Ah but your "quote every job differently" gives rise to distrust issues. Don't you ever have different people from the same family asking for a price? I have and precisely because of guys who shoot multiple prices for the exact event. While it's certainly your right to try to maximize profit it speaks to your integrity to try and gig one prospect over another.
Na-dah. What you are describing is a DJ with some pre-selected gear who hires it out along with himself as "packages." That is a
commodity - easily duplicated by any other DJ who can obtain and operate that gear, playing the same hit songs as any DJ does. In fact, are you not already duplicating it when you send out your other guys?
In this instance people should expect to pay a similar price no matter what the event, or when it is. Your sales pitch changes little from gig to gig and people expect roughly the same package or presentation. This is why people shop around for the best price. Many events only require music service as a commodity and there is always an over-supply of DJs who function as commodities. Customers will call you on your varied prices because you
are in fact, making quotes for the
same thing on the
same date.
In order to change that you have to change the nature of what you sell from a
commodity to a
unique solution. If every client is shown how
their event represents a unique set of challenges to be resolved, then no two events could ever be seen as the same. Hence, clients stop making those comparisons.
I abandoned the commodity model a long time ago, along with it's focus on weekend family events and Saturday dates as a prime commodity. I often book substantially better paying work during the week than I do on weekends. Saturday is a "play day" where weddings and family events are the norm. This is not however where the rubber meets the road if you are serious about the event business. Commercial work is better because it's not all about fun and games - there is a defined purpose and goal to be met. The calendar week is also 7 days long which removes the competition for prime dates.
I sell solutions - which means I apply a defined set of skills to very specific customer requirements - not simply a subjective concept of "quality" or even the DJ. The danger in presenting one's self as "entertainment" when in fact
you are a DJ is that the real source of what becomes entertaining does not reside in you - it's born of the event and it's participants. I sell customers on my ability to build the environment in which that occurs successfully and in line with their goals and expectations. These are talents you can sell and apply even when the event has no DJ or dancing. I have a varied skill set which can be applied event wide so I'm not selling the same role to everyone, and often something different to repeating customers or their referrals.
As a DJ, I also have a successful reputation for serving challenging and different styles. I can sound or look like an entirely different DJ operation where it matters. I even sub out to companies that compete with each other and adapt to their own unique presentation styles. I am often a go to person when the event demands or music needs run deeper than the resources or abilities of their own DJs. Having the ability to wholesale that to others exposes me to a lot of different DJs and how they operate. I keeps me from getting stuck in the same routine and helps me to keep developing more unique experiences and skills.
The staying power among full time professionals in this business is their discernible skill sets and talent - not their up lighting, facades, or online reviews. Whether its' a DJ, emcee, dancer, band, technician, or novelty act - what you want is to be the name on the lips of other event professionals when conversation about a given event begins. The price is always fluid and people whose job it is to seek a
solution rather than a commodity understand that.
