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Are you cold-calling for new clients?
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Not cold-calling, here. I’m not allergic to the notion. But I do feel like I wear a scarlet “T” for talent, at times. I think there’s a lingering belief, or feeling, that talent doesn’t necessarily have technical, well, ‘talent’. (I may resemble that remark to a certain degree.) Maybe that’s only my perception because of what I’ve seen at meetings and mixers where everyone else is on the other side of the room. (As long as I have the side with the hors d’ouevres, I’m good.)
I send postcards. I only count on 1% of them hitting the mark. And the job might be down the road a year. A couple of times, my postcards scored work for other people. It’s all good. The task is to train the other people to remember me when their postcard advertising storage solutions reaches a client who needs a female voice talent or a writer.
Patricia Shanks
Patricia Shanks Voice Studio
http://www.studioshanks.biz -
Patricia,
As someone who has been to the same MCAI meetings as you and Travis I’ll agree that there is some truth in the talent vs. technical sides of the room (although it’s the techies who crowd the food table!). But, when it comes to “business”, you voice-over types have a lot of good insight! I bug Travis every time I see him to try and glean a little marketing insight.
You do a lot of “networking” it seems. How is it going for you in that regard? Do you get a lot of work/connections/referrals from going to different functions and just being “seen”?
Mark
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Hey, Mark! I don’t think that just being seen is enough. I think it’s another one of those Catch 22 scenarios. I think you have to be seen “doing.” And I think we need to run a clever balance between being seen when we’re not busy and being seen when we’re busy. There are always those people at meetings who never seem to be doing anything, or anything worthy, bless their wicked hearts. But we all instantly ID them as people who are looking for work. Besides, I’d rather be standing on the hors d’oeuvres side of the room all by myself, wearing a knowing grin and accompanied only by an air of mystery. OTOH, being everywhere a lot is important. You know. Something is going to stick to the wall.
Patricia Shanks
Patricia Shanks Voice Studio
http://www.studioshanks.biz -
I just came across this thread, about a year late… but I’m wondering if anyone can offer insight to how you, after determining their need, convey that too them without sounding like you’re putting them down. You obviously don’t want to come across as telling them you’re better at “X” than them, but at the same time you do because then they will pay you to do “X”. Thoughts?
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