Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Fast Food Voice Hobbyists Are Not Your Competition





Do you think a four-star restaurant chef panicked over the new McDonald’s value menu?

Could you picture him in the kitchen sweating bullets, worrying that his loyal customers will abandon his Filet Mignon for McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish?

Of course not! The odds of something like that ever happening in real-life are ridiculously low, right? But, why is that the case? The bottom line is that a four-star restaurant chef knows that fast food is nowhere near his radar.

Sure, he might not have any $5 value menus or Buy One-Get One Free coupons for his menu items, but he knows that he doesn’t really need them either. The quality of his food and customer service speak itself. Customers looking for that type of quality know they will have to pay a lot more for it than they would in a McDonald’s drive thru.

You might be thinking, “Why is Terry talking about food? Is he craving a burger or something?” No, it’s nothing like that. Let me get to the point before you all start thinking about your next meal.

If high-quality restaurant chefs are not worried about low-quality fast food, why should a high-quality VO professional worry about low-quality Fiverr talents?

The same “ridiculous” response that you more than likely thought as you listened to my illustration should be the same response you give when you think about your potential clients choosing Fiverr deals over your services.

Fast food customers are not concerned about quality, which is why they will never expect to receive Filet Mignon for a Filet-o-Fish price. The same principle is true for VO customers. If they are seriously looking for a quality VO professional that can deliver quality work, they are not going to look for a cheap deal to save a few bucks. They will fully understand that quality professionals have quality rates for their services – and the great ones never budge on their prices.

Stop trying to figure out a way to compete with those “fast food” VO professionals. Continue to cook up those quality projects in your VO “kitchen” for your clients, because the ones that you want are the ones that will pay your rates without hesitation.

The average customer would think twice before taking advantage of a 99 cent deal for Filet Mignon, right? The same red flags wave in front of quality VO clients when they see deals for low-price VO deals.

You just need to trust in yourself and your services. Stop panicking over who’s heading towards the Fiverr drive-thru and pay more attention to the people looking for the long-haul journey of quality Voiceover services. At the end of the day, those are the clients that will stick around and help you to build your business – not the bargain bin customers that choose price over performance.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

I Need To Do...WHAT??



“I need to do what?” When it comes to the mere idea of voiceover coaching and training courses, a lot of people seem to use that particular response. 

Why is that? It usually boils down to at least one of the following reasons: (1) They’ve been burned before. (2) They don’t think that they need a coach or (3) They don’t appreciate the value of investing.

THEY’VE BEEN BURNED BEFORE


Most successful professionals in the voiceover industry did not hesitate to invest in professional coaching and training to work towards mastering their craft. However, quite a few aspiring professionals were burned along the way by one of these cookie-cutter training companies or demo mills that are eager to take your money but not return anything of value in exchange for it.

These are the companies that charge hundreds or thousands of dollars, promising to give you “everything that you need” to become an overnight success. However, once your payment has been processed, you’re left with a fraction of what they promised.

Chances are that you know at least one person that was robbed by this “training trap.” Perhaps the victim you know…is you! Either way, it’s understandable to see why someone would not want to be burned again – which is why it’s so important to prove to these victims that quality training is completely different!

THEY DON’T THINK THEY NEED A COACH

The second reason why people avoid voiceover coaching and training is that they feel they don’t need it.

Thanks to the cutthroat contractors and get-rich-quick packages, many people think that having access to a USB microphone gives you everything you need to immediately become a successful VO professional.

Here’s the bottom line: If you want long-term success as a VO professional, you need to have a VO coach with long-term success.

Why? The simple fact is that you can only get so far by yourself.

Bill McCartney, a 2013 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame for coaching, once said that, “coaching is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”

Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest NBA player of all time, openly credited his college coach for teaching him the game of basketball.

Bob Nardelli, the CEO of Home Depot, said that he strongly believes that “people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.”

Yes, you can get hired for a voiceover project without coaching. You may even get a few projects or regular clients without professional training. However, how far will your own knowledge take you – especially with limited training and experience? Before long, you are going to run into a brick wall of progress - a plateau over which you simply cannot cross.

The frustrating part is that coaching is not a new concept. This is not something that we have to sell very much – if at all – in other industries. How many people have you seen become successful doctors, nurses, lawyers, graphic designers, IT specialists, insurance agents, electricians, plumbers or even tax return preparers without training?

The thought alone of performing those jobs without training may seem farfetched. That is usually where the “I need to do what?” response seems a little more fitting, doesn’t it?

Why is it, then, that aspiring VO professionals do not think that they need professional VO training?

If you want to break through the ceiling of your own potential and build a long-term successful business (instead of settling for a few short-term projects), you need a high-quality VO coach to help get you there.

THEY DON’T APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF INVESTING


There is also a group of people that simply don’t want to invest in their business. They may not have been burned before and may understand the reasons to have a coach – they simply don’t want to pay for one.

Aspiring professionals that don’t realize the value of investing in their businesses are only setting themselves up for failure. Think about the money that goes into presentations, marketing, customer service, training and other resources for traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.

You need to have the same approach when it comes to building and managing your VO business!

If you don’t put any money into your business, how can you expect to get anything out of it?

The market of voiceover professionals is getting more and more competitive each day. Many people are trying to make a name for themselves in this industry – regardless of whomever they have to outbid, outdo and outwork along the way.

Do you want to give your business a long-term chance for survival and success? Great!! Here’s the key to doing so ---> Get a high-quality coach today so that you can benefit from their training tomorrow!