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Rush

Turning a VO Booking into a VO Client

October 18, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

So You’ve Booked It!

Congrats, you’re a working voice over actor and you’ve booked a gig. Let’s say its a VO for a commercial, and let’s say for the sake of this blog that you booked this 30 second spot on your favorite pay-to-play. Your stoked not just because we are always pleased with every booking, but because it’s actually a rate you deserve. Yippee. So, how do you take this one-off and turn it into a client that keeps coming back over and over again for years?

The Platform Matters

The Platform MattersIn general, the platform you are on matters! Some pay-to-plays and even many rosters do not allow you direct interaction with the clients. The client belongs to them, not you. Their goal is for the client to come back to their site, to their platform. You, the paying talent, are only a means to that end. Other pay-to-plays, in contrast, let you interact directly with your client. Do your homework and start booking on those sites. Wouldn’t it be great if the next time the client needed you they just came directly to you, and you did not even need to audition? And wouldn’t it be great if that happened over and over with multiple clients? That’s how you build a business!

Bending Over Backwards

Bend over backwardsSo let’s go back to this client that you’ve booked on this pay to play for a commercial that you can interact directly with. Let’s say this job comes in on a Saturday and it’s a “Rush” job. Do you actually have anything else going on? Did you really need to re-shuffle your life to accommodate them? To me, if the client is already paying a nice rate, I would rather dazzle them with my super fast turn-around time and ease of availability than nickel and dime them. After all, how does it make you feel when you are charged extra for every little thing by a service provider? Instead, make it easy for the client to get exactly what they need as soon as they need it. Do an awesome job right away. Do you know what will happen if you do your job well and quickly? The client will be happy.

Building a Relationship

Get to know your clientsIn the course of your email discourse, try to start getting to know your client. You can start with the basics: ask them how they are and share a tidbit about your day or your week. If you live in a different region, chats about the weather can actually be riveting. I happen to be a working mom, so I love bringing that into the fold.  Holidays and birthdays are also great ways to get to know people. Studio pets are also a wonderful conversation starter. Then, when you speak next, circle back to what you already know.

Express Grattitude

Every job matters. Clients have a choice when casting and we are lucky to book what we book. An attitude of gratitude goes a long way. At the very least, send a hand-written thank you card. If you have an international client, send a virtual card. Let them know that you appreciate their business and act as if you are part of their team, because you are! Wish them well when presenting the finished audio, and mention your next collaboration. And in thanks. Sometimes, for larger projects, a thank you gift is appropriate. From agents to project managers to video producers to creative directors, it depends who you are working with and what the project was, but I have sent gifts ranging from Starbucks gift cards to chocolate to giant containers of popcorn.

Keep in Touch

Keep in TouchMake sure to maintain a relationship with your clients! You already know they like you, they already cast you once! So, don’t lose contact. Sometimes newsletters are great for reminding them that you are still available. More personal quarterly check-ins are, however, extremely important. You can share a tid-bit of wrk that might be relevant to them as well. You can check out their social media and new content and engage and comment on it. It’s really important to be genuine and actually have something to say, but it’s also important to simple stay top of mind. Your voice many not be perfect for every project, but you don’t want to miss out on a casting simply because the client has forgotten that you exist. Be present. Engage. Be the talent they are thrilled to hear from.

Filed Under: Business Management, Client Relationships, Marketing/Branding, Voiceover Tagged With: brand, brand voice, campaign, commercial, creative director, explainer video, Marketing, one-off, pay to play, professional voice actor, project manager, Rush, VO, voice over, voice over booking, Voice over client, voice talent, voiceover

Don’t Assume Anything When Quoting VO Jobs

January 17, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

The Scenario

This week a job came in from a repeat client. I actually saw the booking posted on Voice123, but it was with a different gal from the production company than I had worked with before. When I submitted the read, I mentioned I had done work for both their agency and that client. I heard back right away that they were booking me. Great!

