Jazz Band Leader Seeks Harmony in Her Record Keeping

Onstage, jazz violinist Susie Hansen leads her band in a high-energy performance of salsa and Latin jazz, weaving a tight blend of crowd-pleasing jams and the solo work that she loves.

Behind the scenes, the classically trained musician brings the same focus to juggling the business side of the band.

She’s developed a complex, color-coded file system to track hundreds of clients and venues and the more than 1,200 contract musicians she has on tap.

The pencil-and-paper method has worked for more than a decade, earning Hansen a reputation for organization and efficiency in a field usually not known for either. She’s even turned down requests from other bands to handle their bookings.

But Hansen knows that her business, which had $225,000 in revenue last year from performances and sales of her compact disc, “Solo Flight� (Jazz Caliente Records), has outgrown the manual system. Errors are popping up and the time-consuming process is slowing her down.

“If I don’t double-check each event, it’s ‘Oh, my god. I don’t have a conga player,’ � said Hansen, who, with a core group of five to 10 musicians, plays more than 175 events a year, including outdoor festivals, weddings, corporate events and nightclub gigs. “I had two trombone players once. And I have once or twice had somebody missing.�

Despite her background in computer science--Hansen has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology--her attempts to automate the system have proven unsatisfactory. After countless hours spent learning, customizing and implementing several software systems, she has abandoned each one because it lacks the flexibility she needs.

Add to those hours the time she spends drumming up new business, updating her Web site (https://www.susiehansen.com), stuffing envelopes with promotional materials and mailing out tapes, videos and contracts. Hansen has little time left to write new music or record a long-delayed second CD. She needs to do both, she said, to keep her top-flight musicians and to nurture and grow the fan base the Susie Hansen Latin Band needs to thrive.

A new CD also would give sales a boost. Even though her current CD is 8 years old, it accounted for 5% of total revenue last year, Hansen said.

In a perfect world, she would like to have a single software system for booking and contact management that would work seamlessly with her Microsoft Access income and payroll database and the Lotus Approach database she uses to generate information for her telephone hotline and monthly band calendars and to update her 6,100-member fan mailing list. In fact, she’d like to use information technology to run every aspect of her sole proprietorship.

That’s a tall order, she knows.

Too tall to fill all at once even if she could afford to order up such a custom system, according to consultant James E. Kelton, founder and president of Software Unlimited in Irvine.

He advises Hansen and any other business owner longing for a streamlined information management system to tackle only one part of their business at a time.

Once success has been achieved, move on to the next piece, he said. Phasing in changes over several years can hold down costs, minimize the impact of software that doesn’t work out and allow more flexibility to adapt to shifting business needs and to fast-changing technology solutions, Kelton said.

“Every month I speak to clients where they have a [newly installed] system that’s failed,� the consultant said.

Hansen knows her first priority is to replace the elaborate paper filing system she uses to handle bookings, he said. The right software could increase her productivity by as much as 30%, the consultant estimated.

In the short term, he also suggested Hansen add to her Web site two features he uses on his own site to save time: an automated response system and an electronic newsletter.

Information technology, though, can go only so far in helping Hansen reach her goals, Kelton said. To make real progress, the bandleader has to learn to spend more of her time on high-value tasks and less time stuffing envelopes or the equivalent, he said.

“She probably needs to accept the fact that she can’t do everything herself,� Kelton said. He recommended Hansen hire a part-time administrative assistant.

When it comes to choosing appropriate software, Hansen has three basic choices, he said. She can buy an off-the-shelf program. She can hire a software expert to write a custom program for her. Or she can combine the two with limited customization of an existing software package.

After some research, Kelton laid out several alternatives for Hansen that could serve any business planning to implement software changes.

First, he said, Hansen should consider industry-specific products.

As it turns out, booking software is pretty scant. Kelton found two industry-related software packages that might work for Hansen. EMS Software, a booking and scheduling product, comes in a pricey professional version at $3,785 for a single user, he said. Additional users would cost $295 each.

CBS Crew Booking Software is designed to schedule film crews and runs only on Novell and Microsoft NT networks, he said. The company that made it is based in South Africa, and Kelton did not have pricing information immediately available.

To find industry-specific software, Kelton suggested Hansen check the classified ads in the back of industry trade publications, inquire at industry networking or association meetings or check with a technology consultant who specializes in her industry.

Competitors are another source of information, the consultant said. Hansen contacted several but found no common software package in use.

Standard customer relationship management software (CRM) is another alternative, Kelton said. Hansen already had rejected one, ACT, but Kelton gave her a demo of Goldmine to evaluate.

Business owners interested in sampling CRM software can often find free downloads on the software manufacturer’s Web site. General information about CRM software can be found online at https://www.crmcommunity.com.

Once a software package has been chosen, Hansen could decide to pay for limited customization. The cost to hire a professional software company is typically $120 to $140 an hour.

A completely custom-designed software package to handle booking and scheduling likely would cost Hansen an estimated $5,000 to $7,000, Kelton said.

He credited her ultra-organized information for such a relatively cheap price.

“She’s done quite a bit of legwork,� Kelton said. “In 25 years, I’ve never seen a client give me this much information.�

Thinking through a project in detail before starting, as Hansen has, is critical to controlling costs as well as raising the odds for success, he said.

Once she has completed her evaluations and has a system in place, Kelton envisions Hansen having her administrative assistant transfer information from the paper files to the new system.

Upgrading her Web site also could give Hansen’s productivity a boost and improve her marketing and promotion efforts, Kelton said. For a one-time cost of $600 and an approximate annual maintenance cost of $300, Hansen could add an automated response system and an electronic newsletter, he said.

The newsletter could contain the band calendar and other information Hansen currently sends on postcards. The automated response system could send up to 10 types of information, Kelton said. That might include lists of venues the band has played, major clients, the kinds of ensembles Hansen can provide or her playlist.

The system can be programmed to send a list every two weeks to interested parties, he said.

“Everyone reads their e-mail,� Kelton said.

Hansen is evaluating her software options and is considering Kelton’s other recommendations. She had identified several of the same opportunities he did for increasing productivity but knew she needed an outside point of view to jump-start her efforts.

“Finding someone who can see through your own haze and your own blind spots and help you get something rolling without spending major money� is key, Hansen said.

“I know I’m at the point where I can’t solve this myself,� she said.

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Cyndia Zwahlen can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

Applications to be featured in a published Business Make-Over can be obtained by writing to Business Make-Overs, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 or online at http://ukobiw.net./bizmakeform.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

This Week’s Business Make-Over

* Company name: Susie Hansen Latin Band

* Headquarters: Carson

* Type of business: Professional band

* Status: Sole proprietorship

* Owner: Susie Hansen

* Founded: September 1989

* Start-up funds: Less than $1,000

* 1999 sales: $225,000

* Employees: None

* Customers: Art and music festivals, weddings, corporate events and benefits, nightclubs

Main Business Problem

How to best use technology to increase productivity

Goal

To create an effective computer system to book events and manage the band and to integrate existing computer programs

Recommendations

* Phase in integration of computer programs over several years.

* Hire a part-time administrative assistant.

* Research and evaluate booking software.

* Add an automated response system to Web site.

* Start an electronic newsletter.

About the Consultant

James E. Kelton is president of Software Unlimited, which he founded in 1993 in Irvine. Previously, he was director of information technology at the Mission Viejo Co. for 14 years. He is president-elect of Network Technologies Channel, an interest group of the Business Technology Assn. He also is a board member of the Assn. of Professional Consultants, an Orange County organization.