Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Narrators

10 Law of Attraction principles in creating a job shift

Today’s story is not directly related to my usual topics of voiceover, marketing, or audiobooks. Instead, it’s a Law of Attraction story that I hope encourages and inspires you to do what you love and pursue your dreams because you just never know where they will lead! In addition, you’ll be able to see some Law of Attraction principles at work that you can use in building your voiceover career or pursuing any other passion.

First, it’s important to note that many people confuse the Law of Attraction with instant gratification. It’s not enough to WANT it. You have to DO SOMETHING about it! If you look at the word ATTRACTION, you’ll observe that the root word is ACTION, not GRATIFY. As this story illustrates, the results of the Law of Attraction are evident only after taking consistent action over a period of time.

1. If you have an idea to try something new, try it — you might like it.

Drew started scuba diving in 1983 just because he and his college roommate thought it would be a fun thing to do. Since we live in Atlanta, you can imagine that his opportunities to go diving were somewhat limited. However he took special diving trips as often as possible and would go diving on our vacations. He didn’t seriously pursue diving until we went to Hawaii in 2000.

I see many introductory, 2- or 3-hour voiceover classes offered these days. I always encourage people to take these kinds of classes and read books on voiceover to get a taste of what the job is like.

2. If you like it, take specialized classes to learn more about it and master new skills.

As the number of his dives increased the past few years, Drew kept taking specialty classes. He talked for years about getting a Dive Master rating even though he had no place to use it.
Note that he continued to take classes in an interest that was merely a hobby. If you are planning to enter a new career, such as a job shift to voiceover work, additional instruction will be necessary to gain subject mastery.

3. Even if your dream seems impossible, don’t give up. The forces of the Universe may conspire to help you achieve it!

In 2005, the world’s largest aquarium was built in — you guessed it — Atlanta. Yes, Atlanta! Almost unbelievably, land-locked Atlanta, which is at least a 5 hours’ drive to any ocean, is the home to the world’s largest aquarium, with mammoth exhibits housing some of the world’s largest marine life. The largest exhibit holds OVER 6 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER and 4 whale sharks, which will grow to be the size of city buses! These whale sharks came from Taiwan, and most people would never have the opportunity to see them and the other amazing animals that are all living at the Georgia Aquarium.

4. The right people and information will come into your life when you least expect it.

Long before the Georgia Aquarium opened at Thanksgiving, 2005 — in fact, in 2003 or 2004 when construction was still underway — a friend mentioned to Drew that he was going to apply to volunteer at the Aquarium. He hoped to be a scuba diver.

Until that day, we hadn’t heard much about the Aquarium, but that one sentence was all Drew needed to hear. He immediately contacted the Aquarium and started the volunteer application process.

5. Persistence of follow-up action is a key ingredient to success.

Thousands of people applied to be volunteers, and the resulting screening process was often disorganized and chaotic. Drew repeatedly followed up with the coordinators when he didn’t hear anything. He made sure that his application was processed and that he did everything he needed to do in order to become a volunteer. He had to pass a background check and drug test before they ever cleared him to take classes on the animal habitats and guest relations.

Our friend, in contrast, filled out an application and simply waited for someone to get back with him. Since he didn’t follow-up, he is no closer to volunteering that he was 5 years ago. Meanwhile, Drew’s volunteer work started during the pre-grand opening days for annual pass holders. He was in on the ground floor of this amazing new Aquarium!

6. Volunteering is a great way to get more of your passion in your life, as well as gain experience needed for a job shift.

Drew did anything he could to get his foot in the door, hoping that maybe at some point he would be allowed to dive with the Aquarium. Everyone told him that he would have to volunteer for at least a year before they would even consider taking on volunteer divers. He originally volunteered primarily in the IT and Special Events departments.

In February, 2006, after the Aquarium had only been open for 3 short months, Drew received notification that he could apply to be a volunteer diver!

