How gig leads work

There are two ways that you might receive leads on GigSalad:

1. Directly from event planners when they find your profile
2. From GigSalad, when the event planner submits a general request or asks for additional quotes

All leads are potential gig opportunities, but you might want to adjust your sales tactics depending on how the lead was sent to you. 

Leads directly from the event planner

When event planners come to GigSalad, they search for what they need, browse the profiles that come up near them, and then choose the one(s) they want to contact. When they click the button to contact you for a free quote, that lead will go directly to you. These direct leads will be identified with a note at the bottom of the Event Info on your gig lead.

Favorites

Being contacted directly does not necessarily mean you were the only one who received that lead. As event planners are browsing the site, they may add multiple profiles to their "favorites." Once they are ready to make contact, they can choose to send their request to all of their favorites at once. This is still considered a direct lead because they chose you specifically.

Even if the client didn't include you in a favorites list, it's also possible that the event planner has reached out to several other people or plans to. Or they may have GigSalad send their request to more providers (see below). It's good to keep this in mind and be sure to respond as quickly as possible to beat the competition.

Leads from GigSalad

Secondary leads are sent to you from GigSalad, rather than the event planner directly. GigSalad only distributes leads at the event planner's request. They do this one of 2 ways: 

General request

Instead of contacting providers directly, the event planner may choose to skip the search and send a general quote request. This means they will submit all of their event information and what category they are looking for, and GigSalad will send their request to the most appropriate profiles for them.

Contact others

When an event planner contacts someone directly, they will be asked if they'd like to get quotes from similar GigSalad professionals. 

One option will always be selected by default, which is determined by your level of membership and/or booking activity. For all free members and any paid member who hasn't booked a gig through the GigSalad platform in the last 60 days, the "Yes, up to 5 additional quotes" will be selected by default. For paid members who have booked at least 1 gig in the last 60 days, "Not at this time" will be selected by default. Regardless of the default, the event planner can change it to the option that works best for them.

Leads from GigSalad can be identified by the absence of a note at the bottom of the Event Info. You'll either see a note saying you received the lead directly, or there will not be a note, and you'll know that it's a secondary lead. While this does give you some idea of the client's interest, secondary leads should still be treated with the same attention and urgency as direct leads. The direct contact may not be available or interested in the gig, or they didn't contact anyone directly and just submitted the general request. Jump on each lead quickly so you can increase your chances of booking the gig!

Pro tip: If a lead was not sent to you directly, you should always assume that the client does not know who you are. Try attaching photos or linking to a video in your quote or message to better sell your services. Save yourself time by creating message and quote templates in advance with your media already included.

Distributing leads

When the event planner sends a general request or chooses to have their direct request sent to additional providers, GigSalad uses an algorithm that sorts options using various factors and criteria in order to find the most appropriate results. Similar to the search results on the front end of the site, category match and proximity to the event location are the highest priority.

In addition, several other factors play a part in distribution that are not used in normal search result placement. Having booked gigs (especially recent) and regularly reading and responding quickly to leads will increase your chances of getting these indirect leads. Other things that play a smaller role but are still considered are the number of other requests you've received for that same event date, how complete your PromoKit is, and your star rating. Using these various criteria, our system algorithmically chooses the best 5-10 profiles to send the lead to.