Are you missing great opportunities that are staring you in the face?
Do you know when there is a great opportunity being offered to quickly recognize it as such and then act on it?
If you tour without a support team, everything rests on you, the show, the merchandise sales, the set up, the tech, the schmoozing, everything. With all that on your head, there may be little time or mind-space to recognize the presenter who just handed you a card and said, “let’s talk next week,” or “call me and let’s set up a date.”
Sure, you may take the card, but you didn’t write a note on the back about this person’s request, so it gets lost in the pile of cards you have yet to enter in your database. You were thinking about the next set and which song would kick it off. So, the opportunity for another great gig may have just been missed.
How do you avoid this the next time and set yourself up to take advantage of any and all opportunities that might come your way?
Be prepared, think about and plan for them in advance. Here are six strategies that will address many of the opportunities coming at you.
1. Have your planner on your phone with you and open to the current calendar week before heading to your merch table or meeting with fans or before your next set of calls.
2. Have a comment ready for someone wanting to talk with you about future opportunities. For example, “I’d love to talk with you in more depth, but right now I can’t give you the attention you deserve. When can I reach you this week to talk?” And schedule a day and time in your planner right then.
3. Have your card and a pen on hand to hand to your interested person and write a note on the back with the day and time you intend to call.
4. Always be prepared to schedule a time to discuss opportunities and put them in your planner. This goes for gig encounters, festivals, conferences, showcases, chance meetings and phone calls. Never let a meeting slide by without a follow-up date and time set by you both. The old, “I’ll give you a call,” is just not good enough.
One opportunity that seems to slip by most performers I see doing their show, is the opportunity to sell their CDs more effectively. Want to sell more? Plan for it!
5. Create your merchandise invitation. Share it with your audience right before the last song or before the break. You’ve told them about the CD, but have you invited them to meet you over at the table, “Come say, hello.” Let them know you would love to meet them.
Do something interesting with this, make it part of the show,
make it fun, make it memorable. You will sell more.
That means so much more inviting for a fan, than, “buy my stuff.” Once they are there, the reciprocity factor kicks in and they will be more likely to buy something because they will feel compelled to complete the exchange.
Are you missing great opportunities simply because you cannot recognize them as opportunities? Sometimes you’ll never know until your follow-up. So, here is my final advance planning suggestion to help you get a jump on future opportunities.
6. Send an after-the-event email to all who signed your mailing list, and all involved with the event. Send it no more than two days after the gig.
Assuming you didn’t have a chance to really chat with all who signed your mailing list or with everyone involved with the event, this follow-up email will serve as both a thank you and an opportunity scout. After the thank you bit, mention the kinds of programs you do and that you are looking for future gigs in the area. Ask them for referrals to the types of gigs you want, whether they’re house concerts, college gigs, masterclasses, or even fund-raisers for your preferred organizations.
This may also be a great opportunity to ask for a quote or testimonial.
Give them something to go on. This kind of email may just spark some ideas from members of the audience who just enjoyed your show and are still enthusiastic about having seen you. Either they or someone they know may be your perfect next gig. So, ask! Create your new opportunities with this after-event strategy.
Great things may be right in front of you and next time you won’t miss them.
What tools do you use to help you take advantage of new opportunities? Care to share?
Leave me a comment below.
I can’t wait to hear about your success.
Now, Thanks to Curfew, for providing This Month’s Biz Booster Theme Music, “Future Dance”
And for more career boosting tips, articles, books, resources, tele-seminars, and online courses, visit me at Performingbiz.com
