VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Spacegypsy]

Hee hee, The Service... sounds like a cult...

I have had a lot of work from them, (and some good paying, long term ones too) which I suppose is why I'm not so worried about their involvement in one which went sour. Well, there's a few that went sour, three actually, and they dealt with one of the other ones really well - took his ad down right away and shut him down. The other one they don't know about yet - and if the guy pays up, they won't need to.

I've made back my fee many times over. I just went through my client list to see how many paying jobs came through them in the last 15 months, and it's 27 (not counting potential contacts which haven't come to fruition yet) , two of which were/are problematical, and not counting the one which started this thread as no paying was involved. I then went to The Service site to see how manyleads I answered to get those jobs, and it's 329!

So, I answer 12.1 leads to get a job, 8.26% success rate and of those jobs, an 11% problem rate.

Anyone else up for sharing the math :shock:

[Philip Banks]

In order to see how well "Da Soyviss" is doing for you it's important to compare it with other activities.

How much was spent during the same period, how many auditions, how many jobs, how much income generated?

For a couple of years I spent around 80% of my time and marketing budget promoting myself to local commercial radio stations in the UK. A quick check to see how I was doing led to the following discovery. At a peak the efforts were being used to secure 2.6% of my income. I stopped. In effect, I walked away from a market. Of course that doesn't mean I walked away from the work that came from local radio commercial producers, I merely targeted time, effort and money elsewhere. After one year the net result was an increase in business turnover of 56%, the risk was losing 2.6%. ......Mmmmmmmm I wasn't exactly living dangerously was I?

The starting point for users of "Da soyviss" is $199, number of auditions, number of jobs, amount of income.

Take the total income, deduct $199 and divide by the number of auditions. The number is how much you earn each time you do an audition, win or lose. Compare that figure with, say demo CDs. How much dod they cost to produce per CD, how much to send, how many sent over the same period, how much income? Including post and packing let's say every CD costs $4 and you've sent out 100 and you got three jobs for $600. It means that every time you want to make $2 you send a demo.

None of this is smartass stuff, it's just a good way to see where you're money is going, time is going and the best return on your investment. Most people do not like keeping track of the numbers for fear of what they might find out. You're not looking for certainties, there aren't any but you can find a lot of "better than average" chances.

A quick check for everyone. How many jobs have you done over the last 6 months without having to audition compared with the number where you had to audition? My guess is most will be horrified by the outcome.

If approached to audition my guess is that your reply should be.

"Thanks for the opportunity. Please refer to the demo section on my website and get back to me If you would like to arrange a session."

To save time you could point the potential client to the most appropriate demo. An alternative would be to only audition for jobs above a certain fee level.

In our heady showbiz world, people who are prepared to do anything to get the job end up doing anything except the job.

[steeleman]

I joined the unnamed site last year and have quickly made my money
back for the year membership. For ME it has worked. I've made some good contacts for long term work and regular monthly work and income.
I've even had people come to ME with out auditioning for gigs.

It seems the best way to get the gigs is to know if WHAT they are pushing
is what YOU do best. If it's film narration or on hold or phone messaging..
If that's YOUR bag and you're good at it and have a long list of past clients..then it will show in YOUR audition and demo. Also, I think if
you get a lead and 69 people have answered the lead....Delete and move on. Put yourselves in the mindset of the client.. You weed through about
20 leads that sound right and/or offer the amount you are willing to pay.

There are some folks on the site who will lose their money and not make a dime. The support for this site is pitiful. I too lost money from an unpaying client in California who wouldn't pay me $25 for a quick phone
intro..(shame on me for charging so cheap rate!!!- I got what I deserve)

I do know some professional people like Jeff Davis in L.A. who does
radio imaging around the country and is the in store voice for Blockbuster
video who has money several thousand dollars with this site so it's a little
of THIS and a little of THAT.

Because of my initial 1st year success...I'll probably renew. The auditions
are a good way of building up your client list and worst case scenario
building up your demos....

[Philip Banks]

Above, the right approach and the right attitude. If it's working it's working.

A friend was advised by Da soyviss not to join as a paying member because he was a British voice over and they(we) appear to have limited or no success.

[Deirdre]

Yeah, what is it with you Brits?
No one can understand a word you say.

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Phil-- thanks for the cost-to-benefit input.

It really does make sense to take stock of how much time one is devoting to auditions and then compare that to the result.

I get most of my work straight off the demos I have available. Every once in a while, I win an audition. It has been my good fortune that the recent wins are for very good clients.

