AI, High-Touch DJing, and the January Hustle

January doesn’t ease you in; it throws you straight into the deep end. In this episode, we talk packed calendars, unexpected inquiries (including a celebrity half-birthday lead sourced through ChatGPT), and the growing role AI plays in the private event DJ industry. We’re pro-tool but pro-craft first, drawing a clean line between using AI for inspiration, bumpers, and workflow vs replacing the musicians and creators who make this culture worth protecting.

Then we shift to gear: specifically the brand-new BunGear Command Center Cart. We break down why a clamp-in, fully assembled booth cart is a game-changer for working DJs: fewer load-in variables, faster setups, reduced strain, and a workflow that feels engineered instead of improvised. Casters, clamps, weight, bundles - if efficiency matters to you, you’ll want to hear this part.

On the business side, we zoom in on “unreasonable hospitality” and how small, thoughtful moves justify premium pricing long before a couple sees your dance floor. From pre-meeting gifts for qualified prospects, to branded wedding emergency kits, to ditching the “Zoom-from-your-car” era forever, we lay out simple upgrades that change how clients perceive you and how much they’re willing to invest.

If you’re navigating new tech, new gigs, or a new standard for what your brand should look like this year, this episode gives you the roadmap. Subscribe, share with a DJ friend, and leave a review with your favorite hospitality touch...you might inspire the next one we steal.

Transcript

New Year Kickoff And January Bookings

SPEAKER_02 1:38

What's up, Boothheads? Welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm Brian B, and this is Joe Bunn. Happy New Year. Oh yeah. January 7th, baby. First one of 2026. Yes, sir. Are you one of those guys that like has struggles writing the 2026 on like anything and you have to cross it off and 2025?

SPEAKER_08 2:01

Definitely when I when people used to write checks all the time. Yeah. Oh, I would be writing 2025. Then they would come back. But nobody writes checks anymore, do they?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Uh not that I yeah, not that I know of. I don't even do it for rent. It's all it's all auto-drafted out. That's what I'm saying. It's crazy how it's all changed. Very rare. I'm excited about this year, man.

SPEAKER_08 2:21

Are you 2026? Uh I'm always excited to start a new year. I like starting the new year the way it usually starts, which is not a lot of shows.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Okay. I'm up. I mean, I do love that. Yeah. But that's I'm on a grind. So basically, I'll have finished New Year's Eve. I have a wedding. I come back on the 2nd.

SPEAKER_08 2:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I'm leaving on the day of a wedding, which is always not my preference.

SPEAKER_08 2:45

You hate that.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

January 3rd, I got a wedding.

SPEAKER_08 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

January 10th, I have a wedding.

unknown 2:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Uh no, I'm sorry. No, January 9th, I have a um a this is the AI one. The one I got from Chat GPT, the lead I talked about. It's not a wedding, though, right? Not a wedding. It's a 65 65 and a half birthday party. And here's the deal. So she found me on Chat GPT. Yeah. Which is crazy. I thought this was like a random troll. Like I'm like, this is not way as real. And this is in Florida? In Florida.

SPEAKER_08 3:17

She must have said who to use.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

She's a publicist for a bunch or a retired publicist for a bunch of celebrities. I don't know. She's not even in my local Florida market.

SPEAKER_08 3:29

Do you use Jackson parties for?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

It's for her.

SPEAKER_08 3:31

Oh, okay. I thought you meant she had hired it for a celebrity.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

So she was going to have um in 2020 was her 65th birthday. Okay. And she can't, she didn't have it because of COVID and all that. So she punted to her 65th and a half. So I guess in January will be the half marker of you know her birthday going into uh 2026. So no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_08 3:55

If she was gonna be 65 in 2020, this is her 70th, but she doesn't want to say that.

