5 Questions You’ll Want to Ask Your Business Manager
AUDIO VERSION
So, you’ve landed a new business manager, congrats! This is a great step in the right direction career-wise. However, you’ll likely have a few questions about what, exactly, this partnership will look like and what to expect from this new representation. Here are a few questions you’ll want to ask up front to make the most of your time together.
Here is the first question you’ll want to ask your business manager.
When gearing up to get to work, you’ll want to know a few basics about what it even means to have a business manager in the first place. You’ll probably want to ask a few leading questions about what the relationship will offer, including their history. How long has this person been in the entertainment realm? What is their approach? And importantly, what they charge. A good general question might be, “Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your expertise?” This will give you a good idea of the manager’s approach and allow you to feel if it’ll be a good fit for you or not.
Here is the second question you’ll want to ask your business manager.
You should always know where your money is going. Will there be any upfront recurring costs, or is everything commission-based? What do these fees go towards, if any, and is it possible for you to obtain an actual breakdown of these costs in writing? At the end of the day, you’ll want to make sure your manager is advocating for you and is negotiating on your behalf, so it’s important to have some sort of documented proof that your needs will be met. Tell your business manager, “I’d like to get a better understanding of what this will cost.” And ask them to help you with it. At the end of the day, they are here to aid you, so asking these types of questions are not uncommon.
Here is the third question you’ll want to ask your business manager.
Another key question you’ll want to ask up front is how to best contact your new business manager. Of course, typical social guidelines should be followed, such as not flooding their inbox with tons of emails or calling them repeatedly throughout the day. But your manager should let you know which methods of contact are best for them. Asking them how they prefer to be contacted is a very reasonable request.
Here is the fourth question you’ll want to ask your business manager.
If your manager has an entirely different approach than what you had anticipated or you don’t really understand what the actual agreement entails, it is in your best interest to ask them for clarification. You might want to ask for more information or pose the question, “What makes your approach effective?”. Don’t be afraid to verify that you and your new business manager are on the same page.
Here is the fifth question you’ll want to ask your business manager.
You’re going to want to know the physical location of your business manager’s office and whether you’ll have regular, in-person meetings there. When that time comes, you’ll want to be sure you head to the right meeting place, especially if you’ve only had preliminaries over the phone. Ask for the name and location of the company for which your business manager is employed. You might ask, “Where would you like us to meet when it’s appropriate?”
These are just a start of some of the questions you may want to ask. The best thing to do is to create a list ahead of time and bring whatever questions that come to mind with you to the contract signing and to your first few meetings. Make sure, if anything comes up in between then that is pressing, to reach out to your business manager and to always feel comfortable with the responses you get.
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