Tom Gambuzza is the managing partner at Elegant Music Group, a “full scale entertainment company” that provides music and entertainment for all sorts of big events, from weddings to corporate gatherings. The company’s offerings include live bands, DJs, data capture photo booths, lighting, and event production. For over 30 years, Elegant Music has delivered excellent service and talent for event entertainment occasions.
At Elegant Music Group, Tom Gambuzza and his team deliver first-class event entertainment for clients throughout “New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.” Whether you are a couple who needs talented live bands to help you create an unforgettable wedding day, or you are a company that needs DJs to spice up a corporate gathering, EMG will handle your business.
Tom Gambuzza and EMG make sure that their bands, DJs, and wedding musicians engage in a collaborative relationship with their clients, so that they could fulfill all their needs and make sure to deliver a good time catered to their specifications. Clients can also choose intimate music, performed by EMG’s “string quartets, pianists, and other professional musicians,” that provide the perfect atmosphere for every “ceremony, cocktail hour, or reception.”
For over 30 years, EMG has delivered top-notch entertainment to its clients. Tom Gambuzza and the team have worked in a culture that places “two things above all else: Event Talent + Customer Service.”
Check out more interviews with entertainment maestros here.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Tom Gambuzza: Surely! I was offered a full-time position at a small event and fundraising company right out of college and have been a part of the events industry ever since. Most of our customers were elementary schools and we would run their fundraising programs during the school year. My job was to oversee their end-of-year events and help them produce a “fun day”. While I was there, I picked up DJing as a side hustle because it was always an interest of mine. As a lot of side hustles do, it quickly became more of a full-time gig because of how rapidly my client-base was growing. This could not have come at a more fortuitous time. For several reasons, I became disenfranchised with the company I was working for over time so I ultimately had to make a career choice. Continue with being unhappy, but have a steady paycheck, or take a leap of faith and focus 100% of my attention on growing my side business. I chose the latter and have never looked back. Now our company, Elegant Music Group, produces and performs over 700 events per year which include weddings, corporate events, and social functions.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
Tom Gambuzza: I made the difficult decision to leave the security of a weekly paycheck behind for something that, at the time, was very risky and unknown. What you’ll come to find about me, though, is that I’ll never sacrifice my happiness for money, and this was my motivation to never look back. Sure, there were scary times along the way not knowing how I was going to pay my car bill the next month, but being unhappy working for someone else was even less desirable to me. I was also dating my now wife at the time and decided to propose to her about 2 months after I left my full-time position so buying the ring was another financial commitment I took on. Turns out, marrying my wife and deciding to grow my business are the two best decisions I’ve ever made, so it all worked out!
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Tom Gambuzza: The funniest moments to me always come in hindsight because you don’t realize how ridiculous you are in those moments when they are actually happening. One day at my previous job, a co-worker approached me with an ad for a Forex trading course taught by a local chiropractor explaining how lucrative it could be. I was intrigued so we both set out to learn more about it. The course was expensive and I didn’t have the cash to pay for it outright so I decided to liquidate what I had in my 401k at the time. Well, it didn’t work out as planned. For me, the trading was hard to understand and I just didn’t end up pursuing it enough to become good at it. The result: I disrupted my entire retirement savings to take a course on trading foreign currencies from a chiropractor. Perhaps my humor is different than most, but looking back on it, I find that to be hilarious. The lesson I learned was that there is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme and if you are going to invest your resources, you better know a bit about what you’re getting yourself into.
Jerome Knyszewski: Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to lead a company from Good to Great? Please share a story or an example for each.
Tom Gambuzza:
- Communication is paramount.Breakdowns in communication from management to employees or within individual teams is the common denominator for friction points. Look to eliminate any ambiguity by delivering news, updates, company policies, etc. clearly and concisely. When COVID first hit, our primary objective was to let the team know of any updates or changes in our operation as they came up. It wasn’t always the best news to deliver, but at least we can look back and say we didn’t withhold any information.
- Your door always needs to be open. As important as communication is, welcoming concerns or feedback is one of the best ways to let your employees know that they have a voice and, more importantly, that it matters. At first, this was a bit of a foreign concept to our team, but they’ve since grasped it and it has opened up a much better communication gateway. This allows us to address issues before they balloon into something more serious.
- Lead by example.Don’t ever ask a team member / employee to complete a task that you’re not willing to do yourself. My partners and I are not above any task that we ask of the team. You can just as easily find me pitching a six-figure corporate event as you will packing up the van with equipment.
- Respect those around you to earn respect back.The best way to earn respect is by giving it, not demanding it. Simple!
- Know when to have fun.It can’t be all work, all of the time. Keep your team engaged by having a break in the workplace. Schedule a company outing or mid-day activity every now and then. We’ll do something like order lunch for the team at the office, or schedule a get together at the driving range.
Jerome Knyszewski: Extensive researchsuggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. Can you help articulate for our readers a few reasons why a business should consider becoming a purpose driven business, or consider having a social impact angle?
Tom Gambuzza: Having a purpose for your business should be the driving factor every day. If you don’t have one, why get out of bed then? You need to have goals beyond increasing profits in order to keep you moving and working on meaningful things. In turn, this then becomes tangible for your customers which will create happier clients, better retention, and significant brand value. For us at EMG, our purpose is to supply our clients with access to the best event talent possible and having an unparalleled client experience throughout their life cycle with us. We do this by giving them tools and resources that none of our competitors are able to offer.
Jerome Knyszewski: As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies a business should use to increase conversion rates?
Tom Gambuzza: Although it’s not the only game in town anymore,this is where a great website comes in to play. A great user experience is key. It needs to reflect your branding, your messaging has to be on point, and the site has to be easily navigable. Simple and frictionless navigation will lead to the customer contacting you much more quickly. One of the specific strategies we’ve seen work really well lately is the pop-up experience on our website. Before a customer “bounces”, we’ll give them one last chance for a special offer.
Jerome Knyszewski: Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that a business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?
Tom Gambuzza: You have to ask yourself what your thesis is. Of course, this can evolve over time, but on a macro level, delivering on your brand promise is the best way to build a trusted brand. There’s no better feeling than getting feedback from your customers citing that you did for them exactly what you said you would. As I alluded to earlier, our purpose at EMG is to give every customer that works with us a luxurious, unparalleled CX and we are maniacal about not letting anything get in the way of that.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Tom Gambuzza: You can find me personally on Instagram @emg_tommy and you can see everything EMG here:
Instagram: @ElegantMusicGroup
Web: www.ElegantMusicGroup.com
Spotify: The EMG Podcast
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
