Good DJs Don’t Invite Guests To Your Wedding

I just read a great article titled ‘Five Tips On Hiring A DJ’ published on Savvy Scoop, which is the blog for www.OneWed.com.   Here is the link, as you should probably read that before continuing here.

http://www.onewed.com/blog/savvy-scoop/2009/05/20/man-registry-5-tips-hiring-dj

Now I will say that overall it was a good article with good advice, with one small exception… Tip number three.

“If you get the opportunity, visit an event or reception that your DJ is working. This will give you a good read on his etiquette and manners while he’s at work.”

When you hire your caterer, you meet with them during the week to taste food, pick plates, etc.  Your florist you meet with and choose arrangements typically at their floral shop and when choosing a photographer or videographer seeing their work online or meeting with them during the week to look at their product is perfectly acceptable.

So why is it the DJ is put in the precarious position of sometimes being asked (or expected) to allow potential clients to come into someone else’s wedding reception and ‘view’ their work?

Several years ago, Cutting Edge Entertainment decided not to allow this practice anymore.  Now as a consumer myself, I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind the client wanting to observe… but the negatives far outweigh the positives and the risk factor just isn’t worth it.  The bride I have booked – and their wedding – are the focus of the day, and the sale of a new client is in no way to interfere with that.  Oh we tried it in the past, but quickly learned that it was a very bad idea.  Even though we would get an ok from the bride and the hall, it still often times turned out to be a decision I would regret.

1. Just because we ask the ‘visiting potential customer’ to dress appropriately, does not mean they will.  On more than one occasion they showed up in jeans and a casual shirt, and stood in the doorway – ‘looking’ – for close to a half hour.  Brides and caterers don’t like this, nor do I.
2. What a potential client sees at a particular event is specific to that bride & groom’s requests, and in no way reflects how we handle every event.
3. In one instance, the potential client contacted me on the following Monday after upset that the DJ didn’t take time to talk to them.  Again, on the day of a wedding we are there to serve our booked client, not to sell a future client.
4. Many event facilities simply don’t allow ‘observers.’  Being that we are recommended at dozens of facilities that have us on their ‘preferred vendor’ lists, it wouldn’t be a very good idea for us to compromise that relationship.
5.  (This one is the best) Invited a potential client to observe a wedding, turns out the observers were known to the bride and groom and (call me lucky) they didn’t like them.  I had to ask the observers to leave and as you can probably imagine I lost that sale.

I could go on, but the point again is that there is no viable justification for potentially compromising a client’s wedding day for one future potential sale.  I have found that when explained to a potential client this way, they are typically understanding and respect our policy.  Do we lose some sales because other DJ companies are willing to allow day-of observers?  I’m sure we do, but I sleep better at night knowing that my company isn’t taking this unnecessary risk.

We seem to do just fine with strong recommendations from event facilities, fellow vendors and past brides.  We invite clients to meet with us at our office to discuss what our company has to offer and show them video footage.  We can also provide references from past brides and in some cases even put potential brides directly in contact with former clients if need be.  Just not on their wedding day.

Most importantly, I can tell brides with confidence that we – the DJ company – will not be inviting anyone to their wedding.  The focus of the day is that client, and nothing else.

-Craig

www.cuttingedges.wpengine.com