Man I hate Clients that Procrastinate

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Ok lesson learned and thanks for all the advice....

Here's what I did to change my contract first at the top or start of the terms and conditions I put:

Payments can be made by Cash, Check, or Credit/Debit Card.

Make checks payable to: ________________________
Pay online at: www.mypayment.site.com (note: not a real link)

Then at the bottom near the signature is the requirments for return and payment and final payment of the contract which now reads:

To confirm this agreement: (1) Sign one copy of the Entertainment Agreement and return it to the Company at the above address along with the required non-refundable Retainer Fee. Retain a copy for your records; (2) The Entertainment Agreement and the non-refundable Retainer Fee must be recieved no later than two business days from date of booking to guarantee services for your event, if your event date is less than thirty days away then the full amount is due upon booking; (3) The balance of the Total Fees is due by no later than thirty days prior to the event, if this condition is not met sutable arrangements must be made to continue the Agreement; (4) The Company is holding a tentative reservation until that date; (5) The Client signing this Agreement agrees that she/he is lawfully authorized to enter into this Agreement on behalf of his/her organization (if applicable); (7) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof.
 
Client 1 still hasn't done as promised and hasn't overnighted or contacted me since promising to try to overnight a check to me...

So I emailed her and told her she has a deadline of this friday or her date could come into jeopardy of not being available. I hope that's enough to either push her to **** or get off the pot.
 
If your prospects are considering other DJs, you may not be doing enough to sell yourself. Have you read in sales books? It sounds like your counting on your website to do most of the selling. That's just my observation.
 
Bobby D said:
If your prospects are considering other DJs, you may not be doing enough to sell yourself. Have you read in sales books? It sounds like your counting on your website to do most of the selling. That's just my observation.
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Oh they were sold but due to them not reading my email that gave them an out plus I give way too much time to get contracts and retainer fees back to me...

I've been in the hotel business for years... and yes I have read sales books up the wazu.... selling isn't the problem... flaky clients are.
 
Well client 1 one still hasn't sent the contract but has emailed today saying she is sending it today... on the upside she and her sister have at least used my site to make music requests so I honestly think it's just a matter of having the money in her account.... I think she has been short on funds and that may in all likelyhood caused her to delay payment.

With no new communication from Client 2 her deadline is fast approaching so I'm guessing she's going with the "friend that's a DJ"... good luck.
 
Bobby D said:
It sounds like your counting on your website to do most of the selling. That's just my observation.
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Sorry I didn't address this portion of your post....

Yeah, of course I use my website as a selling tool. It's a starting point and what generally draws people in initially. It's what I do after they've called, emailed a question, or got an online quote that makes the sale or not.

I don't know how long you've been in the biz but for people like me who are just starting out (2 yrs giging, 3 yrs officially) word of mouth isn't there yet. Advertising outside of Free sites on the web and a website is out of the question because budgets generally wont allow for advertising in such things as trade magazines or paid search engines. Even the click through google ads are out of the question because there is no guarantee that the click throughs which you have to pay for will result in even a lead, much less a booking.

So ya, my website is a selling point. But, not the only one.
 
jokerswild said:
To confirm this agreement: (1) Sign one copy of the Entertainment Agreement and return it to the Company at the above address along with the required non-refundable Retainer Fee. Retain a copy for your records;
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Rob - Am I reading this correctly to assume that you are sending out a contract that has been signed by you? (You ask for the client to sign and return ONE copy to you. That tells me that you have signed TWO copies, and just need their completed copy returned.)

If so, you may want to re-think that. That would make it far too easy for a client to change the terms of the contract. Since your signature appears on the altered contract, it will be considered a valid contract by most courts... Just my 2 cents, and I could be mis-reading this clause in you contract! :sqwink:
 
DJ Zac said:
Rob - Am I reading this correctly to assume that you are sending out a contract that has been signed by you? (You ask for the client to sign and return ONE copy to you. That tells me that you have signed TWO copies, and just need their completed copy returned.)

If so, you may want to re-think that. That would make it far too easy for a client to change the terms of the contract. Since your signature appears on the altered contract, it will be considered a valid contract by most courts... Just my 2 cents, and I could be mis-reading this clause in you contract! :sqwink:
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"Sign one copy and return it to...." means I've sent two copies or gave them two copies one for them and one to return to me signed.

Also read the last statement: (7) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof.

