Dealing with Client Enquiries - Part One

There are a number of ways clients can contact us. In this, and the next issue, I intend to concentrate on the main two - phone & email. I've tried to cover all aspects here and if I'm teaching your Granny to suck eggs I apologise in advance!

Let's start with the phone:

Many potential clients will ask "How much do you charge?" as their opening line. This may well be because they don't know what else to ask, rather than price being their only consideration.

So do you answer this question outright and risk it being a very short phone call or do you try and find out more about them, their function and what they are looking for. Then tell them what you can offer before giving them a price?

I suspect most would go for the latter and here's a few ideas on ways to do so:

• Ask for their name if they haven't already provided it
• Use it frequently during the call (helps with rapport)
• Ask the date of their function
• Find out the venue location
• Ask the nature of the function
• Find out the hours they require a disco for
• Enquire about the styles of music they/their guests like
• Find out the age group of guests attending
• Find out more about them - be interested in them!

You could pick up on any of these points as the conversation progresses eg "Yes, I know that venue well" or "I see you have a number of older/younger guests coming well I can make sure they are included by ..." Bear in mind that this may be the first time they've ever booked a DJ and so any advice you can offer is a plus in your favour.

You will hopefully be building a great rapport with them, finding out their specific requirements and hopefully demonstrating that, not only can you meet these, but you can offer other ideas as well to make their night a great success.

Depending on the function you may want to offer a meeting with them to discuss their plans face-to-face. Otherwise, once you are fully satisfied that you have provided them with all the information relevant to their function, then this is the time to answer their question about price.

Be 100% positive - believe fully in yourself and the price you are quoting eg "I can do all that for £XXX" (advice & guidance for pricing your service is planned for a future Newsletter)

Other Associated Tips

If your business number is also used by other people, consider who else answers the phone and what do they say to your potential clients - does it portray the right image?

If your phone is in a noisy location (at home with children, TV etc) have somewhere quiet identified where you can talk uninterrupted  - with your diary close by as well.

Make notes during your call. They may not book straightaway but could come back to you at a later date.

If you are unable to take a call and a message has been left reply as soon as possible. Leaving it 24/48 hours could lose you a booking. Also have a clear answering machine message.

Stand up during the call and smile! Ok your potential client cannot see you, but it has been demonstrated that this has a dramatic and positive effect on the tone of your voice.

If any of these ideas are new to you, have an aid memoire check list available until you are confident that you can cover all points without one.

Good Luck!

Paul