VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 241

For those of you who do VO full-time, do you have a minimum number of auditions that you feel you need to do each day/week to reach your income goals? And of those, what percentage come from agents, P2P sites or other potential or current clients?

I do as much as I can on any given day, sometimes between 5-10. Other days I get busy with paid projects or sidetracked by business and family stuff and don't do any. Curious as to what others do and feel they need or want to do. Thanks!

Glenn

heyguido · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:37 pm Post subject:

I'll probably catch a rash of & #*+ from some for saying this....

But my number is zero.

I don't like working for nothing.

Sure, if I'm asked.... I'll audition. But I'll only audition if asked directly. And that doesn't include a blanket email invitation from pleasehireme123 or voicerodent.com.

I'd rather spend my time pitching potential clients than wasting my day on a p2p crapshoot.

I'm sure there are those of you who make a perfectly good living playing the p2p game.... And I'm not about to put anyone down for taking that route.

But I prefer to grow my business organically. It may take longer. I may miss opportunities that could put money in my pocket today that others may make instead.

But my goal is to build a network of clients I can trust, and who trust me. I firmly believe it's in my best interest to do so. And I'm willing to take the time and effort to do it my way.

Call me a fool if you like.

Commence the flame war. I have my big boy pants on. I can take it. Inoccent

_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:16 am Post subject:

Audition = Someone looking to find out if YOU are right for the role.

We do those.

We do NOT indulge people who simply can't be bothered to do some basic research.

Voice Talent/Actor = Does not understand the above.

Voiceoverist = Sees the difference and lives the life WITH a choice of pies.

Bill Campbell · DC Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 621

I'd say on average five a week. I only audition for stuff I think I'm right for, otherwise I'm wasting my time. Some weeks zero, some weeks ten.

I receive auditions from several production houses and V123. I always audition for personal invitations.
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www.asapaudio.com

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:58 am Post subject:

No, Don, you're not going to catch crap for growing your business the way you think works best. I will, however, ask a question if I may:

- Do you track your time spent and number of contacts vs. ROI?

I think either way (auditioning, or cultivating possibilities as you're doing) can bring work. I've done both, and found greater ROI on the P2Ps. Last year, during a slow time, I began contacting about 50 or so producers and production companies via cold e-mail. Over a period of a week or 2 I contacted perhaps 200 or so of these types. I got responses from about 3 or so saying thanks, etc. 1 or 2 said they'd be talking to me about some work.

All this resulted in zero jobs. Maybe my approach was wrong? I dunno. But it was a colossal waste of my time.

And I do occasionally follow up with regular clients from whom I haven't heard in a while to see what's up.

But the majority of my work comes from repeat and referral business, and next from auditions. I only audition when things begin to slow down for me OR a particularly juicy lead comes my way. I also tend to audition for most of the leads sent by my agents.

But here's my take on P2Ps:
- yes, there are a ton of CRAP jobs with CRAP budgets listed. Don't audition for those
- but for the others, in essence you have a client, with a project waiting, saying "Hey! We need a voice!" In essence, it's a virtual 'help wanted' sign for exactly the skills I possess. I don't see the advantage to NOT auditioning for it if the budget and subject matter are a fit for me.

So.................................. all that being said; back to Glenn's original question:

I suspect for everyone who responds you're going to get a different answer. I know some folks set aside X hours a day to market themselves. Some of that marketing may be via auditioning. Others, like me, are sporadic about it, auditioning as time and need dictate. You need to find what works for you, and what doesn't. Don has found what works for him, whereas cold marketing doesn't for me.
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Bish · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:55 am Post subject:

That was an interesting exercise. I looked back at some numbers from the last three years, and I can honestly say that my income has increased in almost exactly the same proportion that my audition participation has decreased!

OK... many reasons... but mainly because I've stopped auditioning using "why not?" as a decision point, and have steadily shifted over to "why?". I've become far more selective and have made a conscious effort to get off the "audition treadmill".

And as a straight answer to the question... I probably average ten auditions per week. Just a couple per day... and that includes selective pickings from the P2P sites.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:56 am Post subject:

Bish · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:46 am Post subject:

I'm pretty sure I stole it. Probably from that font of all VO wisdom... our own Philip.

I do make a conscious effort to ask the question all the time though, and it's made a big difference.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

ricevoice · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:12 pm Post subject:

10-15. A day. Sometimes more. Usually it all takes about an hour of my day. 80% of them are generally from P2Ps.

The way I see it, auditioning is part of my job. Because I've tried the cold calling and emailing repeatedly over the years and it simply doesn't work for me. But auditioning does. And it's a part of our business that's not going away. Rather than complain about "having to audition", I look at every audition I submit as an opportunity to book a gig and perhaps start a long-term relationship. Plus auditioning is good practice... the more time I spend doing reads, the better I get at my craft, so I view that daily hour spent auditioning as time I'm investing in myself.

Anyway, like I said, it works for me... out of the 27 jobs I've done so far in March, 23 of them were either the direct result of an audition for a particular job, or they were repeat business from a client I initially connected with via an audition. So out of the 10 workdays so far this month, I'm averaging 2.3 jobs per day that came about as a result (direct or indirect) of that daily hour of auditioning. Seems like time well spent to me.
_________________
Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:40 pm Post subject:

I'm finding I'm also targeting more auditions to particular things now, for example, audiobooks. I probably audition as much for audiobooks as I do on the P2P for industrials and commercials.

Since the middle of February I auditioned for only 4 audiobooks (I'm highly selective; they have to interest me and pay well enough to do the job) and I've landed 3 of those 4. So, like Chris said, I feel that's a good ROI for me.
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Matto · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:23 pm Post subject:

I endeavour to keep a minimum of $20,000 worth of opportunities in the 'pipeline' at any given time, tracked through my CRM. I usually update the list every 2 weeks. This can be a mixture of auditions, new client enquiries or prospects that I've chased up myself e.g. $500 for a video for a local business.

Then I tell myself there should be a spread of likelihood of winning the job (shot in the dark to sure thing), though I appreciate that's a little more of an intangible. Obviously not every bit of that $20,000 pans out, but I've found that a percentage of that, combined with jobs that are a booking right from the get-go (from repeat/new clients, referrals, agents etc.) works out well enough.

What this means in response to the question, is that if I'm too busy fielding enquiries, maybe I'll do less auditions than usual. If I've received few enquiries through my website and haven't been able to hustle for some new projects, perhaps I'll push a bit harder with auditions to make up that hypothetical $20,000.

Of course if I get a great audition opportunity from an agent, then of course I will fit that in to my day. I'll usually do at least 8-10 auditions a week.
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www.mattcowlrick.com

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:31 am Post subject:

Since 1st December 2013 I've done 8 auditions which turned into one job paying $400.

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:49 am Post subject:

I audition regularly for the three agents that I book with the most….and for several production houses. A dozen or better every week. I typically start my day with auditions and then move into deliverables and sessions for the day.

One funny one: In late January when there was a slow week, I did three V123 auditions…and booked two of them. That's a change.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:33 am Post subject:

I'll do an audition tomorrow, I promise.

Todd Ethridge · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:28 pm Post subject: