure it happens.
It sounds like what you've shown them so far is that you don't have anything going on and that you are available at a moments notice for cheap if they can't find anyone else. You have not shown or demonstrated to them that they could put an upscale convention in your hands.
I'm not telling you this to bash you, but this could be a great learning tool for you if you let it.
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Gets back to .. YOU have to convey to YOUR customer what YOU are worth. If they do not agree, they WILL NOT buy it. If they do agree, they WILL buy it.
I never said I was the cheapest bid. I don't know what the bids were and I won't find out till later on when they have their monthly meeting after the convention is done. I'm doing another bowling party for them because they loved what I did.
When it comes to a convention for them you're there to play the music and that's it. You don't get to blow up the mic or have anyone to announce at the dance. They want the DJ there to simply get people to dance and that's it. I've been to enough conventions over the years to know what they want and I can deliver what they want. Just like I've done at other events for them.
Now Jimmy please take this as a great compliment. I'm not here to fight with you at all. I love that the next day they only wanted you and hurried to sign a contract with you. My question to you is one that I'm not trying to be smart but make a point. What did you do for them the first time that made them say we got to have him do our events for us?
Please take a moment to think about it before you respond. I don't want you to think I'm attacking you. You must have done well hell of a great job the first time for them that they only want you.
What did you do to convince them you're the right DJ to do their events? There are things over the years that maybe small stuff to some DJ's but a big deal to others. Did you use top quality professional DJ equipment? Did the equipment look nice or did it look like it has been through the ringer? Was your setup very neat and clean looking or where their wires every where for all to see? How were you dressed for the event? Did you provide lights at the event or video for the client? Were you there in plenty of time so that when the first guest arrived you were ready to do your job? How did you handle yourself with the people at the event. I didn't mention anything about the music because I wanted to stay away from that for a moment and talk about other things that are just as important as having the right music to play and knowing when to play it.
Such little things can go a long way in helping with making you look like a professional. I remember on DJ CHAT a member posted about 3 DJ's he saw doing weddings. It was a mess. The first DJ he said had 12 bottles of beer sitting at his table he was playing on or near it. The next DJ he said played music with curse words in them and the last DJ he said kept going outside to smoke weed. I wouldn't call anyone of them professional in any way and I bet all of them were dressed very tacky doing a wedding. There is a proper way you need to carry yourself and dress for certain events. Certainly for the bowling party I won't be wearing a suit and tie. I'll be dressed in some nice casual wear. I'll make sure I use the facade to try to hide the wires as much as I can.
Jimmy think of it this way. They probably had DJ's in the past come and do parties for them that weren't as professional as you and that's why they decided to stick with you. All some see a gig as is a way for them to get paid and don't care what they look like, their gear or how they conduct themselves. Some just don't know how that can carry them a long way to getting many more gigs in the future. All they can see is what is in front of them.
You say this here .. but in post 3, you said:
Care to clarify?
Wow.
You did say that you are doing another bowling party .. I did see that previously.
What would you be there for other than music / dancing? DJ's don't only 'blow up the mic' / 'announce'. We're mobile, versatile and adaptable.
He showed that he was everything they wanted / were looking for.
A small little tiny percentage might have been the equipment but I'm willing to bet that the client looked at the entire product. Don't look any deeper than you need to. He delivered what the client wanted ... and possibly more. That's it, plain and simple. Breaking it down into pieces will do nothing but convolute everything - because it applied to that party and that party only. You want specifics so that you can apply them to your scenarios but his specifics are quite possibly unique to his situation. I can tell you of a guy that made 45k in 3 days. Is this common? No. Is it repeatable in other places, probably not.
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I didn't promote me. A lot of people never knew I was a DJ till they saw me doing an event and were amazed to see me there as the DJ. They then got to find out how good I am and the word has spread that way that I'm a DJ and how good I am. I would just go to say an activities meeting and letting them know I DJ putting my bid in to do some work. As time went on some decided to give me a shot. Some because they knew me for a long time and from there some have mentioned my name in a conversation about me being the DJ for other events. I got a call over a week ago to see if I was available to possibly do their NYE event. I said I was available. I just have to wait and see what will happen.
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I'm guessing you are really "good" Mix -- cause you told us so twice in one sentence. I like the "amazed" part as well.
I find I need to believe in me and my abilities or else I'm doomed. Once I do have that confidence I need to show that to clients. Then it's finally up to them to decide if I'm any good or not. I haven't found to many to complain at what I do.I'm guessing you are really "good" Mix -- cause you told us so twice in one sentence. I like the "amazed" part as well.
You didn't say you thought yours was the cheapest bid? You want to check that?
I didn't say that you couldn't do it. I didn't say that you didn't know what they want.
The fact that you didn't get the gig tells me that THEY believe you couldn't do it and they believe you don't know what they want and/or couldn't deliver it.
I've never been to one of these conventions and have no idea what they want. But I'm confident that after asking them some questions and listening to them, they'd be confident that I could do the job. They wouldn't need to hear me play.
If I was a member of their organization and/or did an event for them before, I'm extremely confident they'd hire me for their largest gigs and not just the bar type gigs.
Side note: I don't believe that "getting to blow up the mic" is something anyone should strive for. "Blowing up the mic" is the WORST thing a MC can do. But for many events, a lot of things need to happen and be done well. In many instances, a great MC will say very little, but the things he or she does say are meaningful, timely, and relevant.
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