As I had mentioned in an earlier post we often get asked the same questions when we talk with clients. Typically it starts off with price, followed by what type of music do you play and then a lot of times the question comes up—what kind of equipment do you have?
I typically answer that question with “100% professional” because, truth be told, if I started to give most prospective clients a lot of numbers and terminology they wouldn’t understand it anyway. I theorize they are just trying to be thorough because most often this is a new field for the client to be shopping in and they are unsure of what to ask.
The thing is, I’ve never been big on equipment. Too many times I think the equipment battle is raged between local DJs trying to out do one another and their real mission—customer satisfaction—gets lost in the shuffle. Play Something We Can Dance To author Jay Maxwell expounds on this when comparing what type of format DJs use, digital or CDs.
“The format of delivery isn’t what is important. The most important aspect of our job hasn’t changed in twenty years.” he states. “It is the client’s expectation that the mobile DJ will enhance the experience at an event where musical entertainment plays a critical role. . .” regardless of the equipment that is beig used.
Simply put, equipment doesn't make the jock, and that point is driven home by former American Disc Jockey President Peter Merry. “You’re not a better DJ because you have new equipment.” he once said in a seminar I attended. “You can get better equipment when you become a better DJ.”
My good friend Dave, who is also my web designer and owner of Photographs and Memories Portrait Studio in Belmont puts it this way: I could buy him the most state-of-the-art violin available but it’s still going to sound like, well you know, because he does not have a clue on how to play it - and the tools of our own industry are much the same way.
This is not to say that I don’t utilize updated technology, in fact I like having new ‘toys.’ Also, I have a clause in our contract that states that if we would break down at your event for any more than thirty minutes we are going to do two things, 1) make up that time even if we have to pay the extra hall charge and b) forgive the balance owed. In other words, we’re doing it for free. This just polices us to carry back up equipment and keep it new, fresh and well maintained, but in over 100 exit surveys returned from our clients over the past three years, no one has ever said—or even mentioned— a thing about the equipment, and that is why our business is more focused on performance rather than production.
Until next time
~ Mike ~
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