How Gig Soup works
Gig Soup is an additional gig-finding tool that's available for our Pro & Featured members to use.
IN THIS ARTICLE:
About Gig Soup leads
When an event planner submits a general request (meaning they did not contact anyone specifically), we try to find the most appropriate members to send that lead to. However, that's not always possible, either due to a lack of members in the requested category or no members within a reasonable travel distance. If we cannot find at least two members who might be a good fit, the request will then appear in Gig Soup.
These leads are completely different than those sent directly to your inbox. Leads that come to your inbox are coming directly from the event planner, either because they chose you specifically, or GigSalad chose you as an appropriate option for their event. (Read more about how regular gig leads work.)
How to use Gig Soup
To access Gig Soup, log in to your control panel and go to your Inbox. From there, select Gig Soup from the menu. By default, all Gig Soup leads will be ordered by when they were received, with the most recent first. If you wish, you may choose to sort them by state. To see more event details for a specific lead, click I'm Interested.
It's important to remember that every lead in Gig Soup first went through our lead distribution process where we tried to find appropriate matches for the event planner's request. If the client was looking for a category you are in and their event is near your location, you would have likely gotten the lead directly. So when you are browsing Gig Soup, you should think outside the box to find leads for which the client might not have considered your specific service.
For example, say you are a Magician browsing Gig Soup leads. You see one near your location looking for a speaker for a corporate event. Of course, this lead wasn't sent to you directly because you aren't a speaker. But you'd be a good fit for a corporate event, and perhaps they didn't consider a magician. This would be a great Gig Soup lead to respond to and pitch yourself for their event.
Responding to Gig Soup leads
If you find a lead that you think might be a good fit, click I'm Interested. Use the contact form to send a message to the event planner. We've included some default text you can use, but you may edit it however you like. If you edit the message and want to use it for all your Gig Soup responses, check the box beside "Save this message for later?". Once your message is ready, click Send Email.
Gig Soup is a service that's offered separately from your other leads & messages. When you respond to a Gig Soup lead, it does not add it to your existing gig leads, nor can the event planner send you a message through your inbox. In your message, you can send your contact info, or we encourage you to lead them back to your GigSalad profile and instruct them to request a quote through your profile so you can send them a quote and book the gig on GigSalad.
Pro tip: If you provide the event planner with your direct contact information and they respond wanting to book you, you can use the Book Outside Gig tool to send them a quote and complete the booking through GigSalad.
Response limitations
You may only respond to a limited number of Gig Soup leads per day. We do this to prevent abuse of the system and encourage our members to choose only the best options for them.
- Featured members may respond to 8 Gig Soup leads per day.
- Pro members may respond to 4 Gig Soup leads per day.
You can only respond to a specific Gig Soup lead once. After you've sent your initial message, it is up to the event planner to choose if or how they want to respond. You cannot follow up with them.
To see the Gig Soup leads you've responded to, choose Contacted from the inbox menu (below Gig Soup). From there, you can click each to see the event details and the message you sent.