The Script in QuestionThey sent me the script and asked for my rate. They needed a RUSH turn around, but I was not charging them an extra fee for that. Since they were a repeat client and I was available I didn’t want to nickel and dime them. Anyway, I made a mistake almost right away. The voice over job I did for them was for an explainer video with usage limited only to their website. I assumed, again, I assumed that this was the same. I assumed this because the top of the script was labeled in bold font “VIDEO SCRIPT.” I initially quoted the job based on the last, recent voiceover work I did for them and the assumption that it was a video.

The Call

I got a reply that the price quoted worked for them and they just wanted to have a quick call to go over their notes on the script. We set a time for in 15 minutes so I could turn in around really fast.

Photo of Laura Schreiber in a HurryOn the call, it was great to catch up with the client. As a full-time, professional female voice over actor, building client relationships means a lot to me, and phone calls like this always provide an opportunity not only to better understand my client’s unique and specific needs, but also to get to know them. How better to build a relationship than to actually speak?

Anyway, we jumped on the call, and my client immediately mentioned the television run. I resisted the urge to interrupt her and listened. I then resisted the urge to immediately discuss the rates, and instead focussed on her needs: discussing the new product and the script. Then, after we covered that, I delicately circled back with a “You mentioned this is a tv spot…” segue. I calmly and clearly explained that I had assumed, and yes that was on me, that the job was again a video as the script was labeled video in multiple places. I asked the client two key questions:

  • How long is the tv run (length of usage?
  • Is there social media usage too? If so, is the social media usage organic or paid placement?

GVAA RATE GUIDE TV Broadcast ratesNow, these questions should have been asked in my initial reply email when they were casting me. I should have asked them before I threw any numbers into the air. And as a long established professional voice talent, I should have know better.

I was extremely apologetic, my town was calm, but I also explained that I could not do a TV spot for an internal video rate. I then offered and did send my client the GVAA Rates guide, so that they could better understand what my pricing was based on.

The Resolution

Luckily for me the clients were very nice and understanding. It was clear that I thought it was a video and did not know it was a television commercial. The woman that I spoke to said that she would reach out to the rest of her team, find out the length of the run, and find out if there was social media usage and that they would get right back to me confirming the rate I had suggested.

It did work out. It turned out it was a four month local tv run in Mississippi, with no social media usage for now. We discussed pricing in the event that the client decides to add that usage down the line, or when they see the final spot.

Lessons Learned

Take your time QuoteI will never be in such a hurry, even when I tell myself it’s for the client, that I skip major parts of the information gathering process. The point of having years of experience in the industry is not only to serve the clients well and to provide an outstanding level of service, but is also for precisely these scenarios, when years in the industry should teach us to take a breath, pause, and look at what we are dealing with. I realize that if I could make this basic mistake, anyone can. So do yourself a favor, ask questions. Enjoy the dialogue and back and forth. Don’t be afraid to hop on the phone and clarify a few details. I realize the clients in this scenario could just as easily have been inflexible about the budget, and that would have led to a very different blog today.

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Rates, Voiceover Tagged With: Assume, commercial, female, full time, length of run, organic placement, paid placement, professional, Quotes, rates, Repeat Clients, Rush, Script, social media, television commercial, trust, tv commercial, usage, Video, VO, voice over, Voice123, voiceover

Welcome to My VO Store: Voice Over Buying Made Easy

January 3, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

It’s 2021 Now…

You don’t need a middle man if you need a voiceover for your next project. Instead, with a revolutionary online store front, you can shop for you voice over needs just like online food marketing or buying shoes. This client-centered approach is about making it easy and clear for you, the buyer. Let me explain how it works. Here’s the online store:

Laura Schreiber Voice's website's services page

Voice Over Buying Made Easy

So let’s say it’s 2 am and you have just finished editing your explainer video. You have a super fast turn-around and you need a professional female voice talent who does not need a lot of direction, you tell her what you want, and voila, pristine audio will arrive fully-edited and according to your specs.

