I have heard 'sorry we dont book Celtic music' 'sorry we are booked up for the next 2 years' 'sorry we only book BIG names' 'sorry we only book people who visit us first to do a floor spot and if we like them.(just same old locals then )' 'we can only afford to pay the band £100 to travel from Scotland to the south coast,(10 hours + loss of 3 days pay)... would that be all right ?' 'what a voice! would he play support for free(travel 150 miles)? We have a 200 seater venue.'

Just be diplomatically honest and they can work on improvement...., recommend a publicist etc