If a client should try to alter a contract that I've signed without my consent it would be rejected... and if they were to try and alter a contract after the fact and take me to court over something the court would reject it since I'd have an original and by the fact that any hand made changes to any contract must be initialed by both parties to be valid.... so no I'm not worried if someone tries to alter a contract into their favor because it wouldn't hold up in court anyway.
 
Jon Tuck said:
I dont sign anything until the retainer fee is in my hand.
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Same here but for the sake of his question lets assume I did...

Even if so if there were a handwritten change made to a contract that is pre-printed with no lines for additional information and no place for initials any handwritten changes by me or by the client without both parties initialling the change wouldn't stand up in court, period.

But, no most of the time when I'm sending out a contract it's via email. I've only mailed a contract once. Most times it's done in person so they usually are already ready to sign and pay anyway.
 
Apologies for goin' off topic. I'd like to post a thought on client alterations to the service agreement if I may:

Sometimes, parts of the basic boilerplate will not apply to some shows. We've had this happen with municipal-sponsored gigs in the past. In these cases, we'll work with the sponsors to reach a mutual agreement that is satisfactory to both parties. Then we'll print out the finished copy, git it all signed and get that out of the way.

Please, do not let a pen-and-ink-altered agreement fly, even if the paragraphs that are crossed out or altered are initialed and dated by both parties. That stuff is sloppy and subject to interpretation should it come to that.
 
jokerswild;109974Yeah said:
Same here Rob, just finishing my 3rd year as a DJ. I don't have a website, but I agree that it's a good marketing strategy. I don't really need one because I work with an agent. The way the agency works is to make the sale over the phone. The agent will ask the client a lot of questions and set them up with the DJ that will be best for their situation. The agreement is the client will send the retainer with the signed contract. The contract is sent to me afterward and I sign and return it to the agent. The retainer is the agent's fee, I get paid the rest at the gig.

I'm lucky I don't have to do much selling. I have my name listed in the yellow pages and I think it resulted in one gig. Tire kickers going thru the list of DJs are the only calls. But I read motivational and sales books just in case I have to become the salesman in the future. I appears you're learning the biz at a fast rate. It takes a few years to get the WOM and referrals. Until then, you're going to have those flaky clients.
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Almost 10 years in the hotel business has given me a lot of insight into the business world in general... but I am learning much as it relates directly to the DJ biz...

I feel if I ever stop learning or have learned all there is to learn then I should hang the headphones up and go on to something else.
 
you shall have a long and proseprous career my friend as your mindset is correct. 35+ yrs and just getting started.
 
Well Client 1 finally came through with her deposit today... I just don't understand why she couldn't do it online... it would have saved her the 17.00 it cost to overnight a check to me.

Client 2 still nothing so I've sent the following:

I know that you have been debating hiring my company or the friend. If you wish to continue with the agreement that we entered into you need to make a payment today. If payment is not received by the end of today I will have to assume you wish to discontinue the agreement and consider the agreement null and void. If this happens, and you still wish to hire our servics a new agreement will have to be drawn up with new terms to be agreed upon, for which immediate payment would be required at booking.

To make an immediate payment follow this link:

I'm not expecting a response at all though, especially if she holds true to how she's been dealing with the situation. So I'm available June 14th now....:sqbiggrin:
 
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Got the deposit check and it bounced....

Jokerswild said:
I just recieved notice from my bank that the check you sent me was returned NSF. I'm sure that this is a simple oversight that can be taken care of quickly. Here is the detail from my account showing the returned check and the associated bank fee. I will need you to either login and send a payment via credit card or overnight a Certified Check, Cashiers Check or Money Order. Unfortunately because of this I will not be able to accept a personal check. Please take care of this as soon as possible because this puts your event in jeopardy.


11-19-2007 FEE / NSF-ARMED FORCES BANK BY "Client Name" UNKN TLR CB SHARE DRAFT CHARGEBACK FEE $10.00 10.00



11-19-2007 FEE / NSF-ARMED FORCES BANK BY "Client Name" UNKN TLR RETURN DEPOSIT - NSF CHARGEBACK $225.00 225.00
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I wonder what "UNKN TLR" means. I have a sneeking suspicion that it means the account is unknown possible closed...

The odd part is the last name on the check doesn't match the name of the client. Now this is her second marriage so maybe the name on the check was her old married name...

Lots of unknowns on this one.

I can tell you this I wont be accepting anymore personal checks from her... and maybe none from anyone else.

Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me.
 
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