Archives for November 2018

Selling Your Voiceover Business

Business Tips, VO Business Tips, Voice over Training, Voice talent renewal, voiceover, Voiceover Bussiness Tips

Selling voiceovers? Of course! There’s no way around it. As a voice talent, you must sell yourself, vocally that is. To the point, no matter your profession, unless you’re living off a pile of tax-free money, you must sell yourself to receive compensation for what you’re worth. But as a voice talent, poor selling or no selling skills can put your voiceover career permanently in the hobby category with you footing all the bills! Rekindle your marketing efforts to keeping your voiceover business in business.

Get Over Rejection (and Procrastination)

Rejection is one of the top fears most people face and those who sell are no different. As a voiceover talent, you cannot only focus on performance, script interpretation, and saving up for that state-of-the-art whisper room. Jawing to your colleagues about what you haven’t done or conversely about all the great equipment you’ve purchased (using your own money) doesn’t impress anyone or lead you to fulfill your voiceover career success.

Brian Tracy.com’s blog Time Management-How to Stop Procrastinating…, says, “The best way for you to learn (how not to procrastinate) is to plan each day in advance, set priorities on your activities, and then make your first sales call as early as you possibly can. Get up, get going, and get started.”

Realize rejection is not the worst thing that can happen to your business. Putting off your marketing effort is the worst thing. You will hear “no” and “yes” from potential clients. You will also listen to clients who change their mind after giving a verbal commitment that you counted on for your VO business. The world is FULL of potential clients; get over feeling sorry for yourself and get out there and start selling your excellent voiceover skills.

Learn How to Sell

Selling tools are universal across almost all lines of business. The competitive field of voice acting does not mean we market less, but perhaps, we market more. Before you send an email or pick up the phone, get to know who you are selling your business to and how you fit into that company’s return on investments.

The Business Insider’s online article, How To Be Great At Selling Even If You Hate It, notes the following:

Successful people learn how to sell one way or the other. If they do not learn a
formal process as outlined in this post, they may make costly mistakes and develop
bad habits. If you want to increase your chances of success in business and in life,
it will significantly help you to learn the sales process and practice it so it becomes
part of your marketing DNA.

Research your Potential Clients

Do you know who needs a voiceover talent, today, tomorrow, or next year? What new venues are opening for voice talent and which ones are closing? There is no substitute for doing homework before the legwork or should I say the “finger work.”

Inc.com’s How to Sell Anything to Anybody, says, “Know your customer, stakeholder, audience, whoever you’re selling to. Know their roles, responsibilities, and objectives. Understand as much as you can about what’s in it for them. Know your competition and all the possible objections and hurdles you might face.”

Qualify Your Potentials

The next part of the research is to qualify your candidates. Your potential voice clients’ categories are primary, secondary, or tertiary. Make sure you place your voice casters in the right category. Ranking clients help prioritize your marking. Based on their potential, prioritize contacting voice casters by related projects, budget, timeline, and long-term mission.

Quicksprout.com’s Common Sales Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, instructs “Every opportunity isn’t equal. Through qualifying, you’ll get a better understanding of what each customer wants, when he or she wants it by and what his or her budget is. Most importantly, you’ll be able to figure out if you are talking to the person who can actually make the decision.”

Start or restart today using the above tips for your voiceover business to find and meet those needing your voiceover services. Make sure you leave a trail of cybernetic breadcrumbs for them to find you.

For the sake of your future customers, get marketing and breaking a lip!

Business Practice Friday: What’s in it for you?

Business Tips, Personal VO Views, VO Business Tips, Voiceover Clients

As a small business owner, I share the same concerns as those outside of the voiceover industry. For that reason, I pass along business tips I believe can be useful in almost any business with an online presence. Look for my Business Practice Friday Facebook and Twitter (#BusinessPracticeFriday) tips for information that may be just what you need for your business.

While being in business is not the same for all, those using the Web for all things commerce related have similar essential needs. From voice producers to those listening to final audio, we all need to know how to balance our social media campaigns, web presence plus the tone and timber of our communication. To me, the Web is like a vast ocean, so navigating cyber water is not for those who are prone to seasickness.

Running a business includes other skills like personal care, interaction with employees and partners, plus emotional intelligence. You can’t run a business successfully without looking at all sides of the process.

