Double Dutch

John was a realtor. The past couple of years had been the toughest ever. Plenty of prospects; very few buyers. John had to work twice as hard and twice as long to woo aspiring home owners.

One day, his boss called him into the office and by the look on his face, he was not a happy camper. “John”, he said, “Do you have any idea how many leads you lost in the past three months?” “Well, maybe a few here and there”, said John. “I don’t really keep track”.

“What?” answered his boss angrily, “Are you telling me that you’ve spent hours researching homes and showing your clients house after house, and you have no clue how many sales opportunities you missed? Are you serious? How about the Taylors? They seemed ready to buy and they bailed out at the last moment. What went wrong?”

“Oh, I remember them” said John. “They backed out because they said the escrow fee was too high.” “That might be true” said his boss, “but do you want to know what really happened? After you had put in all your time and found them the perfect house, they walked out of our office and contacted the sellers directly. Two days later, the property was sold.”

JUST AN ANALOGY?
Of course I made this entire story up, and yet this scenario happens in voiceoverland each and every day. If you’ve taken a good look at your audition submissions of the past couple of months, doesn’t it seem like a majority has disappeared into a gigantic black hole?

As I mentioned in my first blog about this topic: most of my submissions didn’t result in an actual booking, not because the job was awarded to another talent, but because the voice-shopper never became a buyer. How did I know? Because months after the deadline for a project had past, still no talent had been selected for the job.

It turns out that I’m not alone. Many of you have vented your frustration and are demanding an explanation. That’s why I brought the matter up with three pay-to-play sites. I specifically asked them about their “conversion rate”. That’s the term marketing professionals use when a prospective consumer takes the intended action. I particularly wanted to know the percentage of voice-seekers who had become voice-buyers.

THE INDUSTRY RESPONDS
Mike Gomez works  for www.voice123.com. His initial response was:

“We have around 4,000 active Premium subscribers on the site and these are the stats we keep regarding hirings:

50% – book at least 1 a month

30% – book between 1 & 5 a month

20% – book more than 5 a month”

That didn’t tell me anything about the percentage of job offers that actually lead to bookings. So, I tried again and Mike sent me the following reply:

“(…) those are the numbers we have, since we don’t control who gets hired, why and when but only seekers do, we currently have no accurate way to account for this.  Although we do know most jobs are granted on the site because we see talents are renewing constantly since our sales have been growing constantly through the months and the only way talents have money to renew is if they get work.”

Let’s do the math here. 4000 Premium subscribers times $299.00 (the voice123 annual subscription fee). That’s one million, one hundred ninety six thousand dollars. Yet, they have no “accurate way to account for who gets hired”.

There’s no doubt in my mind that voice123 has earned its spot in the market place. But the fact that people continue to renew their membership doesn’t tell me a whole lot about the effectiveness of the service voice123 provides. One does not measure the success of a temp agency by the number of job seekers in the database, but by the number of real jobs these people find through the agency.

WHAT VOPLANET ARE YOU FROM?
Donna Summers is the president of VoiceCasting and partner at www.voplanet.com. This is what she told me about her companies’ conversion rate:

“Because we deal with large production companies and ad agencies for the most part, virtually all the auditions we do are for actual jobs.  It is rare that an ad agency would take the time, effort and money it takes to put together an ad campaign, hire a copyrighter to write the script, get as far as voicing it and then completely dump it.

If one of our talents gets the job, we are of course, thrilled.  If the client books elsewhere, we do call and thank the client for the opportunity and ask who booked the job.  In answering your question, Paul, I would have to say that 100% with a little margin for error would be the number of auditions that actually become jobs.”

VERIFICATION
As a former journalist, I have to add that there is no independent way of verifying these statements, especially because both companies don’t seem to have a conversion monitoring mechanism in place. There actually is software to keep track of these things. QVC uses it and so does Amazon.com. In fact, most e-commerce site tracks their transactions at least on a daily basis.

So, how would you evaluate whether or not your investment in a particular pay-to-play site is worthwhile? Without a clear conversion rate, you can only base your decision on:

1. Previous personal experience
2. Anecdotal evidence
3. Testimonials & recommendations
4. The reputation of the company
5. Trust and gut feeling
6. The size of your wallet

SLICING THE BREAD
The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza once said: “Life is like bread – no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.” In my next post, I’ll tell you what Stephanie Ciccarelli (www.voices.com) had to say about her site’s conversion rate.

To be continued…

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS In my next installment, you can read the response of the www.voices.com team, as well as the revelations of an “Ad man”.