The ChatGPT Lead And Celebrity Party Story

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Yeah, what the hell? No, she was gonna celebrate her 60th in 2020. I got you, right? So 65. 0.5.5. Okay, yeah, I got you. So she um is gonna have some of her celebrity clients there. Oh in fact, this is super hilarious. She tells me the story about how her one of her guests that she's gonna have was a guy that she went on a date with. And she's gonna tell the story live at the birthday. And um basically she never finished the date. And so she wanted to finish the second half of the date. And so she's she's single? She's still single, I guess. Or maybe she got divorced. I don't know. So she's bringing this guy out there. His name is Tony Craig. Do I know who Tony Craig? Do you guys know who Tony Craig is? No, Craig? You talking about the black? Are you serious? He's the the the the little guy in um uh what's that uh bad Santa? Remember that movie with Billy Bob Thornton, the elf? Yeah. That's the guy she's coming out for her half birthday. It's kind of a pun. And they're gonna finish off the second half of the date. I'm like, does he know about this? Because I'm but I'm guessing he would, because I mean I'm sure he gets played with a lot on this whole situation.

SPEAKER_08 5:15

Is he in um, wasn't he also in um Rate or something like that? I think he was. Saquon's looking it up. I knew the guy you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. He's one of the guests at this party. The black guy for the 60 people. That's actually gonna be pretty funny. So that's they pull it off right.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah, they got um a couple other big celebrities, like some of them I can't mention, but like that one I can. But I just think it's hilarious. And this came from Chat GPT. That's wild, dude. Right? So great, man. Anyways, you know, and then I got one on the 24th. Oh my god. So I've got four. Four in the month, which is rare. In January. In January. Yeah, no, I don't have that. Come on, this guy. Uh I can't see it. Uh Tony Craig?

unknown 5:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Is it's the guy from Bad Santa, right?

SPEAKER_06 6:02

I thought you said he was a little person.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

He is. Maybe I'm thinking no, not Tony Craig.

SPEAKER_06 6:07

Hold on, sorry. Give me a second. Give me a second. Hold on. Let me look at my notes before I forgot. Oh, Tony Cox. Tony Cox. Yes. Let me see him. Yes, he did. Let me see him. This was the dude from Friday.

SPEAKER_08 6:19

Yeah, he was the dude that ran out of the house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:29

Love that kind of dude.

SPEAKER_07 6:30

Get the heck out of here. Bro, I gotta come down and see.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

I don't know if she reps him or she just knows him or what.

SPEAKER_08 6:36

Yeah, she probably repped him at one point or something. Yeah. So when the next date with him, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Yeah. But it's a joke, though. Like it's a joke, but like, I mean, I don't know. I don't know how to feel about that. Like, I it's somebody who's like, like, that's been a thing of like people getting canceled over that kind of stuff. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_08 6:55

And it's like you're orchestrating it. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Crazy. But just apparently just hand her the mic. I'm not gonna say anything. Yeah, yeah. Don't do I play short people as they as it walks on the stage.

SPEAKER_08 7:06

That's canceled. That's canceled.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

I don't know, man. I don't know. Because I was like, what do I play for him as he walks on? Does he have a theme song? You know, I'm just trying to figure out what Friday would be hilarious.

SPEAKER_08 7:15

So I know him better from Friday than Bad Santa.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Oh, Bad Santa was one of my I used to watch that all the time. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 7:20

Who's that? Billy Bob Boy.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

That was a great one.

SPEAKER_08 7:23

By the way, that show Landman that he's in right now is great.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_08 7:27

Great show.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Well, anyways, I don't know where we got off track there either, dude.

SPEAKER_08 7:30

Um anyway, just saying busy January to you. Let's thank our uh friends. Okay, Patreon, back room members, Tyrone Carver from Mystique Productions, DJ Trick from Southern DJs, and my God, Jeremy Blacken.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Thanks, guys, for being a part of our Patreon.

SPEAKER_08 7:48

Jeremy was at DJC, I think.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

He was, I think. Um, I'm terrible at faces and names.

SPEAKER_08 7:54

Okay, sorry. But if it's should people join our Patreon?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

What are your what's your thoughts here?