The information I share includes effective social media campaign strategies, trends in voice overs, time management tips, how to maximize downtime, and more. Also, I’ll share some “soft skills” tips like online etiquette, interpersonal exchange tactics for making clients into friends (or keeping clients as clients), etc.

If you come across some useful business information you’d like to share, feel free to send me a note or comment on my webpage. There is an African proverb that says,

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

See you Friday, and break a lip.

Voiceover In Changing Seasons

Business Tips, Personal, Personal VO Views, VO Business Tips

As changing temperatures make their way across the North American landscape, many residents are experiencing fluctuating personal lives. Voice actors can be sensitive to environmental changes as well, mainly since heath and surroundings can affect an actor’s performance. Make sure you’re anchored in good habits to keep your voiceover business adaptive in all seasons.

During the fall, many voice actors must take extra precautions to maintain good health. A seemingly small cough can lead to a sore throat or even loss of one’s voice. No voice means no voiceover revenue. Moreover, an unexpected financial challenge can drastically interrupt the flow for a working talent or eat away at efforts to end the current year in the black. A prudent voice talent must accept the fact that life will have its challenges. No one is living a problem-free life. The best way to address inevitable changes are to prepare for them.

Wear a Hat

Sometimes, the most obvious things can slip right by us. I once met a singer/songwriter who believed that a serious artist should always wear a hat when outside temperatures fall below 55 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 12 Celsius). His thought was that we must cover and protect the entrance ways into the body. Go ahead and treat yourself to that Fedora, Deerstalker, Gatsby, or Sunbonnet; it’s your first line to defend against the outside elements.

Maintain Your Health

Practicing good health is not a guarantee of staying healthy. However, good health will help make a recovery from sicknesses a lot faster and better overall. Practicing habits like getting yearly checkups, staying current with health shots, eating balanced meals, and exercising regularly can help keep you at your best. My suggestions are not new information, but over the long run, the tips could mean the difference between being ready or not for that long voiceover project requiring your best stamina and health.

Be Voiceover Business Current

Make sure your billing and communication are updated each week. If you’re unable to communicate with potential and current voice clients for a week or two, you will wish you were up to date before the unexpected happened. If you remain current in your regular business practices, your voiceover business should be there or not far away when you’re able to return where you left off.

Be Ready for Change

With the seasons of life, some changes are permanent. Maintain associated voiceover and other skills that can help fill the gap if you cannot perform vocally for some period. Many good seasoned voice talents become coaches, marketing advisors, or perform business-related services that help fill-in revenue during times when the voice is healing for whatever reason.

Consider swapping services with other talents to keep afloat during challenging times. As a successful business owner, a little forward thinking and preparation for keeping your voiceover business running during changes times can lead to longevity and keep you in the minds of your current and potential clients.

The time is always right to plan for your seasons as a voiceover pro. You’re the best, so break that lip.

Articulate to Communicate

Personal, Voice over Training

No matter the business genre, verbal communication needs to flow smoothly. As a voiceover artist, clear communication is a must. Slurred words and incomprehensible sentences will not only lose auditions but severely stunt the growth of his or her voiceover business. Voice talents must be aware of articulation to make sure words are impactful and transforming. With a little practice and preparation, one’s verbal articulation can be a no-brainer.

Why Articulate

Dictionary.com defines articulation as, “an act or the process of articulating: the articulation of a new thought. While the adjective is defined as “uttered clearly in distinct syllables, capable of speech; not speechless, using language easily and fluently… .”

Proper pronunciation starts with having a good grasp of one’s message. In “Readers Digest, How to Be More Articulate: 8 Must-Follow Secrets to Improve Your Speech,” Tatiana Ayazo writes, “Know what you’re talking about. Having a clear idea of what you want to say will allow you to organize your thoughts into a coherent structure. It’s that simple.”

Prepare your Chops

The next step is to prepare your vocal instrument. Just like a musician tunes up his or her instrument before a performance, a voice talent must warm up the voice. Warming up the voice makes it possible to perform well in one’s range and vocal tone. Voiceovers can prepare the chops with “tongue twisters.” Tongue twisters and vocal warmups are words or groupings of words designed to improve pronunciation and to gain fluency in performing voiceovers or in daily communication.