Technorati Tags: auditions, conversion, Dutch, Nethervoice, Paul Strikwerda, Pay-to-Play, success, voice-over, voiceover

If you’ve read “Tales and techniques of a Voice-Over Actor”, you know that Harlan is not his real name. It’s Bob. But when it was time for Bob Hogan to get his SAG card, he found out that there already was an actor who had claimed that name. It was Robert J. Hogan, best known for his roles on “Peyton Place” and “As the world turns”. This Hogan also made a couple of guest appearances on the 1960s sitcom, Hogan’s Heroes, and the show’s main character, Colonel Robert Hogan, was named after him.

Anyway, “our” Bob had always liked his dad’s first name which was Harlan, and decided to adopt it for the SAG-registration. Later on, he legally changed his name to Harlan Robert Hogan. As we all know, he’s made quite a name for himself! His voice will forever be associated with phrases such as “”Strong enough for a man…”, “When you care enough to send the very best…”, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression…”, and “Quaker Life, It’s the cereal even Mikey likes…”.

Hogan is also one of the first voice-over actors who really caught on to the idea of ‘personal branding’, the art of marketing people and their career as brands. He now has his own “Signature series” of products, such as a stopwatch, a mouse pad and his famous Porta-Booth. At one point he even had a calendar. What’s next, you wonder. Well, we’ll get to that in a minute!

REPUTATION
According to marketing consultant Nance Rosen, personal branding accounts for 30-70% of your value.There are many ways to build a reputation that have very little to do with what the marketing world calls your “core competency”. That’s your ability to offer a unique product with a wide application that provides great benefits to consumers.

Here are some keys to personal branding:

1. Create your own personal product, service or trademark

2. Focus on giving instead of getting

3. Establish yourself as an expert: write articles, books & blogs

4. List yourself as a resource (http://www.helpareporter.com) and get free publicity

5. Actively participate in social networking sites

6. Associate yourself with powerful brands

7. Associate yourself with the best mentors and other ‘influentials’

8. Ask for endorsements and use those to take you to the next level (the “Oprah-effect”)

For more ideas, check out Dan Schwabel’s www.personalbrandingblog.com. Dan is the author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success”, as well as the publisher of both the Personal Branding Blog and the Personal Branding Magazine.

MORE THAN A VOICE
Harlan Hogan’s success proves that it takes much more than a good voice and great acting skills, to become one of the best in this business. Personal branding has a lot to do with it. How many of you have read the “Voice actor’s guide to recording at home… and on the road” (co-author Jeffrey P. Fischer)? How many of you have visited http://voiceoveressentials.com? How many of you actually use his Porta-Booth? If you’re a Harlan Hogan fan, I have some news for you!

PORTA-BOOTH PRO
Harlan’s actually coming out with a new Pro level version of his Porta-Booth. I’ve seen the first pictures, and I can assure you that it doesn’t look anything like the collapsible Whitmor Cube that’s available at your local Target store (left image). Just add some acoustic foam and voilà… anyone could build one of those. I won’t reveal too much, but unopened, the Pro version looks more like a rather big bowling ball bag.

One of the problems with the “old” Porta-Booth has always been where to put the script. Once the microphone is inside, there’s simply not enough space for your papers (unless you’re reading the text straight from your iPhone). Harlan’s new design seems to have fixed that. In addition, the Pro version features a new way to keep unwanted noise out.

HARLAN HOGAN VO-MIC
Harlan also teamed with microphone maker MXL, and commissioned a voice-over mic that -in his own words- “will sound great on about 99% of the population”. It’s available on an “Audition it, return it if you don’t think it’s right for you basis”, in a package with mic cable, case, shock mount for $199.00. It’s called “The Harlan Hogan VO: 1-A Signature Series Microphone“, and can be ordered directly from voiceoveressentials. Harlan also put together a USB package with his new mic and the nifty CEntrance MicPort Pro preamplifier.

One more thing: if you’re familiar with Jeffrey Fisher and Harlan Hogan’s writings, you might remember their praise for the ultimate Pop Filter, the Avantone PS-1 PRO-SHIELD Studio Pop Filter. It’s finally back in stock, ready to stuff some voice-over stockings!

SUCCESS
There are a few ways of looking at the success some of our colleagues deserve and enjoy. Some people become jealous. Others become frustrated or even scared. My attitude has always been more inquisitive: What can I learn from them? Obviously they must have been doing something right! I’m sure I’m not the only one who has learned a lot from Harlan Hogan over the years. For one, changing your name won’t hurt your career!

Paul Strikwerda ©2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS the author of this article is in no way compensated by Mr. Hogan, Mr. Fisher and/or Avant Electronics, for featuring their products.

