Billy T... highly useful stuff. I also agree. You all have far more experience in getting karaoke jobs than I do, but I think I can provide some useful information from where I sit.

It seems that, no matter how bad the last host or the lack of success of the last show, most times the last host will be called to run karaoke again - I know that from mailing venues who had just abandoned karaoke an extensive W2S Info Kit and an invitation to contact W2S for a list of local hosts, and seeing that a significant number of venues started karaoke again, and with the same old host.

The problem I have with knocking on doors is that you'll have to knock every week to make sure you're there when they want karaoke. I'd suggest instead knocking to find out
- The name of the person who organises their entertainment (ask in those terms) - rather than asking who is the Entertainment Manager as this may not, surprisingly enough, be the decision maker.
- The business email address, or if possible the email address of the person above (or at least the website from which you can get the email address).
- Tne answer to some karaoke related question that gives you some common ground whenever you speak to the decision maker, eg: if they haven't previously run karaoke, then why not , or if they have, why did they finish it and what did they think of it.

Armed with that information, build yourself an email list. Email your prospects approximately once every three months but at a suitable time (ie: not the week before Christmas or Easter) - this routine will keep you in the running for when they do think about karaoke because they will always remember receiving an email from you within the last 3 months, being an email they can easily find your details, and by making the frequency no quicker than 3 months you'll find almost no one will ask you to stop sending them.

Now you need to write 4 emails to cover the next year, each email being addressed to the person by name, and following the format:
Hi [name],
[Intro... just slightly different for each email....] This is Jack, the guy who dropped in a while back and quickly discussed running karaoke to boost business on a slower night, and I'd just like to mention something that I thought would interest you.
[Body of email, some useful subject discussed clearly and simply, and which will be of interest - as well as building an image of your business in their eyes]
[Call to action... can be exactly the same in each email....] So when you're ready to talk about how we might customise karaoke to fit your exact needs and objectives, please do call me on 123123123 between about 10am and 6pm any day of the week.

This may seem like a simple formula, but it is tried and tested and works. Not over the short term, but over the long term and almost without cost to you - and if you put something like this is place, it'll keep a trickle of inquiries coming in that can be converted into work.

As for getting an audience, that's of course a completely different matter.
Submitted by David on 20-11-2010

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