As Steel said, if nothing else, I end up with good demo material.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com

[mcm]

No experience with V123 but wanted to add a note about doing the math. I've been marketing from the beginning primarily by email. Got frustrated with the percentage of people who never respond, so I started telephoning everybody first to try to increase my response rate, and immediately weed out people who aren't interested/don't use VO but their website doesn't indicate that. After a few weeks, I sat down to evaluate "success". The drawback of telephoning is that almost everyone I call asks for a CD; only a few say that emailing an mp3 is fine. The CDs cost $2 each, and $1.06 in postage, not to mention the time it takes to type and print out labels and edit and print out my cover letter and resume. And the time it takes to talk to people on the telephone, which is pleasant but not necessarily the most productive use of time. All of my clients so far have responded to my emails, they were not gleaned from telephone calls. And only 2 of them have requested a CD, although I offer that option to everyone in my email.

So, I'm back to email primarily. If somebody doesn't respond after 2 follow-ups, they get "tabled", and sometimes they get revisited later if I look them over again and decide they're worth pursuing-- perhaps by a telephone call, since sometimes that is really what some people need. My email response rate is 40%, which includes the ones who write to say they never use VO, or they have in-house VO, or the producer always brings the VO, &c. I can live with that. But it's good to evaluate things periodically. If a significant percentage of the people who requested CDs over the telephone eventually end up hiring me, then maybe the telephone approach will become popular again.

[kgenus]

To be crass.... IF more of you are telling me The Service is working, I'll have no problem sticking my head between my legs, puckering up and kissing - a full spread public omission to being wrong. I don't think it'll come to that....
_________________
Genus

[Andy]

Kevin, I like crass. I'm from South Philly. :lol: I think the service of which we're speaking works for some, doesn't for others. I fly a desk in my day job. I'm in a position to answer leads quickly. As a result, I've gotten a fairly good success rate. Right around the same percentage as Kat's. But the journey has been frought with jerks, empty promises, and a bucket load of assholes, too. If I may be so crass. Conversely, I've gotten a few good clients out of the experience.

My subscription came due last week. I did another year with much trepidation. Dealing with the auditions, the butt smooching, the continual proposal writing, etc. is tantamount to a continual proctology exam, to me. I think the whole concept of these virtual auditioning platforms is demeaning. They lower standards and they pit us against each other in a blind bidding process that degrades the craft. Phil's formula has certainly got me thinking. But we each put a different value on our time. Plus, when I think about the fact that during the past year I've won enough jobs to support another decade of subscriptions, I gotta think I got an okay return for my $195.

My goal in the coming year is to shift from this passive marketing format to an active one. What little I've done, has proven to be quite successful as well.

[Philip Banks]

Statisically, if enough people walked the streets of New York shouting "Starving voice over requires work", one or two of them would get a gig. That does not make it a good idea nor does it mean that 53rd and East is a great marketing tool.

[Andy]

Depends on what yer selling on East 53rd. :lol:

[brianforrester]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Another disgruntled service subscriber checking in!

While I did make my money back and then some, I'd much rather spend my time honing my craft as opposed to waiting for the "you've got mail" message then "competing" to be in the fastest, cheapest and bestest to post my "audition" (I use the term loosely, how the heck can we audition with quality stuff in less than 5 minutes!!! BLAH)

I've basically taken the focus of pulling as many scripts off of the service site as possible and using them for professional developement/practice.

Anyway, I will not be renewing my membership (aka. cash grab) as my money can be much better spent on methods that will innevitably produce much better results.

I'm enjoying all of your comments!
_________________
Brian Forrester Voice Overs
www.brianforrester.com
brian@brianforrester.com
778.668.5715

[Philip Banks]

[Guest]

As the ads say, your experience may vary.

I've been very lucky with THE SERVICE. I just reviewed my work for this year and I've picked up 11 new clients through them so far and have done 16 jobs for those 11. Nine of the 11 were through bidding and 2 of them came from people who scouted through their talent roster and contacted me to do a custom demo. Now I went almost three months without getting a job, and I also picked up 3 of those clients in a two day period last month. Go figure.

I also have 3 clients I picked up last year through them that have continued to use me for projects this year.

I've responded to about 200 bids out of I'd guess 600 they've sent so far this year. I get good practice out of it and some of the auditions are in a file for possible use in a future demo, so I get something out of it even if I don't get a paying gig.

Admittedly I've been in the biz for a while, but also, I pick the jobs I bid on carefully and I read all the instructions trying to glean exactly what they want.

You do not have to answer within the first hour however, although it feels like it helps. I've answered jobs several hours in and gotten the gig.

Love 'em or hate 'em, and there's plenty to hate, they're a source of income and a source of entertainment on a slow day.

Bruce

[Bruce]

The previous guest was me. Caught by the timed log-out I guess.

Bruce