ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS HERE TO STAY

I had the most interesting conversation with a friend who was concerned about the effect of artificial intelligence on Voiceover work, and how that would affect my career.

I have to admit, I sort of chuckled. AI is big deal, and everyone is wondering where it is going to lead us.

Is artificial intelligence a factor for the Voiceover business?

Of course it is! There are some elements of our business that AI voiceover work can mimic. And if that is a genre that you work in, yes, you should be concerned!

But frankly, AI is not going to be a factor for the major part of Voiceover work.

Here is my response to my friend.

Voices are instruments.

Each voice is a part of an orchestra or symphony.

I’m on the low timber of instruments. Maybe a tuba or a baritone, or even a string double bass (Yeah! That’d be cool!).

Here’s the thing about AI. It can mimic a voice or an instrument, but it cannot mimic the interpretation of that passage. It cannot mimic emotion. Oh, I realize some people say that it’s just a matter of time. But that’s exactly what they said about the Moog synthesizer.

And last I checked, there aren’t that many people attending digital music concerts. Although ironically, live musicians have learned how to incorporate such instruments into their performances.

Timing, pacing, rhythm, interpretation, emotion, feeling, connection, all of those things factor into good voiceover work.

So is AI a threat for you? It is, if you do not know how to provide everything that AI cannot!

Let me explain it this way.

AI is like meatloaf.

Please forgive my disdain for meatloaf. And no, I’ve never tasted yours and frankly I hope I never will. Meatloaf is of the devil.

You can cook up a glob of ground beef and call it meatloaf. But you know what it is…ground beef. Just plain ol’ nasty ground fat beef. Oh, I know some of you use different kinds of meat. But the basis of meatloaf is a glob of ground up beef.

So you doctor it. You add other kinds of meat. You add all kinds of mathematical formulas of spices. You check the planets and moons to see when the perfect time is to slather it with catsup, or BBQ sauce, or mayonnaise, or whatever.

You know why you doctor it?

Because it’s nasty ground up fat beef!

That’s what AI is to the VO world. It’s just another synthetic sound recipe.

Is it a threat? Yes, to some.

But the reality is that it’s just another voice talent, albeit an electronic one, that is vying for your job.

You wanna beat AI? Give your client more than another glob of AI voice ground up beef.

And for those of you who think this article was about meatloaf… :)

I actually hate meatloaf, but I love people who are passionate about it. My dad would rather have eaten meatloaf than steak.

I don’t know how he’s faring in heaven without meatloaf.

Anyway, I know AI is here to stay and I am not about to let it beat me out of a job or an audition.

STOP DOING THE BASICS - 2nd Edition

I was working with a national client today that made the most curious statement.

As we started the session he said, “Just give me the basics, a couple of takes, and we’re outta here.”

So, I gave him the basics.

After 3 takes in a row, there was a long pause and he said, “Yeah, forget the basics. Give me you.”

After the session, as I thought about it, I was humored by the memory that I wrote this blog some 8 years age. I’ve amended it somewhat, but this is what I’m talking about:

Originally published July 10, 2013

STOP DOING THE BASICS

Well, that didn’t come out quite right.

Basics are important. You have to do them. The problem is that too many of us never get past the basics. If all you do are the basics, that’s all you’ll end up with. The basics.

A race car driver that never does more than the basics will never win a race. A musician that never gets past the basics will never write a masterpiece. A business that never goes beyond the basics will never know real success.

A builder friend of mine once said, “Every basic house I’ve built is still standing, but I can’t make a living off of basic.”

As a voice talent, if all I do are the basics, I’ll sound like thousands of other voiceover dogs out there trying to make a buck. I’ve never gotten a voice job because I sounded like everyone else.

In fact, one of the biggest ironies in the voiceover business is that clients who want a voice that “sounds like the guy next door,” don’t really want him to sound like the guy next door. What they really want is for the guy next door to think that he sounds like the voice in the commercial. But I digress.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. While the basics are important, they are not what win the race. So what do you have to do to move beyond the basics?

I once asked Bill Leach, an artist friend from many years ago, how he started a project.

His response was, “You start with the basics.”

“What are the basics?” I asked.

He answered simply, “A clean canvas. Everything else is everything else.”

In this voiceover business, the basics are pretty simple: Have a sound and delivery that clients want; have good equipment and know how to use it; and run your business with integrity and common sense. But it’s what you do beyond that which will determine your success. In other words, everything else is everything else.

With that in mind, here are 3 ideas to move beyond the basics.

1, Understand that the basics are the starting point.

The basics of any business are the foundation. That’s all. And every similar business should have those same basics.

So what sets you apart from every other similar business?

What do you have to offer that will appeal to a client?

By the way, if you answered “a lower price” you just lost round one. Good clients don’t want cheap, they want fair.

2. Respect the basics, but don’t let them limit you.

One of my favorite baseball pitchers of all time was Detroit’s Mark “The Bird” Fidrych (RIP). He had all the basics down, as do most professional ball players. However, his winning ways along with his absolute joy on the field and quirky behavior made him one of baseball’s favorites. When Fidrych hit the mound, it was something beyond the basics that made him a winner…and a crowd favorite.

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “Stick with the basics.” Well, I’m here to tell you that doing that will shut your business down.

Of course, you must do the basics, but it is what you do beyond those basics that will determine your success.

3. Trust the basics but do what you do better than the basics.

When you settle for just the basics, you cheat yourself and your potential client out of something magical.

It’s like trying to sell white paint. Have you noticed that paint companies don’t brag on their white paint. Why? Because basics don’t sell. Clients want something beyond the basics.

And I’m not talking about ad-lib. There may a place for that in your project, but start with taking your copy beyond just reading it outloud!

That’s why your auditions, your demos, your marketing, and especially what you deliver to the client needs to be beyond the basics. And by that, I mean everything from your audio quality to your interpretation and presentation. What do you have to offer that is better than the basics?

Here’s the bottom line: you’re best at where you’re not basic. Oooh, that was good. Read it again!

Now go be unbasic (yeah, I made up that word).

WHO CAN YOU TRUST?

Dear Voice Actor!

A little “down-to-earth” commentary.

It’s real easy to get caught up in the comments and marketing of vendors who make their living off of voice talents and their jobs.

But vendors don’t hire you!  Clients do!

I don’t mind the promotional strategies of the vendors I work with. Hey, if they get work, I get work!  But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that vendors/agents are your client.  They aren’t!

In fact, a little secret is that if they don’t have you and other voice talents as the foundation of their business, they are unemployed. (Pay 2 Play websites ought to be paying YOU to join them!!!)

Here’s the bottom line for me. Most of my clients and jobs come from contacts and relationships that I’ve built through the years. Not from agents. Not from auditions. Not from demos. Not even from awards. All those may have played a small part at some point in getting me noticed. But none of those got me the job! You’ve never been hired because of your past!

Did you get that?  Agents, auditions, and demos don’t get you work.  They may get you noticed, but they don’t get you work.

YOU get you work.

You want to be successful in this voiceover business? 

Buy my self-promoting one hour webinar on how to be successful in VO work and make a million dollars!!!

NO!!!  JUST KIDDING!!!

There is some AWESOME support staff such as SOME coaches, SOME demos producers, SOME agents, etc., but the bottom line is YOU get you work!

Don’t trust anyone to get you work. Trust you!

How does that work?  Well, here’s a little insight: I’m building relationships and connections NOW that I don’t expect to offer me any work for at least a year or two, if even then! 

You wanna know how the VO business really works?  Connect with voice talents! Build relationships with other voice talents (they’re all over FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other internet options).

And here’s a great formula to follow:  Trust the opinion of 6 voice talents over any vendor!!!

But know that many VO vendors are spot-on ambassadors for what we do as voice talents. Love them!

WELCOME TO THE RENAISSANCE!

They’re baaaaack!!!

Just in the last two weeks I’ve heard from a dozen clients that I haven’t heard from in over two years!  YAY!!!

That means their clients are coming back, and we’re starting to catch a glimpse of what it means to put this pandemic behind us. We’re starting to see a resurrection in the voiceover business.

But here’s the amazing thing.  If you spent at least some of your time over the past couple of years connecting with and developing new clients you are about to get unbelievably busy!

That’s the way business works.

I like to dabble in the stock market. I like studying companies and what makes them tick. I find companies that are well run, by great management, and produce a much needed product or service. Then I determine if their stock is significantly undervalued. And if it is, I buy it and hold on!

The market has recently gone through some major volatility, but I haven’t let it bother me. I’m invested in really good companies that I know will weather the storm.  And sure enough, some of them are starting to show signs of bouncing back. I don’t know how long it will take, but they’ll bounce back.

I can tell you that over the past couple of years I’ve been buying stock in such companies. But here’s the interesting thing. I held on to almost all the companies that were in my portfolio  before the pandemic because I knew they were good companies and would pull through.  And they are.  But along with them, the more recent stocks are starting to climb also! 

Investing in the stock market is a lot like building your voiceover business.

When the times are down, whether it be for a couple of months or more, take that time to hold on to and nurture your good companies, but build relationships with those companies that you’ve discovered are going to someday need your voice.

It’s called marketing; taking the time to find out about the company. Determining what their voice needs are and if you are a good fit for them. If you don’t know what their needs are, or even if you can meet their needs, you have nothing to sell! And until they know what their needs are, and you know what their needs are, you’re not in tune with them and you are not ready to be their voice talent.

I’ve made a lot of good friends in this business.  People that I have never worked for, and probably never will. But because I took the time to find out about them and their companies, we became friends. And frankly, I don’t care if I never work for them because I’m not a fit for their voiceover needs. But they are still my friends.

So now, if you’ve done your due diligence you are going to see some of your old clients coming back, and you may be/start reaping the harvest of connecting and building new clients.

Congratulations!

But what if you didn’t do what should’ve done during the down time?

A lot of voice talents just started mass emailing other people in our business, looking for work. Yeah?  How did that work out for you?  Oh, there are exceptions to the rule, but I’ll bet the vast majority of you that did that got squat on your returns. 

Some voice talents started phone calling potential clients. Yeah? How did that work out for you? Again, there are exceptions to the rule, but more than likely the vast majority of you who did that got nothing out of it.  Partly because you were connecting with clients who’s business was down also!

So, if the industry is coming back, and you’re not seeing it happen, here are four things you should consider doing immediately before the renaissance passes you by.

Invest In Yourself

a. Find a good coach that will help you find you!  One that helps you discover what needs you can legitimately meet for a client.  And be willing to pay a coach a little extra to coach you through an audition!

b. Make sure your equipment is up to competitive standards. Here’s the bottom line, if your signal chain is crap, you are going to be treated that way by producers and clients. They listen to hundreds of auditions every day. They don’t have time (or any interest) to make you better or even give you a chance. You’re competing against hundreds of voice talents who have decent sound chains. Make sure you sound great!

c. If you need an updated demo, do it. But only if you need an updated demo! And if you do need a new demo, make sure it is focused on what you do best!  That’s where a legitimate coach comes in.

By the way, demo costs are outrageous right now. It’s disgraceful. I’ve heard demos produced for under $1000 that sound as good, if not better that the ones being sold for over $3000…some as high as $7500 or more. Big name demo producers aren’t necessarily better producers they’re just greedier. There I said it. And I stand by it.

Demo production is a cash cow for many coaches and their producers.  Don’t fall for it! Get a demo producer to quote you a price, and send you samples.  Then compare cost and quality.

Demos usually don’t get you work. Auditions do. And business relationships. Think of a demo as an audio business card. It’s a way of introduction, and little more than that.

Figure Out What You’re Best At

I don’t do audio books. I’m terrible at them. And I still haven’t gotten paid by a major well-known author for one I did. But there are many of you who ARE good at that genre. Good for you. Go for it!

Now, reflect on this: what you like doing may not be what you are best at.  I’d love to do an in-show narration, but that has never happened. Why?  Because there are voice talents out there who are much better and experienced at it. Would I be good at it?  Not good enough!  So, I don’t waste my time chasing that dream.  I’ve got enough other things to keep me busy.

And once you know what you are best at, determine that you are going to be the very best at it!  Become the standard. Be the person all the other voice talents mimic.

Get A Website

Even if it’s just a landing page, get a website. Why?  Because producers and clients search the internet for voice talent.

There’s a reason more and more P2P sites are struggling. Clients are tired of sifting through horrible auditions and working so hard to find a good voice.  So a presence on the internet is very useful. 

Just this week I had 2 potential clients contact me because they had found my website on the internet.

Either get someone to design a webpage or website for you, or do it yourself through one of those DIY sites. I built my own site through Squarespace. And If I can do it, anyone can!

And finally…

Start contacting old clients and touching base with them to let them know you are back up and running.

Clients forget our names. They forget how to get in touch with us. And you’ll be surprised how many of them will be happy to hear from you!

And be sure to follow up with an email and a link to your latest demo (which should be on your website).

Welcome back!  The voiceover world is alive and well, and bouncing back. Get back on!          

THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE

Navigating the Changes of These Times

Dan Hurst

When I was a boy growing up in Honduras, one of my favorite places to go was a place where a sizable river emptied into the ocean. One of the things that fascinated me about that place was that there were always wrecked boats in that inlet. I asked an old boat captain that I knew why that happened. He explained to me that because of the force of the river and the force of the ocean the riverbed was constantly changing. And many boat pilots weren’t vigilant enough to navigate the changes.

Business constantly changes. It’s the nature of the beast. Companies who anticipate and know how to adapt to eminent changes will succeed in the face of frustrating and even overwhelming circumstances.

The same is true for your business. In fact, the voiceover business is in constant change. And if you don’t change with it, you lose out.

But to understand how to change, it’s critical to know what the changes are…and what changes are coming!

These past two years have been off the charts as far as change is concerned. And for our purposes, it’s critical to understand that change breeds change.

If you are building or counting on your voiceover business to go back to what it was, you’re in for a major disappointment. It’s not going to happen. Why?

Because your clients have changed.

Over the past few months I’ve been spending time with my clients online, on the phone, in person just to get a sense of what changes they’re going through, and how that will and can affect our relationship.  If you aren’t doing this, you’re in for some major surprises.

I’m not here to tell you how your business is going to change. Every business is different and affected differently by change. But I’d like to offer some observations of what I’ve noticed related to my own business and clients.

First, your clients are obviously affected by their clients and their changes.

If your clients are servicing retail business clients, their business is critically affected by several factors, including supply chain, product development, staffing, etc. For example, the automotive industry has been greatly affected by the elements I just mentioned. That means that they don’t have the inventory of new cars that they normally have. It also means that their used car business has become more active and competitive. 

That means that your automotive clients are switching gears (see what I did there?).  You need to be actively ready to help them with that change. The same can be said for pretty much any retail business.

Secondly, your clients are working in a new format.

One of my major clients has completely changed their normal operations. Their people are no longer working from the office. They are working from home and working online. In the last year, every recording session has been via Zoom.

That changes everything! It changes their focus, their perception of the VO, their creativity, and on and on. And it changes their VO needs.

I have an IVR client that has had to completely change his phone messaging. Some of his staff are working from home. Some are now working in different departments. And some staff are gone permanently. He’s had to route calls from one department to another. It’s been a mess that has required great patience. And the best thing I can do for him is to be available at a moment’s notice to help get the right messages recorded and placed.

Almost all your clients businesses have changed dramatically within the last two years. They need you to help them acclimate and get back into a productive routine.

Thirdly, media and style have changed.

Clients are looking for the most effective and cost-efficient way of getting their story out to their customers. They are reaching for creative and memorable ways to impact their market.

I know one advertiser that does only :15 and :30 radio spots that only air on rural stations. Why? Because the customers he’s trying to reach don’t watch much TV, don’t spend much time on social media, and might only pick-up a newspaper once a week. Oh, and direct mail hasn’t done much for him.

One of my clients does only :10 social media spots. Each one is part of a storyline. Quick, creative, and memorable.

The point is that just as businesses have changed, so have their customers. And now, more than ever, voice talents who can flex and adapt to different styles and methodologies are going to find more opportunities to work.

What do I mean by “styles and methodologies?” I’ve noticed that as commercials get shorter, clients are looking for something that will reach out and grab the viewer/listener quickly. We’re not seeing as many scripts that start out with a clever mis-direct and then come back with an “a-ha” moment. They simply don’t have time for it. So, the VO has to be quickly compelling. Of course, part of that is the copy, but also the vocal style.

Last week I got a creative direction that was new to me. The client wanted “conversational drama. Kinda like a trailer voice in the corner booth.” I must admit, when I heard the final product, it did pop!

Fourthly, narration work has changed.

The eLearning business and corporate narration business is going through the roof. Companies are increasingly communicating with their employees through media. Gone are the days when companies would cram their employees into the corporate meeting room to make special announcements, or train, or motivate.

Now, they’re using videoconferencing and web videos. eLearning has become a standard way of training. And even through these methods there is a growing attempt to be creative and memorable. Boring announcers are out. Relatable announcers are in. Fake is out. Authentic is in.

