I really like this one place I play......great audience, beautiful huge brand new senior independent living complex, incredible Yamaha Grand piano, perfect acoustics in the auditorium, and so forth. I like the place and the people like me. Now the problem.

I've played there 6x in the last 2 years and the AD always gets a good report (I ask her each time).

The problem is she doesn't return my phone calls to book me again. Up to now, I called and called until I get her and it's like "Oh hi Mark, we always get good reviews on you...can we book you again." I just take the booking and forget about thinking is she "all there?"

This time I can't get through at all...no return calls...nothing.

Now, coincidentally, this particularly AD transferred from another place I'm still playing at. I had the same problem there with her. Been there 20 years and I still had to beg for a return call each time.

In short....how would you handle this? My thoughts are

(a) find out who is the head of the "entertainment committee" (one of the residents)and confirm that she wants me back

(b) go over the AD's head and talk to administration about the AD's manner of handling entertainment (not returning calls from entertainers who are asked to come back by the residents).

I'm half annoyed about the above situation and really annoyed about how AD's in general are doing their jobs these days. This is going on a month now and it's draining me with these AD's how they work....if at all.

My solutions are bordering on this is a "lose lose" situation if I step out of line and go over her head.

Before I act, I thought I'd run this past you guys to see if any of you have a better solution (please, no "give up the account" solutions).

Thanks

Mark

Just take a ride to the facility and talk to the AD in person,...let her tell you why she hasn't called back or called you without a call request by you to book your act?
Going to the administrator over her head will lead to bad things,....
then there's the possibility that the AD doesn't like your entertainment act and stays clear of answering yours & hundreds of entertainers requests all day long even tough the residents seem to like you makes no difference,...it's only one of so many NH's out there just move on to the next, it's their loss!..it's all part of the NH gig game that has to be played and endured from booking, calls, waiting for payments, etc, etc, ..

good luck

Mark

Donny might be right. I had the exact same thing happen to me. It turned out this AD had her favorites(young), and in spite of return requests from my friends there for three years,she would dodge me until I pinned her down. She did what she wanted with little regard for the residents wishes.

I solved that problem many years ago by going to the AD and booking all next year's jobs during the month of October during the current year. I walked in with a free, wall calendar with my name and contact information on the bottom, a free pen with my contact information imprinted on it, a big smile and usually got a big hug. I did this with more than 50 ADs every year and most said they wished everyone would to the same because it would save them so much time and hassle. Then after filling in the dates on both my calendar and theirs, I would go home, sit down at the PC and type up a confirmation of appearance letter and a new contract for the upcoming year, listing all the dates on it as well. I NEVER had a problem doing this. Give it a try - it could work for you as well.

BTW: I got both the pens and calendars from National Pen Company.


All the best,

Gary

Same thing used to happen to me all the time.

As expected Gary has the most business efficent approach. I was waiting for his answer when i read the topic. Same thing with me. do a great job, everyone's happy, leave and never hear from them again. Call and chase them down if you can. I'm at the point where I'm not going thru all that for one $100 gig at a time.
As Gary said, sit down one time and get it all done, "IF" the Ad will commit to that much in the future.
Worth a try and if it doesn't work you have a lifetime supply of cheap pens.

Those calendars cost me $1.09 each, and they were full size appointment, wall calendars that had some incredible photographs on each page. The pens were just .39 cents each. However, there was a small setup fee for each, about $25 for the calendars and about $12.50 for the pens. I usually ordered about 50 Calendars and 100 pens. I gave pens away to residents as well, mostly in hopes that they would ask for me when there were special events, such as 100th birthday parties, anniversaries, family nights, picnics and festivals, all of which were longer jobs that paid the same hourly rate, which was still far higher than any nite club or restaurant job I ever played. Imagine getting $125 to $150 an hour for playing in a restaurant or bar.

Ironically, I only had one AD that balked when I asked her to book a year in advance. She called one afternoon to book a job and I didn't have an opening. She actually changed the date of the event to accommodate my schedule, then while I was there, she pulled me aside and asked if she could book out the rest of the year, which I did. After that, she booked the year in advance every October, just like all the other ADs in my area.

Now, there are folks on this forum that sincerely believe that word of mouth is all the advertising they need, and maybe for them, it is effective, though I seriously doubt it. Mail outs, cards, news letters, pens, calendars, CDs, and personal visits are very, very effective. If they didn't work, then why do the largest corporations in the world use these same tools to advertise their wares every day of the week. When it all comes together, you can command the highest prices, book top dates such as New Years Eve, Saint Patrick's Day, Christmas, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and others years in advance.

