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Getting a better fee for your services
On YouTube this video is called How to Get a Better Fee for Your Mobile DJ Services
What this lesson teaches
He disclaims it as not financial advice and notes that everything depends on where you are. Taken as a checklist of what justifies a higher price, it is the most useful lesson in this course.
Listen to the client
First on his list, and aimed squarely at DJs - who, as he says, love to talk.
The client is the one with the information. They want to tell you about the eighteenth, the fiftieth, the wedding. Let them.
And the saying he hangs it on is worth keeping: if you are talking and explaining, all you are doing is repeating what you already know. If you are quiet and listening, you might learn something new.
The commercial reason is the one that matters here: listening tells you who they are and what they actually want, which is what lets you quote for the right thing.
PAT testing
Portable Appliance Testing - electrical safety testing with the little green stickers on your gear.
His honest observation is that plenty of DJs do not bother. And his warning: go to an upper-class venue and you will certainly be asked for the certificate.
So get some, most or all of your kit tested. It is not expensive, it is annual, and it is the difference between walking in and being turned away.
Public liability insurance
He calls it paramount, and it is the most important paragraph in the lesson.
Most venues now require it. The onus is on you, not on them. If some drunk trips over your cables and tries to claim, you are covered - or you are not.
And the cost: cover running to millions, for what amounts to pennies per gig.
His practical note on how it actually works: venues email him and ask for the certificate before he is allowed in the building.
Then the scenario that should frighten anybody operating without it. You arrive for a wedding. The manager asks for your public liability. You have not got it. But I'm booked. Tough - your responsibility. You are the one in trouble, because you should have had it.
There is no argument against this. It is cheap, it is required, and without it one accident ends your business.
Backup kit
You have driven 200 miles and your laptop will not boot, or a speaker has gone, or the amp is dead. Things do go wrong - it has happened to him, and he had a spare amplifier.
Two parts to this:
Carry the spares. Second laptop, spare amp, spare speaker, extra lighting.
Tell the client you carry them. That even if the music stops for two or three minutes, it will come back on.
The second part is what raises the fee. It is the thing that makes a client think this person knows what might go wrong and has planned for it, which is the actual definition of professional.
Meet them face to face
If you can, arrange to meet before you discuss a price. Have a chat, get to know them, let them get to know you.
There is nothing better than face to face, and it is also the setting in which a higher number is easiest to say and hear.
Gig logs
Film the venue, cut a short video, tag it, put it up.
And a claim worth noting since this site is built on his catalogue: he says he was the first DJ in the world to post a DJ gig log, and the gig-log course in this stage is the result.
What it does for you commercially: a prospective client can see what your setup looks like in a room like theirs, which is more convincing than any description.
Why charging more can win you the job
The counter-intuitive bit, and it is true.
Charge very little and you come across as not that good. Charge a bit more, and the client thinks: they are more expensive than the others - but we have a good rapport, I have met them, they have the public liability, the kit is not shabby, the PAT testing is done, they have been to the venue before, I like their style.
At that point the higher price is evidence, not an obstacle.
His practical suggestion: if your normal fee is 300, try all of these points on the next enquiry and ask for 400. See what happens.
The firework analogy
And this is the part he is proudest of, and rightly - he says he uses it practically every time and can hear the client going quiet and getting it.
Picture a firework display. Everything going off, bang, boom - and then at the very end, a sparkler.
That sparkler has ruined not just the finale but all the money spent on every firework before it. Which is why nobody ends a display with a sparkler. You end with the most expensive one, and it finishes the night with a bang.
Then the turn: at a wedding or a ball, the guests arrive, eat, make the speeches - and at the end of the evening, you are the entertainment. You are the person who says goodnight to them.
So you are the last firework. Do not invest properly in the last firework and you have ruined the entire display.
It works because it reframes the DJ fee from a line item to be minimised into the thing that determines whether everything else was worth paying for. And at a wedding, where the client has already spent thousands on the parts of the day that happen before you arrive, that is an argument they can feel.
