More venue changes/upgrades

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do you have a security camera at your venue… specifically one where you can watch your consultation and pay attention to their reactions and questions and what they say when you step away? I’d love to see what a perspective client experiences if you had a video of your sales pitch

I never leave prospects alone during a tour. I do watch their faces closely to see what pushes their buttons. At this point, I really think it's my lack of finishing that's the biggest issue. I'm slowly making improvements and at some point will get over this hurdle.
 
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I never leave prospects alone during a tour. I do watch their faces closely to see what pushes their buttons. At this point, I really think it's my lack of finishing that's the biggest issue. I'm slowly making improvements and at some point will get over this hurdle.
Are there other people there when you do a tour that work at the venue? If so they may be able to tell you where you need to improve. It's usually tough for us to judge ourselves.
 
I never leave prospects alone during a tour. I do watch their faces closely to see what pushes their buttons. At this point, I really think it's my lack of finishing that's the biggest issue. I'm slowly making improvements and at some point will get over this hurdle.
lack of finishing what? and you should let them be at the end for 5 minutes before you return to close the tour. you'd be surprised hwo effective that can be when they have freedom to envision themselves in the space and come up with ideas and convince themselves how to make the space work.
 
As it is now, I'm pretty certain the wood walls are costing me bookings. The sheers really dress it out more and if they don't like the curtain lights, it's easy to unplug. This isn't an expensive upgrade so I'm going to try it and see if there's a difference in reaction. One thing is for certain, I HAVE to make some changes because my booking percentage is far too low. I'm only booking about 1 in 8 tours. That needs to be more like 1 in 3 or 4.


Have you gotten any direct feed back from any couples on why they did not choose your venue?

If not, it might be worth sending out a quick polite questionnaire via email to the customers who did tour the venue, but don't book with you to see if you get any responses. Thank them for their response in the email. Could be multiple choice answers or a drop down menu for them to pick a response from, or a write in box. Their answers may help you going into 2026.

I have been thinking about doing this moving forward with the direct inquiries that I have that don't book with me. I am curious as to what their answers would be for the ones who actually respond.
 
Have you gotten any direct feed back from any couples on why they did not choose your venue?

If not, it might be worth sending out a quick polite questionnaire via email to the customers who did tour the venue, but don't book with you to see if you get any responses. Thank them for their response in the email. Could be multiple choice answers or a drop down menu for them to pick a response from, or a write in box. Their answers may help you going into 2026.

I have been thinking about doing this moving forward with the direct inquiries that I have that don't book with me. I am curious as to what their answers would be for the ones who actually respond.
I for one am fed up with surveys. Nearly every business sends surveys now. My inbox is filled with such requests. I consider these spam and just hit delete. Once in a blue moon I will make an exception and respond.

Better than surveys are a litmus test. Ask people on a scale of 1-10 where they stand on your venue/service. Whatever score they say, act surprised and say you would have guessed they would say a LOWER number. They will naturally defend their score. However, since you verbalized you expected to say a lower number, they will focus on what they liked. There is a lot more to this technique. It turns the table on traditional selling approaches and is HIGHLY effective.
 
I for one am fed up with surveys. Nearly every business sends surveys now. My inbox is filled with such requests. I consider these spam and just hit delete. Once in a blue moon I will make an exception and respond.

Better than surveys are a litmus test. Ask people on a scale of 1-10 where they stand on your venue/service. Whatever score they say, act surprised and say you would have guessed they would say a LOWER number. They will naturally defend their score. However, since you verbalized you expected to say a lower number, they will focus on what they liked. There is a lot more to this technique. It turns the table on traditional selling approaches and is HIGHLY effective.
Good suggestion. Probably a good technique to use.

However, I'm not sure any of the prospects that did not book with us want to do something that continues conversation with us.

A survey or quick evaluation form is seen a quick 2 minutes for them to leave us feedback if desired. They can fill out the form, hit send, and be on their way. I think they assume they won't have to continue to conversate with us in any way moving forward.

I certainly don't want to take any more time communicating with them, or create any awkward situation for them. BUT I feel that some constructive quick feedback on why they did not book with us is valuable information. Without knowing, all we ever really do is speculate why they went with someone else over us. The only way of ever knowing the true reasons is obtaining honest feedback from the ones that did not book with us.

I am sure there is a multitude of reasons. Sometimes maybe it has nothing to do with us, our presentation, or even the cost. Maybe they were pressured into using their cousin Jimmy by their parents. Maybe they decided to go with a band instead. Maybe another DJ simply connected with them better, or fit their style better. Or maybe it is because they simply went with the DJ with the lowest price, or better perceived value. Maybe they were WOWed by another DJ at twice our price! Or maybe the other DJ had 500 5 star reviews, and we only had 10 on a rating website, and that influenced their decision. There really are many different reasons why they choose one over the other. It would be nice to know what determines their decision.
 
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@DJ Ricky B , the key to the technique is to ask the litmus test question immediately after they have had the tour. I would not ask this via a phone call afterwards.

You bring up a great list of reasons why someone wouldn't book with us. In any sales situation, my goal is to get to the truth, not close the deal. The truth may be that I am not what they are looking for or they are not the client I'm looking for. The sooner I can learn that, the better. I don't waste time and set false expectations of my future business. That is why I always like to ask people what their decision criteria is up front. This is actually a very casual conversation.

I like to start by asking where they are in the decision process. Have they already explored other options or am I the first? If they explored other options already, I'll ask why they are still looking. What were the others missing? What are they hoping I could offer that the others didn't? If I'm the first call, I'll ask if they know yet what they want or don't want. I will offer examples of what others look for. I will be sure to include a criteria that I don't meet. I might say, "and if you are looking for XYZ, I am not your guy." This shows a degree of honesty that others may not exhibit and it makes me more believable when I say I can do what they want.

If the customer lists a criteria where I have a weakness, I don't hesitate to point that out. Perhaps they say they are looking for 500 5-star reviews. I would first validate the importance of that and then add, I'm not there yet. I'm still a new business. Then I ask if it is even worth continuing the conversation. I let them verbalize that this is not a show-stopper. I will do this for each criteria where I may come up weak. Each time I do this, I try to offer an alternative benefit. For instance, we may not be the most exclusive but we are a lot easier to work with than the more exclusive places.
 
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I believe your issue isn’t necessarily your venue it’s that you’re not a sales person, I sold for a living for many years, there is an art to it, it helps to be somewhat of a natural, but I’ve read hundreds of books on sales and attended probably dozens of seminars on it,
I would highly recommend becoming educated in the art of sales, read books watch videos, some will seem corny or like they don’t apply, the goal is to grab a nugget you can use.
It seems like you are trying to fix your lack of booking with stuff, a common DJ mistake , your resources would be better served be getting educated in what you are really doing sales
I would suggest focusing on real estate videos as you are really trying to sell your venue, key words and phrases are important as are learning the buying signals of your clients. in the world I come from a 25% closing rate is considered successful, I was typically well over 30 with walk-in customers and in the 90% plus range on repeat customers.