4 Reasons Why Voice Actors Lose Clients

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.

Edge Studio

Voice Over Coaching

While I am not currently coaching voice over (never say never!), I do hear from many prospective voice over performers who want information about how to get into voice over.  I always direct them to the How To Pages on my web site.  In those pages, I have tried to give a thorough, general overview of the voice over business, what you need to know, and what you need to do.   You can scroll down to the bottom of that page for links to specific information on my site such as:

• Voice Over - Articulation Exercises
• Voice Over - How To Read Copy
• Voice Over - Demo
• Voice Over - Agents
• Voice Over - Talent
• Voice Over - Studio
• Voice Over - Internet Professionals
• Voice Over - Profesional Voice Talent

In addition to this information, there are blog posts numbered 1-10 scattered throughout my blog that discuss these items, including a discussion of why it's important to work with a voice over coach.

Today, I was asked  how one should go about finding a good coach.  Word of mouth and referrals from working voice over talent are the best means of locating those coaches who can truly give you what you need to succeed. Then, you need to talk with the coaches, which may require paying for an evaluation session in order to determine where you are, your potential, whether personality types mesh, and to see what kind of a feeling you get for how this coach works and how they plan to help you reach your goals. This is an important investment in your career and not something to be taken lightly. 

Some top notch voice over coaches that I have experience with are:  Nancy Wolfson, James Alburger & Penny Abshire,  Marc Cashman,  Rodney Saulsberry,  Jim Conlan, and Edge Studio.  All of these coaches work in person or remotely, if you do not live in their locale.

Explore their web sites, get in touch with them, and find out who seems to be the best fit for you.  And who knows, one of these days, I just may add my name to this list!

Don't You Just Love it When.....

Don't you just love it when, as a professional voice talent, you get a narration job and then find out that you have to match the scratch track done by a non-professional? Sometimes, it's not a huge issue, but more often than not, whoever is reading it is speaking way too fast with pauses and inflections that don't come near to the way you would do it - and they are usually not reading in the style that the client wants, either. So, for example, you might need to be soft and mellow - while still reading at double or triple time in order to fit the time limitations of the video.

Often the client will want to send you the video to "match" the scratch track. I don't think they realize how time consuming it is for us to view and time each section. It is important to let them know that it will take you much more time to do that than to just voice it. If at all possible, try to get the client to time those sections for you and send time codes with each line or paragraph of the script - depending on what drives the timing. Otherwise, you will need to increase your fee to take the time to do that for yourself... or just eat it.

In all fairness, sometimes this just can't be helped and clients are very sympathetic and apologetic. Another person narrated the video and then the "powers that be" decide that they want someone different. There may not be time for your client to re-edit the video to your track. They just need to drop it in. If it's been narrated by another professional, your chances are better of it being less painless, but still, we're all individuals with our own timing and style, so it can be a challenge. If you're working in a studio with another engineer, it's easier, but if you're on your own, you get all the extra work to make it right.

A little thing I do to help get the timings right is to play the video while recording the audio track from my computer. Then, it’s easier to isolate the voice in my audio software to time it exactly. That’s half the battle right there – determining exactly what those timings are. Then, in these situations, I record section by section in order to time it perfectly with the scratch track. When it’s all been recorded, I check my sound levels from section to section and normalize the levels. I also need to make sure that it flows naturally from each section to the next and sounds like it was recorded all at once even though I’ve had to chop it up to work. I clean up the air between each section, too, so that I don’t have any little stray noises – breaths or parts of breaths, other noises leading into or out of a section. I really turn the headphones up for that part, because I want to end up with a perfectly clean audio track that the client will be pleased with. Or I want to end up with perfectly clean individual audio files for the client to drop in….and be pleased with.

After all, no matter what the task or what it takes to get there, that’s the name of the game…..keeping the client happy!

Warning Signs that the Job's Just Not Worth It

It's so hard for some of us not to pursue every avenue for work that is open to us, and for the most part, that's a good thing. But sometimes, even when potential clients contact us via phone or email after visiting our web site, and our first inclination is to cement the job, we might be better off to remain clear headed and just let the job slip away.

What types of things should alert us to the fact that the job may just not be worth the trouble or worse, might even leave us without proper pay or regretting accepting the job in the first place?

While most potential clients are completely honest and above board and are sincerely looking for a quality recording, there are some things that cause my hackles to go up after 6 years working via the internet.

I find that many of these relate to clients looking for telephone recordings, probably because they are most often least experienced in dealing with professional voice talent. Again, most are wonderful potential clients who appreciate what a professional brings to their business by projecting a totally professional image when customers contact them by phone.

