People rarely have set office space or even a designated place where they always are so cars become offices and phones are seen as the first lines of contact.
So, it is important that you choose a phone that has good reception, works in other parts of the country, and is assessable to be answered at all times of the day.
I’ll never forget, a couple of years ago I was working with an independent record label spear -headed by the legendary Wendy Day. If you’ve never heard the name or are unfamiliar, get familiar quick through Google.
She has great tools and knowledge available for independent artists on all of her sites.
Anyway, we were headed to Tallahassee, Florida for the quarterly record pool done by TJ Chapman (B.O.B.’s manager), of TJ’s DJ’s.
Being that this is a highly respected event, it is well attended by independents as well as majors looking to connect directly with DJ’s and other industry tastemakers.
Coming from Atlanta, Georgia you can imagine how many wrapped vans we saw on our way down.
After much license plate bingo and a steady barrage of great music, Wendy decided that the next wrapped van we saw she was going to call and meet with them in Tallahassee for a small consultation.
Now, Wendy is someone whose time is very valuable and worth every penny so for her to say this, I just knew that for some indie label, Christmas would be coming early.
When we finally caught up to another wrapped van, Wendy made the call and instead of being met with a new artist on the other line, there was the operator telling us the number was temporarily disconnected.
So that label never got the call and to this day will never know that someone who could have helped them immensely was trying to reach them all because someone didn’t take the necessary steps to make sure that their lines of communication were open the right way.
This is how opportunities can pass you by easily.
There are 100’s of stories in this industry where a phone call has changed lives.
Don’t’ miss out on yours.
Here are a couple of ways you can keep your lines of communication open.
Check Your Voicemails:
No matter how annoying this can be, checking voicemails is a part of communication. If someone feels as if what their calling about is important enough to leave a voicemail you should trust that it may also be important to you. I myself have heard 15 day-old voicemails offering a press opportunity for 2 days later, but because I listened 13 days too late I missed out on the great opportunity.
Answer All Calls:
Just because you don’t know a number doesn’t mean it cant be somebody important. People kill me saying I’m not answering this number because I don’t know it. Now if you were ON, that would be seen as being different. It could be anybody a fan, a stalker, an angry ex girlfriend. But, when your trying to make it that stalker could be an A&R, that fan could be a label president, and that ex-girlfriend could be a DJ.
Choose the Right Contact Person:
I personally know artist who have had their buzz up and have had labels want to sign them but never did so because of their contact person. First impressions are always the best when you have the right person doing it. If you cant afford a manager ask a friend that’s responsible or someone that wants to see you win and wont let a rainy day dictate how they answer the phone and blow your $300k deal.
KEEP YOUR PHONE IN SERVICE: The story I told before should be enough to tell you to keep your phone in service. You never know who could be trying to call.
Contact Information:
Make sure your contact information is correct on all of your marketing materials and also try hard to stay consistent with your phone numbers. To many numbers get frustrating to the point where some people just say forget it.
Written by
Lola Sims
PR & Publicity
LOLA SIMS PR
LolaSims@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter /LolaSims
