This lead depicts a HUGE chunk of the wedding market today..Or not?
- Thread starter DJ Ricky B
- Start date
That is where you're wrong. Tell me where I said I was worried or caught up in what someone else is doing? I try my best to keep the focus where it needs to be.
Check out what Ricky said in the beginning. He came out with figures and percentages of what a bride spends money on. I said it the way I feel. I don't know what a bride is spending their money on or who's ever money it is and really don't care. I don't check that deep into such a thing. There was only one wedding that I ever did where I knew how much the bride spent for her wedding and that was my oldest neice. Her wedding cost 5k and it was at Snuffys on 22 east. My wedding present to them was me being their DJ. I remember seeing on Wedding Wire they used to allow a person to post their budget for their wedding on their site. I don't know if they still allow someone to do this anymore. I don't ask people what their budget is for their wedding. I just concern myself with how much they were looking to spend for the entertainment for their wedding and that's it. What they are paying other vendors has nothing to do with me directly. I get that indirectly it could affect me.
If you really examine this in a lot of cases we the DJ when it comes to priorities for a bride, we're either in the middle or we're the last thing they think of looking for. Some don't see what we do as a major big thing. They think they can easily find someone real fast to perform at their wedding. Some make the mistake of waiting till the last minute to look for a DJ which if they book you can have you at a disadvantage because now you have to quickly scramble to get things together to get the job done right.
Many of them crave a 74 year old Democratic Socialist for president! If a 74 year old is fit to be POTUS, then shouldn't a 60 year old man do just fine as their Wedding DJ?
If they are for a $15.00 an hour minimum wage for everybody than they should also understand that a quality DJ costs a lot of money as well, and should have no problem willing to pay for it? Right?
Maybe We should tell them our exact per event business costs, and charge them for mileage, plus $15 per hour for our time so we can earna fair minimum wage working for them?
...Or is it that if College should be free, then maybe Wedding and Party DJs should also be free? ...Now I'm confused
Market Research is important part of running a business and something most small business folks, PT folks in particular, just completely ignore.
McDonalds and Walmart won't open a store without doing their research - is there enough volume to support the store? Car companies do research on what consumers want and place products in specific niche's.
How we price ourselves can be done several ways, and market feedback counts as much as any other method.
the market is ALWAYS changing - today we have the internet, forums, searches, reviews.
Parents are divorced more now than ever so two parents have to pay for two households instead of one, less money to spend on the kids' wedding.
People are getting married later, remarried more - so they are footing the bill more than their parents - who in bygone days were in their peak earning years and probably had retirement from their employer so spending on a wedding wasn't gonna reduce their retirment fund.
In 2000 here a typical wedding photog package was $3000. today it's more like $1000.
In the 80s in college we could hire a dj for a party for $250. that's about 300 around here now. And plenty will do it for less.
Sooooooo.,...
you need to figure out the price points in your market and what you want to do, which market you want to appeal to.
In my area the main venues are $35-45/plate. Main as in the busiest, most popular. If a typical wedding is 150 people, that's a $12,000 budget overall (based on bride magazine budget recomendation...it will of course vary).
brides like us, will spend more money on things they personally place more importance or value on. I've seen brides spend $100 on a dress and others $2000. So finding 'normal' or 'average' can be difficult.
IME you can book at any price point and book as much as you want - BUT what that costs, in marketing, is the question. I could spend $5,000 on marketing no problem - but if it brings in 10 $1500 gigs am I better off than if I spent $800 to bring in 20 $700 gigs?
Being in the 'popular price' category you will book more gigs with less effort - no need to find 10 prospects for every booking, or spend a lot of effort convincing them of your value.
One also has to factor in how far you have to travel - and market - to get work. If I can fill my book wtih gigs 1/2 hour a way vs traveling 2 hours that counts for something too - if I have to spend 3 hours extra in travel on a gig every 2 of those takes the time of another gig out of my life.
So yes, I want to get as much as possible per gig, and stay close to home, and not have to spend a fortune to get the gigs.
Very much a balancing act.
McDonalds and Walmart won't open a store without doing their research - is there enough volume to support the store? Car companies do research on what consumers want and place products in specific niche's.
How we price ourselves can be done several ways, and market feedback counts as much as any other method.
the market is ALWAYS changing - today we have the internet, forums, searches, reviews.
Parents are divorced more now than ever so two parents have to pay for two households instead of one, less money to spend on the kids' wedding.
People are getting married later, remarried more - so they are footing the bill more than their parents - who in bygone days were in their peak earning years and probably had retirement from their employer so spending on a wedding wasn't gonna reduce their retirment fund.
