The "F" word

[bigbluebarry]

Forwards? Nope, try again... Failure? Nope, not that one either... and no, it's most definitely not THAT word. The word I'm talking about is Follow-up.Yesterday I spent some time on the web doing some research. I came across an article that was written by a music publisher. He talked about follow-up and how important it is. Now let me say first off, I'm not talking about what to do after you get a forward. There are other threads on here right now that deal with that. What I'm talking about is the step after that, when the client has contacted you and asked for more material, or if you made a cold call and got the ok to send them your material. Those are the situations I'm referring to.In the article I read, the author mentioned that he has a never ending stack of CD's submitted to him that he listens to as he can. He said that the best way to follow up with someone, is by phone. He gave an example of how he will occasionally get a call from an artist that submitted a CD, asking him if he's listened to it yet. If he hasn't, he tells them so and then after they hang up, he said he will usually go digging through his stack to see if he can find it. As he said "yes, it's really that simple." So I took that advice to heart. Thanks to the one-on-one mentor session I had at this past Rally, I was given a contact at a Major motion picture/record label company. I used some advice I got from the "Network Strategies" with Dan Kimpel class at the Rally and made a cold call to this contact back during the first week of December. The call went very well and I was given permission to send a CD to this person. So the next day I overnighted a CD to him and hoped for the best. I hadn't heard anything from him and figured he was probably really busy with his job. But after reading that article I previously mentioned, I figured it would be a good time to follow up with him and see if he had a chance to listen to it.So I called him, got his voicemail and found out that he was working remote for the rest of the month and was told to not leave a voicemail message as he would not get it. So I thought I'd try sending an email to him since I didn't have his cell #. I sent a short and to the point email asking him if he had a chance to listen to the CD I sent him (also mentioned the name of my contact to help refresh his memory) and wished him well for the upcoming year.About an hour later I got a reply. He said that he had never received my CD. He apologized and asked me to send him another one or give him a myspace page link.Had I not followed up with him, I would have never known that he hadn't gotten the CD. I know he wasn't going to call me and ask me where it's at because he's WAY too busy to be doing that. Again, I'm not talking about calling up a company that you've been forwarded to, please adhere to the TAXI policies on that. But in those instances where you gave someone a CD at the Rally, have you followed up with them to see if they've listened to it yet? One more related note about that thought... I did just that yesterday with someone whom I had given a CD to at the Rally. He told me that he hadn't listened to ANY of the CDs yet but he was going to go find mine out of his stack and give it a listen. So I would encourage you to take a break from writing and composing and do a little bit of the "yucky" work. You never know what might happen.- Big Blue

[billg]

That's a good story Blue.I know that it's a no-no but I have contacted someone after a forward. Sort of the same thing that happened to Blue but this person didn't remember hearing the forwarded song and ask me to send a cd with that one and some additional ones.You just never know if you're being a pest or doing something smart. I usually go by some kind of gut feeling thing . . . which is most of the time wrong. Damnit.

[matto]

Anytime you're dead professional when contacting someone, chances that you'll make a pest of yourself are really small.It's just that unfortunately many musicians have serious trouble being professional when it come to their music...and most of them aren't aware of it.

[yammer107]

I dont know what the majority is here - * Full time musicians - perhaps have never held day jobs* Musicians with low key side jobs to keep afloat * Full daytime employed blue collar + music* Full daytime employed white collar + music I fall in the fourth class, and have been in all class's at one time or another ....wish I was in the first class again, with all my heart. But from my experience in the business world - There is absolutely nothing - I repeat nothing wrong with ONE, (1)... Polite, brief and professional ... repeat ONE/POLITE/BRIEF/PROFESSIONAL..... Follow up call concerning any area of business. This is completely exceptable. I'm sure TAXI is only trying to protect its clients and relationships from the tidal wave of phone calls that would ensue..... And this is really in our best intrest as TAXI members folks. But keeping it short, sweet, polite and in single digits is key. Now.... if TAXI has promised it's clients 'no phone calls' if they jump on board or some solicitation language to that point - well we have 'nother whole ball game here. Wouldent want my membership revoked or something to that effect. Chris

[georginasaint]

Really interesting thread guys. I just want to add my own small story here - I got permission to submit a CD to a library (not through Taxi) and did that. I emailed the guy after 3 months and he replied instantly "It's right near the top of my pile of CDs and I'll be listening to it really soon". Another 3 months later I emailed again, same story. To make this short, nearly 2 years went by. He had revamped his company and website and done loads of things, never listened. I sent him another email recently, after about a year's gap. He remembered me and said I could submit three MP3s and he'd listen within 2 weeks. I sent the MP3s that was about October/November 2008. Now it's Jan 09 and I haven't heard anything, so I'm about to send him another email. I have a good relationship with this guy, such as it is. Always short and polite and sometimes joking, he responds very well. That's my story!Maybe I should put my efforts elsewhere now, eh?!!!! Or one day, maybe this "relationship" will pay off?Georgie

[dpenn]

Great post Big B! I'm glad I read it - reminded me that I have some calls to make Thx,Dave

[bigbluebarry]

I have another story to add to this, kinda similar to Georgie but in a much smaller time frame. So last week on Wednesday I called one of the music supervisors that I had given a CD to at the Rally. He didn't remember me at first, but after he found my CD (at the VERY bottom of his stack from the Rally, probably hundreds based on the crowd I remember seeing around him that day) and saw my picture and the blue bear logo, he was like "Oh yeah, you were the rocker looking guy!" He said that he hasn't had a chance to listen to it yet but he would give it a listen and call me back in a few minutes. Hours went by and no phone call. I knew he was a busy person so I wasn't surprised.I hadn't heard back from him by Friday afternoon. I went with my gut based on how our first phone call went and decided to call him back. He said that he had kept getting distracted and just didn't get a chance to listen to it. So he said he was going to stop what he was doing and give it a listen right then and then would call me back in a few minutes. Well hours went by again and no phone call.I decided this time that instead of calling back on Monday I was just going to let it rest for a bit. My gut was telling me not to call back again for awhile. Well, I woke up this morning and had the following email from him:"Just wanted to let you know I heard you CD and I liked it. My recommendation to you is to contact some libraries. I think you could generate quite a bit of income writing for them. From my perspective, I thought you were pretty competitive. Keep up the good work!" I'll be honest, when I first read that, I was disappointed. I thought that the first couple of songs on my CD were PERFECT for the type of shows that this particular music supervisor is in charge of. This was one of those situations, not a total "make or break" situation, but I knew that with this company, THE decision maker listened to my songs and liked them, but not enough to use them. So after a few hours of feeling sorry for myself (not looking for any sympathy, just being honest), I finally got over my little self-pity party and started pressing forward. I'm DETERMINED to one day be able to give this person another CD in the future and have him call me wanting to use some of the tracks. It's gonna take a little time and a lot of hard work but that's ok. I'd rather shoot for the stars and land on the moon than shoot for the moon and never break the atmosphere...- Big Blue

[mk]

I've said it before B and I'll say it again...You Rock! I enjoyed all the post's on this thread, and plan to have some calls to make in the not so distant future. Thanks to Big Blue Barry for bringing it up.Everytime I come to the Taxi Forum, I come away with something... this place rocks..

[mk]

In my haste to spread the love I forgot to sign my post... sorry all. Also apologize for multiple igneous references... my third grader has a test today in science, so I have all kinds of "Rocks" on the brain. Mike..... this place does rock though, I mean.... come on... admit it...

[bigbluebarry]

Thanks Mike! And good to see you here on the boards!- Big Blue