Thread: What's Your Follow-Up M.O. on Gigmasters?

OK, indulge me in a role-playing session of the strictly platonic and professional variety .w.:

You get a lead for an event on Gigmasters. You'd like to submit a quote. So you fill out all the information and fire it away to the customer. After that, what's next?

A. Wait for them to respond.
B. Give 'em a day or two. If no response, call or e-mail to confirm that they received your bid.
C. Promptly touch base as soon as possible, within a few hours of receiving the bid.
D. Within 30 seconds, you're "all over it" like chocolate on a cake. Pick me, pick me!

Depending on how badly I want the gig, and whether or not I'm in a position to drop everything and make a phone call, I usually opt for either B or C. Still, I often get the feeling that I'm not fast enough! Or maybe I'm just too expensive....but the nonstop bonanza of undercutting dancers and price-shopping customers is a whole 'nother Gigmasters issue ,r:;

What's your preferred system for follow-up on GM?

I go for something between B and C, but after an initial couple of inquiries and bookings (which they wanted to do off GM), I have gotten absolutely nada from my Gigmasters subscription, so I'm not exactly widely experienced with it.

I originally started out more along the lines of B, but after realizing that most inquiries never panned out into an actual gig, I opted for A. I don't like to spend a lot of it chasing down someone who, by not responding, is likely sending a message that they're not really interested.

Between A or B. Usually I just bid and forget about it, sometimes I follow up with an email, but I don't think I've actually ever gotten a bid from a follow-up. I usually just get "thanks but we decided not to go with a bellydancer", which is what I think most bid requests on GM actually end up being anyway. It's easy to click a button just to get quotes, even if you aren't totally serious about it.....

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

I usually just get "thanks but we decided not to go with a bellydancer", which is what I think most bid requests on GM actually end up being anyway. It's easy to click a button just to get quotes, even if you aren't totally serious about it.....

Yeah... considering my general experience with those who didn't book, it seems better to send and forget unless they follow-up. So far, I'm not thinking of renewing in January when my 3 month subscription is up.

More like "C." I respond with a bid as soon as I am able. Once I see that the client has viewed my bid, within the next few hours (schedule permitting) I call them, introduce myself, and ask them to tell me about their party details so that I can get them to talk first. That way I can get a feel for what kind of person they are, what they're expecting, and then tailor my response to what I've heard. I try to pick a time when I (and they) can blab on and on about the party or bellydance in general, and establish that I'm a warm, down-to-earth professional. I try not to pin them down to a decision right away (sounds desperate/pushy), but give them an appropriate time frame for a response.

Depending on what kind of party, I may or may not call and bug them them again. If it's a wedding, there may be hundreds of details to consider, and I may need to wait for a decision; best to check in and sound interested. If they sounded interested but I never hear from them, I call them again in a few days and tell them that I've had other inquiries for that date/time, but wanted to give them first choice before giving away the date.

No matter what happens, I wish them good luck with their party plans. If they choose another dancer, I tell them that I'm sure so-and-so will do a lovely job; if I know the dancer (and like them) I tell them they're lucky to have them performing or something complimentary. Try to end on a positive note.

Thanks for the topic. Was about to ask for some advice. I've got absolutely nothing. Is it possible to find out about the prices of the winning bids? If dancing for cheap is the way, let's don't renew.

Nisha, there's a way to check. If you go to the lead and look under the blank for "Gig Filled Yet?" it will say yes or no. If yes, it'll usually tell you who the client chose. Simply go to that person's press kit, pull up the "quick quote" tab, and it'll tell you how much they bid. That is, if you're really feeling morbidly curious .w.:

I tend to get undercut by people who live 3 hours away, charge $150 for a 60-minute show, and aren't charging any extra for travel, either.

GM does seem to attract a very "special" type of customer - or at least it encourages some of the more unsavory consumer behaviors. From my experience, half of the people on there will fire off a bid and ultimately not commit to hiring anyone, or their bid will be completely ambiguous ("Umm, yeah, I want a BDer but I don't know what day I'll need you. Cheapest quote plz"), or otherwise they'll call and badger me about my pricing. Not to mention, a lot of these customers don't even bother to look at our websites, or they'll "auto-add" you, which doesn't even necessarily mean that they want YOU per se. It's kinda like the internet version of window shopping.

Then again, I think GM's main benefit on the client side is convenience, and the site is geared toward people who might not have the time or the desire to scour through individual dancer websites, talk to a bunch of dancers, and cherry-pick one that's right for their needs. So I guess it's really not surprising that a lot of us have less-than-stellar interactions with clients on there. And I guess it's really not surprising that they'll go for whoever submitted the cheapest bid.

Whether or not we plan to renew, I guess it makes sense to view GM as a simple lead-generating service, and yet another platform for making ourselves visible on teh intrawebz. It's not a silver bullet, but then again, no form of advertising is perfect ,r:;

we dumbed their sorry asses.

hahahahahahahaha nice

I'm still on the fence about renewing. They have such awesome customer service, and it definitely serves a purpose as a lead generator. Then again, if I'm paying a premium for leads, I'd expect to get some non-crappy leads once in awhile.

They've gotten better about narrowing down their categories, so we're no longer bombarded with requests for strippers and hula dancers. Too bad they can't filter customer inquiries based on the client's desired price range. I think a lot of these people fire away leads without checking out each entertainer's bidding history, which just results in a hassle for us. I'd rather NOT spend 20 minutes on the phone explaining that we don't get paid by the hour and a shorter set does not result in a 75% discount.

We didn't bother to renew. Got 0 gigs from it. They renewed us for free since we had never gotten anything. Now I feel lazy and don't respond to the gig requests as swiftly. They seem to be mostly from Canada anyway, and general "we need hula, bellydance, or other dancer for a party", and not a genuine request for US. SO why bother?

Originally Posted by TribalDancer

We didn't bother to renew. Got 0 gigs from it. They renewed us for free since we had never gotten anything. Now I feel lazy and don't respond to the gig requests as swiftly. They seem to be mostly from Canada anyway, and general "we need hula, bellydance, or other dancer for a party", and not a genuine request for US. SO why bother?

That's what I hate. The generic hula/Elvis impersonator/fire eater/burlesque/stripper requests. And the "I'm gonna need a BDer, but I don't know what day I'm having my party." And the leads that don't ever materialize into anything.

I just wish GM had a better system that would encourage targeted, quality leads. Judging by conversations with friends and things I've read on the GM message board, it seems like a lot of quality entertainers (read: people who book high-paying gigs) are letting their subscriptions lapse due to the high level of BS. Wouldn't you think GM would do everything in their power to keep their best vendors happy and encourage quality entertainers to sign up? Those guys do make a good chunk of their $$$ on commissions, don't they?

I originally signed up for 6 months on a "try out Gigmasters!" type of deal. Then I renewed for another six months.

I submitted a bid on every single gig I could, probably over two dozen in all. There were probably nearly as many that I had to decline, which I always did via the site. Of those two dozen "yes" submissions, I had but two responses, neither of which panned out.

And, of the bids I submitted, I saw but one -- that's one -- bid that was accepted via GM. That's not to say that other bids were not accepted "off-site" -- which is against the rules and, therefore, unethical -- but there you have it. (BTW, the dancer who got the gig is someone with whom I'm familiar and, if the bid ended up as listed, she asked for a fair fee. Very good dancer, too!)

I like the price-range filter idea, Satin. It would certainly eliminate requests from folks who think BDers work for $50.

Deborah