Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Narrators

Setting prices and getting paid

I recently wrote about cleaning out my paper files. I tossed folders for voice-over clients who can’t pass my red velvet rope policy and, in doing so, created a vacuum for the clients whom I want to attract.

I looked at and made a decision about every piece of paper in my filing cabinets. I found an e-mail message that I sent to a client in 2002. I extracted the main portion below because I wondered if you have found yourself in a similar situation:

Hi, Clientname. When I agreed to do this project, you will remember that I cut my normal rate severely in order to work with you and establish an ongoing business relationship. I thought the script was in final form, so we did not discuss whether any changes to the narration would be included in the original fee.<

I have already spent about 3.5 hours on the narration, editing and transmission of the files, including resaving and resending the files in .mp3 format earlier this week [because the client originally specified .wav format on CD]. At my normal rate … this project would have cost $675 instead of the $150 to which we agreed. Because I am committed to providing you with high quality service and ensuring your total satisfaction, I will not request additional compensation for these edits. However, please be aware that I will be unable to perform future projects at the same low introductory price.

In reading my words today, I realize that I was dealing with a textbook definition of price-buyer. In addition to demanding more work than was originally agreed, the client never followed through on the promise of additional work. I don’t remember, but I believe I had difficulty in obtaining payment for the narration. Price-buyers are the same clients who can take months to pay you.

When confronted with client who does not pay promptly, I follow the advice that I read in advertising executive Donny Deutsch’s book Often Wrong, Never in Doubt: Unleash the Business Rebel Within:

 Howard Rubenstein, one of the top publics relations executives in the country…called [when Deutsch was about 60 days late with their payment] and said,“Donny, I see you guys are about two months back. Just understand, this is unacceptable for us.We need to be paid on the first of the month, and if that is a problem,we are not going to do business together.” Rubenstein showed me that he valued his service. He wasn’t shy about demanding to be paid because he knew he was providing a quality product at the right price.

From that moment on, I knew I would never lose the respect of a client by asking to be paid promptly. If I allow a client to pay late, what am I really saying? One, that I am not as good as my word, andtwo, maybe what I am providing to the client is not as good as I say it is. If you don’t value it, how will they? The same holds true for offering to cut one’s price.How valuable is your product if you’re willing to discount its value?

To underscore Deutsch’s last statement, Larry Steinmetz, author of How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors: Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee, declares that when you cut your price, you are the one who BLEEDS!

As evidenced by the first line in the e-mail that I quoted, I have had my share of painful, undervalued projects! In my maturation process as a voice artist and business person, I have learned that my experience, education, studio and services all have a value. I now include my payment policies with my written quote. I am blessed with clients who appreciate my service and pay promptly for it. I gratefully welcome them through the red velvet rope!

 

6 lessons from my first voice-over job

In cleaning out my filing cabinets, I found the script and paperwork from my first voice-over job. I learned some valuable lessons that day, and I hope that telling the story today may help new talent.

I had produced my first demo and had mailed it without success for about 6 months to agents and prospects. I also created a database, using data I found on-line and in organization directories. I then started mailing postcards to these prospects.

Lesson 1: Always qualify your prospects before adding them to your database. I had not even contacted people to find out if they hired voice talent before entering all of the contact information into my database. Mail-outs are expensive, and I learned the hard way that repeatedly mailing things to people who would never hire me is a colossal waste of time, money and energy.

One person called me after receiving one of my postcards. I was elated when he said he wanted to hire me for a radio commercial. My first job, and a radio commercial, no less! I wouldn’t have cared what the job entailed; I was giddy with the knowledge that I had hit the big time! I didn’t ask any questions except for the scheduled time and directions to the session.

Lesson 2: Ask questions of potential voice-over clients. At a minimum, you need to know the type of project, the usage for your voice (both in the script and in geography) and the client’s budget. You can also ask about the frequency that voice talent is hired and samples of previous work. You have the opportunity and obligation to provide your own policies. For instance, I expect new clients to pay 50% up front, and I expect everyone to pay immediately upon receipt of my invoice. I also charge fees for revising or writing scripts, as well as re-recording segments due to client changes. 

