Thursday, April 22, 2010

When Your Client Isn’t the Bride-Part 3

This is the last in a 3-part series on the ups and downs with working with a client that is not the bride.

When Your Client is the Mother of the Bride, the Groom, or Other Family and Friends of the Bride

These people, the bride’s loved ones, are emotionally connected to the wedding details, unlike booking agents or wedding coordinators.

Most of the musicians I interviewed had no problems or issues working with the mothers of brides, or any of her family and friends, for that matter. They typically do not hover about musicians on the wedding day, because they are part of the wedding party and busy tending to other activities. As long as they are speaking for the best interests of the bride and groom, family members are a pleasure to work with.

The trouble arises when a loved one, typically the mother of the bride or the mother of the groom, makes decisions about your services without consulting with the bride and groom first. Then she is no longer working for the wedding couple’s best interests.

It’s rare when a conflict of interest arises between the wedding couple and the person who actually hired me. When it does, I try to be as diplomatic as possible. I listen to the bride’s concerns and then explain my situation: Her mother signed my contract, and therefore, I must follow her instructions. Then I ask the bride if she can discuss the issue with her mother and come to a mutual agreement.

The person who signs my contract has “veto power.” That’s the way it is, legally. So, I take the time to explain this to the bride and groom if differences of opinion come up. Open communication is the key.

I’ve barely touched the surface of the problems that can arise at weddings and how to solve them.

Copyright © 2008 by Anne Roos, excerpt from "The Musician's Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings", published by Hal Leonard Books. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

Hundreds of additional tips, are available for musicians (and all entrepreneurs) in my book, "The Musician's Guide to Brides" available wherever Hal Leonard Books are sold: music and bookstores, and through online retailers including sheetmusicplus.com, amazon.com, Sylvia Woods Harp Center catalog, and of course, at my website at http://www.celticharpmusic.com/.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

How to Use Your Intuition in Business

We really do have this thing called "intuition" that keeps us protected. Everyone has it, but it seems that in modern times, some people pooh-pooh it as some kind of hocus-pocus. They seem to think that we always need a rational reason for decisions that we make. We don't.

Our gut feelings are ingrained in us. They are what primitive man used for survival. And these feelings are still within us.

We can choose to listen to that little voice that tells us when something seems fishy:

For musicians: When you have a client that wants to book you, but your gut feeling tells you, "This bride is going to be trouble." Or when you're in contact with an instrument buyer or seller and your gut feeling tells you, "This person is running a scam." Or when the booking agent has a dream job for you and your gut tells you, "This job is a myth and this agent is a weasel." Or when the flutist across town wants to team up with you and your gut feeling tells you, "That person will be impossible to work with."

For brides: When you are ready to hire a wedding coordinator, but your gut says, “This person is not going to let me make any decisions.” Or when you talk to any wedding vendor and you feel that maybe, just maybe, their services don’t match up to all their hype. Or maybe you get the feeling that the minister, as kind as he is, will put everyone to sleep at your wedding ceremony.

For everyone: When you doubt that an email inquiry from a client or a service provider is legit, you’re probably correct.

Heed your intuition! Even if you have absolutely no physical evidence that anything will go wrong, your intuition is trying to protect you.

For every plane crash, there are always a handful of people who say, "I just had a feeling that I should change flights, so I did." There is a fantastic book on the subject called, "The Gift of Fear". Specifically, it tells women how to listen to our intuition to prevent physical harm from killers and rapists. But the book is really for everyone, teaching us the signs to look out for when someone is not whom they make themselves out to be.

But I digress. I believe that in business, when we aren't so hungry for money--to land a big paying gig, to sell an instrument, to get a great deal on a used instrument, to find the cheapest wedding service, to close the business deal--we listen more to this little protective voice. It's really okay to say, "No thank you" when you think something is amiss. Later, you might find out that you were absolutely correct to do so. You don’t need to justify your decision.

Cheers,
Anne :-)
---
Celtic Harp Music by Anne Roos
http://www.celticharpmusic.com/
Author of "The Musician's Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings" published by Hal Leonard Books

(Also find me on Facebook and myspace)
and soon,
“The Bride’s Guide to Musicians: Live Wedding Music Made Easy and Affordable”

FYI, my book, “The Musician’s Guide to Brides”, available wherever Hal Leonard Books are sold: music and bookstores, and through online retailers including sheetmusicplus.com, amazon.com and of course, at my website Celtic Harp Music by Anne Roos

I’d love to hear your thoughts about how you have used intuition in your business and personal life. Please add to the discussion.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

When Your Client Isn’t the Bride-Part 2

WHEN YOUR CLIENT IS A WEDDING COORDINATOR

Call them wedding coordinators, wedding consultants, wedding plan­ners, and even producers and event planners. They are all the same thing—a person who guides the bride through all the details leading up to her wedding day and on her wedding day.

Most brides turn to independent wedding coordinators when they are overwhelmed with wedding details and don’t have the time or energy to deal with it all. Sometimes, the bride is planning a “desti­nation wedding”* and does not know how to contact good wedding professionals.

Wedding coordinators come in all shapes and sizes. Wedding coor­dinators are not only independent, self-employed businesspeople. If a bride decides to have her wedding at a house of worship, that church or synagogue may include a coordinator for the day of the wedding in addition to pre-marital counseling. If the ceremony is in a wedding chapel, the minister or celebrant may act as the wedding coordina­tor prior to the wedding day and on the day of the wedding, too.

