Published in the August 2008 issue of DJ Times Magazine
Volume 21 - Number 8

If he used pie charts like former presidential candidate Ross Perot, Philadelphia DJ Adam Weitz could show all kinds of colorful graphics detailing the various income sources and expenses of A Sharp Production. And you can bet all those fancy charts would show that upsells make up one of the largest forms of revenue his company sees from year to hear.

Weitz says vendors in his part of the country charge an extremely reasonable rate (around 25-percent, when liability and risk are assumed by the DJ service) to outsource their services, so A Sharp Production is able to provide clients additional services ranging from party planners/decorators to videographers/photographers to entertainers of all themes and talents—and to the reap financial rewards and increased business for doing so.

In fact, Weitz says that even if a DJ service doesn’t currently offer additional goods and services to their customers, they’re really missing out on a pretty simple opportunity. “Depending on how creative your marketing department can be, saying ‘no’ to a client is only a result of not tapping outside resources,” he explains. “We should be able to deliver more and more goods and services that are more peripheral and surround our foundation entertainment—which is DJs, of course. Eventually, further bookings can determine the barometer as to if this product should even be purchased and delivered in-house.”

Weitz and his company currently own nearly 30-percent of the extras they provide to their clientele, and are constantly evaluating providing additional goods and services in-house to eliminate paying overhead charges.

“A basic example of this would be inflatables,” Weitz says. “We deliver inflatables during the warmer months and sometimes for indoor events, but with our winter weather it would be unreasonable to spend the extra dollars and have a large warehouse filled with no-profit materials. Renting them from companies who carry the proper insurance and flame-retardant materials to meet the standards of safety is fine, because they will deduct their fees up to 25-percent and we can add a service we do not own.

“For an example of an upsell, every weekend we’re sending out all different kinds of digital photo materials. These are items that businesses in our industry should purchase because of their simplicity and the fact they can be offered for a reasonable rate.”

Over on the opposite side of the country, San Francisco’s Denon & Doyle Entertainment recently launched into a series of photo novelty upsells that have proven extremely popular with clients.
Even though their company was built primarily on wedding receptions in the Bay Area, Brian Doyle and Dan Ohrman are always talking with other DJs from around the country to find fresh ideas to enhance their extra entertainment offerings.

“The first thing we added was a Photo Bar, where guests can walk up to a backdrop and get their picture taken,” explains Denon & Doyle operations manager Mark Haggerty. “We print and create a key tag or magnet for them to take along with them, and we charge $900 for two hours. Our labor costs on this are low because it’s a novelty item, so no professional photographers are needed.”
For their Photo Booth, they drop off a fully automated booth to a party for $1,595. “We did have to spend $35,000 on a truck to move our Photo Booth, but we figure after 33 uses it will pay for itself and start making money. It has become very popular in a short time, and clients can even get an attendant to help with a scrapbook for a few hundred bucks more.”

A third photo novelty item D&D offers is a Get Flipped product, in which guests have their photo taken in two poses—usually one serious and one funny—and then enjoy watching the 3-D card as they flip it back and forth. For that upsell they charge around $1,200.

In addition, Denon & Doyle rents out 4x4 Plexiglas dance cubes for $700 a pair (“People are drawn to them to dance on, so they have a real good ‘wow’ factor,” explains Haggerty), a projector, screen and DVD package for $375, a custom monogrammed gobo light for $350 (“Brides usually want their names or initials displayed on the dancefloor as guests walk in,” he says), and additional lighting effects to really light up a room for $1,000.

“It’s not unusual for the wedding bill to hit $2,500 and bar mitzvahs to easily top $6,000 thanks to upsells,” says Haggerty, who adds that more and more people in their market are looking for diverse entertainment and novelty items for their events.

Denon & Doyle Entertainment is simply supplying a needed service—and reaping the economic rewards.

Down in tropical Hawaii, Chuck “The DJ” Lenhard says he’s found it much harder to promote upsells since moving there five years ago and forming Maui Mobile Music. “When I was on the mainland, upselling was easy, but the local community down here doesn’t have a lot of money—plus they are very conservative as an audience,” he says. “As a result, my main focus is on destination events. We have a lot of people who come to Maui to get ‘Maui’d,’ plus a large number of companies that come from all over the world to have retreats, and those are the events that I and my agents target.”

Lenhard reasons that since these vacationers are coming to Hawaii to have fun, upselling karaoke can be an easy deal. “My clients want something that a lot of people can enjoy and, even though the number of people who sing is low, the entire group enjoys it when they see Betty or Bob up there belting out songs,” he says. “That’s how I pitch it, as something that will be fun, exciting and enjoyable. I create that image in their minds—of all their friends, family or co-workers going wild.”

The two biggest upsells for Signature Sounds in Pennsylvania are live music options and higher-end professional event lighting.

Scott Goldoor says they recently performed at a wedding at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where they provided a jazz trio for cocktail hour and extra lighting for throughout the entire reception. “We had a double pinspot of table centerpieces, uplighting of walls, a pinspot of the cake table and uplighting of their ice bar—yes, an actual bar made of ice and guys shaving things out of it for at least an hour prior to the reception starting,” he says. “We also had a custom gobo monogram of the couple’s initials projected onto one of the walls in the room, though most of the time we project that gobo onto the dancefloor. Sometimes we also do dancefloor and ceiling washes, and can tie in with their color scheme, table and linen colors, etc.”

Goldoor says he’s found that his price point had been a little high on special lighting, so this year Signature Sounds began offering the option of doing just a custom gobo combined with some sort of live music for much less.

In summary, Adam Weitz says the management of upsells is extremely important, because the potential of a domino effect being created from referrals and repeat business is huge.

“Remember that your product is only as good as your personnel who are conducting it,” he says.

“My friend Johnny K from Pure Energy Entertainment up in Boston always said to make sure your name is on everything. Therefore, handing out 300 digital photos at an event is the same ashanding out 300 business cards.

“When taking the total revenue of A Sharp Production in 2007—calculating the upsells—we were at 45-percent. Not bad, eh? I guess this year I can finally buy myself the G.I Joe Doll with the Kung-Fu Grip!”