SPEAKER_08 7:58

Listen, guys, the Patreon is incredible. We uh are not like those people that post something and then go shoot for a month. Something goes up at least one thing a week, sometimes two. We give away crazy prizes, we post bonus wink, wink, wink content. We post PDFs of the history of our sets. We post PDFs of like I just played last night for this thing for Elon and played a bunch of edits I've never played before that went over great for this kind of vibes curated thing. I'll be putting that up um later today once uh our virtual assistant makes the graphic. And anyway, we we uh have a very active and great Patreon, and more importantly, we listen to what y'all want. So if you join it, you have direct access to us and you can tell us what you do and don't like about it.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

In fact, I thought we had mentioned because I just looked it up, what we're giving away in January. What are we giving away? A Hercules stand. Do you want to talk about this?

SPEAKER_08 8:58

You it's so at DJC, about two or three years ago, we bought several of these because of the setup that we were using was not the Bun Gear Command Center. Shout out Bun Gear. It was some sort of booth. I don't remember I think we were in a nightclub in Atlanta. Remember when we had um we had fashion and all those guys? Yeah. And I don't remember exactly who put us onto these uh laptop stands, but this thing is incredible. It comes in like a neoprene pouch, it folds up the best I've ever seen. It is the most sturdy version I've ever seen. I think they're probably over$100 each, and we'll be giving one of those away.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

In January.

SPEAKER_08 9:38

Yeah, in January.

Patreon Shoutouts And Member Perks

SPEAKER_02 9:39

If you listen to this, join because that happens at the end of the month.

SPEAKER_08 9:42

Um Hercules laptop stand folds up into a nice little bag.

AI Music Trend: Hype, Ethics, And DJ Use

SPEAKER_02 9:46

There we go. Yeah, perfect. Well, we're gonna have a new segment. So this was uh has been blowing up for a lot of December. So by the time this gets released, this might be a little old, but um just the AI phenomenon with music. So I want to show you two things. Okay, let's hit the first clip real quick. I was like, holy crap, I cannot believe that this level came out. So I think it's worth bringing up. I mean, this is crazy stuff right now that's happening in our when people are getting deceived like that. I loved what that guy, that one clip said about like you can take the soul out of it. But I agree with it.

SPEAKER_06 13:21

But but look, like this is resonating with people.

SPEAKER_07 13:24

Nah, man, as somebody who makes music and I spend hours, you know what I mean, actually trying to figure out a new sound. This ain't gonna last, bro. You can't have AI being number one taken away from thousands of real musicians. I hope not. It's not. I agree with you, man.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Like, even but I would say that that was the argument the bands were making about DJs. There's no way people are gonna pay a DJ to do what we are doing playing music.

SPEAKER_08 13:53

Other people's music. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 13:57

It's different. Uh listen, I I don't like this. I don't like the AI shit of it. I don't like the fact that you can type in a prompt and get a song out of it. I don't like that it's on the charts. I don't I deleted that song you sent me the other night, man. And as much as I thought it was brilliant, I was it was the cover of Lightning Crashes. Lightning Crashes by Live, and it was a soul version of it. I think we played it on this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Did we? Okay.

SPEAKER_08 14:22

I I deleted it, like off the hard drive. Shift command delete, got rid of it because I'm like, man, fuck this song. Number one, it's not real, it's not AI, it's not a real person. And I think I was more pissed off that somebody didn't already cover it. Like somebody like um uh some soul singer that I like, Khalid, Leon Bridges, um uh anybody. But like it's such a great song, and it could have been redone. Why did nobody do it? And why does this have to be AI? Did you see the beginning of icon set? Yeah, what was it after?

SPEAKER_02 14:58

What song did he play to start the whole set? I don't remember. An AI cover of In the Club done by like a soul version. Like, this is creeping into our stuff. You know what I'm saying? And I I'm just I'm just saying, like, where does this go? And like, this is first generation. We're not even like doing anything. I mean, I probably people don't know this, but for the first couple of bumpers we did, I actually paid a guy to make our bumpers, like literally hundreds of dollars to create the song, everything. When I saw that this was Suno, I was like, I gotta try this program out and see how it works. So, one of two of our bumpers are AI generated. You want to hit the first one just so people can hear it?

