Auditioning is important. Especially as you start out, it’s the lifeblood of your business. And frankly, even two (almost three) years later, it’s still the 2nd biggest piece of my business success. 

But now that I’ve had some time to take a look at how I do business, what I want to do more of or less of, and how I see myself showing up for my clients in the future, it’s got me thinking of other less common ways to be a resource for my clients and keep my work relevant and fresh.

One of the ways to do this is to get creative with what we offer our potential, current, and future clients. Because there are so many different genres of voiceover and our clients have a vast array of needs, it’s important to show them that while we may not be jack and jills of all things voiceover, because we don’t need to be, we show up in a holistic way with the work we do and maybe in ways they haven’t come across with other talent.

Here are some ideas for additional voiceover service offerings you can add to your business repertoire:

1. Bulk project pricing.

Bulk pricing provides a huge benefit to our clients, especially those who produce a lot of e-learning, narration, and explainer videos.

Bulk project pricing allows our client to use the same talent (consistency) at fair but discounted rates in one go. I have a disclaimer on my rate sheet (check out the show notes for a template for your own rate sheet) that states bulk projects are discounted. These prices need to be decided upon by you and your client when the details of the project are laid out but it lets them know ahead of time that you’re fair in your pricing, especially if they’re coming to you with lots of work. Win win.

2. Done for You Services.

There are some genres of voiceover that are straightforward and usually require a bit of reading. IVR and message on hold projects is a great example of a service that can be offered as done for you. Meaning, your client reaches out to you with this type of project need and you outline the details of what you provide under a packaged price – meaning, you charge one set price for let’s say one main message on hold, three additional versions of that message, and will even add in a music bed. Something like that as an all in one, done for you service.

What’s great about this service offering option is that you can sell as many of them as you want at any time. You could even set up a request or order form on your website or LinkedIn where clients can fill out their needs and you reach out to them via email to confirm details and submit the files. 

3. Casting management.

I’ve had a few projects where the client hasn’t needed or simply doesn’t have a roster of talent on hand for voiceover projects either because they don’t usually produce those kinds of projects or they don’t keep track of who they have worked with in the past.

No matter the reason,  you can offer this service to clients for a fee depending on the project and your client’s needs. 

You may be thinking, if I help cast a project and I don’t get cast, isn’t that bad for my business? If you haven’t listened to the podcast episode about the three arguments for why you should keep pursuing voiceover work, go take a listen. I mention in there that the client is the ultimate decision maker on the details of any project, including who is cast for each job. Your voice, my voice will not be the voice needed or chosen for every project. There is too much variation and nuance in any individual script and project. So, why not keep yourself open to opportunities to become more experienced in your field as well as making yourself top of mind for your client by stepping in to help them cast a project. 

This has only happened in my two full-time years a handful of times, but I was paid and it was a lot of fun. Plus, one client in particular continuously reached out to me about other jobs, not only to cast, but to participate in. This is really about relationship building.

So, how did I go about this? I made myself available to my client for any and all needs they had for the project we were working on (I was already cast in the first project I helped source talent for) but they needed other voices for other roles. So I sent personalized emails to talent I’d already either worked with or knew personally making sure they submitted auditions and then posted a casting notice to voiceover Facebook groups I was in. 

I then vetted each voice first, then took the voices I chose from the first round and categorized the voices by gender and sent the list to my client. 

There are two benefits to offering this service – 1. Your client will appreciate not having to do the work, which makes you look good. And 2. You get to have a front seat to the current talent landscape. Listening to a ton of demos will give you all kinds of ideas of delivery in your auditions as well as the kind of spots you might want to include in your demos.

To Wrap Up

Getting good at auditioning consistently and nurturing past client relationships should be your number one priority in your business pretty much at any given time, but once you get your footing in the VO landscape and know where you’re best suited as far as which genres to pursue, how much time you have to dedicate to VO each week, and what your overall goals are going forward, getting creative with your voiceover services and even adding additional or more comprehensive services as part of your business menu, so to speak, will continue to serve your business and your clients even better.