I recently narrated a safety video for a mining company. They wanted the narration to sound like it was coming from one their blue-collar employees. Knowledgeable but rough. Proud but concerned. Authoritative but friendly.

Polished voices and deliveries have become characters (usually to be made fun of). Trustworthy and genuine voices rule the day.

Finally, finding VO work has changed.

My wife chides me all the time when I’m frantically looking for my iPhone, or my glasses, or my whatever. She always says, “Well, it’ll be in the last place you look.”

That’s the answer for finding voiceover work.  It’ll be in the last place you look.

The work is out there. I haven’t noticed that it has diminished. It just may not be where you used to find it.

Have a conversation with some of your trusted clients. Ask them how and where they are looking for voice talent now. You’ll be surprised by some of the answers.

The reason for this change is understandable. In many cases, simply because personnel have changed, different people are now responsible for finding and hiring creative talent. In some cases, the company has switched creative or ad agencies. One of the first things such agencies do is drop the old and start new. Most companies are using this time to assess not only their product and production, but also their creative. So, now is the time to make some new contacts. A quick chat with any creative directors that you know might yield some golden leads.

Along that line of thought, I’ve noticed in the past few months more and more requests from individual video producers. In talking with them, I realized that many of them lost their jobs during the brunt of the pandemic and have now launched out on their own. So there is a glut of new producers starting their own businesses, and some of them are taking business away from their former house. And some of them are doing what we all should be doing: beating the bushes and finding work.

Yes, the work is out there. You haven’t noticed fewer commercials on the air. My eLearning clients tell me they are slammed. Web video producers are still cranking them out. Keep searching. You’ll find work the last place you look.

IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE?

A few days ago, I had a meeting with my management team, ACM Talent. One of the things we discussed was the inevitable change that is coming from many TV and Movie production agencies and studios that will use the pandemic recovery to make significant changes in their promotional strategies. It may be one of the positive changes for us voice actors coming out of the last 18 months.

That should be no surprise. As the economy seems to be improving, and as businesses are ramping up, there are a lot of questions being asked:

How do we dovetail our changes with the changing marketplace?

Is now the right time to make business changes, and how do we do that?

When and what will be normal?

Do our customers want us to be what we were, or do they want us to be different?

Is now the time to redefine ourselves?

A friend of mine who runs a small chain of clothing stores said it this way: “Our clothing lines and styles change almost every month. But one of the things that was becoming quite clear even before 2020 was that we weren’t changing and adapting with our industry. Maybe we’ve been handed a great time and reason to change.”

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it dozens of times: “Now is the time for us to assess and reassess who we are and how we need to do things.”

The one thing this worldwide pandemic has done is it has forced us, as businesses, to take stock of our companies, our methodologies, and our strategies. How do we evaluate our weaknesses and our strengths?  How do we cull the deadwood and energize a new and dynamic “us”?

Any time is a good time to assess and consider change.  But now is the right time to change!

“New” is sometimes an awkward word in the business lingo. It certainly suggests change. But it also suggests doing away with the previous way of doing things. But does it need to mean changing everything? Why does “new” have to mean that the previous was wrong? 

“New” can also mean making the old better. It can also mean solidly building on the foundation of who we are. “New” can mean improved.

It also suggests new energy. New confidence. New creativity. New vision. New expectations. New strategies. Even new goals.

I have a client who called me this past week and explained their changes this way: “We liked who we were, but we want to love who we are. We need your voice to remind our clients of how good we were, but to make sure our new clients know how great we are now.”

So, your company is going through a change.  Maybe one that has been forced on you because of the present-day circumstances. Maybe one that was due a long time ago. But the great thing about healthy change is that not only are you and your company different, but so are your new and old clients and customers.

Embrace the change. Welcome the new. Hold on to what is great. Anticipate who and what you will be. But along with all of that, expect the new generation of customers and clients who have been looking for the new you.

#  #  #

Dan Hurst is a voice talent working out of his own professional studio hidden on a lake somewhere in Missouri. He spends his days in a lonely, dark booth talking to himself, although he is known to surface if there is food or sports involved. As a voice talent, he's voiced everything from perfume to plastics; from treadmills to trucks; and from TV network promos to movie trailers. You've heard him on late night TV saying, “But wait!”, and when you were on-hold waiting...and waiting. You may have even heard him hosting your eLearning web-training for your company. You wondered who that voice was. Now you know. Check out his work at www.DanHurst.com.

THE NEW NORM IN VOICE OVERS

The voice over world has changed. Probably permanently.

The COVID Pandemic has created a whole new way of doing business. A New Norm.

It used to be that even if you didn’t have a home studio and could only work from professional studios, you could still get work.  Those days are almost completely gone. The vast majority of agencies, producers, even production studios are now looking for voice talents who have their own studio quality set-ups.

Here’s how odd it is: Yesterday I did a national voiceover via Source Connect with a local studio and a local advertising agency! In fact, we all know each other, but the agency chose to do the ultimate social distancing thing and hook up via Source Connect all within the same town. 

Interestingly, I’ve also done a few ISDN sessions with the same local studio!

This is a New Norm.  And frankly, I’m okay with it. But there are some key elements to note as we make this shift. Here are five that I’ve noticed. 

1. We’re seeing a polarization of talent use.

While we’re going to continue to see low-ball clients looking for cheap VO, we’re also going to see more VO talents willing to work for lower rates just to get the work. But we’re also going to see great clients delighted that they can get great voice talents easily and quickly because they are working from their professional home studios, and those clients are happy to pay a fair rate for that convenience and accessibility.

Recently, I’ve been working more and more with clients who are also working from home, and it has been interesting to compare notes about the business and maintaining a high level of professionalism and efficiency while working in a more comfortable and relaxed setting. When clients realize they can still get professional voice work from talents working from their home studios, it’s a win-win situation.

It’s a paradigm shift. While there are clients settling for cheaper rates and substandard voiceovers, there are also clients demanding the high-end voiceover quality that comes from a professional studio.  And if your home studio is high quality, and you can deliver what the client expects, you’re golden.

That doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to build the ultimate home studio. But it does mean that if you are going to play the high-end game, you are going to have to invest in great equipment and an acoustically solid environment. Face it, you’re competing with the best in the business, so not only do you have to bring your A game, but you have to play with the best equipment you can. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot for the sake of a few hundred dollars.

2. Source Connect now seems to be king.

I’ll still have my ISDN lines, but I haven’t had a request for ISDN in months. Now, I’m sure there are still some client studios that use ISDN, but there are certainly fewer of them. And with the shift away from ISDN, Source Connect seems to be the go-to connection for more studios.

That’s actually good news for voice talents. Source Connect is far cheaper than ISDN. And if you have a decent internet connection, you can depend on Source Connect.

But don’t rule out ipDTL and Source Connect Now; both excellent IP Codecs on the Opus platform that deliver clean, fast connections. And there are certainly others worth considering.

3. P2P sites are losing their luster. 

Yes, there is still work to be found on some P2P sites, but clients seem to be less and less enchanted with them.  At least that’s what I’m hearing. The main reason for the disenchantment is the process that clients have to go through to find the right talent on a P2P. It can be overwhelming. Clients have to wade through an endless number of talents – often just a number or a code on a website with no way to really get to know more about the talent. And in many cases they are doing so on a P2P site where there is simply a lack of transparency – they are using the site as a partner they don’t really know, they don’t know how their budget is really being used, the site won’t allow them to really know who the talent is, and on and on.

It can sometimes be like trying to buy a pair of shoes online either from an automated website, and the website won’t tell you what the name of the brand is; they’ve asked you what you are willing to pay but they won’t tell you how much the shoes really cost; and when you ask for a sample (audition) you get a pile of crappy shoes to not so crappy shoes. And then you think you have to choose from that pile or go through the process again somewhere else.

I have a client who used to hire off of P2P sites, and got increasingly frustrated and irritated at the sheer lack of competency, professionalism, and sometimes integrity within the process. He said, “I don’t hire someone because their rates are lower. I hire someone because they’re the right person for the job. And when I realized that talent agents and casting agents are better at finding that person than I am, it was a no-brainer.”

By the way, there are some excellent voice talents on some P2P sites. The problem is that they often get lost in the shuffle.

That’s a key point: P2P sites are not talent agencies. They’re stockyards.

And that brings us to the next consideration of the New Norm for voice overs.

4. Agents are gold.

Great agents have always been gold.

