[00:00:07] Speaker A: This is the EMG podcast.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: All right. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another edition of the EMG Podcast. I am Michael Sawball, here with my partner, Mr. Michael Carleo.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Mike. Mike, how are you?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I'm doing well. Today's episode, a little different than what we usually do, which is episodes for our current couples that are already working with us and tips and tricks in their planning process. Today's episode is for our prospective couples who are about to sit down with EMG for their initial consultation. So this is a part one of two. Part one today are questions you will be asked. That way, we can know, prep you up, and you can have a frame of reference coming into your consultation. Part two will be questions you should ask us, but today we will focus on the things that you should be prepped up to answer, and we hope that this is a great resource for you.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: And so, without further ado, Mike, number.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: One, the most important question that we ask up front is, what's important to you when it comes to your entertainment? And this seems like a very loaded question, but to us, it's the best icebreaker.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Right.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: And I know you phrase it a little bit differently. How do you usually phrase that question?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I'll say what's important to you, followed by, what is the vision for the day?
Most people that are listening to this and will listen to this and still do this will sit down and say, I want everybody to have a good time. I want the dance floor packed. So do we. That's kind of the foundation of our business. So let's assume that we both want that. Okay? What beyond that is important to you, and what is the vision?
[00:01:50] Speaker A: And I want to give you some advice here. Don't just think about the day of.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: Right.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Because we do ask questions of, like, what do you want? We're going to get to that in a little bit. But I think how you put it, too, it's like, how do you see the next 12, 18, 24 months looking like with a vendor like us, with a partner?
[00:02:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: The question of what's important to you people focus on day of. To your point, what's important when it comes to your wedding? Entertainment vendor, I think, changes the question, and I'll give.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, keep going.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Right.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: And so to Mike's point, what that means is, what do you want our relationship to look like?
[00:02:21] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Do you want to? Hey, EMG, we're hiring you. You're the professionals. I want to be very hands off, or I want to be very hands on. What is the process like? I think you and Tommy always say this. What people will say that they want is a packed dance floor and fun. But what you really want is peace of mind, to know that you have a vendor that can accomplish that goal and that it's going to be stress free throughout the process. So we will spend a lot of time in our consultation, not just talking about the day of, but walking you through. How do we get there? What happens over the coming months? Because that's answering the question that you're probably not knowing to ask, which is, what's my life with EMG going to be like for the next year?
[00:02:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: I have two other pieces of advice for this question we'll get to. The next one is, number one, try not to think about the negative.
[00:03:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: So a lot of our couples come in saying, well, what I don't want. It's like, we're going to get to that. Well, we'll eventually get to that. It's hard not to say because obviously, you probably have been to a lot of weddings, right? And you're seeing things that you definitely don't want. That's important for us to know, too. But we want to know the positive, because it's a fun time.
[00:03:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: And the second thing is, try to think outside the box of, like Mike said, with, like, besides dancing. Right. It's other aspects of the day we want a worry free day. What does that look like on the day of, too?
[00:03:36] Speaker B: It can even be thematic, too. So sometimes when I like to leave it a bit more open ended, like, what's the vision? Because people just start talking and riffing.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: And then we start taking that data.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Sitting there, listening to what they are saying or what they're not saying.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: So, thematically, is this a Black tie affair? Do you want it to feel like a concert? Do you not want it to feel like a concert? Do you want it to feel like a club? All of those things are more beneficial to us in your answer than just, we want everybody to have a good time. I think a way to end this is I challenge everyone listening not to say I want everybody to have a good time. But number two, what you put in is what you will get out. And if all you are giving us is we want everybody to have a good time, then the only thing that we could possibly do is say, here's a DJ, a band, or a combo.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: It's like, we can't personalize it if you're not giving us any personal details.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Not everybody's definition of a good time is the same, which is why we need more than just that.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Because a good time for us could be different.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: So let's move to the next one. Number two, I think this is a great question because you should have some sort of idea. What services are you looking for?
What do you want? Right. And the reason why it's important for us is because we're not just a company that offers bands, DJs, we offer everything. Bands, DJs, hybrids.
[00:04:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Incorporating live music and DJ at the same time. And then also a full on production suite.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: And not having that idea, you may not be ready for a consultation.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It's okay if you're not fully formed.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Because a lot of people do come in with the toss up of, like, we don't know if we want band.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Or DJ, but that's still even more narrow. It doesn't matter. Yeah, that's better. Yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Have a general understanding of the services that we offer and which of those services are of interest to you and which most would fit with your vision, especially with hybrids.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: A lot of our couples want to come in with hybrids, and that already opens up another huge offering that we.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Can do, which kind of leads into number three, is live music important to you?
[00:05:47] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: We will ask you that question. It's not our goal in these consultations to try to upsell things, but because we really do specialize or have a great affinity for live music, we always ask that question. Even if you are a quote unquote DJ only couple. A lot of times that question can mean a live musician or two for ceremony and cocktail, it can mean the hybrid situation. So be prepared to answer that question. There is not that much of a price differential for, say, one musician at ceremony and cocktail versus a DJ covering it. So if it's something that is important to you or could be important to you or of interest, let's explore that, because it's not that big of a stretch to kind of check that vision box as well.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: And also, live music, more than ever now, is coming back. And you can think of it this way. Live music can be a part of your ceremony. It could be a part of your cocktail hour, it could be part of your reception, it could be part of the after party. So a lot of different ways you can incorporate live music if you're just looking for a DJ.
[00:06:48] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: So that kind of wraps everything up.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Be prepared. Is live music important to you?
