Happy New Year, everyone! 2019 was quite a year. We launched a lot of long-awaited features – saved quotes, calendar syncing, lead blocking, and more – and made countless other improvements both on the site and behind the scenes. We’re working on our roadmap for 2020 as we speak, and can’t wait to get started. In the meantime, here’s a quick update on what’s going on right now.
In this product update:
- More calendar features (recurring events!)
- Saved messages for declining leads
- A letter from Mr. Bacon 🥓
Get up to “date” on the calendar
As you know from many of our updates in recent months, the calendar is still an ongoing project for our development team. We’re slowly rolling it out feature by feature and want to keep you updated along the way.
Launched!
We mentioned last month that we were working on the ability to add events to multiple days at once, and we launched that feature just before the holidays!
Now, when adding a new event to your calendar, you’ll input all the details for the first date of the event, but then you’ll click “add to multiple dates” at the bottom and choose all the dates the event recurs on.
Coming soon…
General availability: Our developers are currently working on a feature that will allow you to select specific days/times of the week that you are always unavailable. Never work Tuesdays? (Understandable, they are the worst!) You’ll be able to save that preference so you don’t get leads for events on Tuesdays.
New calendar location: We’re going to be moving the calendar to its very own section in your control panel. Once this is in place, you’ll have a new menu item that will let you jump straight to your calendar without having to go through the Edit PromoKit section.
As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions for the calendar or any other features, let us know.
Save messages for declining leads
When you decline a lead, there’s an option to send the client a message explaining why you can’t accept their request. We had many users request the ability to use a saved message for that response.
So now you can! When declining a lead, there will be a dropdown above the text box so you can choose one of your saved messages. If you haven’t already, you can create custom saved messages for various decline scenarios.
A few words from Mr. Bacon
Our awesome Product Manager, John Bacon, is passionate about making GigSalad the best it can be. And he knows that begins and ends with you, the user. So we asked him to write a letter to kick off 2020 and give you all a little insight into where we’re headed.
Hi everyone!
What an end to the decade, right? It was a big one for us and our members. We rolled out a lot of features you’ve requested over the years and ended up getting our members over 12% more bookings than in 2018. Since getting you work is our #1 priority, we mark that as a successful year.
Over the past year, I’ve focused on shifting our approach to how we choose projects. We’ve always accepted user feedback to some degree, but the GigSalad of the past was driven by gut reactions or what would drive the most revenue. Yes, revenue must play a part, because we are a business, but our users should drive our product. When you are successful, we are successful too.
I’ve personally spent the last several months researching, surveying, and talking with our members and event planners. I’ve logged pretty much every bit of feedback we’ve received in recent years into a new process that will allow us to discuss each item of feedback in more detail. We can’t do every single thing requested, but we’ll be evaluating each and every suggestion to determine the amount of work involved and the value it will bring to you, our members. In short: your feedback matters. We are in the business of solving your problems.
That brings me to the #1 thing we hear from you, and one of our major themes for 2020: lead quality. I know it’s frustrating to receive leads that go nowhere. While we are never going to be able to hit a 100% response rate (I wish we could force clients to respond!), there are many things we can do to increase lead quality, and you can expect to see them in 2020.
I can’t even tell you how excited I am about where GigSalad is going. I’ve never felt more connected to our users and I want to keep that going in 2020 and beyond. So please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ve compiled a few of the specific ideas we’re considering and would love to know what you do and don’t want. Just take this 2-question survey to share your feedback. That’s right, just two questions!
Thank you for reading my letter and for your continued support of GigSalad. I hope I get to talk to some of you a bit more this year!
– John
Heather is the Content Manager and a GigSalad veteran of 15+ years. She loves helping event planners create unforgettable celebrations and talent make a living doing what they love. When not at work, she enjoys reading romance and fantasy books, bingeing TV shows, playing board games, and spending time with friends.
In my situation I am a one man band with the equipment and sound and repertoire of a full sized band. I have a five star rating from the clients I have performed for through your leads … and promises that I will be asked to return. Unfortunately I live on the Olympic Peninsula and have to pay either ferry tolls or bridge tolls. A simple gig even as close as Seattle requires about 10 to 12 hours of my time. So I can’t compete with the one man bands who can do one or two hour gigs. I need a $450 to $550 price to make it worth my while to travel. Without knowing the budget of the buyers I am just wasting their time and mine responding to people looking for a super-bargain in price instead of being more concerned about the high quality they will receive from their entertainment. I have over half a century of experience and a huge choice of variety but I am like those restaurants that say “If you have to ask about the prices you’re in the wrong place”. With so many part time musicians who do this more as a money supplement to their “real job” I need help getting presented to people who have the money to afford a full time professional without batting an eye at my price. Can you help me with that?
Hi Robert, while we’d love to promise that each lead you get will be open to your pricing, that may not be the case with GigSalad. Most people using our service have never booked a big event before and may not know what to expect. They’re Googling “one mand band” and landing on our site, in most cases, and are exploring the idea of live entertainment. This might be where you have to put in a little extra time selling yourself and why you’re worth the higher price!
I want the discount of buying a twelve month contract with GigSalad but I take a month off in December to spend in my condo in Arizona. Can you give me a twelve month contract that won’t have me paying for a month I won’t use? I’ve only been averaging about two booking a year through Gig Salad leads so paying the more expensive month by month price makes a bit of difference in my consideration of whether it’s worth it or not.
Hi Robert, yes! You can buy a 12-month membership and “freeze” it during the month you aren’t working. I hope this helps!