SPEAKER_01 15:48

All right, and then this one, and then this one.

SPEAKER_08 16:01

Can we talk about something real quick? Because I I need to make a decision real quick on my hair. Why did the cartoons I don't I intentionally brought I got the DV mustache going on? Yeah, the half mustache is crazy, bro. No, it's more about my hair on my head.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Like, I you know like the landing strip? I call that the fryer tuck. Like my frying. It's crazy. Like, dude, I look like Hank from freaking I know it didn't do me any favors either, by the way.

SPEAKER_08 16:39

But what I'm saying is if that's the way it truly looks, I'd just soon just go baldy.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:46

There's a little, there's hair up here.

SPEAKER_06 16:47

You got some on top, bro.

SPEAKER_07 16:49

They they messed you up on that, but thanks, AI.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Anyway, we don't always get it right. But, anyways, I guess my point here is like this is pop culture. Better be paying attention to it for sure. And I don't know how where it goes, but like I saw it implemented in a DJ step. People lost their minds when he dropped that in the club. I do remember that.

SPEAKER_07 17:07

I I had been drinking though. You got to do it. My my thing is it's okay to use it and be creative with it, whatever, right? But it shouldn't be allowed to be charted. It shouldn't be allowed to be them. It shouldn't be allowed to be a category. It shouldn't, no, no, no, no. It should not be allowed to be charted. It shouldn't be allowed to be. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Well, you can't, and that to be fair, in Suno, you cannot put any artist's name, you can't put a name of a song. You like it, it it pretty much like grabbing from. So it's I don't know, but it's grabbing uh you can say genres or um lyrics, but you can uh and and even the lyrics, like if you were to take Don't Stop Believing as an example.

SPEAKER_08 17:49

Well, how did icon do it then?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Uh that's a great question. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_08 17:53

Obviously, I mean if if you type in you can find me in the club, bottles full of bugs.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

It doesn't definitely isn't the same melody line for sure. It was definitely different, but close enough. So maybe he was using a different tool too. I don't know. I know, I know what you're saying.

SPEAKER_07 18:08

It just shouldn't be allowed to be in charts or awards or anything. Like other than that, do what you want to do with it. I don't know, dude. I I don't like some of this shit.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Well, anyway, something to keep in in your head for 2026 as we're heading in the new year.

SPEAKER_08 18:21

I mean, I right like um I've heard of DJs like making AI like drops and stuff, right? Or like you know, you got this some big MAGA guy and doing like a Donald Trump you know like introduction.

SPEAKER_07 18:33

I've seen people Evan is used uh yeah for somebody who was wanting that, you know. So Evan used AI for like a little outro that he did. And I was like, where'd you get that voice? He was like, AI.

SPEAKER_08 18:45

But I mean I I listen, I'm all about AI and using it as a tool, but I I'm not about these these full songs or breaking rust or these fake people.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Well, the fact that they came up with the name and then the the actual video of the guy like that's crazy away from an exploding bomb. Like, what the fuck is it's Norris shit? It's nuts. Well, and even just like taking it a step further, like like what we showed a while back on the French, well, it was on a bonus episode, but the French Montana situation. The people are saying that's not even real. I know it's crazy. So anyway, just something to keep in in track uh of in pop culture. I just thought I would bring it out there. Let's hit the gear fine.

SPEAKER_08 19:25

The gear's here. The gear is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here. Hard to hold up here, guys. But this is a new skew. Brand new skew.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Will this be available when this drops? January 7th?

SPEAKER_08 19:43

It's gonna probably be this this month. It'll come out this month. Um, so this is a brand new uh command center cart. So if you're a Bungear command center owner, this is, I mean, man, you could see the weight on this thing. Uh brand new cart where you basically are just gonna take it. You're gonna and again, this is for the people that leave the cart assembled, but you're basically got handle on each side, you've got these heavy-duty knobs, and you've got these little clamps that basically just pivot, they go over the base plate, you crank down on them, and then you roll the whole booth in. Now, some people obviously, the the entire point of the company, you know, was to build gear for mobile DJs, and most people do break apart the booth. But I mean, out of the thousands of booths we sold, including myself, a lot of people have vans or trailers and they leave them fully assembled. So this is gonna get you in and out. We got really nice, I think these are three-inch casters on the bottom. You can see it's reinforced. I mean, this thing is a beast. How do you feel about those wheels? I like these. Do you think those over mode?

SPEAKER_02 20:47

I don't know. I I I'm thinking of like the um what is it, the rock and rollers. They've got the thicker ones. Yeah, and I'm guessing there was a reason why they did that. I don't know why, but I'm just guessing it's more of an all-term.

SPEAKER_08 20:58

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_07 20:59

Like, all right.

SPEAKER_08 21:00

This is like you got a proper load in and a proper venture, handicap ramp, ground level. Listen, and worst case scenario, you can always get as far as you can get to the grass, the gravel or whatever, and just pick it up and carry it. Even load it up, yeah, it's gonna be less than a hundred pounds. Like it's fifty five pounds with nothing in it.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

I love the idea of it being fully assembled and uh having. I mean that makes your carry in. And then do you um I'm trying to so the this these clamps on the sides, these clamp into the booth?

SPEAKER_08 21:29

They go right over the see the the booth over there? See how the base plate is? So the base, the the booth will sit literally right here in the center of it, and these will be turned to the side, so you don't set it down on it.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 21:38

And then you literally just turn them and see how it's got a little bend in it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Only available on Bungear? Bungear.com. What what are we looking at pricing wise?

SPEAKER_08 21:49

That's a great question, man. Range. Let me think of what I'm paying for. I think it's probably gonna be 350.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

And will this be in a bundle with future bun booths?

SPEAKER_08 22:02

Yeah. Could be. Could be.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Is it 350? Yeah, something like that. That's what I think it's gonna be. And you'll have these, these won't be like uh wait two more weeks till they get done. Once you launch it, it'll be upset.

SPEAKER_08 22:12

I think, man, I don't like to. I was gonna go to a model where I just did pre-sale only, where I literally would go, all right guys, we're gonna open the window from um January 1 to January 20th, and you have to place your orders in, and then it'll be here in six weeks or two months. Dude, with the amount of email we ran out of booths recently, and there actually Frank's just texted me. 120 just showed up today. But man, the last few weeks have been hard. Like, hey man, you know, you said the end of November, you said the end of November, and I did say that because that's what I thought. It's not it's no fun as a business owner. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to say these are out, out, like go to the website and get them until they're out, out.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Right. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_08 22:56

Like, until I have like in the warehouse, in the box, ready to ship out. Right. That's when I'll place say place your orders.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

And are you making this only for bun booths, or could this be used for any booth? Does it have uh I mean is it like spec to be?

SPEAKER_08 23:11

It's only for our booth. I guarantee with the people that make the T-shaped booth, some of them would probably fit on here. You would just have to figure out like the base plate and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Love it, man.

SPEAKER_08 23:21

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

This is one of how many new SKUs you got coming up?

SPEAKER_08 23:24

Uh so we have this, so just breaking this will be um the the cart, command center cart. There's quad pods, the tube light stands 2.0 new version. Uh those will be painted in a different style. Uh then we have the 3D printed parts that will already be up. Um so these are gonna be clips that'll hold your tube lights or yeah, you know, your your cables and things like that. Uh 3D printed parts that we make actually right here in-house, those will already be out by the time this comes out.