Others on the forum have taken the course I charted and have been extremely successful. Bill in Dayton has made a very good living performing the senior circuit, and although I have not seen many posts by Bill lately, I assume he's still out there doing more than 500 jobs a year. Helmut Licht in Baltimore is also performing about the same number of jobs per year, and he's booked nearly 2 years in advance now. In addition to his senior circuit jobs, he also has a weekly Ballroom Dance Class that he teaches at one of the American Legion Halls that draws about 50 couples each class. If I recall he charges about $25 per class and that includes soda pop, snacks and a sandwich, all of which are provided by the Legion at a minimal cost to him. If the dancers want anything stronger to drink, they must purchase it from the Legion.

Keep in mind, this is a business, just like any other business, and if you want to be successful you will have to take every approach necessary in order to bring about those successful sales contacts.

Good luck,

Gary

Donny…..this is one time I agree with everything you say.



After I did this post, I remembered what I used to do years ago (when I was imaginative) and it worked every time. Since I always got an answering machine, I would leave a message something like: “Hi Susan, I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks with no success. It’s not like you to not return a phone call because you’re very professional. So I’m assuming you’re probably not even getting my calls. Since I’m playing in your area next week, I’ll stop in personally to make sure we touch base and if you’re not around I’ll leave a message with administration that your machine might possibly be malfunctioning.

You can bet the rent money, to avoid a direct confrontation, I got a call the next day from the AD! It worked every one of the few times I had to do that. It’s called “fight fire with fire” (or fight BS with more BS!).

That we both agree on, but if it comes down to losing the account, I’m going to march myself right into the office of the top honcho there and tell him how she ignores the residents request for music and particularly how she doesn’t return phone calls from a musician who’s worked with her for some 15-20 years. If there’s one thing that really irritates me to no end, it’s “man’s inhumanity to man!” Don’t think about anyone else but yourself and ignore the needs of others (the residents in this case)!

It doesn’t matter if SHE likes me or not. She works for the residents……not for herself. And if the residents tell you to your face they want you to come back, then that's what counts.

I agree they must get hundreds of calls a day. Still that’s no reason for bad manners! Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.

I have no problem doing that, but I just love this place. And the residents are always asking me when I will be returning. And......that Yamaha grand piano makes me sound like Arthur Rubenstein. I’d play that piano for nothing.

I guess I wasn’t looking at it that way. Life ain’t fair and, I can now see, neither are AD’s. A friend said to me many years ago……”one of my biggest problems is I expect people to act like I do.” I would never dream of abusing people like she does.......both me AND the residents!

I tend to look at the world (and AD’s) through rose-colored glasses. Thanks for reminding me that it’s nothing but a free-for-all out there. Something like the World Wrestling Federation mega-matches where they throw 50 wrestlers in a ring about the size of a refrigerator and wrap it with barbed wire.

Mark

Bernie, and everyone else here, thanks for posting your own experiences. I'm not taking it so personal now that you guys told me you go through the same thing even when you do a good performance.

Bernie.........you said exactly what I needed to hear: "She did what she wanted with little regard for the residents wishes." But, man, does that burn me up!

Mark

In all fairness(or unfairness), I learned she relied on volunteer musicians(?), and was using that savings in her budget to bolster other activities. I will volunteer for bonafide charities or truly worthy destitute groups when it's warranted, but not when there is a budget and others are being paid.

Mark glad I could help you a bit...good luck..

If I ever get back in the business, my wife will be doing my bookings (she did most of them before). For a while I had a group of older ADs lined up who would book me regularly. After they retired, the young kids (who looked like they were 12 years old to me) moved in and it went south from there.

Volunteer work is fine, but I had lots of people that wanted me to play for free because they allegedly had no budget. I don't know about you, but when I go to these places I see a building full of people, most of whom are getting paid. I know there are volunteer musicians, but with all the time invested in learning how to play and all the money invested in equipment, I don't see how they can do it. Just my opinion.

