Plan for positive results each time you contact potential venues.
Impossible you say! Perhaps not—when you plan appropriately!
OK, so how exactly do you do this?
I believe it’s all a matter of setting your expectations to meet the situation properly.
How many times do you sit down to make booking calls or write booking emails and expect to get the gig on the first call? C’mon, deep down, you are all geared up to book that tour in one sitting. I know, I used to be that person, all filled with confidence, totally believing that I’d get this tour booked in the morning and could rest on my laurels after lunch.
However, what if you plan for positive results and tweak your expectations and set more realistic goals for each call or each email based on how far along your relationship is with that booking person.
Here’s an example: Let’s say you are contacting someone for the first time. Yes, you are eager to get a booking with that person, but given where you are within the stages of building your relationship with them, it is more likely to create a successful encounter by setting more realistic expectations.
Now Plan for Positive Results
If, instead of trying to book the gig on the first call, you approach the person with the expectation of simply meeting them. Introduce your act and share with them how your act might be a good match for their venue or might solve some programming challenge. You would have accomplished a great deal. Then suggest a time for a second call to further develop your relationship. Find out more about their programming, their booking time frame and which conferences they attend. They will get a better sense of your desire to develop a deeper relationship with them rather than simply get a gig and move on. They’ll see that you are in it for the long hall and you are attempting to build a long-term relationship.
With those expectations set for your first and second calls, you have created a pattern for successful contacts. Each successive contact then moves the relationship along to a deeper place. When you plan your call strategy with this pattern in mind, you are building relationships that will eventually grow into gigs. Your belief in yourself as a relationship-builder will grow. Your ability to have successful and pleasant communications with booking personnel will drive your booking calls.
As you plan for positive results from each of your calls, your call expectations will more appropriately match the level of your relationship. Over time, you will book more gigs, more often.
Step away from the “Gotta-get-a-gig” right now mentality and begin planning your contacts to build your relationships. Match your expectations for each communication with where you are in your relationship-building process with each booking person. Plan for positive results and you will get more positive results more often and be a much more successful booker for your act.
Do you plan for positive results from your communications? What steps do you take?
Leave me a comment below or on the Performingbiz Success Strategies Facebook page.
I can’t wait to hear about your success.
Thanks to Carol Ehrlich for designing this week’s Biz Booster graphic image, “Plan for Positive Results.”
Now, Thanks to the Band Curfew from the UK for providing the Biz Booster theme Music, “Future Dance.” Check them out at www.curfew.co.uk
And for more career boosting tips, articles, books, resources, tele-seminars and online courses, visit me at Performingbiz.com