But this shift in the way the voice over business is working has created a greater demand for the best agents. Clients are realizing that they have been spending too much time, energy and money on P2P sites trying to find the right voice. Why not let someone find that voice for you and deliver to you the best of the auditions so you don’t have to spend time going through countless auditions, usually bad auditions, while you could be using your time more efficiently and productively?

That’s where talent agents and casting agents save the day. They have the best talents on their rosters, and almost all those talents work for the same rates.

But here’s a caution about talent agents. Just as the voice over business is overloaded with people who claim to be voice talents but just aren’t that good, so is the business overloaded with agents that aren’t that good. It’s pretty easy to throw up a shingle and call yourself a talent agent, just as it’s easy to buy a USB mic and call yourself a voice talent. But a word of caution to voice talents and clients: if that agent isn’t hustling to land voice over work (instead of waiting for the phone to ring), that’s not being an agent. That’s being an order-taker.

5. Social marketing is still king.

Social marketing has carved its way into the world of legitimate marketing. It works!  

But don’t confuse marketing with selling yourself. Marketing is what you do before you can sell yourself. In fact, great marketing requires “selling” the client to yourself first. You have to know the potential client before you even know if you have what they need. And “need” is a crucial part of it. Marketing is getting to know the potential client and figuring out if and how you can meet their voice over need.

It takes time to make connections and build relationships. And now that many clients are working from home, it’s even more difficult to just pick up a phone, call their office, and try to establish a connection.

I’ve found that the best way to connect with a client is to use their preferred media. And most of them are online – either email, internet forums, chat groups, etc. I’ve met some of my best clients where they hang out, not where they work.

But don’t embarrass yourself and waste your time, or your client’s time trying to talk them into using you. Once you know them and what they need, and they know you and that you can meet that need, it’s a done deal. I’d much rather work with a friend than with someone I don’t know, who doesn’t know me, and we have to dance around figuring each other out.

And if they never use me, I still have made a friend! In fact, I have more business friends than clients. And I’m totally cool with that!

So, there you have it: The New Norm in voice overs is not going away any time soon. Embrace it and trim your sails. It’s a new day.

ARE YOU A VOICE TALENT?

You may be a VoiceOver Talent if:

You talk in the shower.

You quote commercials.

You repeat yourself, not because someone's not listening, but because you know you can do it better.

You have an opinion about ISDN.

You love the smell of good acoustics.

You know how to do it faster but make sound slower.

You drink room temperature water because it makes you sound better.

You have your own special pen.

You love -6.

You find yourself smiling at something you said when it may not interest you in the least.

You can read this line conversationally in your head, and you just did.

You feel sorry for people in other lines of work.

You've said "andheresanalt."

You hate long sentences.

You love going to the mailbox.

ABOUT THOSE PAY TO PLAY WEBSITES

My wife and I are looking to replace our AC/Heating system. It’s apparently the one used on Noah’s Ark, and it’s about to give up the ghost.

In the process, I noticed how similar it could be to how so many people select a voiceover. In fact, it would be very easy to slide into that mode where we just go with the lowest bid, the way so many voice clients select a VO.

And that would be stupid, wouldn’t it? There are so many factors involved: the product/brand, the quality of the labor, the timeliness, the reputation and connection with the contractor, and yes, even the price. 

But for my wife and me the price is not the deciding factor. We have a budget; a fair budget. And as long as the bidding contractors aren’t too far over or under it, we’re good with that part of it.

We just want to make sure that we’re going to be happy with our decision, even 10 years from now.

But something struck me about the process of selecting a contractor.

You know, I’ve never asked any of the AC/Heating  providers to “audition” for the job. I might ask for some references (which I guess is a sort of auditioning), but I’ve never asked any of them to perform a little bit of the installation to see if I like their work, and if it’s compatible with our plans.

I never ask a painter for a customized sample of his painting before hiring him/her.

I never ask a restaurant to audition a sample of a meal before ordering.

I’ve never asked the gardener for a sample of his mowing before hiring him.

And I’ve never asked the doctor for a customized audition of his healing arts before engaging him/her.

I wonder how many of these professionals I could ask for a customized audition AND a bid to the bottom rate.

The only reason I can assume that voice talents send auditions and low bids is because they don’t believe they are professionals and worth better pay.

And P2P sites that feed that frenzy are as guilty as the participating voice talents.

Think about it. If you’re on a P2P website that let’s other voice talents underbid you, you’re part of the problem – you’re supporting the very websites that are working to undercut you (and other voice talent)! There’s no way you can justify that, I don’t care how nice, and professional, and kind, and transparent, and supportive the P2P site owners are.

And seriously, regarding clients that use such P2P sites to find a voice “that’ll do” at the lowest price – do you really want to work for them anyway? My experience has been that their lack of respect for voice talents and their neurosis for just getting the job done, are not worth the pain.

But that’s just me.

THE FOUR “IN’S” OF VOATLANTA

Most of us voiceover people live a fairly secluded life. We work in the privacy of our own personal studios. There are days each week when I see no one else but my wife (much to her annoyance, I’m sure).

It’s not something I complain about. It’s just a chosen reality.

So to have the unique opportunity to go to an annual conference for voiceover talent is pretty special. I went to VOAtlanta this year. I’m writing this on the day after the conference primarily for my own introspection, but perhaps you may find such reflection interesting.

There were four “In’s” to VOAtlanta for me.

Intimate

Yes, there were several hundred voice talents and related entities at VOA, but there was still a sense of closeness and familiarity. We were, and are part of each other. We share a common ground that no one else does.

Of course there are whackos in the group. There always are in any group that size, especially among creatives. No doubt I’m one of them. But that didn’t and doesn’t diminish the bond that we share.

Inclusive

There are very few events where you can just walk up to a group of people, even people you don’t really know, and be included in the discussion. VOA is one of those events.

But there is another element of inclusivity. I think it was during one of the lunch breaks that the thought hit me: we’re all an integral and critical part of the marketing and educational process. Each of those sectors need voices, and can’t function properly without us. It’s nice to be needed.

Inspiring

It’s inspiring to learn and discover. It’s inspiring to see others learn and discover. It’s breathtakingly inspiring to realize that in three and a half days I took my career to a fresh, new level. I woke up this morning better for having been at VOA.

Invigorating

It’s less than a two hour flight from Kansas City to Atlanta. Yet, the flight seemed to take forever to get to Atlanta for the conference. I could hardly wait. But it seemed to take even longer to get back. I’m so anxious to incorporate what I learned and who I met into my new normal.

And so it’s on and up to my little studio to get busy with a fresh and enthusiastic challenge: to make my clients and their projects better.

I can’t wait.

5 THINGS TO DO NOW FOR YOUR VOICEOVER CAREER

The smoke of the New Year has cleared along with the rush of a new start. Now you’ve settled into some sort of rhythm in your VO pursuit. But perhaps it’s not the rhythm you had hoped for back on January 1. What can you do about that?

Let me suggest five things that you can institute right away that will be key to taking your ambitions and successes to the next level.

1. Connect With Your Peers

This is important. There is something about hanging out once in awhile with people that do what you do that revitalizes and refocuses you. You suddenly realize you aren’t in this alone. And you discover new ideas and concepts; new opportunities; and especially new friends!

Find a local VO Meetup, and if there isn’t one – start one.

Join a Facebook group like Voiceover Pros if you are an experienced VO talent, or Voiceover Camp if you’re new to the business. If you are a bilingual voice talent (with demos in at least two languages), check out the Bilingual Voice Talents group.

Join World Voices! www.world-voices.org

WO-VO, as it is commonly referred to, is an up and coming voiceover association put together by voice talents for voice talents, and run by voice talents. It’s $99/year, and that includes the free listing on www.voiceover.biz, which is sanctioned for a major upgrade in the next few months.

In the last few years, the association has started offering an annual convention for its members along with some regional conferences designed to train and develop voice talents as well as to give us a place and time to connect/reconnect and recharge.

There is also a Spanish wing of WO-VO.

Attend VOAtlanta https://voatlanta.me

VOA, as it is commonly referred to. It’s probably the best current annual conference for voice talents. Four and a half days of seminars, break-out sessions, x-sessions (specialized small seminars), hang-out time, and lots of face time with other voice talents and the movers and shakers in this business.

And there is an international arm of VOA.

Yes, it may seem a little pricey to many, but for what you get, it’s actually a pretty good deal!

2. Spread Your Wings

One of the most intriguing things to me about so many voice talents is that they while they might dream big, they don’t act big. By that I mean they don’t really act on their big dreams. The fact is it’s just a dream until you do something about it.

