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Post by jbone on Apr 7, 2018 14:41:59 GMT -5
Tulsa is a pretty active music scene. Lots of venues, lots of shows. We began in earnest last week, talking to breweries and associated taprooms. We also hit up an entertainment agency, and they replied quickly. There may not be a lot of opportunity with them as they do corp. gigs, karaoke, etc etc., but the guy who got back with us loved our stuff and wants to keep us in the file. We may meet him next month at the BBQ gig we're doing. Nice to get a good compliment once in a while!
We're going to keep going out and seeing the people. Eventually we'll have some dates on the calendar. A couple of the big casinos have small bar type venues inside we plan to talk with as well. The big farmers market has us on the calendar for September- their earliest date! But hopefully we can book next year a bit earlier. Local library was booked up already and may not be a viable option.
If you have a good product and a positive attitude, and you persevere, you will do well.
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Post by jbone on Apr 25, 2018 8:22:24 GMT -5
So we're persevering. No instant bookings like we had on the road last year, which I think Jo was hoping for. Sales principles state that for every 10 no's you get a yes, more or less. That can mean 50 no's and a yes, then maybe more no's and a string of yeses. This falls under the law of averages. A positive attitude and confident demeanor, and assuming the sale, can work in your favor.
We have a new tool as well. I had to get a smart phone so I could get temp job notifications, and of course we can bring up a video or two on it so a customer can see/hear our stuff. I think it will help make a sale here and there.
I have a 6x10 date book I'm carrying so we can immediately write in dates and it helps to look organized. We both walk in a place and straight to the bar. Ask if they have live music and if it's yes, I whip out a card and say something like, "Good, we're live musicians!" We then introduce ourselves and describe some of our history and pedigree. Sometimes the person we're talking to is not the one who books, but it doesn't hurt to both practice our presentation and to maybe impress that person anyway.
We assume the sale especially when a prospect gives an indication that they may want us in. If it seems like a no we practice indifference. We're out canvassing clubs and hawking our product, if you like it good, if not, we have other prospects. A sense of urgency helps as well. We have places to be, so we want an answer. This is a bit difficult since our product is not a solid object.
When it comes to price we are firm but I will say we can negotiate a bit. I've found though, that managers often don't know how or don't want to negotiate. If you have a higher price than they want to pay they basically shut down. "We'll call you", which almost never happens.
We will revisit a place up to 3 times if we think we can do good. Some twice, some not at all. Phone calls and email/messages pretty much never get answered.
It's fairly standard sales so far. We've run across some small farmers markets to talk to and an art walk as well. There are a lot of venues here as well so we're going to be busy promoting for a long time! It's nice to have so many opportunities.
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Post by JamesP on Apr 25, 2018 9:41:31 GMT -5
Interesting JBone. How are gig's handled these days? Is it strictly a price per gig or do the owners still do things like share of bar or allowing cover charges?
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