The Aquarium has extremely strict rules about its dive staff as the Aquarium must comply with OSHA requirements. If Drew had not continued to take diving classes and upgrade his certifications in the preceding few years, he would not have been eligible for consideration for the dive team. Even so, he still had to take some Red Cross first aid classes and pass a grueling swimming test. Once he passed those tests, he had to pass a physical exam.

We both were beyond thrilled when he passed all of the requirements and was certified for diving with the Georgia Aquarium!

I am a firm believer in volunteerism. Before I ever took the first voiceover workshop, I volunteered for 5 years as a reader and producer for the Georgia Radio Reading Service. Through my volunteer work, I gained clarity about my desire to become a full-time voice talent.

7. Get a support team in place to cheer you on.

Some of you know that Drew was laid off in July 2009 from his position as a lead senior software engineer by ADP, his employer of 12 years. We thought his job was secure and never saw the layoff coming.

He was let go at lunchtime on a Thursday, and he called me while on his way home. From the moment he told me the shocking news, I told him that the layoff could be the best thing that could happen to him. I encouraged him to do what he wanted to do instead of feeling that he had to take a job just to make money.

My positive reaction was no surprise to Drew. We have always been champions of each others’ dreams. I’ve written previously about relationships that change or disappear in the pursuit of your dream. For this reason, you need to be careful about the people in whom you confide your deepest dreams. If your family and friends are not supportive of you, it just makes your success more difficult to achieve. In the voice-over world, you can join numerous on-line forums to discuss your progress with and learn from peers. You’ll find several of these forums listed on the right panel of my blog.

8. Investing in your dream is an investment in yourself and a life you will love.

Initially, Drew said he would still pursue a job in software development. At the same time, though, he decided to fulfill a long-held dream to get his Dive Master rating. ADP paid him for his unused vacation time, and Drew used that money to take the certification class even though he didn’t have a specific plan to use the certification. He finished the certification in March.

I also have cashed in vacation time and money to progress my voiceover career. It may seem like a sacrifice to give up a trip in exchange for a career-enhancing workshop. However, I have never regretted any decision made in favor of my dreams.

9. Listen to that small, still voice in your head, and let it guide you in times of doubt.

After going on an interview in the fall for a developer position that seemed if it had been written to match his qualifications and was located only 3 miles from our house, Drew confessed that he did not really want to go back to corporate software. I encouraged him again to find a job he would enjoy rather than one done for the money.

We decided he should consider himself retired from corporate software and concentrate on getting a job at the Aquarium, where he had been steadily volunteering as a diver for over 4 years. We restructured our finances to pay off some obligations, which allowed us to live comfortably on my income.

I heard Joel Osteen say recently that our creator does not give you the vision without also giving you the provision for making it happen. In 2008, the Aquarium started the Dive Immersion Program, where members of the public pay a fee for the opportunity to swim or dive in the main exhibit with the whale sharks, sharks, manta rays, and other exotic creatures.

Drew had wanted to be part of that program since its inception, but he couldn’t participate as a volunteer. Until he changed his mindset about the salary he could accept, he felt he couldn’t work there, especially since most of the staff only works part-time.

10. Continue moving in the direction of your dream, even if you can only take baby steps.

Drew had expressed his interest in the job and maintained contact with the department manager during his volunteer stints. Once he finished his Dive Master certification, he notified her about his upgraded qualifications.

She told him to submit an application even though they currently had no vacancies.

However, things moved FAST from that point! She called him the day after his birthday to tell him he was scheduled for the preliminary — and intense! — swim and diving skills test. (Happy birthday!) After passing the tests, he had to give a small presentation as if he were meeting the public.

At that point, they invited him and 2 other people who had passed all the tests for an interview.

He had the swim tests, presentation, and interview on Monday 7 June. At the end of the week, he had the DREAM JOB!