The voiceover business is a crazy business. There are so many genres, niches, and specialties that I don’t think any of us have really gotten our head around it. The fastest growing area seems to be eLearning in all its various styles, elements, and uses. TV is morphing into the internet. Podcasting is the new radio. Corporate narrations are no longer the stodgy, informational lectures of the past, but have become major productions. Phone messaging and IVR are alive and well. Museum tours. Web explainers. Audiobooks. Recorded public announcements are everywhere, from airports to trams, to event centers. Live event announcers – from kids sports to parties and receptions to local conventions to produced events on almost every TV network – are also everywhere. Speaking of sports, every high school and collegiate sport seems to have a live announcer anymore. And of course, there are still commercials. But the word “commercial” doesn’t even define a commercial anymore. Remember the days of :30’s and :60’s? Now we have even :05’s. And commercials run everywhere! TV, radio, internet, intra-nets, theaters, retail stores, live events, airlines, waiting rooms, even restrooms!

Multiply all of the above by 195 countries in the world, many of which need and use various languages, and suddenly you’ll realize: you’ve been thinking and acting too small!

The point is where do you fit in? Start dreaming big about it. But then, act big on it.

3. Change Your Marketing Strategy

Now, this may not apply to you. If your marketing strategy is working just fine, take this with a grain of salt.

But, what is your marketing strategy? How are you connecting with decision makers? After all, that’s the whole point of marketing isn’t it? Connecting with decision makers and helping them see how you can meet their voiceover needs?

Cookie cutter marketing strategies just don’t work as well as they used to. Why? Because decision makers are tired of the assault of cute clichés and copycats.

And the idea that something is better than nothing when it comes to marketing is a lie. But let me suggest a very simple starting strategy for you.

Make a list of the decision makers that you know. Not know about – actually know. Reconnect with them. And when you’re comfortable with it, ask them if they know of another decision maker that might be interested in your information. Then, follow up. Build your circle of influence starting right where you are: locally. Then spread out slowly, decision maker by decision maker.

And don’t forget to work on building some connections with decision makers on LinkedIn and Facebook.

4. Get Some Coaching

If you just started within the last 3 years to pursue this voiceover business, and you haven’t done it yet, do yourself a favor and get some input and direction from a legitimate, experienced coach that comes highly recommended by other voice talents. Be cautious in this. There are a bunch of hacks out there who pose as coaches, but don’t really have the gift. Trust your gut and trust the recommendations of working voice talents (not just the ones who say they are, but the ones that you know are actually working).

If you’ve been in the business for a while, and even if you’ve had coaching, maybe it’s time for a refresher. I’ve been in the business for 30 years. I still get regular coaching. It keeps me focused, centered, and motivated.

But you can also get some coaching by just reading and reading and reading. That’s the beauty of www.voiceoverxtra.com. I have no idea how many articles there are on that website written by coaches and voice talents, but it’s got to be in the thousands. Make it a regular habit to dig into those articles.

5. Get Busy

You don’t get better by being busy, but you do get busy by being better.

One of the great lies of the business world is that to get work you have to get busy. But we’re never told how to get busy. So, far too many of us start focusing on being busy, whatever than may mean. We start cold calling, emailing, networking, auditioning, demoing, webinar-ing, P2P-ing, conferencing, more auditioning, branding, and on and on.

There are thousands and thousands of voice talents who are so busy trying to find work, that they miss the whole point of how one gets really busy in this business. You get busy by being better.

Think about it. If you don’t get better as a voice talent, it doesn’t really matter how busy you are, does it? You can spin your wheels all day long working the low paying jobs, staying incredibly hectic and working your self dry at what amounts to a minimum wage in this business, or you can put that energy, at least part of it, into getting better.

I’ve said it a thousand times. Good gets you into the room; better gets you to the table; but best gets you hired.

With the thousands of enterprising voice talents out there, clients can easily afford to be picky – and they should. Clients hire the best that they can. That’s why you need to work at being better to be the best.

There you have it. Five things (and more) that you can do NOW to take another step up in your VO career. Is it going to be easy? Of course not. That’s why there are thousands and thousands of hopeful voice talents that are struggling and stumbling along.

Set your course. Map out your strategy. Define some goals.

You got this!

CAN EMAIL MARKETING REALLY WORK?

This is an updated version of a blog I published 8 years ago. I think it’s as relevant today as it was back then.

One of the challenges of voiceover work is finding new customers.  Most voice talents are in business for themselves and have to do it all: production, administration, marketing, even housekeeping.  Hmmm… sounds like any other small business!

There are a number of ways that many of us voice talents seek new business.  There are agents, production houses, referrals, Pay-to-Play sites, free listing sites, networking, phone soliciting, social media connections, direct mail, web banners, text ads, magazine ads, Ebay, Craigslist… oh, and email.  

A lot has been written about emailing as a marketing strategy.  There are whole companies built up around those efforts.  Does it work?

Well, yes…and no.  It’s pretty much like any other marketing strategy.  Done right, yes it works.  Done wrong it can work against you!

But it must work to an extent, right? I mean look at all those emails you get in your inbox!  Obviously it’s working or they wouldn’t be doing it. It’s gotta be a law of percentages thing – send out enough emails and you’re bound to get some work, yes?

Maybe you guessed, I am not a fan of mass emailing.  Generally if I get an email that is not addressed directly to me, I don’t read it (unless the subject matter is so compelling that I can’t help myself, or it contains the words “naked” and “jello”).

I don’t use email lists for marketing.  Ever.   I don’t even save a list of email addresses that I send out. Every email is individually researched, targeted and sent.  That’s just me.  I know some people buy lists and send individual emails, and I don’t think they’re wrong for doing so.  But I prefer to research a little about a potential client before I send them my info, so I tie the two efforts together.

Now, sometimes the only email address I can find on a potential client’s website is Info@… or I have to leave a message on a contact form, but that hardly qualifies as having put them on a list.

For the purposes of our marketing discussion I would say that anytime you put multiple email addresses in your “To:” box, that’s spam.  And everyone is irritably sensitive to spam.

The truth is if you get an email that you didn’t want, don’t you sort of think of it as spam?  It’s just the nature of the beast, I guess. But I disagree with the concept that just because something is unsolicited it’s spam.  Especially if it’s a business seeking a business opportunity with another business!  That’s called marketing.  And that also is the nature of the beast.

The way I look at it, an email inquiring about a business opportunity is no more illegitimate than a door-to-door salesman (although even that’s illegal in some communities).  My point is there is nothing wrong with a legitimate email offering your services anymore than there is anything wrong with legitimate snail mail making a legitimate offering.  

But HOW you make the offer is critical.  So, here are 5 things to keep in mind when you use email as part of your marketing strategy:

1. Send an initial inquiry to see if the company accepts voiceover demos (or whatever you are offering), and to whom such information should be sent. I always include a line in that email that introduces me as a bilingual voice talent, fluent in English and Spanish.  The reason I do that is so that if there is a need for what I have to offer, it may get the right person’s attention right away.

2.  Now, if the general rule of thumb applies, you are going to get only about a 2 or 3% response. I have gotten as much as 10% in certain business categories that I’ve marketed.  But that open door to those who have responded essentially pre-qualifies your reason for following up with the right person.

3. Never send an attachment by email unless you’ve been given permission to do so.  Don’t do it.  It makes you look like you don’t care that you’ve clogged up someone’s inbox.  And it may well be intercepted and deleted by the recipient’s server, meaning they’ll never even see your email!  I would suggest that if you are using the email to refer them to a demo, put a link in the email, or something they can copy and paste to access the demo.  I do both.  Some servers will kill links, so go ahead and add the link address as a precaution.

4.  Keep your email simple, informative, and short.  Just tell them who you are, what you do, a quick reason for why they may be interested in you, and how they can follow up with you or learn more about you.  That’s it.  

Ron Green was the most successful salesman I ever knew.  He could sell anything.  And pretty much did.  I asked him once why he was such a good salesman.  He laughed and explained that he was trained to keep selling until the customer said yes or no.  But learned to stop selling when the customer said “More, please.”

5.  Connect with the customer.  
I have a guy who trims my trees.  I met him because he came around once a year, dropped off a flyer to let people know that he would be in the neighborhood the following month if they needed him.  It was a very well done flyer that explained what he did, how to get in touch with him, and of course, in that flyer an offer for a free estimate the following week (“please call right away to let me know what time would be best for me to drop by”).  He’s one of the busiest tree trimmers around.

I asked him one day how he came up with his little marketing strategy.  He said, “Well, everyone else uses flyers to get business.  I use ‘em to get appointments for free estimates. I figure no one buys off a flyer.  They buy from a person.”