When I arrived at the address, I was confused. The address was at a duplex in a somewhat seedy looking neighborhood. Surely this producer had hired a recording studio? Was I at the wrong address? I rang the doorbell. I was at the correct address and felt a little distraught when the producer led me to a back room. I started thinking how I might escape and was relieved to see microphones at a table. He sat at one, and I sat at the other. I had produced my demo in a gorgeous studio at Todd A/O/Editworks. I naively thought that all recording studios were of the same caliber.

Lesson 3: Many people work out of their homes. If I were approached now by a new prospect to go to another location, I would inquire in person and/or through Internet research to determine whether the address is commercial or residential. If you don’t feel safe at an address, don’t be ashamed to cancel the session, even at the last second. If I felt my safety was in jeopardy, I wouldn’t care if I lost a prospect’s respect and business. As an aside to this point, potential clients who have seen the picture of my stunning soundproof studio have asked if they could come here to direct my performance in person. Since my studio is in my home, I do not allow anyone to come here until I am comfortable in the working relationship.

The producer told me that the commercial was a local spot for a small town in Louisiana. I had to sound like I had a cold when performing my 2 short lines for a company selling air conditioners. The producer read 50 of the 60 seconds in the spot.

Lesson 4: Not all commercials are well-written, and most probably don’t air in a major market. You should be prepared to have different rates for different markets and duration of use (1-time, 13 week cycle, buy-out). In fact, you will want to establish rates for each type of voice work that you pursue. After my first project, I never worked for $25 again! I established rates for radio commercials, TV commercials, podcasts, video narrations, audiobooks, voice mail systems, and e-learning projects, with a minimum fee to perform any kind of work.

When I completed my work, I was ready to be paid. I was shocked when the producer said he would send $25 to me. I said that my research showed that a radio commercial session paid X, quoting the AFTRA rates. He held firm; I could take the $25 by check, or nothing. I chose to accept his check. However, since I did not know him or anything about him, I insisted that he sign and date a document stating the he owed me $25 for my voice-over work on that commercial. He seemed to think it a strange request, but he complied.

Lesson 5: Get all details in writing BEFORE performing the work. If I had known the payment was so small, I probably would have passed on the job since the time and gas I spent was worth more than the amount I received. In addition, once you have performed the work, you have no position of negotiation. Finally, payment expectations should be discussed and resolved before the work begins. Most people do not pay on the spot (pardon the pun) and instead send payment at a later time.

I asked for a copy of the ad when it was complete. I’m pleased to report that he did send a cassette tape of the commercial when he mailed the check.

Lesson 6: Always ask for a copy of your work. You may want to use it on your demo.

In addition to getting my first paid voice-over credit, I learned valuable lessons that have served me well through my career. Hopefully, others can benefit from my experience.

 

Filing scripts under “P” for prosperity

When is the last time that you cleaned out your filing cabinet? Until recently, Drew and I might have answered “about 20 years ago.” If I had realized the negative effect that the overstuffed file drawers were having on my voice-over career, I would have done something about it long before now! Perhaps my story will inspire you to sort through your own files.

We decided to redecorate my office with new furniture, which meant pulling all of the files out of the drawers before the furniture could be moved. We made numerous trips to gather armfuls of hanging file folders that we stacked on the floor in the upstairs hall. Although the clutter in the hall was overwhelming, we agreed on the arduous task of examining every piece of paper and file so that we would only keep those things we needed.

Throughout this project, we have shredded at least 6 bags of paper and thrown away countless sheets. In addition to finding a multitude of outdated records about our health, finances and possessions, I was incredulous to see just how much paper I had accumulated in my work as a voice talent.

When I do an audition, I save the script so that I will have it available when I am booked for the job. I had folders overflowing with scripts from agents and on-line casting services. I also maintain folders for clients and their jobs.

My system works well — EXCEPT that I never got rid of anything! In making decisions about voice-over paperwork to toss, I combined principles discussed in 2 books on seemingly disparate subjects: Michael Port’s bestseller Book Yourself Solid : The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling and Catherine Ponder’s classic work The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.

