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MARKETING The Four Steps To Turning One-Off Voice Over Jobs Into Regular Clients March 22, 2016  By Jason McCoyVoice Actor & Coach For voice over actors, clients are the lifeblood of our work. Much of our time and effort goes into marketing and finding new clients, but once you’ve found them, how do you make sure you keep them? While it’s important to keep marketing regularly to avoid the dreaded feast or famine cycle, it’s just as important to remember that regular clients equal a much more reliable income. And there are additional benefits! Working with a client on a regular basis lets you get to know them, their business, their likes, dislikes, and quirks. That benefits your client, and it's also great for you because you’re more likely to get it right the first time for them – meaning you spend less time in the studio working on retakes. You’re also more confident of getting paid by regular clients, barring any emergency situation. While there are no guarantees, and there’s always the chance that a client does a disappearing act no matter how long you’ve worked with them, you generally feel more comfortable with regular clients. They know your payment terms, you know their payment method, and you don’t need to chase their payments. THE FIVE STEPS So, how do you build those long-term relationships? 1. Do An Outstanding Job It goes without saying that you should always aim for outstanding, but it’s not just about getting the actual voice over, the tone, style, and intonation, right. Being an all-round pleasure to work with goes a long way toward building regular clients - and by this I mean:
So why not aim to become your client’s partner in their quest to make themselves and their business look great? · 2. Ask Questions In the same way you would suggest ways you can help a new client when you’re in the initial discussion stages, once you’ve worked on one project for them you’ll probably have more of a handle on their business and further ways you can help. This is when you can start asking questions, smart ones, about where they want their business to go, what challenges they might be facing, what current industry trends are, and so on. Not only will this impress on them that you’re actually interested in their business (not just their payment to you), but it could also give you more ideas about how you could work together in the future. For instance, maybe they’re considering TV or radio ads, or want to turn one of their information products into an eBook. Sounds like something you can help them with, right? (Note: It’s important to make a judgment call before you offer your input. Some clients simply want you to do ONLY the voice over.). 3. Keep In Touch Even if their voice over project seems like a one-time deal, and they don’t think they’ll need your voice over services again, your's should be the first name (and voice!) that comes to mind if they do ever have another project. I’m not suggesting calling them to say hi once a week, which might seem odd. But definitely keep in touch with past and current clients. If you have an email list for either a scheduled e-newsletter or general marketing emails throughout the year, add your new clients to it (asking for their permission first, of course), and keep an ear to the ground for anything to do with their industry or their business. For example, if there’s a new innovation within their industry, check in to see what the client thinks about it. Or if they launch a new product, win an award, or get some kind of accolade, touch base to congratulate them. Here’s a pro tip: Your clients might well be in a wide variety of industries, so why not set up something like Google alerts with their name, the name of their business, or their niche? Or it can even be as simple as letting your client know you enjoyed working with them, and that you look forward to more projects in the future. It’s these kind of personal touches that will make sure you’re at the forefront of their mind and increase the possibility of them becoming regular clients. 4. Make It Easy For Them To Work With You Again You don’t want to make a new client have to work hard to get in touch with you again. Make sure you have a website that’s easy to navigate and showcases all your services, plus your demos and testimonials. If you offer a variety of voice over services, don’t assume they’ll realize it. For example, they might think you only do commercials or explainer video voice overs, so they won’t come to you when they need a training course narrated. Once you’ve turned that one-off voice over job into a happy regular client, it’s important to keep them that way. By continuing to provide clients with amazing work, giving great customer service, and building that relationship, you’ll definitely be heading in the right direction of repeat business! ------------------------ ABOUT JASON Jason McCoy is a North American male voice actor and founder of McCoy Productions located in Maryland. He specializes in voice over for eLearning, commercials, radio imaging and explainer videos. He recently launched Voice Acting 101 as an educational resource to help others interested in becoming a voice actor. Email: jason@mccoyproductions.net Web: www.mccoyproductions.net Voice Acting 101: VoiceActing101.com |
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Comments (2)
Jason McCoy
4/1/2016 at 11:15 AM
Very good additional point, Jules.
jules
3/30/2016 at 12:13 PM
also ! thank them for the Job! - keep in touch and let them know you will love to do regular work and can work out a fixed price for long term work .....
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