Those clients who can be troublesome are those who are only looking at the bottom line and seem to balk at the rate you quote them for your services. While we can all appreciate budgetary needs, a modest but fair quote should not have to be defended.

So, although there are no doubt other things to watch for - and I'd be happy to hear from you with more - I'll just list a few things that may indicate it is better to let this job slide.

Client:

asks for quote and sounds defensive or stresses need for lower quote

suggests more work to follow if quote is "right"

requests additions of other company names in the script for no additional cost

balks at additional cost for music added to on hold messages

requests recording to be provided " to see what u can do on it" before sending complete script or completing payment process - keeping in mind this person came to you after presumably hearing your demo.

does not respond to explanation that you'd be happy to provide a brief sample to confirm style, etc., once full script is sent.

Note: I always seek that confirmation of style, tempo, quality, etc. prior to recording on my own, anyway. And although I do require payment before sending all complete audio files, I always stipulate that I'll correct any mistakes on my part at no extra charge.

While I've often found it beneficial for me and appreciated by my clients to follow up with them if there is a gap in time between the initial contact and ultimate booking, I've learned that sometimes, it's best to just let those slide that don't feel "comfortable" to begin with. There are too many wonderful clients out there who truly appreciate what we do!

Voice Talent Advice #8 - Voice Over Rates – What Should You Charge?

I was recently asked what rates a beginner should charge for voice over services. This is a rather difficult question as there are many schools of thought. When working via the internet, you can find rates anywhere from $15 - $500, $1,000 and up. Some feel like it’s worth it to work cheap in order to at least bring something in and for the experience. Others feel like you’re selling yourself short or even that there must be something “wrong” if you don’t charge enough! On a personal note, I once bid what I thought was the going rate for a project inadvertently overlooking the rate the client had posted (sometimes they’re higher than normal rates!). I was contacted by the casting person later saying that although the client liked my audition, he was afraid that something must be wrong for me to bid lower than their posted rate! I must say, that was the first and only time I heard that, and generally, we worry that the jobs go to the lowest bidder. What I learned from that, of course, was to thoroughly read all of the information given about the job with particular attention to the rate posted by the client! Even if it’s higher than what would be the norm, you won’t find me bidding a cent lower!

Some of the mass voice talent websites have come up with rates based on surveys of talent listed on their sites. Other voice talents base their rates on AFTRA and SAG scale – or their minimum wages. And even so, if you are also working as the engineer, it’s difficult to list flat rates for work without knowing the length of the script, how long it will take to record and edit the audio, the area where the commercial will air, how long the spot will air, how many phone prompts there are, if music and/or sound effects will need to be added, etc. Your voice over rates have to encompass all aspects of the job.

I wouldn’t presume to tell a performer what to charge for his or her voice over services. The best I can advise is to study the rate ranges posted for jobs found via internet sites. Decide if those rates are enough to justify giving your time and talents. And always, ask to see the complete script, find out all of the details of usage and what editing is required by you before giving a firm bid. You also need to clarify how any pickups and/or client changes will be handled after your final recording has been delivered.

Voice Over News

Wow! Things have really been popping lately! So much has been happening that I haven't had time to blog. If I can't find time to chat......well you know things are busy in the voice over business. Seems like most of the voice talent and voice over producers I've been talking to lately are experiencing the same thing - both female voice talent and male voice talent. Good news for all of us! Hope you've been busy, too!

Along with ISDN commercial voice over sessions, there have been more web narrations and long form e-learning narrations with some on camera work tossed in, as well. I've been traveling to other studios more than usual for narration and commercial work, too. While I certainly enjoy working from my own voice over studio, it is such a treat to just be the voice talent and leave the engineering and editing to someone else!

I'm still continuing on my quest for getting new voice over promotional materials designed. It's taking longer than I anticipated, but it will all work out well in the end and I had to get the new design "just right". We agonize over this stuff, don't we? I've also learned a few new helpful tips for EQing finished voice files from a generous engineer/producer. Still tweaking and getting used to the new Sennheiser MKH 416 mic, which is so sensitive that it required some tweaking of my mic preamp and mixer settings along with increased soundproofing and isolation. It's all been well worth the trouble, though, and the new mic is sounding great both via ISDN with no processing, and when I'm recording, engineering and editing my own voice over files. It's a constant learning process, isn't it?

Oh, still working on that new promo demo, too. Just had to put it on hold over the past few weeks. I hope to get into the studio to work with a super producer on that within the next week or so. By then, I should have the new CD labels and postcards, so perfect timing after all!