Or you have a commercial. You are looking for that quintessential millennial voice. You know, the authentic girl-next-door that sounds like a real person. You want it for a regional broadcast, and you need a live session via source connect. It’s 10 am, and you need the audio in the next day. Easy, you just click, and set up your session.

https://youtu.be/p31p69CD_sM

Here’s another potential scenario in which client’s love this online store. You’re looking to change your office voice mail recording. A holiday is coming up, so you want it to be seasonally appropriate, your hours are changing, and you need Laura to work with a professional engineer to add music to match your branding. Here are two recent samples where Laura was hired directly by the client to redo their IVR, and she customized the sound for them with a talented engineer.

https://youtu.be/9VHT-SawW5E
https://youtu.be/5Y1Ojjw4BVU

All of this is possible without even a single phone call, all with online purchasing through Laura’s voice over store.

The Process is Simple

  • First, the client would go to the “Services” page in the menu.Laura Schreiber Voice's website's services page
  • Then, select your category from the “menu” of service items.

category options in online store

  • Note that many of the categories differentiate the length of usage. It is important not to simply choose the cheapest option. Instead, you must actually select the real usage for your project.
  • When you are in the correct category, select the “Buy Now” button.
  • Choose the option that is appropriate and select “add to cart.”
  • To check out, click “view cart”

  • Then click “Proceed to Check Out”

Proceed to Check Out Option On Services Page

  • When you are in the check out screen, there is a notes section for any special notes about the booking. This is where you can make any directional requests about tone or pace.

Add Order Notes Form

  • All that’s left to do is to pay! That’s it, it’s that easy.

Rates…

As a full-time working professional with years of experience and top brands as my clients, maintaining industry standard rates is essential to my business ethics. What are you paying for when you hire an established voice talent? You might think you are paying for the actual voice over for a given project and the usage of that voice over, but the rates stand for even more. The rates are based on the years of coaching and the on-going training that a professional has to understand what is current and booking in the industry. The rates are in a certain zone because professional talents maintain broad-cast ready studios with expensive equipment so that the audio quality is pristine every single time. The studios typically offer costly methods for live sessions, including Source Connect. Lastly, when you book a job in a certain range, you have are getting the guarantee of revisions and availability of that talent. The rate being in a certain range, then, should come as a quality assurance. Conversely, rates that are surprisingly low should serve as a red flag and alert you that either a talent is inexperienced or lacking in one of the areas and you should run for the hills.

Other Perks of Easy Shopping

Again, the purpose of the online store is to make the shopping experience as easy as possible for the client. When shopping in this online store, transparency is a given. You know what you are getting upfront. If you need pickups or revisions with your booking, they always come with jobs $250 and higher. Live sessions are always final delivery. Laura always delivers her bookings in 24 hours and typically much faster. If you need RUSH work delivered in less time, whether it is for a commercial, an explainer, IVR, eLearning narration, or another project, simply let Laura know and with an additional $50 fee (as is industry standard) Laura is happy to accommodate.

welcome 2021It’s 2021. We’re still in a pandemic. We need what we need quickly. Laura gets it and she wants you to have perfect audio without a fuss at the click of your mouse. Let Laura know how she can help you!

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Rates, Studio/booth, Voiceover Tagged With: audio quality, client centered, commercial, credit cards, easy, elearning, explainer, female professional, happy, IVR, live session, millennial, online store, paypal, phone messages, pickup policy, pickups, revisions, Rush, self direct, Source Connect, upbeat, VO, voice over, voiceover, warm

A Case Study: When Working with Clients on the Weekend is Worth it, And When it’s Not

August 23, 2020 by Laura Schreiber

The Scenario: Two Weekends in a Row

Laura Thinking about itAs a working mom, I try to only work on weekends under specific scenarios: if booked work comes in that the client specifically needs over the weekend, if I get a direct audition for the weekend, or if it is something like my blog which I generally do while my kids are asleep. Otherwise, the weekend is cherished family time. So, if a client tells me they need something over the weekend, I am generally pretty sympathetic that they have someone on the other side who needs something and has a deadline. It happens that both last weekend and this weekend I had bookings come in over the weekends. While I was delighted about both bookings, the one this weekend was much more pleasant. I think the two bookings lend themselves very well to case studies on what makes an ideal voice over client to work with and what makes a client a little more challenging.