In truth, Drew never really dreamed of being a professional scuba diver. He just didn’t see how it could work out given our distance from the ocean and the part-time nature of the work.

His story shows that when you give up the HOW and focus on the WHAT of your desires, the Universe can fulfill the order in a way better than you could have dreamed possible! It also shows that you can do what you love as a volunteer, but you may be able to convert that volunteer gig into a paying gig.

If any of you are in Atlanta, you don’t want to miss a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. If you decide to experience the animals up and close and personal as a diver or swimmer in the main exhibit, it just might be my husband who acts as your tour guide in the water!


 

VIDEO — Removing a mouth click from your recording

In olden days — say, 5 years ago — home recording studios were not common among voiceover talent. Today, though, having your own recording studio has become a necessity to compete in this industry.

Recording yourself requires one skill set. Editing the recording requires another one.

I am meticulous about editing out undesirable sounds to provide a pristine recording to my clients. This :41 video shows you how to isolate and eliminate a click from your recording. I use Pro Tools LE, but this technique should work with any audio editing program.

Since editing is done in real time, you can just imagine the amount of time needed to edit your recording of a long video or e-learning narration, much less an audiobook! When quoting a price for a job, you always have to factor in the time required to edit the audio. In fact, the general rule of thumb that I use is to expect 2 hours of audio editing for every 1 hour of finished recording.

Was this video helpful to you? Are there other audio editing techniques that you would like to see? I look forward to your comments on the blog!

The intelligence of water crystals

Today is Blog Action Day. On 15 October each year, bloggers from more than 100 countries come together and blog about a single important issue, and this year’s topic is clean water.

Living where I do, I don’t even have to think about clean water. It’s something I often take for granted, especially while constantly sipping from a large bottle of water during my voiceover sessions. Through this blog article, I doubt that I could even cause a ripple of action that could cause improvement to the 70% of the earth that is covered in water. However, I want to raise your consciousness about the power of water to reflect the words you speak and enhance your life.

(I admit that the rest of this post may sound like a bunch of New Age woo-woo, but I hope you’ll keep reading!)

If you’re a long-time reader, you know that I believe firmly that nothing is more powerful on this planet than the words that you think and speak. Wars have been fought over words. Love is expressed through words. The power of Blog Action Day comes from the fact that words from around the globe are written, read, and discussed about a single, unifying topic.

Recently, I saw fascinating research about water from Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto. He discovered that crystals formed in frozen water look different based on the specific thought directed at the water. According to some of his literature:

I always stress the energy is vibrations, and vibrations are life. Words are vibrations. Words, therefore, are life … The sounds of words are nothing less than a divine gift from nature. Water crystals are illustrating this divine gift in their design.

Water is a medium that receives and understands even the subtlest vibrations. Water captures vibrations naturally. Even when these vibrations are characters, or letters representing language, water shows us the energy they contain in the forms of crystals. Water is attempting to communicate something to us. Negative emotions prevent the water from crystallizing. Positive emotions allow it to develop to beautiful hexagonal shapes.

Water makes up 70 percent of our bodies, and there is little doubt to me that the information in the water goes a long way in the formation of our health, as well as our attitude toward the world and the attitude of the world around us.

Dr. Emoto explains on his site how the photographs are made. I respect his position in not giving permission to reprint his pictures on other sites, so you’ll have to look at them on his site or do a search to find them elsewhere. The frozen crystals either have perfect symmetry and immense beauty or are misshapen blobs, depending on the words associated with each one.

For instance, a picture representing LOVE AND THANKS is awe-inspiring perfection. A picture made for the word WAR is quite startling because it kind of looks like an explosion from an atomic bomb.

The pictures for tap water in various cities are quite illuminating. Even though you think your drinking water is clean, the water crystals tell another story. Based on the pictures of the crystals, we should all move to Vancouver for the cleanest water!