PPS ever wondered  why your custom demos hardly ever lead to anything? Is it you or are there other factors at play? Read my next blog and find out.

Technorati Tags: Avantone Pop Filter, branding, Dutch, Harlan Hogan, MXL, Paul Strikwerda, Personal Branding, Porta-Booth, VO: 1-A, VO: 1-A Harlan Hogan Signature Series Microphone, voice-over, voiceover

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been subject or citizen”.

Together with 66 other people from 31 different nations, these were the words I spoke in Philadelphia on the last day of July. With it, a six-year process came to an end. In less than a minute, this subject of the Kingdom of The Netherlands became an American citizen. My first order of business: filling out a voter registration form.

Prior to the ceremony, I went to Independence Mall to walk in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers. The famous crack in the Liberty Bell was a stark reminder of the fact that at a certain time in history, these truths were anything but self-evident:

“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. 

Looking at the world today, I was painfully aware of two things: for many, these truths are still not self-evident. For many others they have become so obvious, that they are taken for granted. Some have turned them into -as someone once put it- “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Crappiness”.

America’s most interactive history museum is only a few blocks away. If you’ve never been to the National Constitution Center, you’re in for an experience that will stay with you for a long time. This Center brilliantly manages to do what we as voice-over pros do for a living: bring words to life.

Every visit starts with “Freedom Rising“, a multi-media presentation that connects visitors to the story of the U.S. Constitution. To my surprise, this production was narrated by a voice-over actor who’s actually there in person,  serving as tour guide on a historic journey.

In Signers’ Hall, I came face to face with the man who once said:

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

It was Benjamin Franklin. I know he wasn’t speaking about our line of work, but as far as I am concerned, he hit the nail on the head. Franklin was speaking about the ‘Narcissists, the ‘Professors and the ‘Movers’ of our profession.

All of us have come across audio books narrated by people who seem to be so much in love with their own voice, they turn a travelogue into an ego-trip. The biggest turn-off in audio books: two lips of a narcissist.

The ‘Professors’, on the other hand, haven’t learned the following lesson: people don’t like to be lectured. People prefer to be entertained and engaged. That’s why movie stars make more money than Yale academics.

The educational staff at the Constitution Center was obviously aware of that, when they hired ‘Movers’ to shake thing up a bit. ‘Movers’ are voice-over artists, who selflessly devote and dedicate themselves to the words given to them, and who use their voice as a vehicle to engage and move the audience. As a result, the listener is drawn in and drawn out; totally absorbed and involved.

‘Movers’ masterfully manage to infuse and energize dry letters on a page with meaning and emotion; bringing them back from the dead in a way a musician transforms scribbles into sounds. However, it takes a true artist to turn those sounds into music that touches the heart, feeds the soul and moves the mind. 

When I took the Oath of Allegiance, I became part of “We the people”; the people of a nation where Freedom of Expression is a constitutional right. The Citizen’s Almanac I received as a welcoming gift, describes it as follows:

“Americans can speak and act as they wish as long as it does not endanger others or obstruct another’s freedom of expression in the process”.

As voice-over artist, this freedom of speech guarantees that I can do what I love without fear of persecution or imprisonment. I can pursue my interests and happiness, as long as it does not interfere with the rights of others.

For that, I feel tremendously privileged and grateful. Without it, all of us would be -as Franklin put it- “a sundial in the shade”.

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS If you’d rather listen to my blog, you can! A Sundial in the Shade, audio version read by the author

Technorati Tags: American, Becoming an American Citizen, Benjamin Franklin, citizen, Double Dutch Blog, Dutch, Dutch voice over, Dutch voiceover, European voice, Freedom of speech, Freedom rising, Independence Mall, Libert Bell, National Constitution Center, NationalConstitution Center, Nethervoice, Oath of Allegiance, Paul Strikwerda, Philadelphia, Signers' Hall, voice-over, voiceover, voter registration form, wearing in ceremony

What’s the link between a rice beverage and voice-over work?

In a recent “Taste the dream” contest, Rice Dream offered prize winners the chance to experience their dream job for 3 days. As you can see, the ad agency that came up with this campaign thought that our line of work qualified as a ‘dream job’, because they put a picture of a voice-over person on the milk carton.*

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do for a living, but since launching my business  nethervoice, I have received several emails, asking me for a reality check. Most of them go like this:

Dear Mr. Nethervoice:I am James Kumbatani, the grandson of the late Mr. Oshia Bumbayashi, grand chief of the Olali tribe. Mr. Bumbayashi left me in charge of his personal fortune valued at seven million….