Mark, I think the take away from these posts is simple - it is what it is and it has always been that way. In my area I now have over 400 senior venues within 50 miles of my house - all doing entertainment for the residents. Like you I too have had AD turnover that has cost me gigs. Not much you can do about that after you make your initial attempt to reestablish the relationship and it doesn't work out. I don't give up but frankly I have had little success with the effort. Strangely enough, months later I will get a phone call from that same AD who suddenly heard about me or found my info in the files and the bookings resume. I suspect this is because I did not cause the new AD any problems but just moved on. Heck, I have shown up for a gig and everyone in the place has been replaced and they want to know who I am and why I am there. I have had 2 or 3 other entertainers show up at the same time for the same gig. Like someone said, it is part of the senior venue gig system .

Right now I have more calls than I can play and how I got there was to simply move on and put my recruiting efforts in the new places being opened almost on a daily basis here. I too have several places I would not like to lose but I know it can happen and will adapt to whatever happens.

Perhaps my age makes me more mellow about this. At 77 who knows how many more years of very active gigging I have left so I don't worry about it much. Also, it is not a main source of income for my wife and I and it provides me with the ability to buy good equipment whenever I want and take a few vacations each year without hitting our main income. Perhaps if this was not the case I might have a different approach to it all.

Mark, good luck with your situation and I hope you can make it work out for you.

Deane

Deane......thanks for the additional letter of support. I agree with everything you say. Your way is the practical way. I have no problem moving on when I "lose" an account. There's enough pickings out there especially where I live.

But, I decided I'm NOT going to do it the Deane way or the pragmatic way all of you have advised me......I'm going to do it the "barbarian" way! I'm going to go to the head of administration and state my case. I have nothing to lose. She's not returning my calls, so I lost the account already. Can't get any worse telling the boss about her actions.

I worked for this woman for years in a previous location. And she did the same thing for years.......never returned calls.....humiliated me.....made me beg for a booking (which I eventually got). And it's not about they don't like my performance. I've been at that place for 21 years so disapproval doesn't even come into play here.

Some people just plain need to be told off so they don't do that to other people. I'm still ticked off about the whole thing. On Friday I'm going to drive to the location and confront her directly. If she's not there, I'll go to Administration and explain to them what's going on. People in the business world really need to grow up and do the job they were hired to do, and........do it CORRECTLY.

I'll keep you guys posted as to how it eventually turns out.

Mark

Good Luck Mark keep us posted

Donny,
Your quote is not mine. But I sure do agree with
It.
Deane

I have found t is much easier to change me than someone else. They are what they are.

And – if I do that, I become that better person.

John C.

John....you're absolutely correct. But in this situation she's been a thorn in my side for about 12 years now, making me crawl to get a booking in a place where everyone always asks me to come back. The "good book" says treat people the way you would like them to treat you. Not this time. She needs to be exposed for how she treats people. I'm not following through on this just for me, but anyone else she deals with who doesn't know how to speak up and confront her.

I know I've lost the account and I accept "life, simply is not fair." But I'm not going down without a fight!

Mark

It turns out I was wrong and all of you were right! But I can be stubborn and hot-headed at times and that's what was running my engines with this AD. Luckily, I did half take your advice. I thought long and hard about doing something I was going to be sorry for (go over her head to the chief administrator).

The game plan was this. I called a couple more times and even told the receptionist to hand write a note that I was requesting a return call and put it right in her hands.

That was Monday. No return calls. Now it's Wednesday morning and I'm so wound up over this thing, it's ruining my days. So I'm sitting there doing some computer work and the thought came to me. Why don't you hand the problem over to (my God) my Higher Power? And that's what I did....asked Him to solve the problem for me.

Well, it's 05:40 pm the same day....the phone rings...and it's HER (the AD).....and I get something like: "Hi Mark, how's everything....how are you doing in this heat." I've know her over 10 years casually and so we had a brief casual conversation and she proceeded to book two more jobs...like no mention of her not returning my calls. So I played dumb, finished the phone call with "great talking to you again" and pondered the next 24 hours over......"is God that powerful that he fixed something I couldn't fix myself in a month?"

You can take what you feel you need to take from that story. Speaking for myself, I've been taught a great lesson in "a power greater than myself....."look before you leap".....patience, and...lighten up on the headstrong and aggression bits!

QUOTE FROM DEANE ABOVE: "Like you I too have had AD turnover that has cost me gigs. Not much you can do about that after you make your initial attempt to reestablish the relationship and it doesn't work out. I don't give up but frankly I have had little success with the effort. Strangely enough, months later I will get a phone call from that same AD"

Mark