In March 2017 Athens hosted the 1st National Wedding DJ Convention, the first time Greek wedding DJs came together in one room to talk shop, not just music.
Mike was invited to speak about sales, and in particular about two words most DJs would rather avoid: upselling and cross-selling. The talk left the DJ booth for a while and looked at our work from the other side of the table, as the people who advise couples on the entertainment of their wedding. Below are the slides, translated into English and lightly edited for the page, with a few notes of ours in between. As he said in the room: get inspired, but don’t copy.
Part one
Selling, before anything else.
An intangible service is a challenge for any salesperson. A wedding entertainer doesn’t just provide a service. He provides solutions.
“The reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is that you haven’t given them anything else to care about.”
Seth Godin
Give a couple more value than they pay for, and you are very close to a good sale. Just don’t confuse value with price: some of the things we treasure most are worth very little in money.
Part two
Who decides, and how.
That was the rule of thumb in the Greek market at the time. With international couples today, we plan with both of them, and very often with their wedding planner too.
“You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship, if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise.”
Patricia Fripp
Part three
Upselling and cross-selling.
You walk into an electronics store for a small 24-inch TV for the bedroom, and after a chat with the salesperson you walk out with a 48-inch one. You were buying a TV anyway. You see it every day, too: “Your storage is full. Upgrade?” And at a wedding? A couple calls about a DJ for their Saturday wedding, mentions a welcome party on the Thursday, and books us for both.
Same store, same TV. This time you also leave with a Blu-ray player, because a TV that good deserves films in full HD.
Part four
At the wedding.
In the room, this was a staged blackout followed by the lights coming on. Couples don’t rent machines. They buy a result, a feeling, a night with a character of its own.
Instead of
4 × FOS Beam 7R Hybrid moving heads, 230 W, 20 DMX channels. Stands and cables included.
Say
The dance floor that hosts your one-of-a-kind party will pulse all night, flooded with colour and patterns, always in tune with the music and the mood of each moment. Four latest-generation moving heads, programmed by our lighting designers especially for your reception, will play the leading role.
No watts, no DMX. The first is a rental offer: hard to understand, easy to say no to. The second lets the couple picture it, and the words “especially for your reception” raise the value of something they would probably have booked anyway.
This is where the machines came on in the room. On the page, you’ll have to imagine it.
Instead of
Dry ice machine for a first-dance effect, with a dense cloud of smoke lasting three minutes, based on the phenomenon of sublimation.
Say
Dance your first dance as newlyweds while a pure white cloud drifts lazily around your knees, turning it into a romantic dance on the clouds.
The first sounds like it will fill the room with smoke. The second puts the couple at the centre: their dance, their moment, and how it will feel. It is still one of our favourite moments of the night.
Instead of
Snow effect with synthetic material, from a 2,000 W machine producing 25 m³ per minute, for a large quantity of snow.
Say
Star in a tender scene straight out of the best romantic films, dancing your first dance under thousands of white flakes.
Again: describe the result, not the machine. (Snowball fights not included.) We no longer offer snow today, but the lesson stands.
The combo logic
Instead of
Projection of the couple’s initials with a 10 W RGB gobo projector onto the dance floor (or ceiling, etc.).
Say
Mark the night of your lives with a completely personal, stylish detail that celebrates your union. Your monogram, or the artwork from your invitation, projected onto a prominent surface of the venue throughout your reception.
We no longer offer monogram projection, but the same rule applies to everything: focus on what it brings to the night, not on the projector.
Instead of
4 × 3-metre fountains with battery igniter, remote-controlled, smokeless, non-flammable, etc., etc.
Say
Bring out the intensity of your special moment, dancing your first dance against a glittering backdrop of thousands of white sparks.
Words like “fountain”, “sparkler” or “flash” make couples picture something smaller than what you are offering. Describe the scene instead.
Part five
Sales 101.
Nine years on, we still describe moments, not machines. Have a look at how we write about lighting or fireworks today.
