VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Kafer

I just had a gig fall through that was pretty much set in stone, with prcing negotiated and everything. She asked what music I had so I pointed her to the 3 stacktraxx I had at the Digital Juice website so she could listen to their montage. Well she got curious and started looking around at other traxx and found one she really liked... that I don't own.

So she called the whole thing off because I didn't have the right music for her 2 minute on-hold message. Argh!!

What did I learn? Don't point clients to digital juice unless I have all the music!

I'll be posting the gig once I get permission from the client. Figured I offering her a professional courtesy like that was better than just blowing her off.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

What!? That just seems odd.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:11 pm Post subject:

Tell me about it. She liked my voice and was fine with the price. But then she heard something on Corporate Staxx 2 that she liked and I only own Corporate Staxx 1. So she called the whole thing off. Again, this is a 2-minute voicemail recording!
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Jeff
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anthonyVO · 14th Avenue Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1470 Location: NYC

Hi, Jeffrey!

Too bad about that, but lesson learned - YOU are the producer. You lost control of the situation the minute you allowed her to specifically choose the music - especially from YOUR source.

I grew up in the headstone/monument business and when a customer came in to order a monument, I showed them what was in the showroom and some line drawings of designs. Can you imagine what would happen if I sent her to the quarry in Barre, Vermont to "pick her granite"???

There will be many more gigs coming your way, so don't worry.
Best wishes.

-Anthony

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:35 pm Post subject:

It wasn't quite like that. I did tell her what I could do, several times. I simply pointed her to the specific Digital Juice music montages of the tracks I already owned. I didn't tell her to go and pick her own music.

She could have gone out searching any number of a million places for music that she liked. I just made it easier for her to find music I didn't own. Lesson learned.
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chriswagner · Contributor IV Joined: 02 Apr 2007 Posts: 114

Sometimes, no matter what you do, how hard you work it, the customer just blows the deal on their own.

That's what seems to have happened here.

Sometimes it's a blessing..

Oh well, live and learn.. Remember that which does not kill you, just winds up ticking you off.

Dave · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:10 pm Post subject:

An (ironic) counterpoint...

Just last week, I sent a client to DJ to choose their music. I pointed them to the specific library's I own... sent them the links....and they listened on their own time and simply told me of their choice. Sweet!

However, I don't think I would have done that if I didn't have at least a full library... limiting them to only a couple of volumes could be a little dangerous I suppose.

FWIW, if they choose something you don't have you could always buy that volume... as the gig would likely pay for it.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:13 pm Post subject:

billelder · Guest

So...what is she going to do now? Call voiceover after voiceover until she finds someone who sounds like you and then ask...Do you have Corporate Staxx 2?

Hart · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject:

Send her my way, I'll buy Corporate Staxx 2 and charge her 130. Devil

Seriously dude. Sure you're only breaking even buy you're getting another CD. That's an investment. I would call her back and ask her if she would up her budget by 10 or 20 bucks, order the CD and do it for her. You got nothing to lose at this point.
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louzucaro · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject:

I almost never discuss my sources with clients. I'm talking about web development here, but the same rules apply.

One time, a company called my business partner and I in for a meeting. They told us about their big project and we started talking about doing some interactive Flash development. They asked how proficient we were and we said we had a guy who was really excellent that we'd use for this project.

They asked us for his name and contact info. I couldn't believe anybody would have that kind of nerve. We'd never met these people before this meeting.

In a situation like the one you describe, I'll ask the person what they don't like about what they've seen (or heard in your case). If they can't articulate what they don't like about it and what they'd rather see instead, I've learned that they're very likely going to be an un-satisfiable client and I'll either opt out of working with them, or charge them in such a way that ANYthing extra beyond a basic minimum of work is billable, and make them sign off on that in advance.

True, as somebody else posted, she COULD go do a search for royalty free music and find DJ herself anyway, but people are lazy, and if they didn't think of it before, they're probably not going to think of it (or figure it out) after.

Of course it's different if she'd have said "Oh, are those from Digital Juice? Maybe I'll try to find something else on there that fits better" because then obviously she already knew about it.

But, yeah, in general I don't give away source info.

That's just me, though. As always, "your mileage may vary".
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:28 pm Post subject:

Brian, you're advice was spot-on. Even at the full price of $99 for the music, I'm still ahead of the game because I get new music out of the deal. So I've emailed her with my offer and also said that if she wasn't interested, that you (without naming you) were willing to do it for $130 since you had the music in stock. We'll see what happens.
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Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com