How to Get Gigs When They’ve Never Seen You Play
There are a number of ways you can get people youâve never met or whoâve never seen you live, to book your band. The fastest and least expensive way to start getting gigs is using the phone.
First, make sure youâve got a long list of target venue name and numbers and youâre clear in your own mind about why a venue should book you.
Can you really get places to book you over the phone without you even meeting them? The answer is certainly yes.
Some people try to make out that selling is a âblack artâ with secrets known only to the few. That you have to be a âborn salespersonâ and have the âgift of the gabâ before you can succeed.
The good news is you donât need to be an extrovert who can talk for his country to get gigs from people youâve never met. You just need an established system or framework and the self belief this will give you. If you can learn to play a guitar or remember song lyrics then you can certainly master the basics of selling. Well enough in fact, to keep your band busy throughout the year.
Not only that, but because people tend to think that being able to sell is the domain of only the chosen few, when you are able to get gigs by selling your band, you can make yourself indispensable to any band.
Face to face selling, the much feared âfoot-in the doorâ isnât something youâll need to concern yourself with for gig-getting. There are ways to secure all the bookings you need without ever having to get in front of anyone to sell your act.
Ask donât tell
The first thing to remember about selling is that itâs primarily about asking questions of your prospective buyer. Selling your band isnât (just) about telling a venue booker how great your band is.
Only once youâve asked questions to find out what the venue may be looking for do you tell them why they should consider hiring you.
What youâre trying to do in asking questions is to gain ammunition that youâll use when the time comes to tell them about your band.
The system Iâve used to get gig after gig and which can work for you, revolves around 3 key questions youâll ask.
1. Check they have time to talk to you (donât imitate the worse kind of call centre behaviour and go ploughing into a speech about yourself if the person youâre calling hasnât said he has time to listen).
Introduce yourself (âIâm in a local covers band that plays at Chaserâs wine bar amongst other placesâ¦.â or whatever)
2. Tell him/her you have one quick question to ask âIf thatâs ok?â
3. Ask them about the bands they currently use and if they meet all their requirements
When youâve asked this last question youâll either get a âThanks but weâre happy with our current actsâ. In this case tell them you understand and youâll stay in touch. Do this with a newsletter on a regular basis until you secure a booking.
Or, more often than youâd imagine, youâll be told they are looking for new acts or their roster of bands could do with improving. When you get one of these responses thereâs a booking there for the taking. Use another question and ask them how you go about getting considered to play there.
Some will ask for your demo CD or myspace details. Providing you have what they ask for and you sound at least reasonable youâll get the gig when youâve theyâve listened to it and you call them back. But you will probably need a number of follow-up calls to chase them. Donât give up on the follow-up. Iâve had more than one venue take 5 or more follow-up calls but then become regular profitable venues for us.
Other places you call will ask about your price and availability immediately. So make sure you know the price youâre aiming for and youâre armed with your gig diary for every call so you take the booking there and then.
Gareth Bird
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