The fact is I rarely have a client hire me right from a marketing piece I’ve sent out.  The marketing piece is just a door bell.  If they open the door, then I can connect with the client, start building a relationship, figure out if I really am able to help them out, and determine how I should continue with that opportunity.  In some cases they want to hear from me every two or three months.  For some, once a year is enough.  Some call me when they need me, whether it’s weekly, monthly or annually.

And one more point about connecting with your client:  just because you’ve corresponded with someone by email, doesn’t give you the right to invade their space.  I can’t tell you how many people I know that seem to think that because we’ve exchanged a few emails, they think I’m interested in their mail-outs.  I mean, I guess they’re still sending mail-outs.  I blocked them a long time ago.

Emails.  I love ‘em (but not mass emails).  I use ‘em all the time to go after new business.  But the game is constantly changing and if you’re not on top of how your clients use email, and know what will get them to notice you in a positive light, you’re wasting your time…and theirs.

AUDIO SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

Using Audio In Your eLearning Project

By Dan Hurst, eLearning Voice Talent

The longer I am in this business, the more I learn about the emotion of audio.

Think about it. You have a favorite song, perhaps a favorite band or style of music. Why? Because it invokes a certain emotion in you.

You love certain sounds of nature. Perhaps ocean waves, or wind through the pines, or birds singing. Why? Because those sounds connect with you and focus you on a place you love.

The same thing is true with voices. Certain voices bring comfort, trust, and connection. And while the opposite is also quite true, this speaks to my point. Using audio in your eLearning projects can enhance or ruin the effectiveness of your work.

I’m an audio guy. Voiceovers, to be specific, but audio nevertheless. And sometimes clients will ask me to help them add music or sound effects to their projects, which I am happy to do. After doing this for a several years, and researching what works and doesn’t work (often from my own mistakes), may I make some suggestions on how you can vastly improve the audio of your eLearning projects, whether you plan on doing the audio yourself or use another company?

1. Use the audio to connect.

Although there is certainly an emotion that can be invoked by audio, whether it be with music or voice, the purpose of the audio is not to create an emotion but to create a connection. Whatever emotion it produces is entirely up to the participant.

Music or voice that attempts to create emotion just sounds dramatic or silly.

Connect. Don’t emote.

2. The quality of the audio is critical.

We live in a day and age where all of us are bombarded by highly developed and technically astute audio productions. When we suddenly hear some audio production that is less than perfect, we notice it right away.  And not only do we notice it, but we form an opinion about it.

For example, I just got off the phone with a company from which I ordered some supplies. The auto attendant voice was fine, but had recorded the announcements and instructions too far from the microphone, which created a hollow, “echoey” effect. Then on top of that the background music and the voice were fighting each other for my attention. My immediate reaction was, “Didn’t these people listen back to the very first thing a customer hears when they call them?” Not a good first impression. Imagine an entire eLearning project like that!

If you’re going to do audio production for your eLearning project, don’t cheapen the project by making it sound cheap. Use some decent equipment. It doesn’t have to be super expensive, but don’t shoot yourself in the foot by taking a let’s-do-this-for-as-little-as-we-can attitude. Compare your audio production with the production of a competitor. Or several. Which sound best? Why?

Let’s face it. A USB microphone into a laptop isn’t going to sound as good as a Condenser microphone through a decent interface into your laptop. And even if it does sound good to you while sitting at your desk, what is it going to sound like to the end-user?

3. Let it breathe. 

eLearning is education. It takes time to absorb the material. A voiceover that is too fast, or moves from one thought or concept to another too quickly loses the learner. It’s just plain ineffective. If you are doing the voiceover yourself, quit thinking about reading it, and think about speaking it. Speak it to someone standing or sitting there in front of you, or as I prefer to think of it, someone sitting on a park bench with you.

4. Remember your audience.

This seems pretty simple and superficial, but it is astounding how many eLearning projects fail to connect the audio with their audience, even if the teaching content is spot on.  Let’s face it, if you are targeting an audience that is primarily urban, it’s probably not a good idea to use a rural sounding voice. No, I know you would never do that.  But would you use a 2nd generation Mexican voice talent from L.A. to voice a project targeting sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic? I mean they both speak Spanish, right?

Seriously, one person cannot decide alone which audio sound works for the general audience.
It takes a diversified group with a vested interest in the product to decide which voice and which music is going to work best for the project. One person cannot decide for the entire audience.  And if you still aren’t sure, make the decision based on some legitimate research!

5. Simple Is Better.

Every layer, every element of your project is something else the end-user has to absorb and process. And the more things you throw into the mix are more things that will contribute to learning fatigue. More words, more color, more sound, more motion all compete for attention and processing. Keep your audio as simple as possible. Don’t let it distract.

And speaking of distracting, if you are going to voice your own project, make sure there are no distracting noises in the background, no distracting mouth noises, no distracting plosives, no distracting sibilance, and no distracting speech habits.

It occurs to me that I’m being kind of negative. My apologies. I just want your next project to shine! And with a little attention to these details, your audio certainly will.

~  ~  ~

Dan-daniel eduardo-Hurst is an experienced bilingual (English and Spanish) voice talent operating out of the Kansas City area. His eLearning voice clients include Boehringer Ingelheim, British Petroleum, Kimberly-Clark, United Rentals, Volkswagen, and numerous universities and government agencies. When he’s not working, he spends time cheering for losing sports teams and getting kicked off of golf courses. Find out more at www.DanHurst.com.

A SALUTE TO VO COACHES

I spent more than the first half of my voiceover career never having had one VO coaching session. Not one. I figured my clients and producers were my coaches. While there is some wisdom in letting your clients coach you to success, there are also some great disadvantages.

Letting your clients direct and coach you, coaches you to their standards. And while those standards may be good, they are nevertheless limited to their requirements.

Furthermore, your clients aren’t interested in discovering and developing your talent. They are simply interested in getting the VO that they need. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s face it: they don’t really have your best interests at heart.

A few years ago I decided that maybe now that I was making a fair living in this voiceover world, maybe I should try this VO coaching thing. I was at lunch with a fellow VO dog, Jon Specht, and he mentioned his coach, David Lyerly. I asked him to tell me more. And before the end of lunch, Jon agreed to introduce me to David.

A couple of weeks later we were connected and on the calendar for a couple of sessions a month.

I must tell you, that was one of the most career changing turn-of-events of my life.

David was/is brilliant, brazen, and brutal! And all class.

I’m one of those guys that likes clients and producers that know what they want. I don’t care if they are mouthy and harsh, as long as they know where they are going. And David was/is one of those guys.  Not that he was mean. He most certainly wasn’t. But he didn’t let me get away with less than 100% either.

Some time later I somehow met Mary Lynn Wissner. I was looking for someone who could take me deeper into the narration and in-story VO.  She is spot on for that sort of thing! She takes an actor’s approach to interpretation and has incredible insight to the discovery and nuances of copy. So…I started using Mary Lynn a couple of times a month.

A couple of years later, David decided to pursue another path in his career. WHAT??? And I needed to find someone to replace him. My dear friend and VO goddess Roberta Solomon, suggested Dave Walsh.

What a find!

I hate Dave like a brother. Dave is in LA. I’m in KC. If he called me tonite and said “I have a flat tire and need some help,” I would jump on the next plane. He’s the most honest, confrontational, real, frustrating, realistic, illuminating, instructional person I’ve ever known. And I look forward to his direction a couple of times a month.

In addition to Mary Lynn and Dave, through the genius offering of OpenCoaches.com, I’ve also started coaching with Joe Cipriano, J.J. Jergens, and Erik Sanchez.  I gotta tell ya, having them in my stable has been a brilliant move on my part, if I may say so myself.

So, let’s assess. Dave Walsh and Mary Lynn Wissner a couple of times a month, Joe Cipriano, JJ Jergens and Erik Sanchez once a month. Yeah, I think I’m pretty well covered. And probably a little obsessive. But the results speak for themselves.

I say all of that for this: If you are a voiceover talent, you are selling yourself short if you don’t have a VO coach. Even if just once a month.

VO VULNERABILITIES

I had an interesting conversation today with a friend who is a radio programming consultant. He was asking about my radio imaging work, and made this comment: “That’s gotta be a frustrating thing.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, because, when a consultant gets hired by a radio station one of the very first things we recommend to change is the imaging. It’s the easiest thing to change and it quickly produces a recognizable difference to the client and the audience.”

That started me thinking. There are certain vulnerabilities that voice talents must endure. Several actually. But there are four that I can think of that seem to really take their toll on us.