I have a deck of Dr. Emoto’s Water Crystal Oracle cards. On one side of the card is the picture, and the word appears on the other side. In the past, I have kept a card under my water glass to focus attention on some aspect in my life that I wanted to improve or heal. In writing this post, I’ve decided to use the RESONANCE, HARMONY, TRUTH, and PROSPERITY cards in my voiceover booth. Since water mirrors the vibrations of our words, I want the words that I speak as a voice talent to be in service of those 4 things.

As I said at the beginning of this essay, I don’t have to think about clean water for myself. Thank you for joining me and others around the world in using the power of our words today about in promoting clean water for everyone. This one blog post may not cause a ripple of action, but together, we are a force of nature!
 

1 “Oh s***” can wipe out 1000 “Attaboys!”

The title of this article is a saying I heard early in my IRS career. Sorry if it offends you, but it really gets to the heart of stellar customer service. No matter how many great and wonderful things you do for your clients, the thing they will remember most — and tell the most people about — is the thing that got screwed up.

As Drew and I continue to repair and renovate our house, I’m finding no shortage of contractor stories to share with you that illustrate this principle. By observing other business operators, we can determine how to better service our clients in our voice-over businesses….and hopefully avoid some of those “Oh s****” moments.

Today, I actually have 2 contractor stories. First, I have an example of fantastic customer service from start to finish.

We decided to install some recessed lighting in Drew’s man cave. Drew called his friend Tommy Dunaway, an electrician who owns a business named Tommy’s Lighting and Electric. Tommy came out to discuss options and give us an estimate. When he came back to install the lights, he exceeded our expectations because:

1) He arrived exactly on time, which is a rarity for service provider at one’s home. Punctuality is key in voiceover as well. When I started my voiceover business, I assumed that all voiceover talent were punctual. Over the years, I’ve been surprised to read about people who didn’t show up or were late to sessions, didn’t return phone calls, etc.

2) He suggested features we hadn’t considered, like a dimmer for the recessed lights and a remote control for the ceiling fan. I do the same thing with my clients. For instance, if I was hired to narrate a marketing video for a trade show, I’ll also let the client know that they may want to use the same voice on their phone system, e-learning modules, and web site to enhance and solidify their brand. It may seem like a self-serving piece of advice, but it’s really about helping my clients achieve consistency in all of their communications.

3) He finished the job in LESS time than he estimated, so our bill was less than expected. He told me he always builds in enough time in the estimate to troubleshoot any problems — a tactic that voice talent would do well to emulate.

4) He cleaned up after the job was finished. (Remember this point because I’m coming back to it in the next story!)

Tommy told me that his business is mostly through repeat business and referrals. In my voiceover business, I always want to make it easy for my clients to refer me. With his terrific attention to detail and exemplary customer service, it’s truly a pleasure to refer Tommy to other people.

My second story is about my new roof. We learned about Everdry Roofing because someone there follows Drew on Twitter, which just goes to show you the growing importance of social networking in attracting clients.

I thought Everdry was going to be a second success story of stellar customer service. After all, they showed up when promised, explained shingle options, worked with our insurance company on our claim, and did a great job of cleaning up the nails and other debris from the yard.

They were providing exceptional customer service — that is, until the “Oh s***” moment.

In the picture below, your eyes are not drawn to my new roof, with its lovely architectural shingles and new ridge vent. No, instead you see the massive steel container stretching over half of my driveway. In fact, Everdry’s sign in my yard points directly to it.

The “Oh s***” moment from the roof installation has lasted all weekend.

 
The roofers were here Thursday and part of Friday. I wasn’t at all happy about the container staying overnight on Thursday since it blocks the garage. The project manager assured me at 6pm Thursday that the container would be removed Friday. Today is Sunday, and the container is still here. I haven’t heard from Everdry about their plans to remove it.

If Drew and I had 2 cars like every other household in Atlanta, one of those cars would be trapped in the garage or parked on the street all weekend. As it is, we have to cautiously back out over our grass to clear the side of the container.