SPEAKER_05 23:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_08 23:57

And then the last thing is what we're calling uh the basic booth. And this will be a three-sided booth, more like the what the basic stuff that people are buying now from Rockville and you know, yeah, ProX and all these other companies that is going to look and function um much better and will be for the entry-level point for the people that are not ready to spend, you know,$3,000 on the command center. So several things coming down the pipeline. Love it, man. Yeah, man. Cool. Working hard, very difficult job.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Well, as we move into 2026, I am always re-evaluating the business side of things with my own business. And I came across this clip, and we're going to use this in lieu of um a question today. All right. And uh, I don't know. I'm always just thinking of ways to tweak it. This is actually from the guy who wrote the book Unreasonable Hospitality. If you haven't read that book, it's a great one to read by Will Ghidara, I think is how you say his name. But he's talking about his restaurants and the experience that his customers are having and how he tweaked it. And I just it it just a lot of things came in my head when I saw this. Since you're seeing it maybe for the first time, I'm clear curious what your thoughts are.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

I'm great about getting a check, right? In fact, it's a hard moment in most meals to get right because whether anyone realizes it, they've become remarkably impatient the moment they ask for the check. If it takes us too long to give it to you, we've just ruined the entire meal. And yeah, I have drop it on your table before you've asked for it. Otherwise, you think I'm trying to rush you out. Not to mention the fact that I defined that you're trying, it's a big check. When you realize how much that meal costs, it's a little bit harder to still love the meal you just had. And for those reasons, no one ever really approaches it with any creativity or any intention. What we came up with was when I knew you were done, I go over to your table with a glass from over the table and an entire bottle of cognac. I pour just a splash of cognac from over the table and say, Hey, this is with my my confidence. In fact, I'm gonna leave the entire bottle here. Please help yourselves to as much as you'd like. And then I've put the check out. I'd say your check is here whenever you're ready for it. Small change. Profound impact.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Interesting, right? So I was thinking of what are some parts in our businesses.

SPEAKER_08 26:17

Well, what's what's so what's I mean, so if they sat there and kept sipping the bottle, they would just that would mean they weren't ready to leave, type thing? Or yeah. I mean, I think there's like levels to this.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Well, I think the first thing is he's he's approaching it with um to to I'm not rushing you out. I'm not rushing you out. Right. Here's a bottle of cognac. You want to say it's costing him something, yeah, but not probably a ton. Right. Right. If he's giving it to every table, right?

SPEAKER_07 26:42

Um how does that work? You give him to everybody?

SPEAKER_08 26:45

Yeah, but I mean again, it sounds like a little kind of not a whole glass of cognac.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

But I'm sure they've got that.

SPEAKER_08 26:52

I mean, some people are gonna take advantage of it. Me, I would I would, I don't think I like cognac, so I'd probably take a taste and be like, nah.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 26:58

So it's kind of like a buffet. You know, you got people like uh big boy Jenkins is gonna go in there and just eat every roll on the damn thing, and then you got me is just like want one roll anyway.

Bumpers, Visuals, And Playing With AI

SPEAKER_02 27:09

But the other thing too is if you are starting to charge a premium for your services, yeah. What are some things that you could be doing outside of just sending a quote sheet saying, hey, here's the price, and people are like, What for a DJ?

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Is there something creative that can be done there to this level? You can't leave a bottle of cognac, obviously, on the on the with your quote, but I'm just curious, it just got my wheels spinning. Of course, thinking about ways that we can relook at the way we present our services, especially if you're trying to climb up. Like there should be a level of like, wow, intention, kind of like as bad as it sounds, like the urinal cakes. You know what I mean? Like just like that little bit of thought that goes into 100%. Yeah, like that guy thought of something like that that no one else would have. What are some things here that anything that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_08 27:57

I mean, honestly, I think every year about this time, you said this is gonna come out in January.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Seventh, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 28:03