There are no state regulations governing the practices of wedding coordinators, at least that I know of. However, wedding coordina­tors should have local business licenses and clean records with the Better Business Bureau. This is the way to check them out to make sure they are legitimate. You can also check with the Association of Bridal Consultants to confirm if the coordinator is a member in good standing.

Here is how Gerard Monaghan, past president of the Association of Bridal Consultants, explains the way independent wedding coordi­nators typically work with musicians:

“Most bridal consultants recommend at least three musicians to the bride and let her make their final decision and sign the contracts. However, a good consultant also will get a letter of authorization from the bride to act as her agent, so the consultant can make the appropriate decisions, freeing the bride to enjoy the day without handling the details.”

Most of the independent wedding coordinators I reached prior to writing this book do not contract directly with the musicians. They charge a fee to the bride to give her suggestions or even a list of pos­sibilities. The bride then selects her favorite musician or band among the choices given to her. Then the coordinator contacts the musician about availability and cost. The wedding coordinator forwards your contract to the bride for a signature.

It’s quite a different story when working with wedding chapels. These in-house wedding coordinators do not work for themselves: they draw a salary, and sometimes a bonus or a commission, for book­ing as many weddings as they possibly can to make rental payments on the chapel.

The major dfference between booking agents and wedding coor­dinators is that booking agents send you on wedding jobs while wedding coordinators oversee your work at the wedding. This can be a curse or a blessing, depending upon the amount of experience the wedding coordinator has under their belt.

Here are the marks of the ideal wedding coordinator:

1. They are a good communicator and will be in touch with you well before the wedding day to supply you with all the instruc­tions you need.
2. They understand the terms of your contract, the services you o.er, and what you need from them to be able to deliver your services properly.

Copyright © 2008 by Anne Roos, excerpt from "The Musician's Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings", published by Hal Leonard Books. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

Hundreds of additional tips, are available for musicians (and all entrepreneurs) in my book, "The Musician's Guide to Brides" available wherever Hal Leonard Books are sold: music and bookstores, and through online retailers including sheetmusicplus.com, amazon.com, Sylvia Woods Harp Center catalog, and of course, at my website at http://www.celticharpmusic.com/.

Friday, April 2, 2010

When Your Client Isn’t the Bride-Part 1

I am dedicating these next few blog postings to musicians with tips for when your client isn't the bride. This will be a weekly series, so stay tuned......

WHEN YOUR CLIENT IS A BOOKING AGENT

“My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a producer.”—Cole Porter
Good booking agents have a handle on their musicians’ talents, so that they can make decisions about who to hire at a moment’s notice. There are some booking agents who receive a commission from you to find you work.

Waiting for the phone to ring from a booking agent who hires talent for weddings may be a long wait. They work for the bride, not for you.

The booking agent is hired and paid by the bride. They’ll phone, fax, or email you with a job order, simply asking you if you are available. Then they’ll supply you with the time, date, location, and all the particulars in order for you to respond quickly with your price and availability. “Quickly” is the operative word here. A bride will hire a booking agent for the following reasons:
1. She hasn’t the time or energy to search for live entertainers on her own.
2. She has a lot of money to spare and is happy to pay someone to take care of hiring entertainment for her wedding.
3. She has looked for entertainers on her own, but has exhausted all the possibilities she knows of.
4. She needs to hire a musician fast!

Whatever the reason may be, the booking agent will need a response from you pronto.

The longer it takes for them to get back to the bride with your quote, the greater the chance that they will phone someone else and assume you are not interested. You stand a better chance of landing the the gig if you give them a small discount, because the bride is more likely to book you with a smaller mark-up. Also, a booking agent may be more likely to recommend your services if they know you’ll give them a discount.

If a booking agent contacts you about a wedding gig and you have never worked with them before, do some research. Phone other musicians in your area and see if they have had any experience working with the agent. You’ll want to find out if they were sent good wedding jobs and if they were paid in a timely manner.

When a booking agent hires you to play for a wedding, ask them to sign your contract, just as you would with all other clients. They may have their own contract for you to sign, as well.

The booking agent will tell you what to play, when to play it, and how to dress. They’ll give you directions to the wedding location and describe exactly where you’ll set up. They’ll even let you know if you will be served a meal at the wedding or not. They are your sole contact for the wedding. You will not be working with the bride.

This can be wonderful if the booking agent is truly on top of all the details and communicates them to you. It is not so wonderful when the agent drops the ball and leaves out some important pieces of information that you’ll need to know to do your job properly. After being booked for just one wedding job through a booking agent, you’ll know if you’ll ever want to work with them again.

If you decide to build a good, solid relationship with them, they will continue to think of you when a bride is seeking just your kind of talent. Get in touch with the booking agent right after the wedding job, thank them, and report to them how things went.

There is one thing you must never do when a booking agent sends you on a wedding gig: Never give out your business cards or brochures to a wedding guest when you are hired by a booking agent to perform. Instead, give the guests your booking agent’s card. This is the best way to say “Thank you!” to the booking agent who sent you out on that job.

Copyright © 2008 by Anne Roos, excerpt from "The Musician's Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings", published by Hal Leonard Books. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

Hundreds of additional tips, are available for musicians (and all entrepreneurs) in my book, "The Musician's Guide to Brides" available wherever Hal Leonard Books are sold: music and bookstores, and through online retailers including sheetmusicplus.com, amazon.com, Sylvia Woods Harp Center catalog, and of course, at my website at http://www.celticharpmusic.com/.