Feps

Sep 2, 2007
1,182
119
31
Houston, TX
I'm currently reading a marketing book to help me expand to new clients to entertain. In the book the author says that the client should get a return of at least 20 times their investment. He goes on to say that the return can fall under one or more of four categories. Financial, Emotional, Physical or Spiritual.

If a client hires you to entertain their guests, whether it be walk around or a stand up show, what kinds of return are they or could they be getting on their investment besides just entertainment? How would it fall under one of those categories?

I'm having a tough time with this one and thought this would make for a good discussion anyways!
 
Oct 14, 2007
55
1
Seattle
This seems like an interesting conversion that I can throw my 2 cents into.

Can I first ask what marketing book you are reading?

A return on investment can easily be measured financially and physically because they are quantitative. Lets say you get hired to work an event. The client invest 300 dollars in you to perform a show for the evening. They sell tickets for your show at twenty dollars a piece. A total number of 200 guest purchase tickets amounting to 4000 dollars in ticket revenue sells. The client would then take the revenue minus the expenses (equipment and overhead cost) that it cost to setup the show (if any) then arrive at a profit (net income) number. The profit would be the financial return, and the physical would be the amount of people that came to the event or the amount of tickets sold. This is just one example that is very basic and straightforward. However, in the real world there are so many variables to take account for.

Emotional and Spiritual on the other hand, cannot be measured quantitatively. These terms and measurement are ambiguous depending on the group or individual being "measured". I believe the best way to determine these areas would be a survey given out after the show.

This is just one example (based on my opinion) out of many possible scenarios.

~Ryan~
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,182
119
31
Houston, TX
It's Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port.

That's totally true given that situation. But let's say a client hires you to do walk around at their company function. Certainly they aren't selling tickets for your show, everyone attending gets to see you! That means they won't get a financial return on their investment.

A physical return could be the fact that you are there. You're providing their guests with entertainment, a good time. This makes their event successful and memorable.

Emotional and spiritual still stump me. Could your magic/mentalism/whatever somehow elicit an emotional or spiritual return that is valuable to the client/guests?
 
Oct 14, 2007
55
1
Seattle
Well I can speak on the emotional aspect.

If you are a good enough entertainer, you will derive some type of emotion from an audience. If this is a positive emotional response, a business can take advantage of this. Customers will want to return to the place of business to experience what they felt the last time they attended. This would give the business repeat customers which will drive up sales. I use to do walk around in a bar which made the customers stay longer and thus spend more money on drinks. People would then come back with friends to watch me perform magic which brought the company new customers.

I mean there are too many situations and variable to think about and they can all be viewed from different perspectives. All the client is really concerned about is how this performer(you) can make the customers happy so that they spend more money. I mean that may sound blunt but it all comes down to the bottom line. Satisfied customers=repeat customers/new customers=more money.

It just all is dependent of the situation you are dealt with.

~Ryan
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Regarding the spiritual reward - A Gospel Magician would be the most direct example of this but there are others who mix spirituality in with their performances. Many of us in the Urban~Shaman group do so, providing a message regarding beliefs and illustrating that message with the performance. A phrase I've come across somewhat recently is "Psycho Spiritual" performance and I really like that.

I have not read the book you're referring to, so I could be way off base here, but the way I provide a spiritual return for customers is to open their eyes to new possibilities. Wonder, yes, but wonder at what is genuinely possible when one puts their mind to it.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
With books like that, take what seems to make sense to you and disregard the rest. I've just read the background on this author and his qualifications for writing this seem to be that he is a writer. He writes books and articles and that is what he's done here. Has he ever booked a magic show or performed a magic show? No. I would take Draven's advice any day over the advice of this writer.

The return on investment of 20 times is pure pseudo-scientific marketing babble trying to quantify the the un-quantifiable. The last time you bought lunch was your return on investment 20 times (2000%) what you paid? How about the last time you went to the dentist? The last time you purchased a pair of shoes? I'd be really glad if my investments had even a 20% return (by point of reference 10 Year Treasury Notes currently have a 3% annual rate of return).

My advice is to make it so that your clients think that you are worth what they paid you. If you clients feel they paid you more than you are worth, then you have an obvious problem. If your clients think that you were worth more than they paid you - you aren't charging enough.

I think that understanding the value you provide to you clients is helpful. Trying to quantify it is useless.
 
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