In 2000 here a typical wedding photog package was $3000. today it's more like $1000.
In the 80s in college we could hire a dj for a party for $250. that's about 300 around here now. And plenty will do it for less.
Sooooooo.,...
you need to figure out the price points in your market and what you want to do, which market you want to appeal to.
In my area the main venues are $35-45/plate. Main as in the busiest, most popular. If a typical wedding is 150 people, that's a $12,000 budget overall (based on bride magazine budget recomendation...it will of course vary).
brides like us, will spend more money on things they personally place more importance or value on. I've seen brides spend $100 on a dress and others $2000. So finding 'normal' or 'average' can be difficult.
IME you can book at any price point and book as much as you want - BUT what that costs, in marketing, is the question. I could spend $5,000 on marketing no problem - but if it brings in 10 $1500 gigs am I better off than if I spent $800 to bring in 20 $700 gigs?
Being in the 'popular price' category you will book more gigs with less effort - no need to find 10 prospects for every booking, or spend a lot of effort convincing them of your value.
One also has to factor in how far you have to travel - and market - to get work. If I can fill my book wtih gigs 1/2 hour a way vs traveling 2 hours that counts for something too - if I have to spend 3 hours extra in travel on a gig every 2 of those takes the time of another gig out of my life.
So yes, I want to get as much as possible per gig, and stay close to home, and not have to spend a fortune to get the gigs.
Very much a balancing act.
Ignoring the competition or market changes - aka staying focused on just yourself - had been the downfall of many many many businesses - the US car industry ignoring the japanese, walmart is king but it used to be sears, kmart, montgomery ward, woolworth and locally we've lost hills, zayre's, GC Murphy and and others. they ALL had a head start on walmart...
It varies a lot - if it's important to them they get it first - if the DJ is hired before the photog then the DJ is more important. If the wedding is in 3 weeks and they're looking for a DJ it's an after thought and not that important to them. If they'll move their date to get you as their Dj then that says a whole lot about you - raise your prices today! LOL
I would agree with that and cherish the fact that my competition falls into that pitfall.
Bottom line for myself and something that I try to encourage everyone that wants to actually hear the feedback, is that it is possible to create demand that far exceeds what the expectation is and there are consumers who will pay for that. Instead of bowing your standards to what their's are, you bring their standards up to yours. With all the FT guys harping they are better because they are FT, it should really be the way they do business. But, it does appear that most just want to bitch & moan about the PT guy undercutting the FT person, in which the FT person isn't offering any better product. No-brainer for me as a consumer to go with the best deal then.
This is probably where multi-folks using the same login get lost in what is being posted under the name.
chevy sells more cruze's than bmw sells cars (all models) in the US.
Sears, Macy's, JCP and other department stores are failing.
Better value in many consumer's minds is lower cost...they feel all things are the same. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. Is a BMW the same as a KIA? no. Which is the better VALUE? hard to say. KIA outsells BMW. that is the fact, the rest conjecture or opinion.
How do prospects find YOU?
And how does that build the value in YOU, so you can charge more?
WOM? then past customers are selling you. so your PERFORMANCE is what sold you.
If it's an ad on the knot, your website, vendor referral, ranking on google, email response to a gigmaster/thumbtack inquiry...you need to know and work on maximizing that.
I change my approach at a bridal show and booked 5 jobs. the question then arises should I do another bridal show? there is onein march, a new one, cost is $250.
What is my (your) cost of getting a booking? If you spend $5k a year to get 25 jobs then it's $200/job and the bridal show can be worth it for 1 or 2 jobs. If my cost is $75/job for the bridal show to be worthwhile I need to get 3 or 4 jobs from it.
What we CHARGE is not a factor in that decision.
Sears, Macy's, JCP and other department stores are failing.
Better value in many consumer's minds is lower cost...they feel all things are the same. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. Is a BMW the same as a KIA? no. Which is the better VALUE? hard to say. KIA outsells BMW. that is the fact, the rest conjecture or opinion.
How do prospects find YOU?
And how does that build the value in YOU, so you can charge more?
WOM? then past customers are selling you. so your PERFORMANCE is what sold you.
If it's an ad on the knot, your website, vendor referral, ranking on google, email response to a gigmaster/thumbtack inquiry...you need to know and work on maximizing that.
I change my approach at a bridal show and booked 5 jobs. the question then arises should I do another bridal show? there is onein march, a new one, cost is $250.