Sorry, wrong email. Here’s the one I was looking for:

Dear Mr. Strikwerda:

I am an aspiring voice over artist and my dream is to break into the business. People have told me that it’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you agree? What did you bring to the table that -in your opinion- gave you an edge over other voice-over professionals? Thank you for your time.

Penny Whistle

This is what I wrote back:

Dear Penny:

Great voice-over talents make what they do sound so natural and easy, no wonder why so many people believe anyone could pull that off in a heartbeat. In reality, voice-over artists are no different from other performers or athletes. When people hear a great pianist play or watch a well-know sports star at the top of her game, they usually don’t think of all the years these pros had to put in, in order to get where they are now. Long before I became a full-time voice over pro, I learned some things that -as you put it- gave me an edge.

1. Sight Reading: thanks to the never-ending encouragement of my mother, I’ve always been an avid reader. During my days as a news anchor for Dutch International Radio, I got used to reading last-minute news flashes and intros without skipping a beat. Today, I can print out a script, glance it over and take it into my sound booth and press ‘record’. A few minutes later, my demo is on its way to the client. If I’m working on an actual job, however, I apply a different strategy (see 3 & 4).

2. Foreign languages: growing up in Holland, I was exposed to many different languages and accents. I speak Dutch, English, German and some French & Portuguese. I also know some Latin and Hebrew. Unlike many Europeans, Americans usually aren’t polyglots, and I do my very best to take full advantage of that. Knowing how to pronounce unfamiliar names of people and places has been a great help in my career. Some clients like working with me, because I’m able to record the same commercial in four different languages.

3. Translating & Proofreading: I also work as a proofreader/translator, and I’m a professional nitpicker when it comes to scripts. Last-minute submissions often contain slips of the pen, and my clients are always grateful when I spot those mistakes and correct them. It shows them that I’m not just reading anything people put in front of me. It’s a great opportunity to show my clients that I care as much about their reputation as they do.

The other day, I was recording a Dutch commercial and the director asked me to translate some last-minute additions right there and then. No problem! I regularly receive international copy that was translated with the help of translation software. That’s usually a BIG red flag! I often end up correcting the work of a robot before I start recording a script that was supposedly ‘translated’.

4. Journalism: as a former newscaster, checking my sources has become second nature. Sloppy copywriters have handed me scripts with incorrect website addresses, wrong phone numbers and even company names that were misspelled. I always verify the information provided, no matter how reliable the source. Another thing I do is research the company I’m dealing with. Not only does it give me a feel for the corporate culture, I also check in with the Better Business Bureau and research the reputation of a particular business.

A word of warning: even though a company might have a good BBB rating, things could still be fishy.

A few months ago, I was approached by “European Immigration and Translation Consultants” in Florida. This company asked me to translate a birth and a marriage certificate. They received my work the very same day and they thanked me by writing out a bad check. Of course I ended up paying a fee to my bank. I asked for a money order instead, with the penalty added to the bill, but the agency refused.

After some more research, I found out that the con-sulting company was run by a con artist who was wanted by the Canadian authorities. Of course I filed a complaint with the BBB, but the company never responded. All the bureau could do was giving them an “F” rating and close the case.

5. Here’s the last thing that I believe gives me a bit of an edge: my love of music. As an amateur musician, I developed a sense of rhythm, diction and melodic lines that is very helpful when it comes to getting into the groove of the music in a commercial or a narration. As a cornet-player and  singer, I’m blessed with increased lung capacity and breathing support. Singing is great gymnastics for your voice. It’s a fun vocal cord workout that not only gives you the stamina to complete a long recording session; it also enhances voice projection, diction and flexibility.

Penny, if you’d like to learn more about this business, I suggest you read Harlan Hogan’s “Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor”. In it, Harlan quotes Dick Moore of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFTRA.

Moore says that of the eighty thousand AFTRA members the union represents, no more than a hundred people do most of the voice work.

So, in order to stand out, not only do you need to be outstanding at what you do; you also need to bring something special to the table. There are thousands of hopefuls out there, and all of them believe they have a fantastic voice.

Ultimately, it’s what you can do with that voice that makes all the difference.

Best of luck to you.

Now I’m off to have a cold rice beverage.

Cheers!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009
www.nethervoice.com

* this contest has expired

Technorati Tags: Better Business Bureau, dream job, Dutch, Dutch voiceover, European voice, German voice talent, making it in voiceovers, Nethervoice, newbie voiceover advice, Paul Strikwerda, voice, voice-overs, voiceovers

No, I won’t name any names, but I was quite shocked by what I found out, recently. Let me ask you a question instead.

Do you know the difference between Flemish and Dutch?

