Thread: Clients and time management

Dealing with clients who never book is pretty common for us. But I wonder how you all deal with not letting the undecided clients take up a lot of your time. Some have a lot of questions, or they contact you last minute but don't book right away, or you have a few emails back and forth and send them all the info and they suddenly never respond.

For example: what if someone inquires through email and asks a few questions, then never gets back to you. Do you bother to follow up? What if they take a long time to respond to your emails and don't seem very serious? How do you decide who is worth spending the time keeping tabs on? How do you make it clear that they need to make up their mind and let you know if they want to book you to hold the date so they don't dilly dally for days or weeks and then book or change their mind at the last minute?

I like to provide people with all the information they may need about what I can offer them, but is it worth me to type all that up (since they never seem to read it off my website) if they don't seem serious? How can you tell if they are serious? How can you put a sense of urgency onto booking their date without being pushy?

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts!

*P.S. as usual I tried to search for past threads on this subject and couldn't find anything, so I apologize for any repeat in topic!

I will happily answer emails and provide any information they ask for, even if it's on my website. I know people don't necessarily have time to read everything, or they may have found out about me some other way.

I don't send follow-up emails. When I send them the info they ask for, I invite them to call/email if they have any other questions. I consider the ball to be in their court at that point.

I'm not sure there's any way to tell who's serious about booking in an email. I tend to treat all info requests as if they are serious. Honestly, some of the most organized and specific emails I've gotten have led to nothing and some of the most vague and sketchy emails have ended up booking and been great gigs. I treat all requests the same and respond as professionally as I can. If they book, that's awesome. If they decide not to, that's ok, too.

If people are asking about a date that's coming up soon, I will say something like, "The date you are requesting is currently available, but since weekends fill up fast I would advise you to book as soon as possible. If you decide you would like to book the performance, a deposit of XX will be required to reserve the date."

If they book in time, great. If they call at the last minute, I charge extra and stick to it.

I think this is personality driven. Some people are great at follow up. They use it to close the sale or make a connection for next time. Others think that the customer knows what he wants and is a big boy and can follow up if he wants.

I am in the latter camp, but I know people who have success with the former. I don't negotiate or talk people into anything because I don't like it when people do that to me.

I always completely answer all questions. I never say, "refer to my website" but I will cut and paste from there. If their request is for a busy time of year, I let them know that, but I don't push or give them any sense of urgency. If they miss out because of their own lack of urgency, I figure they probably handle other things in their lives like that too and miss out a lot. Oh, well.

Taaj

I don't spend a lot of time on follow-up usually, unless I've told the client I need to get back to them with a detail (like mileage charges).

I have a couple of pretty standard spiels, one for solo party performances, one for nursing homes, one for 'shimmy parties' where I teach, and one for troupe performances at major events. I can recite them on the phone or copy/paste them into an e-mail with a few personalized details, so it takes less than 5 minutes & isn't a big deal usually.

If the person is just collecting information or bids, I don't usually follow up unless it's a BIG job or a potentially BIG client (event planner, etc).

I usually end the initial call by asking for the sale. "Do you want me to reserve that date for you?" If yes, I ask for a deposit & where to send the contract. In that case, if I don't hear back from them, I'll follow up.

If they say 'no, I'm just checking around' or whatever, I'm not going to follow up.

I would imagine with holiday season approaching that it may be best to not 'hold' any days for anyone unless you see a deposit

All good info so far, thanks ladies!

So here is a question. When someone contacts you for info do you end the conversation with some kind of disclaimer about how you can't hold the date for them without a deposit? This is my standard policy, but no one seems to read my policies on my site so should I add it in to be sure they know it? Does it seem to help move things along to make it clear that they need to put the deposit down as soon as they make up their mind? My most recent gig inquiries couldn't seem to make up their minds and took their time getting back to me. It was hard for me to tell how serious they were. I wonder if I had said something like this upfront if they would have made a decision faster. I figure if someone is serious they will consider putting down a deposit. If they waffle over it for a week and don't keep in touch with me then I can just leave the ball in their court with the understanding that the longer they take to make up their mind the less likely I will be available.

Is anyone willing to share their typical spiels that seem to work for them?

Originally Posted by dima

Is anyone willing to share their typical spiels that seem to work for them?

I'll clarify what I said above:

Me: ... so do you think you'd like me to hold that date for you?
(or perhaps: our schedule for the month of ______ is filling up fast, would you like me to hold that date for you?)

Caller/e-mailer: Yes, I think so, please hold the date.

Me: Alright. I don't need payment in full to hold the date, just a $50 deposit and a signed contract. I can e-mail you the contract and you can either paypal me the deposit or drop a check in the mail, which is easier for you?

Them: I'd rather paypal it. (or I'd rather mail it)

Me: That'll be fine, I'll include that info in the e-mail with your contract. ** Thank you so much, I'm really looking forward to [your event.] It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun!!!


** I don't always succeed in getting contracts returned to me. But if I ever had an issue, I could argue that the person didn't send the deposit until AFTER I'd sent the contract, so by paying the deposit, they signified their acceptance of the terms. Don't know if that would really hold water in small claims court, but I think I could BS my way through a really legal-sounding argument & get them to pay up based on this logic.

Originally Posted by dima

Is anyone willing to share their typical spiels that seem to work for them?

"That date is still open on my calendar. We (pluralis majestatis ;)) require full payment up front with contract in order to book your event. Please let me know at your earliest convenience. Kind thanks, Khalida."


Khalida

You ladies are so savvy with your wording. Thanks for sharing!