The first chapter in Port’s book is titled The Red Velvet Rope Policy. He makes the analogy of going to an invitation-only event where someone checks your credentials before allowing you to pass beyond the red velvet rope. He asks: Do you have your own red velvet rope policy that allows in only the most ideal clients, the ones who energize and inspire you? The first exercise in Port’s interactive and thought-provoking book is to dump the duds.

I include price-buyers in my category of duds; I wrote about this type of client in a previous entry. I immediately tossed folders of price-buying clients. More projects made their way to the circular file if I only worked for the client once and have no interest in voicing projects for them again. Perhaps I didn’t enjoy the type of work, or the project didn’t fit with my target and niche markets. Several folders belonged to clients who were notoriously slow to pay me, which actually is a form of price-buying.

I kept folders for the clients and projects that were a pleasure in every sense. In addition to conforming to the red velvet rope policy, I reminded Drew about Catherine Ponder’s words about the vacuum law of prosperity:

Nature abhors a vacuum. It is particularly true in the realm of prosperity.Basically, the vacuum law of prosperity is this:if you want greater good, greater prosperity in your life,start forming a vacuum to receive it!In other words, get rid of what you don’t want to make room for what you do want.

If there are clothes in the closet or furniture in your home or office that no longer seem right for you;if there are people among your acquaintances and friends that are no longer congenial —begin moving the tangibles and intangibles out of your life, in the faith thatyou can have what you really want and desire.Often it is difficult to know what you do wantuntil you get rid of what you don’t want.

Here’s where this monumental project to organize and declutter my filing cabinets had a direct impact on my voice-over career. Within days of tossing the bulk of my old voice-over auditions and projects, a new prospect from overseas contacted me about a video narration. The query was all the more interesting since I had never even heard of the company.

I quoted my price and was pleased when they immediately committed to the project and paid my customary charge of 50% up front. Two days later, I received, recorded and transmitted the script. The client provided almost instantaneous positive feedback and requested no changes. They paid the balance of the fee within one week of my invoice. The client also suggested that future voice work would be forthcoming.

This new client definitely fits my red velvet rope criteria! I truly had no room in my old file drawers to add a new client folder, but now, I have plenty of space — a vacuum, in fact — ready to hold this one and those to follow.

In cleaning out the files, I also found a couple of pieces of paper that have their own stories. Check back on the blog for a related entry about them in the near future. In the meantime, I would love to hear from you. Have you experienced the vacuum law of prosperity in your voice-over work or other aspects of your life?

 

5 pieces of e-mail marketing advice

I received an e-mail tonight from a voice-over actor seeking work. I decided to post my answer with some additional thoughts here on my blog in the hope that it helps other voice talent better utilize e-mail as a marketing tool. I am a voice talent marketing myself.

The only help that I can offer your career at this point are 5 pieces of e-mail marketing advice:

1) It’s better to write customized e-mails which address the needs of the recipient instead of generic e-mails to a group. You need to research the person or company to whom you’re writing before you even think of sending them a message. When writing the e-mail body, it’s helpful to explain the reason which compelled you to make contact (referral, newspaper article, web search, etc.). When I contact people with whom I wish to work, I explain how I discovered them and the reasons that I am a good fit for their business. Those reasons would be things I uncovered in the research phase.

2) If you do send e-mail to a group, the addresses should not be listed on the TO: line. It’s a privacy violation to make e-mail addresses visible to a group. In fact, some people harvest the addresses for their own purposes, generating even more spam for the recipients. In addition, people often reply to all, which generates unnecessary email traffic for most of the people included in the message. Add your email to the TO: line and your recipients’ email addresses on the BCC: line for group messages.

3) The subject line of your e-mail should be a succinct statement that compels the recipient to open the message. The message I received had a subject line of TEST. I would have deleted that message without opening it if I had not been able to read the first line in the autopreview. I opened it only because I could tell it pertained to voice-over; I thought it was probably another newcomer who wanted my guidance.

4) Don’t send attachments to people whom you don’t know or who are not expecting them. I cannot overemphasize this point! So many people send unsolicited demos to me. I will NEVER open them, and I’m sure I’m not alone. In these days of rampant computer viruses, people are leery of unsolicited attachments. Besides, if everyone sent me a 3 Mb attachment, I would quickly run out of mailbox space. Let me say this one again: Don’t send attachments to people whom you don’t know or who are not expecting them.

