Sums it up perfectly.

And no that is not sarcastic. It is both that simple and that difficult. A wonderful illustration of the difference in simple and easy.

When I was hired working providing entertainment the company I was replacing was $X. I was a higher price by a lot. When I was bright in it was with one simple directive. “Don’t ever make me regret what I’m paying you”. He never did.

Exceed expectations. Too many do so much promising just to get the job that it is impossible to live up to that standard.

But here is the big thing. You have to be able to deliver! Not only in the store but with the way you relate to people. Intelligent people can smell a fraud from miles away. They don’t get to where they are by being gullible. Magicians spend so much time telling dumb stories about magic they think that bs works in life. News flash. It doesn’t.

It is all the things I’ve have said for decades here that I get so much grief for. Worst part it’ Is you have to START that way. You can’t switch mid stream. Either you are that guy or you’re not. It really is that simple.

It is also about good judgement. It has been said that good judgement comes from experience, and most experience comes from bad judgement. The key is what you take away from an experience. What did you learn? If you always have excuses or think you learned something about someone else that is an ego issue. You have to be able to step back and learn. Not many do or can. Magicians already know it all and what they don’t know they buy courses to reinforce their beliefs to fill in the blanks the way they think they need to be.

Every wonder why those things sell well? Think about how easy it is to sell someone something they really want to hear completely independent of if it works or not.

Thanks for the insight Danny, it's appreciated.

Interesting that they switched to someone who charged considerably more, do you know why
they replaced the other company? I take it they made him regret what he was paying them.

I can’t speak intelligently about why other people do what they do.

It was because Danny obviously offered more and had a better understanding of what the client wanted (or needed) than what the other's did, and likely to what Danny explained above. You must be able to deliver on what you present and promise. Also Danny offered what they others' could not.

You are probably right, thanks for all the insight in this thread.

On the topic of holding attention: https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......forum=27

You really like to read what you wrote don’t you?

How much performance experience do you speak from? Decades?

Seriously I’d take that down so it doesn’t follow you forever.

You seem to want to act like you are speaking from a position of knowledge and authority and it falls very short.

To the OP, my repeat bookings are about 70% of my business. 20% of my yearly bookings come from referrals and from people who have seen me perform at another event. The last 10 percent comes from my marketing efforts to people who have never heard of me before.

Most of my engagements are for corporate events, the rest are private engagements.

This year makes 30 years that I've been in business. According to most of what has been written here, I've been doing it all wrong for the last three decades. Do I care? Not one bit. I'm healthy and happy, I love the lifestyle that I live, and my pocketbook makes me want for nothing.

You do you. Be happy. Learn from others, but don't compare yourselves to others. Doing so is a fool's game. We all have our own journeys. My journey won't look like yours, and yours won't look like anyone else's.

Magic is a good life.

Well said Lou. I agree the numbers can vary from person to person and that’s not a bad thing.

Numbers will also vary from business to business.

Business is more about providing a need than reaching a certain number.

The funeral home business gets 0 percent repeats, and they seem to stay busy.

Tom

Great comparison.

I would disagree with the funeral home comparison. It is the family that hired the funeral home, not the deceased. And funeral homes rely heavily on repeat business from the families it serves and it (repeat business) is their primary source of business.

It’s not a comparison. That’s my point. You can’t always compare your own numbers to others. All magicians are not in the same market. For example, kidshow magicians will rarely do birthday parties for the same person for more than a few years. The need just doesn’t last. Same with weddings.

If Fedora is mixing in kidshows, weddings, and such in the totals, that could very well be the reason for his percentage being lower than some others.

Anyway, Happy 4th of July.

Tom

I know funeral homes that families have used for generations. They are fixtures in neighborhoods and people are loyal to them.

It is ridiculous. The survive this way I am talking about.

Rebookings do not have to be the same type of event. It is rebooking of the client not the event.

I can tell you of a performer who people have seen at a school assembly, that they use in college and at their wedding.

Indeed, sometimes these can be odd such as the before mentioned baby shower, othertimes a client
may be having only one event in the whole year of any sort, but if you ask they may be having an event
they didn't think of having entertainment for until you bring it up.

Absolutely. It's called Suggested Selling.

I agree there are odd times when an older person will book the same guy that did his birthday party for some other event years later. It happens, but not usually year after year for a long period of time, and certainly not from everyone.

But for the most part, yes it does become a keep it within the family thing for many. I agree.

Tom

Stop. I have a lot of clients who do exactly that so you’re just being silly. Most professionals do have this.

Danny, do you do a lot of birthday shows? I didn’t think so.
And for you to say/pretend they are all the same is just not true.

Tom