From request to confirmed gig: the steps in between

Between "are you free on the 14th?" and the first downbeat there are eight steps, and a gig that goes wrong usually went wrong at one of them. Most bands do the steps in their head, in a different order every time, and lose one or two gigs a year to a step that never happened.

The eight steps at a glance

Step	Who acts	Target time
1. Request	Client to you	Day 0
2. Availability	You to band	Day 0 to 1
3. Quote	You to client	Day 1 to 2
4. Contract	Both	Within 7 days of quote acceptance
5. Deposit	Client to you	With the contract
6. Confirmation	You to band and client	Within 24 hours of deposit
7. Advance	You and venue or client	14 and 3 days before
8. Show	Everyone	The day

The whole booking phase, steps 1 to 6, should take under two weeks. Longer than that and the client is talking to someone else.

Step 1: the request

A request arrives by email, web form, phone, a planner or an agency. Capture the same facts every time, whichever channel it came through: event type, date, venue and town, timings, guest count, the client's name and role, budget if offered, and where they found you. Create a record for it immediately, with a "request" status, even if you think it will not happen. Half of your requests will not convert; you still want the record, because the number of requests you get per month is the most useful marketing number you have.

Reply within 24 hours, always. Even "thanks, checking the band, you will hear from me by Wednesday" keeps you in the running.

Step 2: availability

Ask the band the same day. One request, one deadline, yes/no answers, a reminder for non-responders only, and a dep plan if a chair is empty. The method is in availability requests that get answers. Do not quote until you know you can staff the gig; a quote you have to withdraw is worse than a slow quote.

Step 3: the quote

A quote is a written offer with a price, what it includes and how long it is valid. Send it within 48 hours of the request. Make it a document, not a number in an email: options (line-ups, extra hour, ceremony music), what is included (PA, lights, travel to X km), what is not, deposit and cancellation terms, and a validity date 7 to 14 days out. A validity date is the polite way to stop holding dates for people who have stopped replying. The structure that gets accepted is in writing a quote clients accept.

Tell the client, in the quote email, what happens next: "If this works for you, reply to accept and I will send the contract. The date is held until the validity date or until someone else books it."

Step 4: the contract

Acceptance is a yes in writing. A contract turns the yes into obligations on both sides. For most private and corporate gigs a two-page agreement is enough: parties, date, venue, times, fee, deposit, balance due date, cancellation terms, overtime rate, what the client provides (power, space, food, parking), what you provide, weather clause for outdoor events, and a signature or an e-signature from both sides. Agencies use their own contract; read the cancellation and payment clauses before signing.

Send the contract within a day of acceptance and ask for it back within 7 days. If a client does not sign within 7 days, the hold on the date ends. Say so kindly, and mean it.

Step 5: the deposit

Nothing is booked until money has moved. A deposit of 20 to 50% of the fee (30% is typical) at signing, non-refundable except in the cases your contract lists, is the industry norm and clients expect it. State the bank details on the contract and the invoice, give a due date, and do not confirm to the band until it lands. The reasons for a deposit, and the wording, are in deposits and cancellation policies.

For last-minute gigs (under 14 days), ask for the full fee in advance or on arrival, before the first set.

Step 6: confirmation

Two confirmations go out within 24 hours of the deposit:

• To the client: "Received, thank you, you are booked. Here is what we need from you by [date]: the timeline, the must-play list, the venue contact." Set the expectation for the advance step now.
• To the band: "Confirmed: [date], [event], [venue], [times], fee per person, line-up including any dep, wheels rolling time." Use the word confirmed. This is the moment members block their calendars.

Change the gig's status from request to confirmed in whatever system you use. The calendar should never show a confirmed gig that has no deposit, or a deposit-paid gig that still looks like a request.

Step 7: the advance

Advancing is the pre-show conversation with the venue and the client. Two touchpoints:

• 14 days before: send the venue or planner your tech rider and stage plot; ask about load-in time and access, parking, power, the sound system if you are not bringing one, and the on-the-day contact with a mobile number. Ask the client for the final timeline and the must-play and do-not-play lists. Learn any special song now, not next week.
• 3 days before: confirm the timeline in one email to the client and one message to the band. Attach the gig sheet: times, address, contact, line-up, setlist, packing list, dress code, payment arrangements for the balance.

If the balance is due on the night, remind the client politely in the 3-day email, with the amount and the accepted methods.

Step 8: the show

The gig sheet and the day-of-show checklist take over. Collect the balance before you leave if that is the arrangement. Within 48 hours after: a thank-you to the client, a request for a review, an invoice for any overtime, and a note in the record of anything you learned about the venue.

Where the steps break

• Quoting before checking availability. You withdraw the quote, the client books the next band, and tells the planner.
• Confirming to the band before the deposit. Members turn down other work for a gig that evaporates.
• No validity date on the quote. You hold a June Saturday for six weeks for a client who has gone quiet.
• Skipping the 14-day advance. You find out about the 120-step staircase and the 10 A power supply at 16:00 on the day.
• No record of the request. You cannot tell whether you got 20 or 50 enquiries this year, or which channels produced them.

Do this today

1. Write the eight steps as a checklist and attach it to your booking template.
2. Set the four numbers: reply within 24 hours, quote within 48 hours, contract back within 7 days, deposit 30%.
3. Decide who owns each step. In most bands, one person owns 1 to 7 and the whole band owns 8.
4. Go through your current requests and give each one a step number. Anything stuck at step 3 for more than 14 days gets a nudge or a close.

Where expert.band helps

The gig statuses in expert.band follow the same path: a gig starts as a request while the availability request collects one-tap answers from the band, the quote goes out as a client link with a validity date and moves from sent to accepted when the client says yes, and the gig is switched to confirmed when the deposit is in, at which point participants, the setlist and the packing checklist come together on one printable gig sheet for the advance.