5) Your message should be a clear call to action. What do you want people to do when they read your message? Saying you are “ready to cooperate” with me could mean to me that you will cooperate when I ask you to send me all of your money and the deed to your house. 🙂

Bonus round:

Correct grammar and spelling are worthy goals in all of your communications. I am constantly amazed to receive e-mails with spelling errors and incomplete or incoherent sentences. Remember, you are making an impression with every type of communication. E-mails that seem unprofessional are deleted by producers without a second thought. Furthermore, if I were a producer who hired voice talent, I would wonder how you could interpret my script if you can’t seem to express yourself.

E-mail is an essential component in the marketing toolbox for any professional voice talent. Hopefully, my observations will help you craft messages that help you convert prospects to clients. If you have other ideas on the topic of e-mail marketing, please share your comments here on the blog.

 

Cruising for a competitive advantage

A new audiobook project and new office furniture have kept me from writing a blog update in the past couple of weeks. Just after posting the last entry, though, Drew and I went on a fabulous Alaskan cruise which left from San Francisco. The scenery in Alaska truly is amazing — one snow-covered mountain peak after another. It’s hard to believe magnificent pristine environments like those we saw still exist when all of the land in Atlanta seems over-developed and commercialized.

Mountain Reflection.jpg

We’ve been on 9 cruises and already have the 10th one scheduled. While on our trip, I was thinking about the overwhelming choices offered by the abundant number of cruise lines. How would a person actually pick the ship and itinerary?

Like those who think all voice-over artists are the same, much about each ship and cruise seems the same. However, the cruise lines distinguish themselves and gain repeat customers through their competitive advantages and marketing strategies. Every business owner, including voice-over actors, would do well to set sail with this philosophy in mind.

A while back, I read a book by Larry Steinmetz and William Brooks titled How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors: Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee. The authors suggest that your competitive advantage boils down to one or a combination of these 5 fundamental attributes:

  • price
  • quality
  • service
  • advertising/promotion/salesmanship
  • delivery

In this eye-opening book, the authors assert that people who make buying decisions solely on the basis of price are not people whom you wish as clients for these compelling reasons:

1) They take all of your sales time.

2) They do all of the complaining.

3) They forget to pay you or are notoriously slow payers. To quote the authors: Anybody to whom money is so important tends not to settle accounts quickly. Anybody who is willing to beat the daylights out of you for an extra one quarter of 1 percent is more than willing to take that extra discount in the form of the time-value of your money by slow pay of your account.

4) They tell your other prospects or customers how little they paid for something. The authors wrote: Bragging about what they’ve bought from you and how little they paid for it, perhaps, is the most debilitating thing that price-buyers can do to you. Not only have they beaten you up on price, but they encourage other prospects to do the same.

In thinking of the many people we have met on cruises, I can testify about the truth of this statement. A cruise line may change prices for the same sailing depending on many factors, including exclusiveness of itinerary, advance bookings and unsold cabins. Some people seemed interested in talking with us only because they wanted to find out how much we paid for our cabin and tell us about the great deal they made.

5) They are not going to buy from you again, anyway.

The authors listed 4 other reasons to avoid price-shoppers, and the entire book is devoted to tactics for selling your services at your stated price. They discuss many techniques that prospects use to get you to cut your price. They also provide you with methods to combat price resistance and finalize the transaction. I cannot recommend it highly enough for any voice talent or other business owner.

If you decide — as I have — that you aren’t going to lower your prices to meet a potential client’s demands, you’ll have to compete on some other basis. The authors list 20 things a buyer would like besides a low price, including:

  • an easy, “no-brainer” relationship
  • total product offerings
  • reliability and dependability
  • breadth and depth of quality
  • knowledge, competence and follow-up

Your voice itself is part of your competitive advantage. We are all unique, and no one thinks or speaks in the same way you do. In Michael Port’s excellent book Book Yourself Solid : The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling, you will find an impressive list of questions that will help you identify other ways that you are unique.

Once you have defined your unique offerings, Port steps you through defining a target and niche market based on your unique attributes and the types of clients that you want to attract.

