Thank You, How’d I Do?

Don’t be this place.

This is the impersonal, generic, auto-sent, without caring, thank you and request for feedback email I received after spending nearly $40,000.

Forty thousand dollars!

Just one week earlier, my wife and I walked into a car dealership with a bank draft for the exact dollar figure for the vehicle we were purchasing (we financed elsewhere and as such, we were a relatively “easy” sale). After signing all of the appropriate paperwork, we drove away happy customers. Then, about a week later, I received the above “thank you” message in my inbox.

Sharing genuine thank you notes is probably one of the most important elements of what we do.

Whether a note of thanks to an industry colleague for something great they did for you…or to a potential client that took the time out of their day to meet with you…or to a wedding couple whose selected you to help them celebrate their wedding last weekend…expressing our thanks is one of the simplest but most powerful behaviours each of us is capable of.

In addition to notes of thanks, asking for feedback is also highly valuable for guiding the direction of future work.

Asking for feedback can come in many forms such as asking industry peers to review current or in production work. Or maybe you’re asking other special event professionals for their candid feedback on what it is like to work with you? But perhaps most important of all for wedding DJs, is asking our past wedding couples for feedback. Asking what they liked about working with you and what they didn’t like about working with you can impact your future work in ways you might have never considered.

Regardless of the circumstance, don’t be the car place.

Assemble a thank you message and request for feedback with some meaning to it. Don’t be the car place.

Communicate to the recipient that you truly care about them and their opinions. Don’t be the car place.

Ask valuable questions that are truly important. Don’t be the car place.

The importance of reaching out to each of your clients shortly after their event (I email my wedding couples 3 days following their wedding) with a message of thanks (hand written or emailed) and a well-structured feedback survey will provide you with a lot. Post event thank you messages and feedback surveys are incredibly important. If you don’t send them, start today.

The thank you email I use with my wedding couples is based on a template I have produced within DJ Event Planner. I will always customize it with some specific details about their wedding, so they are assured that I actually sent the message myself and that I value their time in responding to it. I want them to know that it isn’t just some auto-generated email that took me absolutely zero time to fire off to them.

The feedback survey I use exists on a hidden page of my website that I send them a direct link to. I keep the survey private because its purpose is not for public “endorsement” (like you might think of Wedding Wire or The Knot reviews). This is a somewhat detailed review form, with very carefully worded questions, designed to provide me with very specific information. Often times, some of what is written to me is used for promotional purposes, but that is secondary to why I use this feedback survey. I want to know other details.

Subscribers to this blog have already received a present from me via email with links to a copy of the email template I use and the feedback survey that is so incredibly valuable to me. Special thanks to Peter Merry for inspiring some of the first half of my feedback survey.

(Non-subscribers can use any of the complimentary subscription options on this site and these same document links will be automatically sent out. I know, that “automatic” part is a little ironic here.)

In my parting words with a wedding couple at the end of their event, I generally mention that I will follow up with them in a few days. Whether you wait a couple of weeks, or send out shortly after the wedding like I do, communicating with your clients post event is really important.

Among many other valuable details, feedback I have received from past wedding couples has led to direct changes in my processes and given me valuable insight about when I should raise my rates.

I have also received some of the warmest words of thanks and detailed explanations about why some couples chose to work with me out of the many DJ options available to them.

Rarely, does one of my wedding couples not complete the survey. It might take them a couple of weeks, but they nearly always get it done.

Be inspired by the email and feedback survey I use and create something that speaks “you.” We are all different and as such, should have materials and messaging that speaks to our uniqueness and in our language.

And remember, don’t be the car place.

Just a thought…

For your free download of all documents and email templates mentioned on this website and to stay updated with future blog posts and downloads, please enter your name and email here:

2 thoughts on “Thank You, How’d I Do?”

  1. Great advise David! Wedding couples spent a whole lot for their one special day and should be treated with upmost respect and gratitude for selecting you to run their event. Appreciate your blog and so much insight in making us more than Wedding DJ’s by providing top notch service as a “giver”. Thank you.

What are your thoughts on this post? Love it? Despise it?