DJ the Best Way to Talk to a New Client BY Ellaskins the DJ Tutor

0:00 Big shout out to Tyrell P03

Alright, big shout out to Tyrell P03. What a great idea. A video on speaking to clients. I'm just making myself a cup of coffee so there will be a bit of noise in the background. So if you haven't seen me before, my name is Jonathan Olsen and this is Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor. I give advice, demonstrations and goodness knows what. And I was the first person in the world to give free online video lessons via YouTube in 2006, which is a long time ago. Okay, so how do you talk to clients? Well, firstly, there's a couple of ways. You can go online and you can go on Skype, you can email, you can phone. The best one. Beyond shadow of a doubt is to meet them in person. So what I recommend you do is you try and arrange a meeting. Again, it's very difficult if they're 100 miles away because it's a hell of a long way to travel. But if the money's good, you will travel. Why? Because they know you're a great distance away

2:13 You know, it's understanding your client and their needs

You make the effort to travel 100 miles to go and see them, they will book you even if you just turn up. Because they will think, my God, this person travelled 100 miles to come and see us, to talk to us. Now that is worth its weight in gold. And the irony is, let's say you normally charge, I'm going to pick a number. 500 euros, pounds, dollars, shekels, rubies, it doesn't matter. You could probably charge double that because you've got to travel. And you know what? They'll still probably pay it because they understand and they realise and they like the way you work because you travelled that great distance to speak to them. But anyway, again, it's psychology. You know, it's understanding your client and their needs. And also, it's almost you're trying to befriend them. You need to become their friend. So, how do you get bookings? How do you talk to clients? No, no, it's not how you get bookings. How do you talk to clients? The best way, like I said, is to physically meet them.

3:55 Don't be bloody stupid

They phone you up, we're interested in booking you for our event that's next year in a month's time or next week. What are your prices? Now, you can give your prices if you want to, but really what you should be doing is you should be saying in that phone call, listen, I would love to meet you and discuss in person, face-to-face, can we arrange a meeting? When do you have some free time? Not, oh, I'll look in my diary. When do they have free time? You've always got to make them feel at ease, make them feel as though there's no pressure at all. They don't have to work with you, you're working with them.

So you get the time, you arrange a time, you arrange a meeting, maybe in a cafe somewhere, maybe even in their house if they want that, that's fine. If it is in a cafe... Because again, it's all about psychology. It's about being there early. So if you say to your client, I will see you at the cafe at 10 o'clock, don't be a muppet and turn up at 10. Don't be bloody stupid. Get there at half past nine, alright? You need to get there early. Why? Think about it. You may find that it's full and there's no seats. If you're there half an hour early, you can stand around and wait till there's a seat. Sit down on the table, claim your spot. You're there, you're good to go.

6:46 Town or a city and you

Make sure you're dress smart. Don't turn up in jeans and a t-shirt. Make sure you look very presentable. Have a wash. Do something under your arms. Make sure you don't smell like a docker's armpit for crying out quiet. Be presentable. When they turn up, okay? Stand up.

Even if it's just one guy or two guys or three guys or a whole family, make sure you stand up. Don't sit there and let them walk up to you and then just sit down. Stand up. Greet them. Shake their hands. When you shake their hands, don't do a faffy naffy kind of little shake. Grab them and give them a good handshake. That says a lot about you. Okay, so you're talking to them now. Now what you have to do, you have to try and talk to them as though they are in control. It's their night. It's their special day. So you say to them, what do you want? What are you looking for? Tell me what you're looking for and I will let you know if I can fulfil your dreams. I'm about giving you emotion. I'm about making your evening the best evening...

I want you to remember this analogy. This potentially could be the best analogy ever for a DJ to give to a client. I said this once before when I was in Greece about a month ago. A good entertainer. They want their night to go off with a bang, to finish with a bang. They want the day that they spent a lot of money, time and effort on, for years possibly, to finish with this splendid array of music and people, the crowd, their friends and family leaving with a smile on their face remembering that day forever. Now the analogy you give your client is this. A firework display. People can pay thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds, literally, for a big firework display. When you go out and you go to a town or a city and you see a big firework display, do you ever, have you ever seen a firework display end with a sparkler? So you have this array of boom, boom, boom, boom, the sparkler.

And it finishes. No, you don't. The firework display always ends with the all mightiest, most grandest, most loudest firework ever. And then it's over. So your client's day. They're going to spend a fortune on the food. The food, the fireworks. I'm moving my arms now. The food, the flowers, the entertainment. Perhaps they're having a band. More than likely it will finish off with a disco. Now you need to tell your client that you are the final firework, the most expensive firework because without that most expensive firework the whole display will seem very flaccid and very just boring. So you have to spend money on that final boom. For the people and the crowd, the public to remember the firework display. So the analogy here is very simple. You are the last firework in the big display where I need to make my coffee, where they've paid and spent a fortune. So don't forget that you are the final boom. And without that final boom, the rest of it possibly isn't worth it. All right.

Now, I have digressed slightly here because this was about talking to your client. And again, even this video, talking to the client just could go on and on and on. But make them feel comfortable. Make them feel relaxed. Give them lots of information first. Ask them questions. Let them answer you. Let them be in control of the whole meeting. And remember this as well. When you're talking... You're saying things you already know. When you listen to someone, you may hear something that you don't know. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.