My Sales Process

I’ve gotten so many questions about my sales process, and while I have done some videos on different parts I’ve never quite run through the beginning and end of it. And simply put, it comes down to trust. There are a lot of little nuances and finesse points that are hard to teach in a blog post, but I do want to walk through the actual process I run, in the hope that if there’s a piece of your own process you want to refine, this gives you a template to borrow from. In full transparency, a lot of this is enabled by my own event management platform, (formerly cue, now Zenvents 360), so some of the automation I describe is custom. The thinking behind it, though, works no matter what tools you use.

So let’s get into it.

It All Starts With Your Network

Before any of the fancy stuff, the first and most important piece is your network. Reach out and keep reaching out. Venues, photographers, videographers, caterers, former clients. Keep those lines of communication open, because those relationships end up being your bread and butter. Easily 85 to 90 percent of all my leads come from some kind of relationship I’ve built with one of those people. If you take one thing from this whole post, build that network out. Everything downstream depends on it.

This is also why I’m not a fan of pouring everything into paid lead platforms, which I dug into over in Wedding Wire and The Knot. Is It Worth It?. I want every road leading back to me, not to a marketplace.

Make Your Website Do The Work

The next step is a quality website. Now, not everybody does this. I know plenty of people who do well on social media alone, but I’m not a believer in just one funnel. I want everything coming to one place. Social media, referrals, the business card I hand out, the venue that recommends me. They all land on something I’ve shaped exactly the way I want it presented, and I don’t have to worry about it changing unless I’m the one changing it.

On the site I share just enough. A healthy dose of client reviews and relatively abbreviated content. I don’t want to bury people under pages and pages, because they’ll get bored and bounce. But I don’t want it too thin either, both for SEO and for the reader. The goal is that they feel well informed, they know the next step to take, and they’re enticed to contact me.

The Inquiry Form

Speaking of contact, they’ll hit a link on the site and fill out an information request form: the date, the kind of event, the basics. That form is wired into my system, so the moment they submit it I get alerted and I can take action right away.

The First Email: Keep It Simple

Here’s where keeping things short pays off. The very first email that goes out is basically, “Hey, I’m available, here’s a link to my calendar.” I use Calendly, which lets the client see my availability and immediately book a Zoom, a phone call, or a face to face on their own terms. This one change has saved me an enormous amount of back and forth. Easily 80 percent of the people who reach out schedule an appointment, sometimes within minutes or a couple of hours. Some still fall off, and that’s fine, it happens, but the ball is in their hands.

In that same first email I also include a link to my questions to ask a wedding DJ guide. I’m handing them a helping hand before we’ve even spoken. They’re going to talk to other DJs anyway, so why not arm them with the right things to ask? And honestly, that’s it. That’s my entire first email. No brochures, no wall of text, because that content already lives on my website. Short and simple, because the whole point is just to get to a conversation. I’m not trying to sell anyone a service through an email, and frankly I’m not selling a service at all. I’m selling trust. I’ll repeat that a few more times before we’re done.

The Call Is A Conversation, Not A Pitch

So they’ve booked, and they jump on the Zoom call. A lot of times the first thing that happens is they notice what’s behind me. The CD collection. The Funko Pops. The Star Wars stuff, the Harry Potter bits, a baby Groot, some Marvel, Calvin and Hobbes up on the top shelf, maybe a little Queen. And that just becomes the icebreaker.

I cannot stress this enough: in this moment, sales is not sales. We’re just having a talk. “Oh, you’ve got that one too?” It’s a natural, gradual ease into the conversation. I’m not even worried about their event yet, because we’ll get there. What I’m doing is earning their trust, and the trust is everything.

So I open up those lines. I ask how they met, why they chose their particular venue. And listen, it’s not about me talking, it’s about hearing their ideas and picking up on the pain points that are already surfacing. A lot of these couples are stressed. They’ve got a pile of vendors to wrangle and a lot going on. I want to be the helping ear in all of that.

Pricing, And The Proposal In Real Time

Eventually we do get to pricing and deposits and what to expect. My system walks them through the the details, and that part usually only takes a couple of minutes. By then I’m hoping the read on me is, “Wow, Lou’s got his stuff together, he knows what he’s talking about.” That’s the trust building in real time.

And here’s the part I really love. While we’re still talking, I’m building the proposal. By the end of the conversation, I want it to have already hit their inbox. It tells them I mean business, that I’ve got a routine and a system, and it proves it before we even hang up. A lot of professionals, not just DJs, don’t have that kind of flexibility. Having a proposal in their hands before the call ends quietly says, trust me, let’s do this.

Let The Follow-Up Run Itself

After that, sometimes it takes time. I might be the first DJ they’ve spoken to. Plenty of my clients still have to go secure their venue and only have a date in mind, so it can be a couple of weeks of the waiting game. That’s where automation earns its keep. My system reminds them at 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days about the proposal sitting in their hands.

Inside that proposal is a short welcome message about me and the generalities, the actual line items of what it’ll cost, and the contract itself. It gives them a level of confidence that everything is handled, the emails fire when they’re supposed to, and the whole thing just keeps moving forward without me chasing.

I Don’t Win Every Client, And That’s Okay

Of course I don’t land every couple that comes in. Sometimes they’re more driven by price and I’m a little high for them. Sometimes I’m just not the energy they’re after. I’m not the always-on-the-microphone DJ. I’m not starting a line dance, I don’t do dancing on the clouds or cold sparks. When that’s what someone wants, I’ll guide them through it honestly: “You’re a great couple, but this other DJ might suit the vibe you’re describing better.” I’m never afraid to do that, because I want their best interest in mind. I’m not worried about filling that date, because I’ll fill it regardless.

Confidence Is What Builds Trust

That actually points to the last piece: the level of confidence you have to project. You don’t have to be cocky, I’m far from it, but you do need genuine confidence that you can execute exactly what they want. That you can take their vision and bring it to life. That when something goes sideways, you know how to handle it. That confidence is what builds the trust.

I’ve had couples who didn’t pick me shout me out in another DJ’s review for hooking them up. I’ve had clients call me the day after their wedding wishing they’d gone with me. I feel for them, but that was the choice they made, and the through-line in all of it is the same. I’ve got this, I can guide you through the whole thing, and hopefully that earns your trust.

So, Did I Mention Trust?

Because it’s not about the hard sale. It’s not about dropping a blind shopping cart in front of someone and saying pick and choose, because they don’t actually know what they need or why they need it. I’d rather guide them through the process. It’s not about selling equipment, it’s not about any of that. I can’t say it enough. It’s about trust.

So that’s a quick rundown of my sales process. If it helped you refine your own, take whatever pieces fit and make them yours.