Contents of the video
0:00 How to get a better fee for your mobile DJ services
How to get a better fee for your mobile DJ services. Now, first and foremost, this is definitely not financial advice. Please do your own due diligence and a lot depends on where you are around the world. But I've got a few notes here. Now this could be an immensely long video, but I'm going to try and keep it as short as I can and give as much good quality information. Don't forget, please leave a comment, let me know. And have some of these points worked for you. Or maybe in the future, you can come back to this video and say, Jonathan, it was a waste of time or thank you, mate. First and foremost, I've got some point there. Listen to the client. Now as a DJ, if you're a mobile DJ like myself, you love to talk, you go on the mic and you know, you love to express how you feel and you know, you want to give them all this information. Well, if you think about it, they're the ones giving you the or they would
1:29 It's psychology there, but I'm sure you'll get it eventually
They want to sort of give you the information. They want to talk about the 18th birthday party that you want them to do or maybe the 40th or 50th or the wedding party. So listen to the client. Now there's a saying it goes something like this. If you're talking and explaining something, all you're doing is you're repeating what you already know. But if you're quiet and listen, you might learn something new. Think about that. Because it's true. And also by listening to them, you get a good idea of who they are and where they're from and the sort of person they are. It's psychology there, but I'm sure you'll get it eventually. Something as well very important is pat testing. Now here in the UK, a lot of venues require a pat test cert known as certificate. Now, a lot of people I know probably don't even bother. But let's be honest, if you're going
To an upper class venue, it's very likely in fact, it's probably certain that you're going to be asked for some kind of pat test certificate. And that involves, of course, those little green stickers on your kit. So it's a good idea to make sure some most or even all of your kit is pat tested. PL public liability insurance. Now this is paramount. I'll be honest with you for any DJ mobile DJ. Well, not any DJ, but any DJ. But mobile DJ especially. Because a lot of venues now will definitely require public liability insurance. So the onus is on you and not on them. So in other words, if you've got some drunk idiot trips over cables, and tries to claim off you, then you're covered. There are companies out there that will cover you for like 10 million quid. And to be quite honest, it's pennies per gig. So that's important as well. A lot of venues I do know, the
Venue, the management will actually request that I send an email with my public liability insurance in before I stepped in the building. Very important if you don't bother and you turn up. And the manager says, Well, where's your public liability insurance? I haven't got got it. But I can't I'm booked for a wedding. Well, tough mate, your responsibility. You're the one in the doo doo because you should have got it. Excuse me, a backup list. backup kit. Sorry. So you've turned up, you've traveled 200 miles and all of a sudden, your laptop doesn't work or your speakers blown. Well, I don't know your amps knackered or your lights are broken. Something's gone wrong. You need to explain to the client that if that happens, okay, and stuff does happen, things go wrong. You are and you will be in a position, even if it means the music stops,
4:29 Luckily I have a spare amplifier
For say two or three minutes, that it will come back on because you've got another laptop. You've got another amplifier, you've got a spare speaker, you've got some more lighting. So make sure that you've got backup. This adds to the feeling that the client will get of kind of all this guy, this girl is very professional because they know what's or potentially what might happen. And in the event of something going wrong, they've got backup. It's happened to me like luckily I have a spare amplifier. Okay, arrange to meet the client if you can face to face is brilliant. So if you can even before you've discussed a price arranged to meet them, have a chat with them get to know them they get to know you. It's fantastic because there's nothing better than face to face. Also try and do some more gig logs. I do have something very important to say at the end. It's a bit of an analogy. I've used it
And trust me, it is a wicked analogy to give to a future client. And I can't guarantee that they'll go I want you, but it will make them think gig logs. Well, believe it or not, I was the first DJ in the world to do a DJ gig log. Google if you want to YouTube it. So you take your camera and you just do a little sort of quick video of your venue, tag it, upload it, you know, your YouTube, your MySpace, your tip MySpace, tick tock, tick and all that. Don't forget to hashtag etc. Okay. So how do you get more money? Well, sometimes not always. But sometimes if you charge or sorry, yeah, you charge very little, then you are going to come across as not that good. Whereas if you charge a little bit more,
Then the prospective client may think, well, actually, he or she is a little bit more or more expensive than the other DJs we've talked to. But because we've got a good rapport and because I've met them, I like them. I you know, they tick all the boxes. You know, they've got the public liability. They've got good kit. You know, it's not shabby. They've got sort of pat tests. You know, they've been to the venue before. You know, I like their style. Then potentially, you can ask for more. So just an idea. And again, this isn't financial advice. But let's say your normal fee is 300. Well, the next phone call you have, try these points, try them out, write them down and maybe ask for 400 and see what happens. You could be pleasantly surprised. Now, this analogy is just wicked and it works a treat. I use it practically every single time.
6:59 Maybe it's a summer ball for a college student school
And I can hear the client in the background being very quiet and understanding it and getting it. So imagine a firework display and the wedding or the evening, you know, whatever it is, it's a, you know, wedding, a party, bar mitzvah. Maybe it's a summer ball for a college student school. So, you know, they turn up, they're all in the posh dresses, ball gowns, they're all there having the buffet. And then at the end of the evening, guess what you are? You are the entertainment. You are practically the person that will say good night to them. Now, imagine a firework display and this is the analogy you give your client. So you have a firework display. All the fireworks are going off. Boom, bang, bang, zoom, boom. And right at the end of the night, there's a sparkler. Well, basically, that sparkler now has ruined not only the firework display, but all of the money that was
Paid for all the fireworks. So but that's stupid because you never have a small little sparkler or a whiz bang at the end of the firework display. What you have is you have the most expensive firework that finishes the night with a boom. Well, you as a DJ or even for that matter, an entertainer, you are the last firework. So you explain to the client that if you don't invest good money on in the last firework, you've ruined the entire display. I hope you get that. Please leave a comment. Let me know and come back to this video in a month or six months and let me know if any of these points worked. Thank you for watching. Don't forget, please leave a comment. Let me know. Don't start talking numbers. I charge this and I charge that. Just let me know what you think about this video. Anyway, thank you for watching. Also, let me know where you are around the world.
And enjoy. Thank you.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