To make matters worse, the smell of 23-year-old shingles removed from the roof and the other materials in the container is akin to the putrid stench of animals killed in the road. Every time I walk out of my house, that nasty smell hits me in the face. We’re still having 90-degree days, so you can just imagine how the smell grows as the day progresses.

As a voiceover talent, I always think of how to provide the best level of service to exceed my clients’ expectations. I certainly don’t want them to incur any inconvenience as a result of my actions!

For instance, it may seem like a small thing, but the manner in which you name and transmit your recordings to your agents and clients can be either an “Oh s***” or an “Attagirl!” moment:

  • If they have given you a file naming convention, use it.
  • If not, be very descriptive with your file names so that the purpose or script for each file is immediately evident.
  • If you have to revise a file, add a revision number to the file name so that you don’t inadvertently write over an existing file. Sometimes, the client may decide the original file was best after all or wants to make some other change to it.
  • Compress multiple files into a zip file so that the client only has to download one file.

By being organized and forward-thinking, you can rack up the “Attaboys!” and “Attagirls!” in providing stellar service to your voiceover clients. If you have other examples of stellar service, please leave a comment on the blog!
 

Make it easy for your clients to want to refer you

Since Drew now is a Divemaster in the Dive Immersion Program at the Georgia Aquarium — a job, by the way, which seems to beat out voiceover talent for the coolness factor in the minds of other people — he no longer needs a home office. We are converting his office to a man cave, and we need some additional storage space.

We decided we could accomplish our storage needs by adding one more cabinet to our garage. A few years ago, in our ongoing quest for beautiful organization, we hired Premier Garage to renovate our garage. As repeat clients, we thought it would be a quick, easy, and painless process for them to install the new cabinet, especially since the company has an office and manufacturing facility about 2 miles from our house.

What could be simpler than installing a new cabinet 
in a beautifully organized garage of a repeat client?

 
To date, Premier Garage has been to my house an astonishing 4 times over multiple days, with a 5th trip scheduled next week, for this cabinet installation! Yes, the job should be simple, but this company is too disorganized to plan and execute it.

1) The tech arrived with the wrong size of cabinet and no door handles. What happened to the adage of “measure twice, cut once”?

2) The tech came back another day with a replacement cabinet, which was STILL the wrong size. I wondered why they didn’t bother to check it before they left the office.

3) On the third attempt, the tech came with the right size of the cabinet shell, but the doors were the wrong size. He also didn’t have the interior shelves.

4) This morning, the guy was were here to install the correct doors. Again, we have no handles and no shelves! In addition, the cabinet has holes in the back wall caused by incorrect drilling that must now be filled. “Measure twice, cut once” is definitely a foreign concept to these folks.

In addition to the various screw-ups with the actual cabinet installation, the techs have irritated me in 2 other ways that demonstrated a lack of respect and concern for their customer:

  • On 3 of the 4 visits, we were given an arrival window of a 30-minute time period, yet the techs still showed up late without even a courtesy call.
  • Today, the tech backed into the driveway up to the garage threshold and left his truck running while he worked, which filled my garage with the lovely smells of gas fumes and truck exhaust on a day that promises to be quite hot.

The easiest and most gratifying voiceover job for me is one with a repeat client. I look at the last session for that client and copy the same Pro Tools settings to the new session. I know the type of file transmission that the client prefers. I communicate about the turn-around time at the project outset and then work to beat the deadline. The client has no concerns about the quality of my recordings or my speed and efficiency in completing the job for them because I proved myself to them the first time and pride myself on maintaining a consistent high level of service.

In short, a job with a repeat client is an opportunity to exhibit consistency and reliability. If you are reliable and consistent, a client will turn to you automatically when they need voice talent. What’s more, they are happy to refer you to other people who could utilize your services.

