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Approaching Every Customer is Important
It amazes me in the majority of clubs I go to nowadays that the girls don't work the floor. The money WILL NOT come to you.
Every dancer should approach EVERY customer and ask for the business, ask for a dance, talk to him briefly, go back to the guy who said no earlier and be persistent.
So many clubs I work at now the girls do their stage sets and go sit down. The money is made selling dances. If your clubs DJ doesn't push dances push him into doing it. Tip him extra to push the dances and hardball the crowd into buying them.
You CAN"T look at aguy and tell if he will spend money. All dancers who don't actively approach customers for dances need to work in Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso or Fresno for a week. Those girls constantly go from table to table asking for dances and the guys are used to it. some clubs will require you to sit with the guy briefly and the Southwestern clubs I mentioned don't.
Just because some black guys are jivey or some Mexicans are too grabby, or the guys look too young or the guy looks like a hick doesn't mean all these guys won't spend money on dances. you can't stereotype guys. Are all strippers sluts? See what I mean?
I have been to clubs where the DJ announces come to him if you want a dance with a certain dancer. the girls get off stage and go sit down not trying to work the floor and sell anyone dances unless the customer makes the first move. YOU WILL NEVER MAKE MONEY THAT WAY!!!!
Approach EVERY customer and don't be afraid to go back several times. Be friendly but persistent. Don't ignore and walk by one or two customers and talk to the third one. The other guys you walked by might have been a sale.
This is SOOOOO important. And when you get off stage DON'T go to the dressing room. IMMEDIATELY get out there and work the floor, starting out with the customer who gave you the most eye contact on stage first. if stage tips were slow, walk around and ask for tips AS SOON as you get off stage. I don't care if the other girls don't do it , you do it!!!
A good dancer won't try to judge customers. Her job is to persistently approach all the customers in the club using good selling techniques and being friendly.
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
So how do you deals with all the "no's" you get in addition to all the "yes's?" I worked in Phoenix and that place did a number on my self-esteem. Aside from being the least money I've ever made from dancing, the constant rejection killed me. I was used to working in a stage club in Oregon that didn't even offer table dancing. Having to go to table after table and hearing from one to twenty "no's" before hearing a "yes" made me feel completely undesirable. I would go home thinking, " a hundred guys tonight don't think I'm worthy of five bucks (that was the price of dances in AZ in 1996). It made me hate myself and question whether I was even attractive at all. Sure, I saw girls I thought were drop-dead-gorgeous go through the same thing I was. That didn't comfort me at all, though. I still felt totally rejected. I sunk into quite a depression after living in Phoenix. Even today, six years later, my self-esteem is still not the same.
So how do you deal with the rejection without it ruining your self-esteem and truly impacting your life?
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
If you get a whole bunch of no's in a row, take a break and regroup. Some nights are just like that - but you know, sometimes it's that last guy. There have been times when I've asked the entire room for a dance when a two-for-one special has been going on, been turned down by everyone (it seems), then been wildly waved over to a table by a guy that says, "I've been waiting for you all night!"
Getting lots of nos sucks, but I kind of chalk it up to a bad night rather than to myself. I know I won't hear "no" if I don't go ask, but neither will I hear "yes." When it's rough, I just think of myself as a waitress and pretend I'm selling drinks instead of dances; that way I take it less personally if I'm turned down.
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If I get no from every single guy in the room, I'll go back in the dressing room, drink my bottled water, fix my make up, tell myself how beautiful I am, pamper myself a little, go talk to someone who makes me happy or call someone on my cell that makes me happy, and then go back out there.
It's important not to base your personal value on how much money you make or how many dances you get. Just look at yourself and know that you are incredible, then go tell everyone else :-)
Lena
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Customers like to see dancers that are confident, and well, confidence is sexy. I work in Phoenix, at a club that still has $5 dances and I do very well. I don't take the rejection personally. It's very hard too because my club has a lot of girls!!
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Yes breaks are very important. But while taking a break, don't look bored, or sit alone. Always sit, chat up a guy or guys while resting your feet. You look approachable. And add others to your group. I have tried this and it works at times. I mean these guys are there to see naked women! So work every one in the club. Don't be a pest. and handle a no as "no thanks". Maybe you will get him next time, or he has an ATF he's after. Pamela
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you would be absolutely and utterly amazed at the girls in my club that sit on their ass all day long and do nothing but play video games and then have the unmitigated gall to give me dirty looks when i have to walk by them in order to get to the v.i.p room with my 15th customer of the day!!! and this has been going on for years...how they live on a paycheque when it's only $50 per shift is totally beyond me.
i only freelance and i think i make 4 times as much as the girls on schedule and i work half the time...and i'm not, i repeat, not better looking than them or skinnier than them or younger for that matter...go figure
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Heather, selling is a numbers game. Every customer will not buy dances and Arizona clubs teach a girl to get comfortable working the floor. The more people you approach, the more you will sell. A good quota to set in those clubs is 5-6 dances per hour. The busier the club, the easier it is to accomplish that.