I’m not asking for an exposé on historical linguistics, but say you’re in need of a cheesy Dutch voice for your imitation Gouda commercial. You decide to check out a number of voice-over sites in the hopes of finding the perfect Hollander.

Be honest: would you be able to tell from the demo whether you’re listening to a voice-over talent from Flanders (Belgium) or from The Netherlands? After all, both speak Dutch. Of course I’m assuming you’re not from either one of those countries.

If the answer is “No”, don’t be embarrassed. I discovered that a number of internet voice-over providers don’t seem to know the difference either. What’s even worse: they don’t seem to care. After a random and by no means scientific search, I found numerous colleagues listed under Dutch talent, who were in fact Flemish speakers.

Nothing against my friends from beautiful Belgium, but that’s like listing a North-American under Australian talent, or mistaking a Brazilian for someone from Portugal. Now, most people can tell a Yankee from a Brit. But would you be able to differentiate between a Frenchman and a Québécois, or tell a Swiss actor from an Austrian bodybuilder? And if you can’t, don’t you expect a voice-over site to know the difference between cheese and cheez whiz? Just because something smells like cheese, doesn’t mean that it is cheese.

AMAZING RACE
Not so long ago, my daughter’s school held an international event modeled after the reality show “The Amazing Race”. Different classrooms had been turned into different countries, and volunteer-parents from various parts of the world dressed up in their national costume, served local treats and were asked to speak their mother tongue. Picture me, wearing clogs, waving our red-white-and-blue flag, surrounded by posters of windmills and tulips…

The first thing the contestants had to do was identify the country they had just entered, based on all the ‘subtle’ clues. In order to get full marks, they also had to locate that country on a globe. At this point I should tell you that the teams were made up of children and their parents. So, how well do you think most of them did? Keep in mind that all of this took place in an average elementary school in Pennsylvania.

Well, as soon as I opened my Dutch mouth, some kids looked at their parents and said: “That man sounds very weird, why can’t he speak English?” There and then I realized that many of them had never been exposed to anything else but (American) English and perhaps some Spanish.

One dad thought he had figured me out. “I recognize that accent”, he said with a proud smile on his face. “I was stationed at the Ramstein Air Base for years. You must be from Germany.”

“Not quite”, I said. “My country and Germany are neighbors.” “Oh, now I get it”, said the Dad. “You’re from Sweden! That’s why you are wearing those clogs.”

Some were less clueless, though. As soon as they had spotted the windmills, they shouted: “This must be Holland”. “Well-done”, I said. “Now let’s see if you can find my country on the globe.”

Granted, my homeland is not the easiest to spot because it’s so small. So I thought I’d help the teams a bit by revealing that Holland is part of Europe, counting on the fact that people would certainly know where to find Europe. Wrong! ”

You told us Holland is next to Germany”, said the airman. “I must be blind because I don’t see it.” Then his wife interjected: “Here it is, honey. Right next to Belgium.” “But it says The Netherlands”, the husband answered, “We are looking for Holland…..”

THANKS BUT NO THANKS
Based on my quick survey, some voice-over sites aren’t doing much better than the average American parent. I’m not the type of person that enjoys complaining about things without ever doing something about it. So, I emailed the companies in question, and I respectfully pointed out that the voice-over talent they had listed as Dutch, was actually from Flanders. The result? Seven out of ten websites ignored my helping hand and never even bothered to respond.

When I checked in a week later, their talent listing was unchanged. One site did respond, informing me that they had spoken with their pseudo-Dutchman, and that he denied all charges. The last two sites thanked me profusely for my feedback, and within a matter of hours they had corrected their listing.

VOICE-OVERSIGHT
To a certain extent, ignorance might be excused, but there’s no justification for being unprofessional and misleading.

If I put ‘Champagne’ on a bottle of bubbly from Chile, chances are that I end up in a French court of law. Similarly, I can’t put the name ‘Gouda’ on cheese made in Michigan.

A voice-over site should have some oversight to ensure that if we request a native Dutch speaker for our commercial, we end up with someone from The Netherlands, and not with some faker from Flanders.

One last thing. The other day, a New York-based agency asked me for a Dutch demo. It might take a few days before you hear back from us, they said. We noticed that you’ve been living in the States for quite a while, and we just want to make sure that your Dutch is still accent-free.

That’s why they sent my sample to that small country next to Germany, and had an expert listen to it. A few days later it came back with a seal of approval. Now, that kind of professionalism puts a big smile on my face. And I don’t even have to say “Cheese”!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

Technorati Tags: controversy, difference between Dutch and Flemish, Dutch, Dutch voice over, Flemish, Flemish voice-over, Nethervoice, Paul Strikwerda, voice-over, voiceover