[00:06:52] Speaker A: Number four, this is one of my favorite questions because I love talking about it.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Can I preface this before you say anything? Yeah, let me preface. Don't get weird with this question.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah, please.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: All right. And the question is, Mike, what's your budget?
[00:07:07] Speaker A: The way that we frame it is, what are you comfortable investing? And I think that's a little. It's a. It's a. To me, it's a more accurate question to ask, because having a budget and then what you're comfortable with are two different things sometimes.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: So you're right, and you always do that. So let's frame this out. First of all, why are we asking you the question? Well, we were trying to get as much money. No, we need to be able to tailor our recommendations to what your budget is. Everyone has a budget. It's okay. Don't get weird. When we ask you the question, it really helps us, and we are not afraid to tell you if your vision is not matching your budget. Also, no matter what you say, it's not going to change our pricing because.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: The pricing has been sent over to you already.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: You've already reviewed it. You know what it is. There's no smoke and mirrors. But let's go to the example of hybrids. You want a hybrid at your reception. We offer many different tiers of hybrids. And so sometimes when you're just like, yeah, we want live music and this and that, and you're not giving us a super clear picture, vision wise, of what you want budget can be a great qualifier of where we make our recommendations along that continuum of EMG Hybrid.
[00:08:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: And I'll tell you why we asked this question. It's not only for us to be able to show you the right stuff, but for us not to waste your time.
[00:08:19] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Because we offer so many great things. It's a good and a bad thing at the same time. Because we can keep you for hours. Right, exactly. Your time is everyone's most valuable currency that we have. Valuable, not variable valuable.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Something like that. Anyway, speech pathology classes after this. I'm talking too quickly, so we want to make sure that we're honing in those 45 minutes with you properly and so we can really narrow it down. We don't do the Baskin Robbins effect where we're offering 38 flavors, and now you can't make a decision because it's like, oh, my God, he gave me so many options.
[00:08:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: We are called event designers because we have the experience to narrow this down quickly and say, look, here are a couple of options that fit within both vision and budget, and we should probably.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: Put a button in with this question in one thing, and you had said this to me a lot of times, what is an investment and what is an expense, right.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: So breaking those words down. Budget is how much money you have. Right. And what you can spend. The question is, what are you qualifying as an investment versus an expense? For an example, and I love all of our florist friends out there. In my estimation, flowers at your wedding are an expense. Right. Entertainment, your venue, your food, your open bar, those are an investment. If those things. If you invest in those, it's a talent position. You get what you pay for. You will have a great party. You've never, if you're listening to this, gone to a bad wedding where the DJ or the band was terrible and said, we had an awful time, but, my God, did you see those centerpieces?
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: Right?
[00:09:49] Speaker B: So which things are you willing to stretch on and which are you willing to cut back on? I'll call it out. We are obviously biased, but most people that sit down with us tend to agree with that sentiment. Entertainment is an investment. The last thing that I'll say because you brought this up is just because you have $8,000 as a line item in your spreadsheet for your wedding budget for entertainment doesn't necessarily mean you are comfortable at eight. So we will have people say, look, my budget is eight. I'd really like to be around six. Well, then six is the number.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: That's the number for us.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Right?
[00:10:23] Speaker B: So figure out what your number is and don't be weird when we ask you the question, what number are we at? Because now, I don't know the last one, which is 1234.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Number five. You hit it?
[00:10:32] Speaker B: I hit it.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: I love it. The last question is, we always do this is, would you like a contract? And this. We always end our consultations with this. And why do we ask that question?
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Well, it's a courtesy that we extend to our clients that are sitting down for a consultation. We don't want to hold a gun to your head and say, make your decision immediately, right now. So by taking a contract at the end for us, it initiates and kicks off a three day hold of the services that we chatted about. We want to give you an opportunity. A lot of our couples will do this without their significant other.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Correct?
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Meaning, sit down with us. We want to give you an opportunity to review all of the materials that we did with your partner, to look everything over, to sit with it. And by taking that contract, what it does for you is it kicks off that 72 hours hold. And for us, what it does is pencils you in. And so we are allocating or accounting for your event. I can't stress how important that is.
We are very blessed that we have a lot of couples that are interested in working with us. And availability moves sometimes within hours of a day where we are available on June 6 of next year and now 3 hours later, we're not. So when we sit down, that is the only time that directly in front of us in real time, we have up to the minute availability. And so by you electing for us to send you that contract, we can guarantee that availability during that three day period as you are considering the options before moving into signing it and actually formalizing, working with us.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So it gives you the worry free factor.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: You can review the document, you can review the options because you can make any revisions you need to make within those three days without having to worry somebody else taking it.
Our event design team averages anywhere between twelve and 25 meetings a day. There is a very good chance it's for the same date. There are only a couple of days during the week that people usually have weddings, and it's mostly Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: And we only feel comfortable sending a contract if you are leaning towards going with us because of how many meetings we have. And we have to really prioritize the first come, first serve.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Yeah. If you're still at that phase where you're thinking like, gee, I can't make a decision, and then don't worry about it, don't take the contract. It doesn't help you. It doesn't help us. This is just a nice caveat that we have here at the end for those couples that are serious and just need a day or two to think.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Things through and that kind of wraps everything up. Well, we're obviously going to ask a little bit more, we're going to ask a lot more questions to you in the consultation. But these are the main five that are really going to wrap up and give you the opportunity to prepare properly and formulate ideas. And you can feel like you're not as overwhelmed going into a meeting you know nothing about because you are doing this for the first time.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: And so we will see you here. Well, first of all, we'll see you at your consultation, which we're looking forward to, but we'll see you back for part two of this, which is questions you should ask us. Mike, thank you very much, brother. See you later.
You can find
[email protected] or on Instagram at Elegant Music Group.
