Tag: Customer Service

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Your Voice; Their Voice Over

One day you wake up and decide you want to paint your house.

More than just a safe and easy, neutral colour palette throughout, you want to have an accent wall in each room.

A BIG BOLD accent wall in each room.

Bright colours. Yellow. Purple. Blue. Red. Green. Orange.

You sift through a bunch of swatches, figure out exactly the colours you’re going with, and hire a painter.

You take the family out for a day to stay out of the way of the painting crew. You can’t wait to return home and see how things turned out.

Walking through the front door you’re greeted by the painting contractor… and neutral, safe, beige walls.

“What’s this,” you demand of the contractor?

“Well, I know what you told me you wanted, but I just don’t think that’s what best, so I went with my instincts. After all, I’m the professional.”

Your Voice; Their Voice Over

As a professional voice actor you know your voice. You know how to interpret and deliver a script.

Sometimes, you’re going to think you know better than your client.

You’re the professional after all.

Just remember this… yes… it’s your voice. But it’s THEIR voice over.

When a client asks for a certain delivery, requests a certain kind of revision, or expects a particular tone, your job as the voice actor (contractor) is to deliver the service they’re requesting.

You’re job is not to argue, gripe, complain or hassle them.

Your voice; THEIR voice over.

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Why I Deliver Voice Overs Fast

I had an interesting conversation with a fellow voice actor recently. It seems they were quite perturbed with my voice over turnaround times.

It’s no secret I always try and deliver in 24 hours or less, but in most cases same day within a few hours.

Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, like when a client requires a 5,000 word eLearning voice over, as an example. But when we’re talking about a 60 or 90 second explainer video script, why wouldn’t I be able to get it done quick?

Setting Precedence

same-day-deliveryAs this fellow VO explained, by offering such speedy delivery I was creating an unrealistic expectation. Setting a precedence that couldn’t be maintained. They argued that I should NEVER deliver a voice over in any less than 48 hours in order to sustain a successful business.

If a client sends me a script a 90 second script at 1pm and I’m not doing anything, they’ll likely have their voice over delivered by 2pm.

Why in the world would I make them wait 48 hours?

What if, instead, I finished their voice over immediately, and then set out marketing, prospecting, auditioning and tracking down the next job? Seems to me like that’s a pretty good strategy for sustaining a successful business.

Why I Deliver Voice Overs Fast

I have a saying I live by in my business. Happy clients are repeat clients. Roughly 85 – 90% of my clients, for the record, are repeat clients.

One of the reasons they keep coming back is because they love that I don’t make them wait for their voice over if there’s no need. Keep in mind, almost every job comes with a request for delivery in 24-48 hours. But if I can turn it around in an hour, or two or four, I’m going to turn it around in an hour or two or four.

Every time.

hourglassI’m a full-time voice actor. This is what I do all day every day. And sometimes all night too, depending on the circumstance. 🙂 I like to get jobs done and out the door as quickly as possible. I like to help my clients beat their deadlines. I like to keep them happy. It’s part of my commitment to exceptional service.

My business model may not work for every one. Obviously it doesn’t work for the VO who took me to task over it. But it works for me. Hence it being MY business model.

However, I’ll tell you this… the faster you can finish one job, the sooner you can find and book the next.

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Are You Giving Everything?

When a client thanks me for doing a great job, I’m appreciative. After all, I strive to provide exceptional service to all of my clients. I believe they deserve nothing less.

When a client follows up their thank you with, “we’ve worked with other voice actors that just don’t put in the effort,” that makes me sad. Sad for this profession. Sad for the business as a whole.

everything-youve-gotWhy are people not giving their full effort?

I understand we all have an off day from time to time. But to consistently just do enough to get by? To me, that’s unacceptable. In this business. In any business.

If you have any pride in yourself at all, if you have any pride in your industry, you give 100%. Always.

If you’re not giving it everything, you don’t deserve it.

Maybe that’s why some people get stuck at a certain level of success.

If you have any pride in yourself, you give 100%. Always. Click to Tweet

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Giving Back To Your Voice Over Clients

The relationship between a voice talent and a voice seeker can be a very simple one, if we so choose. A talent provides a voice. A seeker provides a payment. Sometimes it ends there. Sometimes it repeats.

But what if that relationship could be more? What if, as a talent, it doesn’t just stop after the delivery of the audio and the receiving of payment? What if there was more that you could do for your client. More that you could offer?

Giving Back To Your Clients

Do-moreSince we’re rolling into the holiday season; deny it if you wish but we all know it’s true, it got me to doing some thinking. Christmas can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But I believe we can all agree that one of the messages at the core of the holiday is that of giving.

With that in mind, here’s a few ways you can give back to your voice over clients, not just during the holidays, but all year around.

  • Post their project on your site with a link back.
  • Share their video throughout your social networks for free promotion.
  • Buy their product.
  • Use their service
  • Post a review on Amazon, iTunes, Yelp or wherever appropriate.
  • Blog about your client, their product, their service or their brand.
  • Give them a tweet or a retweet, a status update or a share.

This list is really only the beginning. A mere scratch at the surface of possibilities limited only by your imagination.

Customer Or Partner

You could choose to treat your voice over clients simply as another customer. A cash for service transaction. Or, you could choose to invest in that relationship. To come along side them. In essence, become a partner with them. And many times, it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a lot of fantastic client relationships where everybody wins, than a long list of one off customers that gave me a one time payday.

Don’t be afraid to give back. To do more.

QUESTION: What other ideas have you got for giving back to your clients?

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How To Get Client Testimonials

If you’ve ever checked out the pages on my site where I post projects I’ve worked on, you’ll notice that about 90% of them include some kind of client testimonial. Just a quick sentence or two from the client on my work and/or service.

A fellow colleague asked me the other day, “How do you get all those testimonials?” Continue reading How To Get Client Testimonials