Four Vulnerabilities

1. It is really hard to establish ourselves as part of a company’s team.

The very nature of our business makes us a simple, disembodied voice for most of our clients. Then when a client decides to make some changes, we often become an expendable part of the change. It’s not personal. In fact it’s quite impersonal. We usually have no dynamic relationship with the client other than just being a service provider, so they have no loyalty or consideration for us. It’s business. That’s just the way it is.

But the good news is that we can work harder and smarter to build those relationships. It takes time and energy. And creativity. But it certainly can happen.

2. How we market.

Too many of us confuse sales with marketing. For most of us, our first connection with a potential client is essentially a sales call, whether it be an email, snail mail, a phone call, or whatever. It doesn’t work very well, does it?  No wonder the closing rate on those sort of approaches is usually no more than about 1 to 2%, if we’re lucky. That’s a very perverted concept of marketing.

Marketing is what you do to get to the sale. That involves a lot of research, discovery, timing, and connection. The old adage that you are always selling yourself is quite cliché, and downright wrong. In reality, you can never really sell yourself until you’ve done your marketing. Marketing takes time. Lots of time and attention.

Marketing begins with you “selling the client to yourself.”  In other words, you have to determine if that particular client is right for you, and do you really have what that client needs. Do you believe that you are the best answer for that client’s needs?

One of the problems with that is that usually, in our business, the client often doesn’t know what their needs are because they don’t have their next project. And chances are that they’ve already selected a voice for their current project, or have a stable of voices that they are already comfortable with. So your marketing requires the research to determine the probability of whether or not that client may eventually need you. That’s a pretty vague premise on which to build a sales strategy! It may work if the client does the same sort of projects time after time (such as automotive commercials or specific eLearning genres), but what if the client’s demands change with every project?

I don’t know of any client that hires a voice because they want that voice. They hire a voice because they perceive that they need that voice for their project. So until they need your voice, you have nothing to sell!  Marketing is the art of finding clients that need your voice. And there is no way that you can discover that until you’ve done your homework about what the client does, how the client works, who the client likes to work with, when the client chooses a new voice, and how the client makes that decision.  And even with that knowledge, you haven’t even started selling your services.

Some may think, “Oh, I think I’ll just join a Pay To Play site and let them send me clients that are ready to hire me.”  Yeah, good luck with that.  About the only advantage that I can think of that a Pay To Play site might have is one where you can actually interact with the client and build a relationship…and then someday perhaps the client will be ready to use your voice. But if you’ve already gotten caught in the bidding war of cattle calls, you’ve probably already undersold yourself to the client that may or may not consider you. Again, remember, successful marketing and selling is based on need. It’s pretty tough to audition for a potential client that you know little to nothing about, with only some vague instructions about what they’re looking for, and they have no clue about who you are and what you really bring to the table.

Let me recommend that if you are going to use a Pay To Play site you avoid the bidding wars and ONLY audition and work with clients that have set rates. In my experience, those clients have a much better understanding of value and are far more professional in their business.

Until Pay to Play sites offer the “Set Rate only” option to their talents and clients, they’re just accelerating the race to the bottom on talent rates. You’re foolish to get into the bidding game. Bidding wars say a LOT about the client, the Pay 2 Play site, and you.

Set rates are one of the reasons I appreciate agents and true casting sites so much. No legitimate talent agent or casting agent puts jobs out to bid.

Trust me, I’ve heard the argument from both talents and Pay to Play site owners: “Hey, we’re just offering clients and talents the opportunity to work together at a rate that they will both be happy.”  If you want to buy into that concept, then let an agent negotiate the rate for you. Don’t be your own negotiator. And if you feel you can’t find an agent, start researching casting agents and/or sites that will do the negotiation for you and work with them. Or find a VO manager (one with great connections to talent agencies and brand clients).

By the way, a growing trend in voiceover online services is casting sites. There are some that are legit, but be careful. Anyone can call himself or herself a casting agent, and they’ll be happy to take your money. A legitimate casting agent doesn’t charge for listing you. They take a percentage if they negotiate a project for you either directly or through your agent, but they don’t charge upfront. And some will also charge the end client a fee or percentage.

3. We try to be all things to all people.

Stop it. You are not good at everything. If you are going to carve out a niche for yourself in this business, you are going to have to be one of the best at what you do. Not just good. Not just great. But the best. The best clients hire the best talent. That doesn’t mean they pay the most money. That means that unless you are one of the best at what you do, you are little more than a hobbyist in that genre, and are probably not even going to be considered. You’re generallywasting your time.

Take your anger at me about that and channel it to find out what you are the best at. And capitalize on that!

What are your possibilities? Well, just look at some of the genres in the voiceover world:

Commercials (and even in this category there are countless sub-categories).

Explainer Videos (the short narrations that companies use on their websites to introduce new products or instruct consumers on how to use them).

Corporate Narrations (the narrations that companies use to explain or introduce their services).

eLearning (which uses everything from announcers to characters to the tune of billions of dollars a year).

Gaming (demanding an incredible range of character voices).

Telephony (what company doesn’t need this?).

Public Announcements (everything from in-store announcements to museums, to public transportation, to emergency services, to live announcing at conventions, etc).

I’m sure I’ve missed some, so please feel free to add in the comments.

4. Our productivity.

This ranges from the way we handle business, to our equipment, all the way to how we prepare and improve our craft. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Add to that the complexities of the demand of advertisers and their agencies, and it can be intimidating and even disheartening.

So what can you do about your vulnerabilities?

Well, there are blogs and more blogs written on that subject.  And there are coaches and more coaches that can give you insight and help you focus on that. But I want to recap these thoughts with four things that you can start doing today.

A. Start by building up relationships with your current clients. You already have established a connection there. Build on it. Eventually, if you do it right, you’ll have them on your side even to the point of becoming your advocate to help you find new clients.

B. Study marketing. Learn WHY and HOW to market. Your local community college no doubt has a few courses on this right now. There are plenty of eLearning courses on marketing that you can take at home. I’ve even noticed a few voiceover people offering marketing courses and services (I have no idea how effectual those are, but we shall see).

C. Research yourself. What VO genres are you best at? Not that you can’t develop and improve in other areas, but what are you really good at? Start marketing yourself in that arena.

D. Create a DPA – Daily Productivity Agenda. Go ahead, write down a daily activity list of what you have to do be more productive. Put it on your schedule and do it! Every day.

My DPA tends to change from day to day, but I’ve found that certain days seem to require the same agenda; for example Mondays. But every day I put in 30 minutes to an hour of marketing work. Every day I put in time to get coaching or to review recent coaching sessions. Every day I have a financial goal, and I stay in the studio until I achieve that goal, or realize that it is impossible to reach that goal that day. And by the way, I also permit myself to take the rest of the day off when I reach my goal if I am able to do so.  And finally, every day I spend about 30 minutes researching and reviewing what’s going on in the VO world.

This is a tough business. It’s competitive, frustrating, sometimes disheartening, and often lonely. Let’s face it: you’re on your own. That, in and of itself is another vulnerability.

But good careers are being made out of this work. The people who study it and learn what works and doesn’t work will survive it. It takes heart. It takes determination. It takes passion. It takes knowledge. Of course it takes some talent and a few breaks. But overcoming your vulnerabilities will insulate and strengthen you in your drive to succeed.

Go get it!

RANDOM VO THOUGHTS FOR MAY 2017

So I thought I've got these random thoughts that pop into my head. Probably a result of that car accident as a kid.  Anyway...here you go:

1. Isotope’s RX 6 rocks!!! 

2. Voicing Podcasts for clients is a new VO trend.

3. Sometimes a project is worth more as a non-union job.

4. I love clients.  It’s the ones that don’t love me that drive me nuts.

5. Everybody needs a hero.  But everybody also needs to be a hero to someone.
 

6. Most people are probability thinkers. I choose to be a possibility thinker.

7. I’ve got way too many microphones. And preamps.

8. Which one of you clowns hired my neighbor’s lawn service???
 

9. I wish I had a dollar for every voice coach/trainer that said I could make thousands of dollars.  If I had taken their course, I’d have thousands of dollars!

10. Yes, Mr. Client, I got that copy at 11:58 am. And I can have that back to you today. But today may mean 8:30pm.

ENGLISH WITH AN ACCENT

This evening my wife was busy talking on the phone but had “West Side Story” on the TV in the background. I happened to walk in.

I’m no movie critic. My favorite movies are “Grumpy Old Men” 1 & 2. But I can tell you that listening to most of the actors on “West Side Story” was a most painful experience! Those are some of the worst combined Spanish accents I’ve heard at one time. Embarrassing!

