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CAREER Cash Flow Uneven? How To Diversify To Ride Cycles & Grow Your Client Base August 19, 2014  By Dan HurstVoice Actor Specialized Diversification. It’s a term that is normally used in financial circles, but it’s a key to pretty much any business growth that I can think of. To define it simply, SD is, for business purposes, becoming a specialist in a select number of areas for the purpose of increased and balanced revenue production. Generally, all sources of revenue have cycles. There are certainly numerous exceptions to the rule. However, a good example of revenue cycles is the housing construction industry. There just isn’t a whole lot of construction work available in the winter months. Seasonal farming is another example. INCOME CHASES CYCLES In the voice over business, if one depends on commercials for their income, the brunt of one’s work depends on the retail cycles. Retail cycles certainly vary. For example, automotive sales have their cycle, while the clothing industry has a very different cycle. Even healthcare advertising runs in cycles. The significant problem that so many voice talents run into is that their income fluctuates with their client’s work cycles. PICK YOUR SPECIALTIES Enter Specialized Diversification. What if the cycles of your revenue sources worked in some sort of harmony so that your income flow would remain fairly consistent? Yes, it can be done! However, every voice talent is different, therefore everyone’s Specialized Diversification will be different.
And I don’t mean considered an expert by you yourself, but by clients. Several clients. It’s not reasonable to consider yourself an expert in a particular genre if you only have three or four ongoing clients in that field, is it? CYCLING YOUR CAREER I’m talking about building a career. If voice overs are a part-time business for you, great. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But be honest with yourself: if you are doing this part-time, you only have part-time to develop it and yourself. That means it’s going to take a little longer before you are ready to diversify. This whole process is going to take some time. Actually, it may take lots of time. Nobody swam the English Channel after just a few swimming lessons. SET UP A PLAN How do you set up an SD plan that will work for you? It begins with a brutally honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. That means getting those gut-wrenching insights from people you trust both within the VO business (talent, coaches, producers, agents, etc.) and clients.
THE SECRET TO MARKETING And by the way, a little sidebar here. We LOVE to talk about
marketing in voic eover circles, don’t we? We think marketing is what grows our
business. We’re all looking for the Holy Grail of strategies. What’s the
secret? What’s the best? Frankly, most
marketing schemes are just "paintin’ a pig.” The pig looks good, but what got
accomplished?
Here’s the secret to marketing: Find out who needs what
you’ve got and tell them, and quit wasting your time telling people what you’ve
got that they don’t want.
NOW BECOME 'GREAT' OK, back to SD. Secondly, based on what you are good at doing, what do you
need to do to be great in that field? See, experts are people who are great at
what they do. Better than others. Maybe not better than everyone else, but
better than the majority.
Good
is based on the market standard. One isn’t even competitive until one is good. Better is stepping beyond good to get noticed. But great is what the client chooses.
Unless, of course, you’ve got a client
that doesn’t care.
Become great at what you do and you’ll be busy doing what
you’re great at.
CHOOSE COMPLIMENTARY GENRES Thirdly, and this is critical, choose a complementary genre
or niche that you can excel in. One that will produce a revenue stream that
flows differently from your #1 field.
Let me explain. I got
into the voice over business much the same way most of us did – doing
commercials. I had been in radio, and it was a simple, natural step. However,
it took me years to realize that I sounded like a guy in radio doing
commercials. Once I got that fixed, I realized that there are some types
of commercials I just wasn’t good at. So, I began focusing on a handful of
categories. As that business grew, I realized that the revenue cycles
could be tough on the checkbook. About that time, a local producer was needing a
Spanish voice for some corporate training stuff. And the more I got into Spanish voice overs, the
more I realized that it was something I was pretty good at. And that launched
my eLearning genre.
So now I have three genres that I focus on: commercials,
eLearning and network programing. And
the revenue flow from those three sources produce a fairly balanced and
consistent income, along with great potential for growth.
SPREAD YOUR WORD Fourthly, get the word out. Nobody bought something they didn’t know about.
Well, there was that time back when I was in radio that my
boss drunk-dialed one of my infomercials and couldn’t figure out why an
exercise bike was delivered to his house. But normally, people know what they’re buying. So, you have to get the word out. But here’s the secret:
people buy what they trust.
CREATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS One of the best things you can do to get the word
out is to focus on client relationships. Why? Because clients have other potential clients
in their circles of influence. And if people buy what they trust, they are more
apt to buy a voice talent on the recommendation of someone they trust. Remember,
clients hire great. They also recommend great. If you’re their expert, they are going to recommend you to their
friends.
I don’t have any scientific research on this, but I can tell
you that about 75% of my new clients come from referrals. I spend very little
money anymore on cold marketing. I’d rather spend the money on clients that are
already using me and believe in me, because I know they are my best option for
new business.
There you have it. Specialized Diversification. It works. I wish I could tell you there is a quicker,
smarter way to develop your diversification, but I don’t know of one. We’re in business. Good businesses diversify
slowly and steadily as they build strong foundations and discover their real
potential.
Think it through! ------------------ |
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Excellent article! What I liked most was the business sense it made.
Thanks so much.
Marie Hoffman
When I first started out, that was one of my strategies. I connected with the small guys that were trying to grow their biz. I stayed with them. Worked hard for them. And as they grew...they took me with them! I still have a soft spot for those one-man shops that are just getting started.