While Brandon’s office responsibilities may keep him from doing more than a handful of shows each year, he is a vital part of Complete Music and Video team. More than just a sales guy, he oversees our DJ Advisory Panel, is the administrator for Complete Music University, manages the DJs that make up our satellite offices in Central Illinois, does on-site evaluations of DJs at their events, and, as our liaison to the rest of the special events world for the last 10 years, has become the face of Complete Music and Video to many of the vendors and venues with whom we work.
What is your favorite thing about coming to work every day?
Well, I’ve been doing it for 10 years, and some days are filled with more paperwork than fun stuff. My favorite time of the year, though, is before the big wedding season hits. I love building quotes and helping people plan their events. Anything mundane or lacking in creativity bores me to tears, so I love those clients that want something new or different. I even love the calls where they know they want something big and fun, but they have no idea what simply because we get to brainstorm. I like thinking big. I like building things that are bold and creative, but most of all I want the events and videos we create to be memorable. I like being a part of events that people really do talk about.
The other thing I love that is a part of almost every day is working with the DJ and video staff. It’s an interesting role not being the direct supervisor for most of them (that’s Scott’s job for the DJs, Matt’s job for the videographers and editors), so my role gets to be that of a mentor much more often than a “boss.” Having a leadership role based more on creative direction than hard-line policies and management is exciting because it means I’m always working on something new.
Thinking outside the box and working with Scott on DJ stuff and Matt on video to coming up with new, creative ways of doing things to ensure our product never becomes stale. Often, the DJs and videographers themselves are the source of that creativity, bringing us new ideas that we can tweak or polish before presenting them to the rest of the staff. Much more than anyone outside our management team realizes, this process is pretty much on-going. Something new relating to improving show quality, video quality, or the way we do business crosses my desk every single day, whether it is from Scott, the DJs, our corporate office, or right from my own crazy brain, and I sift through them hoping for one of those “Aha!” moments when a really great one comes along.
Okay, you’re the sales manager… what’s the best reason you can give for booking Complete Music and Video?
99% of the 2200+ events we do each year (1900 of them DJ shows in the St. Louis area alone) gave Complete Music and Video a grade of 95% or better. I know our mothers warned us about peer pressure, but really… could that many people be wrong? I mean, that’s a DJ service with a 4.0 grade average in customer satisfaction.
I’ll let you in on a secret. Complete Music and Video believes everyone deserves a great wedding video and every party has the potential to be epic in its own way. We plan for people to tell stories about how much fun they had even knowing that no two parties are going to want the exact same things. We equip our DJs not just with an unimaginably large arsenal of tricks they take with them to every show, but the training to know how and when to use them. Great parties don’t just happen because your friends are fun and love to dance or even because good music was played. Great parties happen when all the pieces fall into place, and great videos happen when people that really know what they’re doing are on-hand to capture it as it unfolds.
In a lot of ways, Complete Music invented the DJ business. You wouldn’t put your health in the hands of someone that just said he was a doctor but had never been to school, so why trust the biggest party you’ll ever throw to someone who just says he’s a DJ? Why, when you can get a DJ from the company that not only invented the business but invented the school. Hiring a 2ND rate DJ to do your wedding would be as ridiculous as us buying 2ND rate equipment. Your entertainment reflects as directly on you as our equipment purchases reflect on us; probably more so.
What’s kept you at Complete Music for the last 10 years?
I love it. Even when I’m buried at work or stuck at my desk until the wee hours of the morning, I still love the work. I DJ’d on my own and with other DJ companies before Complete Music and the experience was so much more raw and chaotic. The business side of Complete Music – the organization, the training, the professionalism – creates this well-oiled machine that makes working here a much more consistently pleasant experience. As a DJ, even before I was management, there was this sort of peace and confidence that came with truly understanding what I was doing.
We are in the business of making people happy and one of our primarily tools is music, something that is more than a little subjective. (For instance, you should have been in the room for the debate that ensued when a friend of mine at a party made the statement that the Eagles were more talented than the Beatles.) Understanding how to take all the information in, process it, and put together a great event is something that doesn’t come 100% naturally to anyone. Proper training, ongoing training, which continues throughout a DJ’s career, takes that natural talent and turns him or her into a weapon of mass entertainment.
Watching our DJs go out and rock the house time and time again… Watching bride after bride cry watching videos we created… that’s a bonus that just won’t fit on a paycheck. Sales manager jobs are a dime-a-dozen. Working day in and day out on that you are totally passionate about, something that makes you laugh and makes you smile, something where you have creative input and get to help put together… how many people get to say that?