Now, I realize that movie was done a long, long time ago, but I wonder if directors and producers have changed that much when it comes to selecting English with a Spanish accent.  As a bilingual voice talent, I often get requests to do English with a Spanish accent. It’s surprising how many times I get asked to dial back the accent.  In other words, to not sound so Hispanic. Apparently, the producers and director of “West Side Story” didn’t have a clue about what they wanted in this area.

I’ve come to realize that there are a number of different reasons that clients want English with a Spanish accent. 

First, they want to attract North American English speakers with a slight Hispanic accent. This is usually for the purposes of advertising a Tex-Mex restaurant or other similar place of retail business, implying how Mexican they are. Sometimes this voice is also used in eLearning or corporate narrations to suggest that the company also employs Hispanic workers, but the project is primarily targeted at English speakers.

Secondly, they want to attract 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanic speakers. Usually this style gets used in retail. I’ve done a number of commercials like this for auto, phone, banks, etc. This is generally done by a combination of English and Spanish (Spanglish). This most certainly would have been appropriate for “West Side Story!”

Thirdly, they want to suggest that the voice is truly a Latino individual for whom English is a second language. This is more prevalent in documentaries or specialized retail advertising.

What it really boils down to is that we are a multi-cultural nation. I know there are those that would scream their heads off in opposition, but it is what it is. And frankly, I’m proud that we are multi-cultural. I totally understand that there are legal and political issues that must be resolved in this arena, but the fact is that we are a multi-cultural nation. And that requires that many businesses and organizations present themselves that way.

So, to Bilingual Voice Talents, I would offer some things to consider in how you offer and present your services.

1. Embrace your accent.

Yes, your voice is unique, but so is your accent. Market it. Offer it. Use it. You are who you are, and you communicate to a great group of people. Let advertisers and producers know that.

Make your accent a positive when marketing yourself. And if you can turn the accent on and off, so much the better. It’s called range!

2. Identify your accent.

Are you a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation accent?  Promote it. Your accent, and the way you can categorize it makes you an expert.  Clients hire experts.

3. Consider your options.

This is a big failure for so many bilingual voice talents. Take some time and research to figure out whom all might be interested in what you have to offer. Consider government projects, corporate, industrial, educational, retail, etc. Even take a look at IVR and phone messaging. Why not consider the potential in news presentations, language targeted media, government, etc.

OK, that’s the extent of my rant. I hope it will start a conversation about what is useful for accented VO.  Please share and post your comments!
 

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

It was 1964.

I left my home in Honduras to come to the United States to go to school. My missionary parents made the difficult decision to send me back to the States since the educational opportunities in Honduras were painfully lacking at that time.

It was a traumatic transition to say the least. And I’m not being dramatic when I say that the most traumatic element to that whole experience was the incredible inhumanity and hatred that I saw when I made my new home in a boarding school in the deep south of Louisiana.

I had never seen racism. Never. If it existed in Honduras, I never saw it. And I simply could not understand it. It was vile. It was degrading. It was embarrassing. I wasn’t even a religious person but I knew it was ungodly.

The boarding school I was in did not allow us to watch TV, but I did have some access to the newspaper. What I read turned my stomach.

But there was this one man who although vilified, one sensed that there was a change happening.  His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

I read his words, although I knew full well that I wasn’t getting the whole context of what he said. I heard the commentary by so many of the people around me. I knew from their vitriol that this was someone I needed to know more about.

Unfortunately, I was too young to have an impact on anyone’s thoughts at that time, but I was deeply disturbed and angry by what I observed.

However, the one thing I began to notice was that this Dr. King was different from every change-maker I had noticed before. See, I grew up in a country where change was effected by military will. I lost count of the number of revolutions I went through. But this was different. Dr. King spoke of peaceful resistance. He spoke of a willingness to suffer for change. He spoke of a change within.

What I began to notice was that the Black community began to be willing to pay the price for change. And those within the White community that were so filled with hatred toward them, did not change. I presume because they were not willing to change.

I’ll never forget how at the end of the school year in 1968 (now in a different school) I was stunned with the news of his assassination. I had never even considered that such might happen in America. I sat there in a friends home watching the news, literally trembling.  And I made a commitment that day that as a White guy, I would never, never tolerate or ignore racism.

Many years later now, as a man who since his youth has discovered a relationship with God and has a greater passion for what America should stand for, I say uncategorically that there is NO place in America for patriotism AND racism. The two cannot coexist.

In spite of the fact that many of our American forefathers were slave owners, and were so wrong for that, the very nature and character of America is rightful equality and opportunity for all who seek that ideal.

Anyone who exerts any, ANY effort to decry or deprive anyone of their equal rights and opportunity is neither a true American nor a patriot.

I also learned something else from these many years of observing the racial struggles of America. Change comes only by those willing to suffer for the change.

Today, I recommit myself to suffer for the change that America so desperately needs.

REAL VO SUCCESS FOR 2017

How many times have you heard or said, “If you don’t clean your plate you don’t get dessert."

It’s intriguing to me how we have carried that mentality over to personal success. We look at success as the sweet reward for having to deal with all the other stuff we’ve had to swallow.

This is probably one of the greatest misunderstandings of success. We have a tendency to think of success as some sort of state of being that we achieve because we’ve done all the right things – you know, sort of like we’ve cleaned our plate so now we can have success – dessert.

But success is not dessert.

Success is having something to eat in the first place.

I’m in the voiceover business. It’s taken me several years to build a client base that I absolutely love. Seriously, I think of my clients as family. I’m close to them – or at least to their business endeavors. I think about them. I wonder about them. I really want to see them win. Oh sure, there are a few batty uncles in the lineage, but that’s just family.

I realize that it is my clients that provide whatever success I might enjoy. And that is exactly my point. Success in business isn’t about how much money you’ve made, or how great your cash flow is.  Real success is that you have something on your plate.

I have the best wife in the world.  How she has put up with me for 178 years is beyond me. One of the things that I really appreciate about her is that she has come to accept that my mentality is that if I don’t have work, I’m unemployed, and that’s why I work so hard at building relationships and being available to my clients all the time – even on vacation. Success is having something on your plate.

Not that I don’t enjoy a vacation now and then. I do. In fact, I’m planning on one in a few weeks. But the beauty of my business is that I can take vacation for as long as I want as long as I stay connected to my “family.”  And if they need me, really need me, I’m there for them.

No, success isn’t about reaching a revenue level or a particular bank account balance. It’s about having to get into the studio and get a voice job done because a client is waiting on it. It’s about recognizing that I have something on my plate, and for that I am grateful.

As we face this New Year, let me share five thoughts to make this new year one of your most successful.

1. Make a commitment to make your clients successful.

Your clients are not thinking about making you successful. That’s the last thing on their mind. They’re thinking about their own success. And if you think with them that way, you will most likely become part of their ongoing strategy for success. Meet their needs and they’ll meet yours.

2. Recognize that your client’s project is more important to them than anything else you have to do.

A few years ago, my little granddaughter taught me an important lesson about this. I was in my studio, and she was busy drawing on some papers on the floor. As she was lying on the floor, she accidentally bumped a chair that had some books and papers on it. They fell down on her leg. She was quite distressed about the matter.

I said, “Mona, it’s OK. Let me get this finished and you can sit up here on my lap and we’ll watch something on the computer.”

“But Grandpa,” she replied, “I need you to kiss my knee now.”

The reason your clients (and my clients) expect immediate attention is because it’s important to them and they trust you to be part of their solution.  That is an honor and a privilege. To your clients, it’s all about the “now.”

3. Embrace the realization that your client really needs you!

Think about it.  The reason your client is calling you, even at the most inopportune times is because he/she needs you.  To my voiceover compatriots, even a request for an audition is a signal that your client or agent needs you!

4.  Smile

I don’t know why this works, but it does.

I’m a natural born grouch. I mean, even when I’m pleased, people ask me what I’m upset about. Even in my wedding pictures, the happiest day of my life, I looked mad. When I get to heaven I’m going to ask God why He made me with such a sour face.

But I have found that when a client calls, when I force myself to smile – no matter what the issue – it completely changes the tone of the conversation. And knowing that I have something on my plate gives me a reason to smile!

5. Remember that all success is based on meeting needs.

Your client’s problem, concern, or issue is an open door for you to succeed! When your client calls with a need, he/she is saying “Here, have a helping of success!”

Don’t wait for dessert.  Enjoy what is on your plate now!

The best part about it is that you don’t have to prepare it – your client cooked it all up and is ready to serve you a big helping of success now!