Finder's fee / referral fee etiquette? (fees, transaction, agents, payment)

[RomaniGypsy]

In an effort to expand our marketing network to people who don't really know much about us but are interested in making some extra money (and who isn't?), I'm thinking about instituting a finder's fee or referral fee and I wanted to get some of your ideas on it.

My wife and I are musicians. We would like to get more high-paying shows. Since we're only two people and the people for whom we currently play regularly don't (can't) generate many referrals for us, booking shows is often a very tedious and time-consuming process. I was thinking about offering a percentage of the show payment for anyone who finds us a show that we book and for which we get paid, perhaps on a sliding scale such as "if it pays more than $xxx, you get 5%, if it pays more than $XXX, you get 10%", etc.

The logical issues I have with this idea are as follows:

1) It could be gamed, where a person could see our ad, think "hey, I have an event coming up", and then instead of booking us directly, could contact a friend and say "hey, these people are offering a finder's fee, so YOU call them and tell them that you're referring them to us, and then they call us and you get that percentage". I imagine that could be discouraged if I offer the same percentage as a discount to direct bookings, but then that steps into the territory of "they're asking an artificially inflated price just so that they can offer a discount, and that's annoying psychology". (Personally I hate it when I walk into a store, such as a clothing store, and see prices that nobody would ever pay on the tags just so that there can be the flashy "SALE - 50% OFF!" signs all over the store to reduce the price down to what most people would be paying anyway. They're not fooling me, even if they manage to fool a lot of other people.)

2) We're not talking huge sums of money here. In most cases I imagine the finder's fee would be substantially less than $100. Maybe some people would think "it's not worth my time"? Who knows. There are a lot of lazy individuals out there. What I found online is that a typical finder's fee in a high-dollar business transaction is 0.05% - 1%, and I'd be offering a much higher percentage, though it still translates into not a lot of money.

So let me know what you think. If there are any ways in which I could reform or otherwise tweak my strategy before I implement it, I would appreciate the knowledge because I've never done this before.

[oldtrader]

Maybe some people would think "it's not worth my time"? Who knows. There are a lot of lazy individuals out there.

It is not that they are lazy, but what you are asking is that someone is going to go out of their way for very little money payout. It is not worth their time to maybe earn the price of a couple of dinners. So why should they get excited about going out and finding you business. Your friends will do it just to help you, and the others are not going to get involved.

A small finders fee such as you are suggesting, is not going to get you much if any business. A big business with a large order, still can pay out a lot of money even with a low percentage finder fee. And the ones that earn the finders fee, are people involved in the business.

Words get around you are paying finders fees, and those jobs you book are going to want a finders fee, or a discount on your bill.

You would be better booking through an agency, that books talent. They have the contacts and know when something is going on that could use your talent.

I am speaking as someone that spent over 50 years in the business world, and know from experience what will work to increase business volume.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Don't musicians have agents who take a percentage for finding jobs? You want a lot of people in addition to your agent?