No girl sells 15 out of every 20 customers she approaches. It might take 20 customers to find 2 that will buy 6 dances for the hour. And you have to be your absolute sexiest looks wise and be friendly and chat with the guys a little.
In any selling you have to go through the numbers game. Just because looks are a prerequsite in this business doesn't mean that basic selling concepts are to be ignored. Every customer who walks in a car dealership doesn't by a car. Every person who responds to a classified ad doesn't buy. it might take 25 calls to get 2 sales. Dancing is no different.
Don't take it personally. Get the tape "How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard or any ofhis selling tapes and apply the techniques to dancing. You cannot just rely on stage tips in this business. You have to learn how to talk the guys into buying dances and buying as many as possible, and ALWAYS ask for a tip when you are getting paid.
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LOL Holly Day! I know what you mean. Whats up with them? We work. And they wonder why they don't make money. Get off your BUTTS!! Stay away from the games. go for the MEN!! Pamela
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I couldn't agree more! At the club I go to they have quick 20-second table dances for a buck or two that basically serve to help sell a private dance. On an average night this probably means $30-$50 bucks for the dancer just to work the room for 15 minutes, plus the chance to sell some private dances. I could never figure out the girls that just don't bother, sure you'll get some "Nos," but they're "Nos" + a couple bucks each time; and I've never turned down one of these quick table dances, so each girl can keep approach me all night long and make at least a couple bucks each time. (seems win-win to me, even if I turn down a private dance)
Now my pet peeve-- when a dancer sits in a corner arms and legs crossed with a pout on her face or smoking a cigarette and I want a private dance from her.
Now I don't know about the rest of the customers, but my days and nights are not filled with approaching beautiful women all the time, so I find this a little intimidating. Especially so since that kind of pose and demeanor is very unapproachable! I'm at a neighborhood club too, not a nicer show club where I can simply "have her sent over."
-lestat1
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Breaks should always be in the dressing room or away from the customers. If you sit around in front of them they will think that one you have a bad attitude, and two your time isn't worh anything since you aren't doing anything anyways. If you hang out with the bouncers they will think that he is your boyfreind, or that you're insulting the customers to him.
When you're on the floor, be in selling mode.
Lena
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I noticed that here in PR few dancers actually approach would be clients. In western PR clubs (except those in Isabela) dancers mingle with their buddies/pimps around the bar then head out to the stage for their routines and tips. In El Alcázar in Isabela if you sit on the bar then sooner or later you will be approached since the dancers must have the guys buy them drinks and then lap dance the clients in their stools. In San Juan I haven't seen dancers approach clients in Deja Vu, on my first visit to Cheetahs one very nice girl did approach me, I bought her drinks then had a private dance before mingling with other clients. In Divas few dancers actually approach. In my case only four of the Puerto Ricans have approached me, one of the Canadians does so (we know each other fairly well) and then of course there's Bridgette ;D
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
I couldn't agree more!
However near the end of my time at my previous club (Santa Fe Gold) it was hard to do.... especially when there are more dancers than customers!
I never take a rejection personally. One time (quite proud of this moment) I managed to turn a hard-core NO into a YES. ;)
The club I work at now (Players) is better. It isn't just because it is busier overall but because the ONLY way to make $$ is via private dances. There is no stage tipping.
Helena, one of the top earners at my previous club, was great. Granted, alot of other dancers were jealous of her because she was good at her job - she did play the numbers game. She always made $$ even on the slow nights.
My problem is that I do this sober and sometimes I find it incredibly hard to get my mind back into the positive when it starts to get negative. I know it is at these times that I need a break but $$ always busts my "bad mood" :)
I have been one of those girls who doesn't work every customer and wonders why I'm not getting any $$. I'm at a new club now where I have no choice but to go around and ask... or at least keep someone company.
It also depends on the club. My new club encourages private dances more than my old club did.
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
to add, you NEVER know who might have money. i've been fooled many times. i too am guilty sometimes of passing people over i think wont have money, and really i know better than to do that!
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I agree to the suggestion of asking every customer because you never know. I use to feel funny about getting a lot if no's until I realized no one in the world whether it's Brittany S. or Janet J. can get every one to say yes. People have different taste and a guy might tell me no and go with the next girl but I will have a guy tell me yes and that other girl no. So it's all about believing you are the shit and be happy cause were all beautiful in our own way.
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True,true, true. It is always kinda trippy how when we do 2-for-1s we are all just in a rush to hand the damn shirt back 2 the tshirt guy we walk by potential customers, so instead of running straight back I started going from the stage side that I exited at to the other. I have never made it all the way around without at least one taker for a dance.
