Passing wedding video jobs on

[Steve Bleasdale]

Hey guys we are so busy that I have made a contact with a couple wedding video guys that are decent in the area as we have a lot of clients coming through our wedding shop and we like to keep them happy. So when we are booked on the date I can now pass them on rather than just ignore the brides! It does work passing back as these guys have now introduced clients to me for next year as they are busy that day. So it does go to show being nice in the industry to your competition does in fact in the end work!
Anyone else refers competition? Does it work for you? Or in the end do they stalk your work stalk you and then rip you of?

[Peter Riding]

Us photogs have been doing it for years and yes its solid :- ) Its also useful in a couple of other ways 1) you can discuss issues and get genuine feedback rather than guru crap and 2) you can find yourself shooting alongside others where a 2nd is required and its interesting to see how others work.

Pete

[Steve Bleasdale]

Cool peter nice!!

[Chris Harding]

I refer both video and photo jobs if I'm already booked and of course it pays off as the other person will do the same for you. I think however it's important to make sure that they have a similar price structure and coverage as you and possibily style too so the bride still gets what she is looking for.

Works well for us and no bad feedback either

Chris

[Steve Bleasdale]

Great point Chris...

[Danny O'Neill]

We had a similar situation.

We use Tave for our bookings. EVERY lead goes into it automatically and when we close a job for whatever reason we always log it i.e already booked, unavailable for whatever reason, gone stale or exceeded budget.

We pulled up a report a year or so ago and were taken back just how much work we turn away from being booked or how many were on a small budget.

We've always referred others and those we do often thank us for filling their books. So we took that data and had a decision. Do nothing or see if we can make more money.

So with a little bit of investment we took the leap and launched A Hint of Mint Ltd | Wedding Video / Films | Wedding Videographer based near London UK so now we refer the work to ourselves. We still have plenty to hand over to others as some dates you could just sell a million times over.

[Pete Allen]

I have a couple of people I refer filled dates to, as long as it's reciprocated, it can only be a win-win situation.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Originally Posted by Danny O'Neill

We had a similar situation.

We use Tave for our bookings. EVERY lead goes into it automatically and when we close a job for whatever reason we always log it i.e already booked, unavailable for whatever reason, gone stale or exceeded budget.

We pulled up a report a year or so ago and were taken back just how much work we turn away from being booked or how many were on a small budget.

We've always referred others and those we do often thank us for filling their books. So we took that data and had a decision. Do nothing or see if we can make more money.

So with a little bit of investment we took the leap and launched A Hint of Mint Ltd | Wedding Video / Films | Wedding Videographer based near London UK so now we refer the work to ourselves. We still have plenty to hand over to others as some dates you could just sell a million times over.

Nice one Danny mate

[Peter Rush]

I have one guy not too far away that I refer work on to - he does the same for me too!

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Danny O'Neill

so now we refer the work to ourselves.

So that means you hired extra people to take on those double bookings? Why did you have to start a other company for that, could you not just hire or employ an extra videographer to cope with the double bookings and handle it through your current company?

[Pete Allen]

If you both get one extra booking from referring, it's got to be worth it.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

So that means you hired extra people to take on those double bookings? Why did you have to start a other company for that, could you not just hire or employ an extra videographer to cope with the double bookings and handle it through your current company?

Setting up another company also allows you to have different pricing structures and also means you're not having to deal with who is expected to turn up (see other threads on here about that!).

It also gives you two entires in google etc etc.

[Danny O'Neill]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

Setting up another company also allows you to have different pricing structures and also means you're not having to deal with who is expected to turn up (see other threads on here about that!).

It also gives you two entires in google etc etc.

Bingo! We also upgraded our gear to c100 and handed down the old gear. They also don't get steadicam. The final packaging is cheaper, product is less bespoke and all aimed at keeping the initial cost down.

We were turning people away as we were booked but also loosing some due to price. So the new studio model was to capture those people. It also acts as a training ground to bring people upto a certain spec to bring into the MintySlippers brand.

[Noa Put]

Ah, I see, thx Danny for explaining and sharing. Great if you are looking for ways to expand your business. Only if you don't have any expanding plans just referring clients to other videographers in the hope you can get the same referrals back seems like a great way to fill any empty weekends you still might have.