It this is about the time that Randy and I kind of have a you know level set meeting for what's gonna happen this year. And we always talk about the client experience. Like, what happens here? You know, like what happens from the time that they booked the meeting to the wedding, right? And and we we still do it to this day. I bet this is going on God, six, seven years of doing that wedding day emergency kit, man. That little branded box with the shout wipes and the safety pins and the bobby pins and uh uh a writing pin to sign the the the certificate, wedding uh whatever it's called, the license. Uh there's a a koozie in there. Dude, and the whole box costs us$3 to send out. They're all branded Bundy J. They say wedding day emergency box, and those get sent out to people that actually request a contract. Or actually it may be when they actually send in their deposit or sign the contract. But I mean, there is definitely probably one more step, especially for somebody like you on your personal shows. Well, I'm thinking about you. Your personal show. Or me. You know as the owner, I don't know. Or me. Um, they could go out, you know what I mean? And and and I don't know what that item is, but it is that one extra touch. And and I think, again, with us, we are more about quantity, whereas you are more about that intentional. I'm trying to get 10 to 20 some thousand dollar line item out the bill. Like, what about you? I mean, because I feel like it's more important that you do something cognac-ish.

Gear Spotlight: New BunGear Command Center Cart

SPEAKER_02 29:43

So I do that on the front end currently. Yeah. So if someone is going to book a meeting, they haven't even booked me. Yeah. I send out a gift ahead of it. Now they have to be pre-qualified. This isn't like, you know, anybody who goes on the website and asks for me, or they get this. It's like usually through a specific planner or you know, somebody that I know has got a more than 50% chance of probably booking me. I'll send them this gift box and in it has um it's a uh champagne split. I guess is what is that? The little bottle? The little bottle with a little thing.

SPEAKER_08 30:19

Um it has them for that service if you don't mind me up.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Uh that's a great question, actually. I have to get you that information. And give me your affiliate link. Yeah. Yeah. Uh actually, I do know it's through um, I forgot the name of the company, but it's Tracy Domino's. We've got some stuff from her before. Yeah. Um, they actually make the boxes for them as well. Yeah. Then there's um uh a splitter, a Y splitter, um, a little iTouch. They still make those, believe it or not. Wow. And then um it's loaded, it's preloaded with some mixes of mine. What? And then the last thing is some chocolate chocolate of some sort, some kind of chocolate. Okay. So it costs me not even 50 bucks. No, the the iPod though. Oh, well, because I'm getting them in bulk. I'm not getting these one off of they still make those, they'll still make those, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 31:07

Apple does?

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Well, I don't know if they do anymore, but they have distributors that still have them out. So I think I may have bought them out. I may have to relook at it and see what's left in the queue. But I haven't been notified that you ran it. So I think I got them when they were towards the tail end or whatever. But that gets sent with a custom um actually it's not cut, it is custom to their name, but it's not my actual signature. It looks like I signed it. A little note that's inside of it and just says, hey, thanks for even considering me. Uh, here's some mixes of things. Looking forward to our viewing. I've been wanting to switch it out actually with an iPad mini or something that's even smaller that actually has video instead of just like audio mixes. Um, but I haven't done that yet. So, but like that's before they book. And yeah, it's a$50 investment or whatever the case. Maybe it's gonna be more if obviously if I go to an iPad situation. Um, but that has almost always landed me the gig. Damn, bro. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_08 31:59

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

That's genius.

SPEAKER_08 32:01

Yeah, but these are pre-qualified leads, came from a wedding planner or a venue that I Napa. Yeah, you know that this is 10k plus.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. You know that it's a big Instagram, like just a quick inquiry. No, they're not getting that.

SPEAKER_08 32:17

You know, or like one of your weddings in Florida, like a common place that you can play. No, yeah, yeah. Damn, bro. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

But like again, that's uh that and then it softens the blow when they get the the quote sheet, and it's like whatever the case may be. But you know, one guy that did something really unique back in the day, and I don't know if he still does it because again, this was pre-COVID when people were meeting with offices. Yeah, but he used to take the um reserve parking sign and get them made with the couple's name, reserve uh Ross from Rock With You. Yeah, so it's a reserve, like they're just pulling up Kelly and John. Yeah, yeah. So they send them a note Hey, we're looking forward to meeting you. You know, um you your your parking spot is in the front row, and then they pull up and they see their name. That's smart.