What is my (your) cost of getting a booking? If you spend $5k a year to get 25 jobs then it's $200/job and the bridal show can be worth it for 1 or 2 jobs. If my cost is $75/job for the bridal show to be worthwhile I need to get 3 or 4 jobs from it.
What we CHARGE is not a factor in that decision.
Mix,
Didn't you say you didn't like a lot of today's music that customers wanted you to play?
Didn't you say you didn't like a lot of today's music that customers wanted you to play?
I don't want the Huge chunk of today's market, I want to work with the small chunk that values my skills and is willing to compensate me appropriately, and that's who are market towards
There's a reason that variety is implemented in many business models ... to grab a certain target market share.
I have no problem with a DJ that wants to market to a $500 bride. My concern is when they then turn around and gripe about that's all they can get.
I have no problem with a DJ that wants to market to a $500 bride. My concern is when they then turn around and gripe about that's all they can get.
I'm going to guess that didn't happen over night either ... I know it didn't for myself. It took several years because IMO that word of mouth client testimonial is needed to help get to that point.
I got to disagree with you there it depends on reputation. My mentor passed on at 61 and he was still top in the market and doing more a year than I was
While I'm sure what you're saying it true I think you'd also have to admit, this is not the norm.
I had gotten to the point where when confronted with XYZ DJ can do it for $500 , my response was that sounds great is that who you want to hire. usually I got, no you come highly recommended, we would really like to have you, quick note all of my business is referral, then we would get into a conversation about what they liked about the stuff they heard about me and did they think the XYZ Dj they called could really do that, I booked about 50% if they would engage me in conversation over the phone, if I could get them to an in person meeting that number was closer 90%
Yeah... that 'highly recommended' WOM is worth more than any paid advert we can come up with.
I haven't paid a dime in advertising in 20 yearsYeah... that 'highly recommended' WOM is worth more than any paid advert we can come up with.
This next question is serious. After you check out what your competition is doing then what? What if they are ahead or behind you when it comes to price? Do you get to find out what they have to offer for the price they charge? I say most times you don't unless you know them personally. Some can get paid more because they have more to offer. The days of a DJ showing up with a pair of speakers on stands getting paid handsomely is for the most part gone. So with that said what do you have to offer to justify the price you charge? I'll respond later as I got to get ready to go somewhere.
You are so wrong, I do wedding with simple speakers and a couple of wash lights all the time for well north of $1000, people want me because of my years of experience, knowledge, personality, and 30 years of recommendations, if you can't do this after 30 years in business you are no where near as good as you think you are
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It's not all about price of course...
If they charge $500 and you charge $700 and include lighting and a sub and they don't then it's harder for them to compare apples to apples.
Also, where are your leads coming from? WOM buyers are, as we said the car sales world, 'lay downs' - they just buy at the price you quote, done.
If you are at a bridal show then yes, you are competing much more on price, or at least the deal of the day.
If you're quoting on thumbtack or such then price is a bigger factor - depending on how you answer the inquiry of course.
If the venue that are referring to you are $125 plate vs $40 a plate you'll get to ask a different price, and possibly be expected to provide a higher level of service and professionalism.
If you have to hustle to get enough gigs to pay for a rich and famous life style (house, food...maybe cable tv too) then getting 10 gigs a year at $1000 vs 25 at $500, of if you work full time and don't have time to venue visit and meet brides at their convenience - it all plays into what you ask, what you deliver.
Generally, if you can deliver more than your competition (and your customers decide who that competition is) for the same price then you 'win' the sale by delivering better value.
You gotta shop the competition to know what you need to do to offer 'more value'.
If they charge $500 and you charge $700 and include lighting and a sub and they don't then it's harder for them to compare apples to apples.
Also, where are your leads coming from? WOM buyers are, as we said the car sales world, 'lay downs' - they just buy at the price you quote, done.
If you are at a bridal show then yes, you are competing much more on price, or at least the deal of the day.
If you're quoting on thumbtack or such then price is a bigger factor - depending on how you answer the inquiry of course.
If the venue that are referring to you are $125 plate vs $40 a plate you'll get to ask a different price, and possibly be expected to provide a higher level of service and professionalism.
If you have to hustle to get enough gigs to pay for a rich and famous life style (house, food...maybe cable tv too) then getting 10 gigs a year at $1000 vs 25 at $500, of if you work full time and don't have time to venue visit and meet brides at their convenience - it all plays into what you ask, what you deliver.
Generally, if you can deliver more than your competition (and your customers decide who that competition is) for the same price then you 'win' the sale by delivering better value.
You gotta shop the competition to know what you need to do to offer 'more value'.