In his excellent and highly recommended book titled Work Like You’re Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today, Joe Calloway refers to consistency as the gold standard:

You can count on me. You can believe in me. If I say I’ll do something, I’ll do it. Put it in the bank. Bet the farm on it. It doesn’t matter whether or not I’m in a good mood, have a headache, forgot to pick up my clothes from the cleaners, had a fight with my daughter, lost my keys, or didn’t sleep last night. If I said I’ll do it, then I’ll do it.

What’s more, I’ll do it every time.

If you can say all of that, and back it up, that’s more than showing off. That’s delivering the goods. That’s the gold standard. If you consistently do what you say you’ll do over a long period of time, the world will beat a path to your door. Nothing demonstrates the essence of showing off, in the most positive sense of the phrase, than rock solid consistency. There’s an old saying that goes, “Amateurs work until they get it right. Professionals work until they can’t get it wrong.”

We love people who do what they say they will do. Consistency is the foundation of success and the great business builder. Consistency is the definition of integrity.

I told the tech on-site today that Premier Garage is not making it easy for us to want to refer them due to their inconsistent, unreliable, and sloppy approach on this job. Hopefully, you can learn from their many mistakes and make it easy for your clients to want to refer you! If you have other tips about gaining referrals, please leave a comment on the blog!
 

4 Customer service tips from a tree service

A recent episode with the Chipper LLC Tree Service painfully reminded me of 4 important customer service principles that should be embodied by every business, including your voiceover business. First, though, I’ve give you a brief synopsis of the situation.

BEFORE: Two well-established Bradford pear trees with full foliage
rose high above the roofline on the left side of my house.

 
One of the Bradford pear trees in my front yard had a dead branch that needed to be removed, so we called a tree company based on their positive reviews we saw online. We decided that we’d also like to have the highest limbs of the trees trimmed down; they had never been pruned, were extremely tall, and overhung the roof. These trees are 15-20 years old and very well-established, but the limbs can become brittle and break in an Atlanta snowstorm.

The estimator came out last month. After Drew discussed our expectations of the work to be performed, the estimator wrote this information on the ticket:

Trim + top out + Remove debris
2 Bradfords in front — just top out a little higher than gutters
Remove 2 Bradford saplings in front

In our minds, this description meant that the overall height would be reduced in line with the  top of the roofline (i.e., “just top out a little higher than the gutters”) and some limbs trimmed to give each tree a smaller shape, just as we had requested. We were completely horrified to discover that the crew who came back the next week to perform the work butchered our stately trees down to leafless sticks!

AFTER: I still have 2 Bradford pear trees on the left side of my house,
only with no limbs or leaves to provide shade in this sultry Atlanta summer.

 
Naturally, we were quite upset that A) our beautiful trees were demolished, and B) the work was not done to our specifications. The trees not only look terrible, but we’re concerned that they may have incurred irreparable damage and would need to be removed. Since the work was performed on one of the hottest, 95-degree July days, the trees could have endured a shock from which they may not recover.

We called the owner of the tree service to ask for the remedy of removal of our trees at no additional cost to us. As calmly as possible, I explained that the “trimming” was far more extensive and destructive than we ever imagined it could be. We had never planned or wanted to remove the trees, but now we thought we would be forced into that action.

In addition, the trees were now an eyesore to us and all residents in the 200+ houses in our subdivision since all of them must pass my house every time they enter or leave. Finally, I stated that we have a very active neighborhood email list in which homeowners are constantly requesting referrals for various services.

Here comes the part where voice talent and other business owners can learn how NOT to run your business!

The owner said he had told his estimator countless times that the estimator needed to explain to a customer how Bradford pears would look when they are ‘topped out”. In fact, he continued, they had a page on their web site that showed customers what to expect, not that anyone had pointed it out to us. When I finally saw that page, I learned that the phrase “top out” has a very special connotation to the tree cutter holding the chainsaw — cut off everything! We learned too late that “topping out” is actually a last-resort measure to save trees before you remove them.