SPEAKER_08 33:02

Little stuff like that, man, goes so far.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Intention, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_08 33:06

Like they thought of a pain point, and they're like we definitely I to be fair, man, and I know, oh, it's a lot easier, and you you know, you don't even have to wear pants and all that bullshit, man. I I really genuinely miss when couples would come in and meet with us. It was very exciting, man, to see the calendar, and every night somebody would be here meeting with a couple. We had champagne, we had the photo booth in the corner fair with their names Kelly and John on the little icon. Yeah, they could text it themselves, right? I mean, crushed it with that. We'd have some up lights set up around the room, we'd have the presentation with Kelly and John up on the screen behind me. Like it was a it was it was a true touch point for customer experience and client experience before they even spent one dollar. And I've kind of it was a 99.9% chance they were walking out locked.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

So I've been thinking about that a lot in the last two months. I've changed even the way I do my Zoom meetings. Like I've been intentional about putting like up lights behind me and making sure that the look, the camera is better. I'm not using the computer camera. I'm like, if they're gonna spend this kind of money, me I better make it look like they're spending this kind of money with me. Like, I take every piece of this process seriously. Yeah. And if I'm just doing it on my phone or you know, it just looks janky. Yeah. So I'm I still feel like I'm not even there yet on that part of it. I need to like do better.

SPEAKER_08 34:28

Yeah. But that's something I'm looking at. I am really good at that. Yeah. I get insane compliments on those mixed tiles pictures behind me. Right. People are like, is that real? Right. Is that a real background? I'm like, yeah, these are totally. These are probably 300 images from the last three years of like insane parties we've done. And people are like, holy shit, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

We're batching this right now, but I'm going to New York and uh end of middle of December. And that's one of the things I'm looking forward to is going to these hotels and just seeing like what their lobbies look like. Yeah. Is there any ideas I can snag from like some of these high-end spots that people are visiting that could be there?

SPEAKER_08 35:03

I'm not sure if you're talking about stuff like that as well. Whenever I travel or go to nice places, I always do that. I will say this just final tip. Um in mentioning what you were just saying, I have a DJ, and I'm not gonna say his name. He's been here for almost 10 years now. He's really good. Still one of our younger guys, crushes it when he goes to parties, and was on a streak of losing shows that were doing the meeting, lose the show. And me and Randy, hey man, we need to have a call. What what what's what what is going on? And he was going through some personal stuff. I think that was part of it, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 35:36

But um, he was doing shit in his car. Oh, he had another job. So he's sitting there in his other work shirt on a goddamn vertical video from his car. Yeah. Asking for four to five thousand dollars. Yeah, I can't work. It doesn't exactly scream confidence. And and as soon as he stopped doing it, I was like, hey man, just don't take these meetings if you can't be at home with a decent background.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 36:01

Because that shit is not gonna fly.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Right.

SPEAKER_08 36:03

And dude, uh no problem since. Wow. And I think no, I think what we asked him to do is hey man, start recording your things. And we were like, as soon as it came on, I go, stop the video. I don't need to watch this. He's in his car. This is stupid. Like, don't do that, guys.

SPEAKER_07 36:18

So I'm I know that sounds common sense, but you know the saying, uh humans eat with their eyes. So that's what they that's what they tell us in uh in uh culinary. Like when somebody put the food down, before you smell it, before you taste it, you're looking at it. And if it don't look right, yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

So say Quan with the wisdom there. Yeah, they dropped it. Humans eat with their eyes.

SPEAKER_08 36:45

That's great, dude.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Good shit.

SPEAKER_08 36:47

This is a good one. Yeah, great. Anything else? No, what's right? Oh, shout out DJ Event Planner, DJEventplanner.com. If you're looking for a CRM to manage your leads and to book your shows and have a little planning portal for your clients, that is where you want to go. We use it, we love it, and uh, we appreciate them sponsoring the show. See y'all back next week. Later