gut check – elitist?
I was on Google tonight and came across a web site tonight, of reasonable design, offering voice overs for under $100 and quick turnaround.
Competition is fine but low-ballers like this individual and his compatriots disgust me because I think it cheapens our industry and further confuses potential clients on price.
Searching further on the site I see this person (whom I do not know) is actually within a couple of hours drive of me and has a number of misspellings on his site.
In spite of my disgust I find myself beginning to type an email explaining his misspellings because it looks unprofessional.
Then I stop.
While at first it seemed like the right thing to do, I decided that someone whose business model I do not at all respect does not deserve professional assistance from me as I might normally do for someone in the industry I consider a peer.
I may have become an elitist voice over talent. Not elite, elitist.
Doesn’t he have a right to run his business as she sees fit? Maybe she’s got small children to feed.
But deep discount voice over pricing is wrong and I know this down to my very core.
Should I have helped this person with an email about the errors I easily found or should I have walked away, like I did, because I think his business model is a bad one?
I need clear direction on this. I may ignore your advice in the end based on pure Irish stubbornness but for the moment I know I should listen.
Please state your case below. Thanks.
Peter,
My comments address this from the perspective of “the selfish gene”, rather than from that of what is good for the field of voice-over. Ultimately we have to do what is good for us as individuals. Lowballing is bad for the individual for two reasons:
1) if you don’t make enough money you go out of business. Maybe they’re hoping to make up for that in volume, but I would think that in order to make enough money at those rates you would have to be busy enough that quality could not help but decline.
2) a good paycheck is profoundly motivating. If you are making peanuts per job, it’is going to affect your self esteem, and again, quality will suffer.
3) (heh – I always try to deliver more than I promise) when you work for low wages, people tend to abuse you. If you’re treated like dirt, again, your self esteem will suffer and quality will decline, and business suffers.
Probably all of us have done jobs on occasion for less than our usual rates, and we have our reasons for it. Advertising low rates is a different matter and I think it’s inviting problems. In the unlikely event that somebody with this business model were able to attract big clients, then they’re boxed into low rates for work for which the client could afford much higher rates. So a potentially lucrative income stream might instead be a trickle of income (and a torrent of abuse).
Mary
I know only too well where you’re coming from, Peter.
I’m forever flabbergasted at some of the “fees” my contemporaries are charging for the same services that I offer. I always inform my clients that while I may be more expensive, the results speak for themselves.
I don’t know who said it, but it’s highly relevant: “Cost is what you pay for. Value is what you get.”
You want the best, you pay the fees – you want monkeys, give my regards to the sea lions when you’re at the zoo… 😉
Yikes…….Peter, I have come upon these kinds of sites too. Every business has its bottom-feeders for one reason or another (some are perhaps understandable for a season of time, many are not). This does hurt our business as a whole, however for those who are working professionals, over a period of time, those folks will have little impact on you/us.
I know of radio stations that want to pay me $50 to do imaging for them. “OK, you want to run my voice about 12 times an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and you are offering what?”
The type of person you are speaking of is probably used to working a normal job and has figured that he/she can 1). Make extra money doing something they like and never leave their home…”Bring on the boat, car, motorcycle, toy payments, not a problem cause I do voiceover stuff” or 2). They figured what an hourly wage works out to be and he/she has decided that working from home for about the same money or more/less is great. So, up goes a web site and they are in business (boy, is that a loose term).
In the midst of this the understanding of “the business” aspect is simply a non-factor. He/she is only looking at their personal universe and they have found something that “works for them”. Albeit, detrimental to other voice actors and the business as a whole.
Mary:
I really like your concept of pricing’s effect on abuse and respect.
In the end, everyone has to sell their wares at the price that gains them revenue because people need to eat. The desire for a warm, dry safe place to live trumps the desire for some to respect vague industry standards. But like you, I think one welcomes abuse and disrespect for their services in the long run. But should I have helped the guy with his marketing faux pax?
Danny:
I really enjoyed your cost/value mantra. But do you think I should have helped the guy with his mistakes or walked away like I did. Am I looking down on him/her when I don’t have the right to?
Brian:
I think we’ve both spoken to the same radio stations. That’s OK, I think most of those PD’s have been down sized by now anyway and are trying to break into voice over. Do you think I should have helped this person by emailing him his mistakes?
Thanks to all,
– Peter
I think you did the right thing. Now if you want me to pretend to be a client and ask this person why so many type-o’s I would be honored!
Hi Peter,
Personally I wouldn’t have helped, but that’s only from my own experience of offering constructive criticism in the past to PR professionals that have sent out awful press releases, for example.
When I emailed them to mention there were certain grammatical mistakes and that their client might not be pleased with that in their releases, I received some of the choicest language that I’d heard in a long time. From the CEO of these companies.
So as much as I’d like to help everyone, now I generally bite my tongue and allow them to learn by their mistakes. I know that might make me sound bad, but hopefully when the reasons are shown people understand why.
Bad spelling and grammar on websites = nails on a chalkboard to me. I know that spelling isn’t an absolute marker of intelligence — Einstein was reportedly not very facile with the written word — but it really defeats the purpose of putting up a site in the first place.
Chris:
That thought made me laugh out loud. Thanks but I am not that interested in the guy’s site to do some secret shopping. Although the little devil in me (kinda of like a morning show producer) would love to tape the call and see how the guy flounders through his sales pitch. “YOU: Sorry but I won’t pay one dime more than $50 per spot. HIM: Um, OK.”
Danny:
I totally get that. Sometimes I think I am overstepping my bounds when I see something that should be fixed and say something. I’d want people to tell me if it were me. I could get past the brief personal embarrassment to fix a more public embarrassment. Thanks for the thoughts.
David – you are right. Of course, that said, on this very blog you may find the occasional or even frequent spelling or grammatical error. There shouldn’t be any of course but I’ve always kinda looked at blogs a bit differently than web sites…or at least that’s the excuse I’ve used 🙂 Thanks.
Best to all,
– Peter
My question is, does this represent a changing marketplace and is this going to force people to complete at a lower rate or are there still clients out there who recognize that the quality they receive from a more expensive voice talent is superior to that received from a low-baller.
I think this might drive some high-ballers to drink.
With regard to offering assistance, perhaps some assistance along the lines of a more realistic pricing schedule for his/her website might be in order?
Peter – regarding the typos – I think you did the right thing. The typos help to identify that vendor as someone who offers a cheap product for a low price. It would only be confusing if you helped them clean up their site.
M.
Mary, I think your comment is spot on. Let’s not confuse potential clients about what they’re buying.
-K
I’m late in reading this but I had to put my two cents in. There’s a service in Chicago that will pay talent only $40 per spot!. The guy put up a posting on Craigslist and had the nerve to say if you don’t like the $40 then too bad. While driving and listening to the radio I hears some awful spots and always wonder if they’re the $40 spots with the “quick turnaround time.” I’m so aware of how bad the voiceover is (don’t know if that’s because I’m a voice actor myself or not) that the message doesn’t connect. Got to say that the money spent on radio time is surely well spent, isn’t it?
Arlene Kahn
Hi Arlene
You’re not late, you’re just not early, that’s all 🙂
I think I’m coming to blame less the voice talent in this scenario (though they are very NOT blameless) and blame more the clients who put price ahead of their brand and spend their marketing money ineffectually which penalizes the listener.
We have to listen, no matter how briefly, to their crap!
Thanks for visiting, Arlene!
Best always,
– Peter