Okay, BUT….we never intended for our trees to be “topped out”! How were we supposed to know the common phrase meant something very specific to them? Obviously, if the owner has had this conversation more than once with the estimator, the company has an existing communications problem.

He flatly stated it would cost an additional $300 for them to come back out and remove the trees. The call quickly turned ugly, making my attempts to find an acceptable compromise futile. The guy completely insulted me with his terrible attitude. He was arrogant, angry, and abusive; I should have hung up on him.

He rudely demanded that Drew “needed to own up, be a man, admit that he lied [to me], and call the estimator a liar.” If Drew did all of those things, they would come back for $200. It would a loss to him if he had to send a crew back to my house without pay. He then made a comment about not wanting to take the customer’s word over that of his estimator!

Say WHAT??!!!

My problem with the trees is unresolved, but I wanted to tell you this story today so you’ll keep these 4 tips in mind as you solve problems for your voiceover clients.

1. Communicate clearly and agree on expectations at the outset of the project.
 
The tree service owner had encountered my exact situation so many times that he had a web page devoted to the subject. The estimator should have shown that page to Drew and asked, ‘is this the level of work you expect?”.

By the same token, I want to ensure that the client and I both are using the same terms and have the same idea for the kind of audio that the client will receive. On those rare times when someone asks me for “raw” audio, they still want audio that is edited so that it is free of mistakes and re-takes.

As another example, I have had clients asking for 8 kHz, 8-bit mono files for their telephone systems. Before sending the final recordings to them, I prepare them at the project outset by giving them a sample of that kind of file. They need to know that it won’t sound like a CD; it may not even sound good due to the hisses and buzzes that are inherent in such low resolution files.

2. Only take an irreversible action with your client’s full understanding and consent.
 
The tree company crew chief had a second chance to show Drew the web page before they ever made the first cut. He also could have checked in with Drew periodically as the work progressed to ensure that they trimmed the trees to match our vision.

In voiceover, you have to protect the raw audio that you have recorded. If you delete a section and then save the file, that section could be gone forever depending on your software.

One reason that I like Pro Tools is because of its non-destructive editing features. It actually creates a new file with every change, and effects are not applied to the original file. I could change or remove the compression or any other effect, bounce the file again, and have a new file as output — all while keeping the original recording intact. If your software doesn’t offer this functionality, it’s a good idea to save your original recording to a different name before you do any editing.

3. Expect that you won’t make money on every transaction.
 
While the overall goal of a business is to make a profit, you shouldn’t expect to make money on every single transaction. The goal of each transaction is to pursue cement a harmonious relationship.

The tree service owner didn’t want to come back to fix the mess his crew made unless we paid for it. He caused a problem for me, so I shouldn’t have to pay more for him resolve it. He should realize that he is actually going to lose a lot of money based on my negative reviews of his company to anyone who will listen!

In contrast, I offer unlimited free re-recordings if I have made an error in pronunciation or inflection if my client notifies me of the errors within a week of receiving the audio. I also outline my policy about charges for script revisions before accepting the project. However, in many cases, the client only needs something simple, like a sentence changed. Whenever possible, I am happy to quickly record and send these kinds of small changes at no charge.

4. Do whatever it takes to ensure your client’s satisfaction.
 
This one seems like a no-brainer, but as evidenced by my conversation with the tree service owner, some people just don’t get it!

It’s my mission to exceed my clients’ expectations! If I ever encountered a situation where a voiceover client was as upset with me as I was with the tree service owner, I would have offered to re-record their project at no cost. I even would be willing to refund part or all of the money if I could not meet the client expectations. I also would refer another voice talent in order to keep the client’s project on schedule.

When your communications with your client overflow with respect, honesty, and integrity, you won’t even have to think about providing quality customer service — you will BE the definition of it!

Edited 9/12/10 to include name and link of tree service in response to questions about it