WTH is up with people procrastinating?

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

IceBurghDJ

DJ Extraordinaire
Apr 17, 2015
3,312
2,040
62
Western Pennsylvania
iceburghdj.com
Did a gig for the arm last week - they booked 6 days before.
Booked a school dance..it's the 16th.
Today got a call for a wedding, meeting them thursday. Date? April 20.

Lots of last minute folks out there, a trend i've noticed and now it's getting to be extreme.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djcrazychris
Depends on your price points. People willing to spend more for more important events, tend to book further in advance. Those that are not in demand for something specific and just want to get by tend to not have that sense of urgency and since any one in particular will do, they know they’re gonna find someone.
 
Depends on your price points. People willing to spend more for more important events, tend to book further in advance. Those that are not in demand for something specific and just want to get by tend to not have that sense of urgency and since any one in particular will do, they know they’re gonna find someone.

I agree.

People who are looking to book events on less than 30 days notice are not going to be in the $1,000 and above price point in my experience. People looking to book events on less than 20 days notice are likely going to be budgeting in the $250 to $500, maybe $600 price range. This is not 100% true, as I have booked a handful of weddings at $1,000+ under 30 days out, but that is rare.

If I am looking to work events under 30 days out, I pretty much know I will have to quote under $1,000 to get them, and likely under $600 unless it just happens to be a 5.5+ hour wedding ceremony/reception. If one of those come in booking late depending on the client maybe I can get it booked over $1,000.

With regards to the army...They are not organized to book way in advance as well. They plan like they operate ... "On The Go" or with "Very limited time".


I just sent out an agreement for Saturday March 16th. It came from the client looking up DJs locally on Google. The event venue is a small hall about a 6 to 7 minute drive from my house, and it's only a 1 to 4:30 event. It's my 2nd lowest price booking of the year, but I don't mind as it's such a local gig, and going to be easy. It's a "Celebration of Life" event for the lady's husband who passed away on February 2nd.
 
Some because of a DJ flaking out so late are forced to find someone else to do the event last minute. Also some DJs will agree to do an event for a very cheap price and when another client willing to pay more, they will go with the one paying more. Sad but true fact. Those that do that usually don't have a signed contract. It's word of mouth and that's it. So it's not always the client looking last minute but forced to do so. They book a venue and they can't get their money back so they have to do what they can to find someone to do the event.

I agree as well such clients are looking to spend much for entertainment for the event. They will spend a lot of money on so many other things and save the DJ for last to take the scraps that are left over.
 
I find the last few years have been like that. I don't know if it's the generation that expect everything instant or maybe it's a financial thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MIXMASTERMACHOM
Don't get me wrong, I get these calls too from time to time, as do some of my dj friends. 90% of them will all end up wanting to spend between $350 and $750... usually because "it's just a small event" or "we don't need anything special". Other dj's are more than happy to book them, so they'll always get a bite... as for me... 9/10 of the time I'm booked so I don't even entertain it. For the 1/10 if the times I am available., I'll say my price is normally $2000 and up, but I can give a $500 discount... to which I get the whole "we weren't looking to spend that much". Those inquiries typically are not coming in from any sort of legit research. Meaning they could care less who they're getting, as long as they're available and it fits the budget. I often ask how'd they find me, and it's either they just did a search for dj's in the area (meaning nothing specific) or someone mentioned my name (which means they did no research as they'd know I'd be higher priced). This happens to me for weddings, sweet 16's, brithday parties, anniversarys... everything across the board. It's just the type of buyer that they are for this particular item.