5:08
Taking a booking over the phone
On YouTube this video is called How to take a mobile DJ booking off the phone, a few tips!
What this lesson teaches
He takes the call on camera and then goes back through it. It is a script worth learning, because the order of the questions is the lesson.
First question: the date
Always. Before anything else.
His reasoning is unarguable: there is no point going through where it is, what time, how much and what sort of event, only to discover you are already booked. Check the date, say you can do it, and then continue.
Then the venue and the address
Second, and for the same reason. If you quote a price and then find the venue is 300 miles away, you have lost - you have given a number you cannot honour.
So you need the location before the price, and in the back of your mind a price structure based on distance: local is one figure, a hundred miles is another.
Then the timings
Two separate questions.
What time are the guests arriving? Because he wants to be set up before they do. His reasoning is the thing that marks a professional: you do not want to be carrying speakers through a room full of people who are already drinking, saying excuse me. On the call he does the arithmetic out loud - guests at eight, so arrive at seven, which gives an hour.
What time do you want the music to stop? Because they may want you until four in the morning, and that is a different fee from finishing at one.
And his own habit: give yourself injury time. If it is a hundred miles, allow for the drive, for a puncture, for a breakdown, and for being set up before the guests - not just for arriving.
Then what kind of event
A wedding, an eighteenth, a twenty-first. It changes the music, the running order and what extras are worth offering.
Then contact details - and take more than one
Do not put the phone down and realise you have no number. Ringing back to ask is unprofessional.
Take two or three: a landline, a mobile, and somebody else's mobile in case you cannot reach them.
And for a wedding specifically: get the best man's number. Because you should not be hassling the bride and groom on the day itself - they will be busy, and they will not be pleased.
That is a genuinely professional detail. The person you booked with is not the person you should be calling at six o'clock on the day.
Only now, the price
With the date, the distance, the hours and the type of event, you know what you are quoting for - and the client gets to say yes or no to a real number rather than a guess.
The pencil and the pad
His closing practical tip, and it is a good discipline.
Take it all down on paper first. Do not write it straight into the diary until they have agreed - or if you do, write it in pencil so it can be rubbed out.
The reason is that an enquiry is not a booking, and a diary full of enquiries you have mentally committed to is how you end up turning down work you could have taken.
When they say yes, then it goes in the diary.
And the deposit
Up to you, but it is the thing that turns a conversation into something enforceable - which is the subject of the next lesson in this course.
Why the whole call matters
His framing at the start: somebody has just rung you, and first impressions last. Being polite and organised on the phone tells them they have a professional on board, before they have heard a single record.
The price is not the most important thing in that call. The date is.
Contents of the video
0:00 First of all, what's the actual date that the event's taking place on?
Yeah, sure. Okay. First of all, what's the actual date that the event's taking place on? The 26th of February. Can you bear with me a second please? I'll just check that, okay? Yeah, sure. That's fine. So I can do that date for you. Secondly, the actual venue. Whereabouts will the event be taking place? Okay. I'll just take the address as well. Thank you very much. And what time are your guests actually arriving? Because ideally, what I like to do, I like to set up prior to people arriving. At the end of the day, you know, you don't really want someone sort of walking in, you know, past the crowd and sort of saying excuse me while they're carrying loads of speakers. So, right, the event's starting at 8 o'clock. So if I arrive for 7 o'clock, that could give me a good hour to set up, won't it? And then what time do you want the actual music to stop? 1am, OK.
And the event, what sort of event is it? It's a wedding, okay. Can I have some contact details please? Ideally sort of a home number and your mobile number and then also perhaps maybe someone else's mobile in case I can't get in touch with you. So that's 01 Yapshire, okay. Right, and then the price will be £50,000. Thank you very much. Just joking, just joking. But, the whole idea of that call there, I mean... Yeah, and you'd like a bouncy castle as well in the bathroom. Yeah, that's fine. No, think about it. Someone's just phoned you and they need you to work as a mobile DJ. Well, there's no point saying, oh, it's going to cost this much or that much because at the end of the day, first impressions last. So again, if you can be polite on the telephone, then they're going to think, well, we've got a professional on board. The most important thing is not the price.
1:56 Make sure the date is free
Not the venue, not what sort of function it is, it's the date. Because at the end of the day there's no point going through all the rigmarole of well where is it and how much and what time do you want me to start and finish because you could go through all of that and then realise that you're booked on that date. So the first thing is make sure the date is free. Then very important you need to get all relevant information. The venue. Because the venue, again, if you say, oh, the date, I'm free, it'll cost you a hundred whatever. Then they'll say, well, the venue's like 300 miles away. Well, you know, you've lost out, haven't you? So you need to get all this information and then you need to have in the back of your mind an idea of a price structure. So for example, the venue could be down the road. Fine, you know it's down the road, you haven't got many expenses for travelling.
3:18 The band or the DJ walk in and they go, excuse me, excuse me
Then again, the venue could be 100 miles away, so you have to take that into consideration as well. Time. What I always do, I always give myself a bit of injury time. In other words, if it's going to be 100 miles away, I've got to give myself time to get there. Also, I've got to give time in case I have a puncture or a breakdown, you never know. Then I have to be there prior to the guests arriving, so I can set up, so no one's sitting there drinking and all of a sudden... The band or the DJ walk in and they go, excuse me, excuse me. That's very unprofessional. Ideally you want to be there, set up, looking smart while the people are arriving. Also make sure what time the actual event finishes because at the end of the day they may want you to go until 4 o'clock in the morning. You're possibly going to charge more if let's say you were only going to finish at 1 o'clock. Also the event, what sort of event it is. It could be a 21st, it could be an 18th, it could be a wedding.
Contact details are so important. Don't put the phone down and think, oh damn, numbers, because it's very unprofessional phoning them back up and saying, oh can I have your number? Don't take one number, take two or three numbers. If it's a wedding, try and get the best man's number. Don't start hassling the bride and groom on their wedding date, because they won't be very happy, they'll be busy. And then lastly, once you've got all that information, then you can start talking about price because then you know roughly the sort of event you're going to be going to. And then they will be given the opportunity to say yes or no. Lastly, very important, a pencil, a pad. Write it down, pencil and pad.
Don't bung it in your diary until they agree and say yes. Because believe me, I mean I do it all the time, the worst thing in the world is go straight to the date and write it in there or write so much if it's in pencil you can always rub it out. But it's so much nicer to get it all down here and when they say yes then you write it in. It's up to you, if you want to ask them for a deposit then you can do so. Give your details, email address etc. If they send you a deposit... That's fine. So I hope this has been a help. Bit on booking here. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
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