To continue the analogy with the cruise lines, we could argue that the cruise lines seem to offer similar service, quality and delivery. Their competitive advantage seems to be in their advertising, promotion and salesmanship. Each line has defined a target market and then advertises to that market. Norwegian Cruise Lines appeals to the non-conformists. (Those who know me could readily guess that NCL is my favorite cruise line.) Royal Caribbean shows ads featuring families with diverse interests. Princess Cruises aims to lure the couples wanting a romantic getaway. Carnival Cruises attracts a younger crowd seeking sun and fun.

As a voice-over artist, I specialize in audiobooks, narrations and podcasts. Sure, I enjoy creating character voices and would love to be the next big star in a hot animated movie. After going through the exercises in Port’s book, though, I determined that my marketing efforts are better suited toward e-learning modules, corporate narrations, etc.

Having a MS degree in computer information systems and over 20 years of experience working in IT positions doesn’t really help me in landing roles as a character voice actor. However, these same attributes become huge competitive advantages when marketing to an e-learning target market and information technology niche market. By taking the time to assess my strengths and build marketing tactics around them, I can steer my voice-over career to exciting new places and heights.

 

How to sparkle like a diamond

 

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds.
Discard them and their value will never be known.
Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson
I love this quote! I have written numerous times about spending my spare moments in the improvement of myself in my voice-over career. Today, the word diamonds from the quote made me think about the advertising habits of two jewelry stores here in Atlanta. I decided to write about them so others can learn from this example.

As a person with a passion for marketing and promotion, I constantly analyze all forms of advertising broadcast commercials, billboards, magazines and even direct mail pieces — to see what I can apply to my voice-over business. It’s especially beneficial to examine how competitors choose to hawk similar commodities in a full marketplace.

In this case, both jewelers both specialize in diamond wedding sets and are continuous radio advertisers. Both enterprises utilize the company owners as the voice talent in their ads. Both establishments sell upscale jewelry, and Jeweler B also sells Swiss watches. They are true to their brand in their advertising.

Beyond these similarities, though, they run very different types of ads. First, they appear to be targeting different market segments. Jeweler A seems intended for those who appreciate and are willing to pay for elegance, while Jeweler B seems to be directed at the price-conscious crowd.

Jeweler A has a distinctive nasal voice. He always talks about new or featured product lines, gift ideas, his money-back guarantee, etc. Sometimes he relates a story based in a testimonial. He quietly talks about the benefits and pleasures of shopping with him and consistently gives you reasons why you may want to do so.

The ads for Jeweler B often feature the 2 men who own and run the business. Sometimes they mention advantages of shopping with them, like the number of graduate gemologists on staff and their longevity in the market. They make jokes like they want to appear that they didn’t think about the spot in advance. I suppose they want to convey the ultra-casual atmosphere of their stores where the sales people wear jeans and t-shirts.

In other ads, Jeweler B airs fake game shows where one of the contestants is someone poorly imitating Jeweler A. The nasal voice is always accentuated, and the imitator is always made to sound stupid and bumbling.

When listening to the ads from Jeweler A, you would never think that another jewelry store even exists. You certainly wouldn’t think that the owner is worried about competition in a saturated market.

Since Jeweler B often mocks Jeweler A in their ads, it’s obvious that they are keenly aware and perhaps even afraid of their competition. In fact, many of their ads border on personal attacks although they are presumably meant to be humorous. On a personal level, I do not want to deal with anyone who makes themselves sound or feel better at the expense of other people.

Every marketing book will tell you to focus on the benefits for the target market in your communications with them. Jeweler A consistently highlights in his ads those things important to his target market, where Jeweler B concentrates on them only half of the time.


The lesson for voice-over artists is that we also need to continuously highlight the benefits of working with us.

If you can’t articulate attributes of value and service that your target market considers important, how would your prospective clients ever be able to discern that you are the best fit for their needs?

These benefits are also known as your competitive advantages. I have a few thoughts on that topic as well, but that sounds like another article for another day. 🙂

In the meantime, spend your spare moments improving your own skills rather than worrying about, or worse, maligning those of your competitors. Polishing your skills will enable you to sparkle like a brilliant diamond in your marketing efforts and will make your life as a voice talent all the more useful.