VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Lizden · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:25 pm Post subject:

Bob nails it.....AGAIN. Laugh

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audio'connell · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 3:53 pm Post subject:

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 981

I'm a firm believer in the hand written note. But this is also a business contact. Buyers, agents, casting directors, they want an email, especially if your demo and website are a part of the correspondence. A click is miles faster than typing a link from a note or business card. And emails are read the moment they are seen. Letters go into a pile.

I prefer the art and manners of the hand written note. But the immediacy of today's industry does not. Time is money.

audio'connell · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:34 pm Post subject:

We shall agree to disagree.
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Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 981

We shall!

Meeting a buyer who is on a deadline to sign a new contract promo announcer is extremely timely. The reach out post meeting them at a con is via email. That is, if you want to be considered for the job. By the tme your letter gets to them, let alone read, you may have lost your window of opportunity.

Now, get the gig or even just an audition from this connection, that's the time to send a hand written note.

Bruce · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:30 pm Post subject:

You're both right! Plus, it's a breath mint AND a candy mint.

It's certainly worth experimenting if anyone is interested. Ten personal notes and ten email approaches, back and forth until you get your answer.

I will say I've seen what appears to be a connection between Christmas gifts and increased workload in the following year. Whether it's real or imagined I'm not totally sure, but I'm celebrating my top employers again this winter.

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

audio'connell · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:51 pm Post subject:

Bob if you're intent on changing the context of your original comment to make subsequent comment look thoughtless...that's up to you.

You went from 'follow up at a convention' to a much more urgent example which would require a different kind of follow up.

I hope you drive better than you pontificate.
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audioconnell Voice Over Talent
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Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:19 pm Post subject:

I have just concluded a 4 month exercise to my modify workload. It has worked out just fine. It was about business, my business.

My next teaching tour will be called "I grow weary of your nonsense!"

I read out loud ok, I was married to a psychologist/therapist/counsellor so know a little ( more than most what makes people tick) and I understand how to make a business work.

I am not an actor so I do not teach people how to act.

Based upon the evidence of all my AWESOME teaching jamborees my next teaching extravaganza ought to be called "I'm sick of teaching people on Saturday things they fail to do on Monday"

So panel, of the two which title is awesomer? Laugh

Deirdre · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 7:55 pm Post subject:

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 981

Philip Banks · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:34 am Post subject:

TOP TIP for PROMAX

Grab promo producer by throat.

"Here are the receipts for my flights, hotels and other expenses! Now the good news. You ARE NOT getting my business card!" Then tattoo your web site details on his forehead backward. Every time he looks in the mirror .....

I get more business that way.

Or for general use, when I was in New York in December I handed out some really nice pens.

Philip Banks · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:30 am Post subject:

Imagine that you doing Voice Over work was your business and that you had control over it.

David Bowie - Heroes

I, I will be King
And you, you will be Queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day

Be a hero.

Ignore love, family, pleasure and leisure as they are nothing to do with your business and then focus on everything else you do and claim it benefits your business. For the record posting stuff here does not benefit me but the (serious) content I write does because such posts remind me what I should be doing.

Rid yourself of anything, any business or any individual who does not contribute to your bottom line. NO EXCEPTIONS. Then see what you have left. You will discover that what remains are the activities, businesses and individuals that have made measurable (you've spent them) contributions to your business. Find more people like them.

There is more and I'm happy to talk to people privately if they get in touch.

The simple approach outlined above is worthless to anyone who is not prepared to be a hero. Not joking.

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:38 am Post subject:

i finished a session yesterday at a st. louis agency - just the client, the engineer & the voice akker. it went very well & the client asked me for a business card. i said "i have hundreds of business cards in my cabinet at home, but since i'm the worst business man in the world - i always walk out of the house without them." (which is 100% true) he handed me his notebook & i scrawled my email address on the cover with a blue sharpie. in hindsight, i probably should have torn a page out, but ...

he emailed me this morning - thanked me & told me another session was on the way "soon".

people remember out-of-the-ordinary things. we get dozens of business cards - hundreds or thousands of emails - and really - who cares - they all blur together into one "who-was-that-guy-i-met-at-that-place?"

when i was still working my day job in publishing i found myself at this weird auction - really odd stuff --- and i bought a giant box of mis-matched baby shoes. the next month i walked around a huge convention center in orlando with a backpack full of baby shoes with my contact info on each one & a little tag saying, "just want to get my foot in the door." it was goofy - everybody laughed - and i wrote a crap-load of contracts over the next quarter.

you have to have the goods - you can't just be quirky --- but if you can back it up -- quirky sells.
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Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 981

Now THAT is a great story, Todd! I did something similar with my prosthesis. It didn't go so well. But I'm all about risks!

I was at a NYC vo mixer several years ago. I was inundated with business cards, as well as demo CDs. I kept telling people that I'm a fellow actor and have no need for business cards. But these people, bless their hearts, were so damn desperate they didn't care who or what got their card. It was actually kinda embarrassing and I threw them all away when I left. Also threw away the demos. I had no way to carry them with me throughout Manhattan afterwards.

And I agree with Todd that business cards get lost in the shuffle. That is, if you don't do anything about it when you receive one. This is why it's so important to ask for their card. If you are smart you will follow up, link with them on social media (you will inevitably have tons of in common business folks and your day to day promoting of your vo business will get the attention of your new contact as well as other new vo buyers). The fact that Todd's new buyer emailed him back is awesome, but not something you can or should rely on. But you can rely on your own business savvy follow up!

I'm off to the booth then off for a drive. Beware fellow drivers!!

Philip Banks · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:33 am Post subject: