As professional voice over talent, we certainly want to
create and maintain our great client relationships. There are many things we can and must do to
grow our voice over business. When we
lose a long term client or simply don’t get repeat business from a new client,
there can be many reasons. Some of those reasons are out of our control: the client doesn’t really hire talent often,
they lose THEIR client, their client wants to change the gender, age, style of
the voices they use, etc. However,
sometimes, we might lose a client due to something we have or have not done.
The following is an article written by Edge Studio
addressing four common and likely culprits that might cause us to lose
clients. Do you see yourself neglecting
any of these areas? Have you let some
things slide due to keeping busy with other matters or just letting yourself
get off track?
Read the article, and double check yourself to make sure you’re
doing all you can to remain marketable and employable!
4 Reasons Why Voice Actors Lose Clients
The fact is, the voice over industry is continually evolving. So
if you don't evolve along with it, YOU'LL LOSE CLIENTS.
Voice talent continually ask for our help. They say, "I'm
getting less work than I used to." We ask why. They're either not sure, or
they guess it's because they've been battling allergies, their clients must
have wanted a new voice, there must be more competition, their demo may be
getting old, a new agent opened up in town,....... On and on.
There Are 4 Reasons Why Voice Talent Start Losing Work. Read the
sections that pertain to you
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Vocal Delivery: ARE YOU NO LONGER TRAINING?
Story: A
while ago, one of our clients hired a student we had just trained to narrate a
large series of videos. They loved his voice.
Recently we hired him back to narrate another large project.
This time, he no longer sounded good. He lost a good client. I asked if he'd
been practicing. He said no.
There are 3 reasons why CONTINUED TRAINING IS SO IMPORTANT:
You can fall into bad habits (no one tells you why you lose
auditions!) Other voice talent will get better than you (watch out!) Clients
always need new styles (new styles for podcasts, self-guided tours,...)
Solution: At
minimum, work with a coach every other month to ensure you maintain.
Preferably, work with a coach every month to become better and offer more
clients more styles! Remember: your vocal delivery is your livelihood!
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Home Studio Quality: ARE YOU RESISTANT TO TECHNOLOGY CHANGE?
Story: A
voice talent sent me an audition recording. Their voice was PERFECT. But their
home studio quality wasn't. The client did not like them. (Note that some
clients CANNOT DIFFERENTIATE between poor home studio recording and poor vocal
performance.) After telling the talent this, she replied, "But this used
to be fine." Yes, 5 years ago, her quality was considered good for a home
studio. Today, however, clients are used to better quality.
Here are a few other examples of not keeping up with technology:
Talent ask if they can fed-ex a CD to me. "Huh?" Why can't they FTP
it to me? Or oftentimes we hear slight noises in recordings. Why? I guarantee
the talent will lose some work. Fall behind in technology, and your clients may
leave you behind.
Here are technology items to stay current with: equipment
(editing on old software is slower, so you charge more, and bid too high)
editing software / file type knowledge (unfamiliar with the new file extensions
for flash? this scares clients) delivery methods (still have "fed-ex"
on your rate card? you look outdated)
Solution: Hire
someone to visit your studio once every 6 months for a tune-up. Have them
update your software, show you new editing features, check sound quality, and
set you up for new file types.
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Marketing: ARE YOU COMPLACENT?
Story: At
a recent voice over event, I was re-acquainted with a lot of old-timers who
told me, "I'm not getting the amount of work I used to get!" Funny, I
thought they hadn't marketed to me in years and subsequently I had forgotten
about them and how talented they are.
Trust me: there is a reason why major retailers (Honda, Sears,
McDonalds,...) continue to promote themselves. If they don't, competitors will
eventually take over. IT'S THE SAME THING IN VOICE OVER.
Many old-times got all their work from a few clients and/or
agents. But things change. Sometimes suddenly. Are you prepared? Or do you rely
on a few select clients (who could suddenly go out of business), and meanwhile
you're not prepared to market?
Here are marketing to stay current with:
marketing frequency (do you think single marketing efforts are
still enough?) marketing types (do you think business cards are still all you
need?) marketing messages (still trying to be a jack of all trades?) marketing
quality (perforated edged, matrix printed business cards don't work today)
Solution: hire
someone who knows voice over marketing to review your business plan (do you
even have one? if you want to grow, you should have one). take a workshop at
edge or even at a local college.
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Professionalism: ARE YOU BUSINESS-LIKE?
Story: One
of our clients got VERY upset with a voice talent who we hired recently. So
upset, they chose to replace him with another talent! Obviously we won't hire
that talent anymore. But the weird thing is that the voice talent didn't even
realize what they did wrong!
Face it: our little industry has grown up. It's now a big,
professional industry complete with a set of do's and don't's. And sure, as
with anything, as time goes by, there are more and more changes. So for those
of you who are beginning your voice over career, you MUST LOOK PROFESSIONAL
from the start. And for those of you already immersed in the industry, you MUST
CONTINUE looking professional. If you don't, you chance losing clients.
You MUST always stay on top of: appearing professional (the
jargon, the sequence of events,...) dealing with corporate types: knowing when
to ask which questions the general in's and out's of the industry the
ever-changing politics of the industry (unions, agents,....)
Solution: Study
the industry. Speak with folks who are in it. Read books. DO WHAT YOU CAN to
come across business-like. This makes a BIG difference in the amount of work
you get.