Client A

When you really want to say somethingEarlier in the month a client I have worked with before reached out to me with a small budget for a local TV and Media campaign. After a lot of back and forth, we came to a price we could both live with. It took quite a while for the scripts to come in. Of course I finally heard from them Friday evening. I confirmed receipt of the script and asked Client A if Monday by midday was okay and they said it was needed over the weekend. Normally I would add either a “RUSH” fee or a weekend fee, but we had negotiated and the budget was low so I could not do that here. The other snag was that the client only sent one script. We had negotiated a bulk rate assuming that I was recording at once, and sending everything piecemeal was not a great start.

Client A is in a different time zone. The client is quite slow to respond to questions I have or to give any feedback when audio is sent. I sent all audio Saturday and did not hear anything back until Thursday. Typically when I deliver finished audio I invoice, but as this was just one of four deliverables, I could not invoice for the first TV spot until the entire slow moving project is complete.

Client B

My experience with Client B has been very different than my experience with Client A. I met Client B when I presented at an eLearning conference in June online. We had a follow up Zoom and the work that came in on Friday evening was also a long time coming. Like Client A, Client B also sent this booking in the evening on Friday. Also like client A, Client B was in a different time zone but in the other direction, so their workday would start before ours on Monday. In this case, Client B did not specify that they needed the work by Monday. In contrast, I was excited to get the ball rolling.

Like Client A, Client B sent clear specs and a sample. Unlike Client A, Client B, was very easy to communicate with. They answered all questions promptly and were extremely clear and direct. Client B is an international client who also needed copy writing services. Again, the ease of communication made this go extremely smoothly. I invoiced when I delivered the finished audio as I typically do and Client B paid within an hour of delivery. They also sent three follow up emails the team reviewed the files that I sent. I felt as though I were in Italy listening with them. It was great to be part of the team like that.

What Made All the Difference?

As I think about it, working on Saturday was not the problem. Subtle contrasts between Client A and Client B made the experiences quite different. I made this chart to help make the nuances more clear. Please see below:

Client A Client B
Asked for work on weekend    X   X
Sent Sample     X    X
Sent Specific Specs    X    X
Easy to Correspond With      X
Needed Copy Writing To    X
Gave Specific and Timely Feedback      X
Self Directed     X    X
Paid Promptly     X
Overall Felt Like were on the Same Team      X

It is much easier to work with responsive people. It is also much easier to work when you feel that your work is valued. Everyone works at their own pace, and as the voice over actor, I cannot control the pace at which the scripts are sent to me. Even though I ask that revisions come in within 48 hours in my terms at the start, I try to work with all clients, even if they pace the projects differently. While it does not feel good to have it dragged out, when I saw the first cut of the first commercial, it turned out great. The client was really nice and was working with a large team. I understand that the client cannot always control pace.

So, in the final analysis, what steps can I come up with as a business owner to have more interactions be like those with client B?

  • Be clear about my terms at the start.
  • Always maintain a professional demeanor.
  • Maintain industry standard rates and never devalue myself.

When those are in balance I am doing my part to protect my interests, and I have to have hope that the clients will do their part as well. If all is in balance, then yes, it is worth making the effort to accommodate clients over the weekend!

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Studio/booth, Voiceover, working mom Tagged With: Booked work, clients, elearning, Rush, rush fee, social media campaign, tv commercials, VO, voice over, voiceover, weekend fee, working mom, working weekends

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