How To Prove Your Value In The Studio and Start Working With Higher Quality Clients

After talking one on one with other engineers, I noticed something that came up in almost every conversation that I had…

A lot of them were tired of working with bands that were unprepared, couldn’t play to a click track, didn’t know their parts and didn’t provide a solid enough foundation for them to put out their best work.

I feel that 110% on a spiritual level. It’s not a fun place to be and can actually hinder your growth as a studio.

Constantly working with bands like that WILL hurt you…

Here's why: If all you’re recording are mediocre bands, you’re showing potential clients that you are not experienced enough or serious enough to be working on higher quality projects.

The bands that you work with now are going to set the stage for the bands that you work for in the future.

I want to show you a great way to start working with high quality bands/artists, bring more awareness to your studio and have bands begging to work with you.

This isn’t going to work for everyone, so please do NOT use this method if:

You don’t have a decent following on social media
You don’t have good positioning (Your services or who you work with is not clearly understood by the market)
You don’t have a website
You don’t have a solid portfolio
You don’t have systems in place. (Invoicing, scheduling, etc.)

The fastest and easiest way to bring awareness to your studio and establish authority is by running a contest on social media.

I did this with my studio using Facebook by creating a simple post. I ran this twice and got to work with 2 bands that really got my name out there in my particular niche.

You WILL have to invest some time and even be okay with not getting paid, but the return that you’ll get from this will be much greater.

This is all about adding massive value and Wow’ing those bands so that they return as paid clients or pass the word along about how great their experience was to other bands.

I love this method because it puts YOU in control of who you want to work with.

Not only that, the amount of promotion that your studio will get during this time is almost effortless. Bands will literally be doing 90% of the work for you!

This went on for months when I ran my own contests. See for yourself:

On top of that, you’ll still be giving the “losers” an opportunity to work with you at a discounted rate.

It’s a win win.

Everyone loves winning stuff. Once you pick a winner, the band that you choose will be dying to share what they won and share their entire experience with their fans and other bands in the area.

Here are the main elements to focus on for creating a successful contest:

Create Scarcity:

You’re going to want to set a tight deadline of when the contest starts and ends.

I personally wouldn't let this run longer than a week.

Also remind them that you might not ever do this again. This will put pressure on them to take action now and not put it off.

Set Rules And Qualifications:

In order to work with high quality artists, you need to find a way to separate the mediocre bands from the ones that actually mean business.

A few ways to do this are: Requiring them to have demos, asking them to share your posts, asking them to answer a few questions, etc.

If they are not serious enough to take action on the little things, they’re most likely not going to hold their end of the deal on the bigger things.

Sell Them On Results:

Let them know what they’re getting, what kind of value that can be added by working with you, what their fans can expect, etc.

Make your announcement 100% about them.

This was the actual contest post that I used a few years ago.

Reminders:

People will forget about things like this. It is YOUR job to remind them to enter or sign up to your contest.

If you are running the contest Monday through Friday, I would suggest making a follow up post every other day until you announce the winner.

Selecting A Winner:

There are a few things that you are going to want to look for when selecting a band to work with.

I always look for the following: Are they constantly touring, are they constantly putting out content, are they well respected in the scene, are they going to make me look good?

Another big thing that you are going to want to consider is their previous work.

Can you deliver a result that is better than their existing recordings?

If not, don’t do it.

This could actually backfire on you if you can’t deliver a result that is better than what they currently have.

There are also subtle clue that will tell you who NOT to work with as well.

For example:

You can obviously tell that this person won’t value this and you don’t want to do something “just for fun”. You’re trying to show your best work and work with people who are serious about working with you.

Announcing The Winner:

At this point, the winner will be super stoked that they won and will share this with their fans even after the work is done.

They will feel like they have to give back!

ALSO, don’t forget about the “losers”. There’s still a ton of value that can be added to them.

Reach out to ALL the people that entered but didn’t win and send them a follow up message. Extend a discounted price to them for joining your contest in the first place.

The Invoicing Hack

Send them an invoice with a discounted amount that says “free”

It doesn’t seem like much, but there are HUGE psychological benefits of doing this.

Here's why:

The perceived value of a free song without anything to compare it to isn’t something that people will value.

BUT, if people see that they are getting something that would have cost them $500 and getting that for free...

It's going to make them appreciate your work 100x more.

This will also set the stage if they decide to work with you in the future.

If you crush their recordings/mixes and give them the absolute best experience, you will be able to charge premium prices that they’d be 100% happy to pay for.

I would highly suggest running a contest like this once or twice a year.

This was a great way to help me start working with bigger bands in my local area.