Rodney Saulsberry, a major voice-over artist, based in the United States has authored “Rodney Saulsberry’s Tongue Twisters and Vocal Warm-Ups.” His book includes a wide assortment of handy tongue twisters to help get your voiceover work day off to the right start. There are also other tongue twisters available on the Internet and can be easily found via a Web search.

Prepare your Body

Of course, voice actors rely heavily on their voice, so time for vocal and body rest are essential. Moreover, tension and stress from life often hide within the human body. Since voice acting is a full body experience, exercise and stretch can help reduce anxiety in the mouth and body and allow for needed rest. The well-rested and limber voice talent will find it easy to articulate with a more natural flow without having to overstress the mouth muscles.

Time Out at the Start

Taking a moment of awareness before voicing a project will also help with articulation. Focusing on the meaning of the script, one’s body placement, and position will help center one’s whole being on performance. The brief meditation allows the mind and mouth to prepare for speaking. Focusing the mind on what is about to be said and its overall meaning gives clarity to the mouth; articulation is almost automatic. This time out can be moments or minutes depending upon how long it will take to ponder the script and how the words will flow from the body. The short timeout is a crucial step and should not be missed.

Applying these tips will not only make for better articulation during voiceover performances, but better overall connection by the voice actor to effectively convey passion and purpose.

Break a lip.

Thankfulness from the Heart – Real Voiceover

Business Tips, Personal, Personal VO Views, VO Business Tips

This week, we approach the traditional time for the United States’ Thanksgiving Holiday. You may wonder what Thanksgiving has to do with voiceovers? Thankfulness is a heart emotion. A successful, compassionate voice talent with a thankful heart applies the passion to scripts and performances to touch his and her listeners. Take time this week to consider the importance of being grateful and let the feeling radiate through your voiceover performance.

Why being thankful is Important

Today, thankfulness is considered old-fashioned. We demand our rights, to be seen, and for justice. While we have the right to seek what we feel we need, that constant aggressive assertiveness can drain our spirit. When we take time to be thankful, it allows us to examine our here and now. While no one has a perfect life and there is more than enough real suffering, we all can find at least one thing to give thanks. This brief appreciation helps to calm our spirit.

What’s more, we usually can easily find someone who does not have what we have or any possibility of a better existence. If we take the time to count what we have, we can always find something to appreciate in our lives. Perhaps we landed an excellent voice-over job, made a new friend online, or are still among the small pool of working voiceover talent in a very competitive field. Being thankful helps you see your life in a better light.

Thanksgiving is Infectious

When you appreciate others, not just your clients, it spreads. For example, if you say thank you to someone who holds open a door for you, bags your groceries, etc., you usually receive a smile from that person. With so few expressing appreciations for the smallest gestures of kindness, your recognition is almost unexpected and even more appreciated.

Likewise, sending voiceover clients’ thank you cards, emailing your voiceover coach a note of appreciation, and letting others in and out of your business circles know of your gratefulness helps others develop a good opinion of you as a person. Thankful people are usually “nice” people. People like doing business with nice people. Sincere niceness is a real fruit of gratitude.

You Get What You Give

Have you ever dined in a restaurant with a group of people and noticed the way customers treat the wait staff? Most waiters try hard to provide excellent service, but sometimes he or she may be having a difficult time or day that may be evident in their service. Instead of lashing out at the waiter, look for ways to express kindness and patience. In most cases, you will receive appreciation from the wait staff for your understanding. This, in turn, will give you a good feeling, especially if you take the time to notice if the person is doing their best to correct or improve the service.

One day, you may be having a bad day with a live voiceover audition or in a directed session. This may also be the day when someone shows you understanding and patience like you’ve demonstrated to another. While it may not make sense, look for ways to express appreciation and thankfulness. It will surely come back to you.

From the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

Your thankful attitude has a way of calming your spirit and relaxing your whole body — thankfulness effects all your joints, mussels, and even your thinking. Voice acting takes the entire person. The foundation of a thankful spirit will help you reach your best potential. The heart does speak through the mouth. With a grateful heart, your mind can connect with others for a dynamic vocal performance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leesha

Voice Overs