Ever notice how the customer you pass by is the one who ends up making ur coworker's nite by dropping a couple hundred on her. This happened to me a couple times and I learned my lesson. Time does not always permit it, but at least try to get around and stay busy. Avoid the "couch party". Evry1 knows what they r:its slow so u sit down for a sec, a buddy sits too, another one does, okay couch party. These are fine for a moment during midshift when there are no available customers, and then only for a little while. I limit my couch party to a one song max, usually b/c somebody is always gonna come over who whines and complains about how bad it is like she is the only one who has the gift of sight at the present time. If its slow spend a moment chatting and then walk around smiling and being cute, just don't sit around whining. One thing I used to do was get a cup of ice and sit around smiling and "playing" with my ice trying to find ways to touch or not touch certain teeth or my tongue or whatever, it stimulates the mind and its looks sexy and it keeps u busy.
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I don't mind at all being hustled and approached. In fact, if someone doesn't come up to me and at least say "hi," it makes me wonder just how bad I must look or smell.
Last time I was at a club, a dancer came up and started chatting before I had a seat. I told her I was getting settled, and she said she'd leave me alone to get comfy and check back with me. I sat, ordered, and watched her go around, talking to guys. Nobody else came up to me. After a while, she came, sat on my lap, turned down my offer to buy her a drink, and just chatted. Guess who got my budget that day. She danced divinely.
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I just couldn't approach every customer in the bar - this is not my style. I would be dead at the end of my shift.
I go for quality not for quantity - that means, that I try to get less but really big spender customers. And usually it works: if I dance to somebody most of the time he doesn't stop after the first song. And than he comes back later. ;)
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one more little thing - when i get off stage i like to brush my hair and freshen up a little bit... it takes 2 minutes and makes a big difference! if somebody tipped me on the stage or there is somebody in the bar i know, i go there, say thank you/hello or i tell them that i'll be back in no time, before i go into the changing room - and in 1-2 minutes i am back on the floor if somebody is waiting for me out there
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Its all in the approach! I bet some of you can get some more yeses if you follow some rules. Especially for hard sell likes me. First off, any guy coming into the club has the potential to by at least one dance. If they don't, they shouldn't be there.
1. whatever you do, do not say "dwanna dance" this is my biggest pet peeve and I'm not alone. I don't care if I only came to see you. If you say that I'm not buying. Its better to introduce yourself or say "wanna play with me"
2. When I'm at the rail I always tip so do not bother me at the rail. The lady on stage has my attention. How would you feel if you are on stage and someone is trying to steal you customer away.
3. Its fine to make the rounds but don't come to me every 5 min. Its annoying, come back 15-20 min or I'll come get you. One girl bugs all the guys as soon as we come in and we talk about her on our boards. "yeah she looks hot but she so goddam annoying, can't stand the dwanna."
All in All if you follow all if this and still put up with me, I will buy at least one dance cuz its about courtesy, even if your not my type.
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Just wanted to add "do you wanna play with me?" line is miss leading if all the dancer does is dance. Especially in no contact clubs.
Also wanted to ask how do you feel about the lady on stage asking for the dance as she collects her money and thanks her customers? I do this at the end of my stag show and usually can get about half of my dances of the night this way.
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For me, thats the hardest time to get a dance from me because I'm highly erratic when choosing a dancer straight off stage. I understand how dancers will ask me after their stage show cuz I often drop attention getters on stage (jacksons or better) but after I rarely follow thorugh with a dance.I often will sit at the rail for an entire lineup before getting dances to get aquainted. I guess its down to how I know you or what INTEL says about you. I have never gone to a club without doing research before hand.
a good approach would have to be one with confidence.
One time I came back for a chance with a dancer that I didn't have the pleasure of meeting last time. As she was doing her stage show she proceded to stand on my seat and give me a mini dance. After that, She totally had me and she knew it. At the end of her set she stuck out her arm in front of me to help her off stage and said "where are we going". Boom! that was it $80 burned on a wall dance.(only cuz it was late and didn't have $120 for vip)
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One of the first things I learned is that teh quick table dances, when you may go customer to customer for a song or two AND your stage performance will help you sell your privates but:
You also need to hustle but in a way that youre not pushy or you don't have an attitude. face it some customers will never buy a dance from you. They may prefer blondes and youre a brunette (which is why they have wigs LOL).
Spending a few minutes chatting with a guy and finding a polite but direct way of letting him know youre available means the difference between making 50 bucks and 500 bucks. And this means chatting with everyguy. It means listenting to bs, listening to truth, being with someone who anther dancer may say is a cheapskate etc.
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Quote:
Originally Posted by amylynnej
Spending a few minutes chatting with a guy and finding a polite but direct way of letting him know youre available means the difference between making 50 bucks and 500 bucks.
Yup. Those few minutes so often make the difference between a 'no', and a dance or three. I (and many others) are conditioned to the point where a "wanna dance" approach will result in an almost automatic 'no'.
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Re: Approaching Every Customer is Important
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolshot
a good approach would have to be one with confidence.
He's right - It's the art of the hunt. Every guy is different, but for me personally the "sell" has got to hit me from all angles. A lady who keeps her eyes open and her approach sharp can capitalize greatly on the oversight of her colleagues and their attempts to psychoanalyze the clients.
There's a reason why the top dancers stay on top and make the most $. They know what they're worth and the money follows accordingly.