Charging more for a roadshow

0:00 This is with reference to mobile DJs, your setup and how much to charg

Alright folks, a bit of information here that I got from the Mobile B09 Las Vegas trip. I sort of knew about it anyway but after networking with a load of other DJs, going to some of the seminars, I put all of this information into practice and it does work. Now this is with reference to mobile DJs, your setup and how much to charge. Now theoretically if you're charging a set price you may be not charging enough. Now, I am not saying that you should do this. What I'm saying is maybe to listen to this advice, look at you, look at the roadshow you've got, take all of this on board and then maybe think, can I do this? Is it possible for me to do this? Am I in a position to do this? First of all, I want you to look at this guy here, alright? Let's imagine we've got a guy, couple of speakers, a few lights, relatively good roadshow. And then we've got this guy here.

Loads of speakers, loads of lights, a big roadshow. But these two people are exactly the same people. The difference being is when they have that initial phone call from the client, the client may say it's a very big venue for a lot of people so quite often that person then all of a sudden will think I won't just take the two speakers, I'll take four or six speakers. I won't take four lights, I'll take a lot more lights. But more often than not, like I used to do, they will charge the same amount. Now, what I'm going to do from now on, and possibly what you need to do as well, you need to start charging according to how much you feel you're worth. More importantly, start charging on the basis of how much kit or gear you're going to take to that particular venue. Excuse me. Sorry about that, there's someone at the door. Alright, so what am I all about?

1:55 Price, wedding, someone phones

Well let's say for example all of a sudden someone phones up and they want, let's say hypothetically, a wedding in a local hall for 100 people. Now straight away you should think 100 people in a small hall, you're not going to need a load of gear. Now trust me on this, if you think that you should take a vast amount of gear to impress 100 people then that's fine but... If, let's say, someone from that wedding party asks you to do a huge venue and you turn up with the same gear, then everyone who has been to your roadshows will expect the same amount of gear for the same price. Hopefully you'll understand where this is coming from, or where this is going, sorry. So, in other words, maybe before you give the initial price, you should ask questions. How many people is it for?

Whereabouts is the event taking place? How loud do you want it? And what you should have is a box standard rock bottom price of whatever it is in relation to you do. For example, around here in the UK it could be anything from £180 to £200. Then what you need to do is you need to work up from that price. So for example, you need to say to the client, well how loud do you want it? How many people is it for? Maybe you need more lighting. Also, if it's a wedding, and I got this information from the Mobile Beat Show, instead of, let's say you have the initial phone call, someone phones up and they say we'd like a wedding disco, you say okay yes that's fine, within five minutes you've got a booking, maybe offer to meet the client, go to the venue, have a look around the venue, and then before you say anything about price on the telephone when you meet the client,

4:17 All of this adds up, so why can't the DJ do exactly the same?

Discuss about price. Say, well, I have a box standard price of X, but Madam Sir, if you want to, we could put some up-lighting over there. Maybe we could have a screen and you could put the pictures from the wedding day over there. You could have extra lighting. You could have a radio microphone, let's say for speeches. Now, all of these can add up. It may sound really ridiculous, but quite often... People like this, especially wedding parties, will pay money just to have a cake stand and a knife to cut the cake. They'll pay for the glasses, they'll pay for the cups, they'll pay for the waiting staff. All of this adds up, so why can't the DJ do exactly the same? Okay, you don't want to go over the top, but by meeting with the client and actually getting to know them, it gets them more comfortable as well.

Roadshow from just a phone call, hello, fine, thank you, see you on the 27th, bang, to a more personal experience. And people will pay for a more personal experience. They get to know you. You get to know them and in turn they will feel more relaxed. If they feel more relaxed then they will understand and they will know that you are more professional. So in a sense this is video number one. By all means, put comments and anything you want to underneath here. So, let's look at this guy here again. We've got this guy here. Now, let's say this was you and you were charging 200 whatever. And this is you. You were charging 200 whatever. Well, if you think about it, if you've got that, and you've got that, and you've also got something in between. So, for example, this should be your set fee of 200.

Something like that, maybe 250, 300. And maybe something like that, slightly bigger, 400 to 500. And guess what? All of a sudden you've taken your complete concept, your roadshow, your business to the next level. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

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