Lately we have had so many parents turn down AH MAZING potential castings/bookings, which is a H U G E no no. While we have been digging deeper to find out why our talent has been turning down jobs we found that most of not all turned down opportunities could be worked out. Want to have your cake, and eat it too? Here’s how.
Availability check: what does it mean?
So your agent just let you know a client reached out and wants to check if your child’s available December 11-14 ( for example). Your only available the 13th and the 14 do you decline ? Do you confirm ? What are your next steps ?
First things first, Let your agent know your available! Nope just because not all dates work, it doesn’t mean we can’t let the client know.
Here is what we recommend saying. “ Hey agents name, We are available just 2 of the 4 days. Can you check with the client if that’s ok?”
That’s it! It’s never good to decline an availability check as a lot do turn into bookings. Most agents get really frustrated if all they hear is not available, we rather work around a schedule then hear no.
The same goes for a client.As long as your up front with the client,if they like your child they will work around their schedule to fit your child in to their shoot . So it’s a win win . Just make sure you let us know know any known conflicts before you are booked.
Wanna know what you shouldn’t say when an agent is doing an availability check?
What time ? What location ? Or a million questions!
Argghhh it just drives me mad even typing the words lol . 🙈
99% of the time when we are asking availability the only info we know is the dates. If we have any additional info (rates, location, etc.) we almost always include it. We don’t ever hold information from talent if we have it.
Another reason to keep your response short and to the point is, We are also on a time crunch getting this info back to the client as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Think of it this way,
a client isn’t going to have their schedule ready before they book the kids they want so most likely they won’t have a time yet .
All your Agent is trying to find out is … is your child available the said dates. Yes or no.
This is also another reason why sometimes agent get a bad rep, we aren’t trying to be short, we just have to be. When we are clearing hundreds of kids.
Nothing takes more time than trying to get everyone cleared, and a project perfect for a client.
Do your part in making this process smooth, and we promise we will do our best in getting you in front of our clients!
