Reading the room

Why this is the actual skill

Dancing is the part people see. Reading the room is the part that pays. Most of your money at most clubs comes from talking to customers on the floor and persuading them to buy a dance or spend time with you. Who you choose to talk to, and how quickly you move on, decides your night more than anything you do on stage.

This takes months to get good at and nobody is born with it. The dancers who make it look easy have had hundreds of bad conversations first.

Who to approach

Nobody can reliably spot a spender from across the room. A few things tend to be true, though:

• People who have just arrived and are settled with a drink are easier than people walking in or about to leave.
• Someone sitting alone is often more approachable than a tight group, but groups can spend together once one person says yes.
• Watch who is tipping on stage and how. Someone tipping generously is telling you they are in a spending mood.
• Someone who has already said no to three dancers probably means it. Let them be.
• Eye contact and a smile returned is an invitation. A customer who looks away or at their phone is not.

Approach warmly, say your name, sit if invited or ask if you can, and talk like a person. You are not auditioning. You are finding out whether this is a customer worth your time.

When to walk away

Your time is the only thing you are selling and a shift has a limited amount of it. A customer who is enjoying the conversation but will not buy is costing you money. Set yourself a rough limit, a few minutes of free chat, and if nothing is moving, excuse yourself politely and move on. You can always come back later.

Walk away immediately from anyone who:

• Negotiates for things the club does not offer or that you do not do.
• Touches without asking or ignores a no.
• Is clearly too drunk to make decisions or pay.
• Asks personal questions about where you live, your real name or your schedule outside the club.

Tell the floor manager or security about anyone in the last two categories. That is what they are there for.

Reading the whole room, not just one table

Step back every so often and look at the room as a whole. Where is the money sitting tonight. Is it a bachelor party in the corner, a quiet regular at the bar, or nobody at all. Who are the other dancers working, and which tables have not been touched. Adjust. A slow night rewards patience with the few people who are there; a packed night rewards moving quickly and not getting stuck.

Keep notes after shifts on what worked. Your own sense of a room will end up worth more than any advice.