Another year, more resolutions, better plans and best intentions are running out of the gate.
First of all, what do we call it? We’ve never been in this situation before. “2010“…is it Twenty-Ten or Two Thousand Ten? My vote is for “Twenty-Ten”. Shorter, more direct and sexier, huh? Now after we decide that, we can move on to how many pounds are we going to lose and all the other promised “quits”. I quite cigarettes over 20 years ago, so I’m ahead of some. Quit caffeine – by doctors request over 10 years ago and still need to lose about 20 lbs.
Strengthen my client base? You betcha. Work smarter, not harder – yes indeed. Clean up my desk? Well, it’s on my list of To-Do’s. Why do we always use the start of a new year to re-examine our faults? I guess it’s just a media thing that was started many moons ago or some Mother used it to reaffirm her commands to her husband or kids. Whatever the origin, it’s not a bad thing if you follow-thru.
What are you going to do better? Comments please….
Business slow? Hey, just announce that you are going on vacation and you will have clients new & old coming out of the woodwork.
I was planning a 10 day vacation at the front of December and put the word out on my signature, a mass email to all my clients and listed it on my studio calender and WOW…I was busier than I had been in months and all at once. Don’t know if this is the rule, but it has happened more often than not. Funny as it may seem, but when clients have plans for upcoming projects – then once they know that their voice guy might not be available at a moments notice, they freak out and grab you immediately. Trouble is, they all seem to react at the same time.
So if your business is slowing down and you need a kick in the proverbial “work pants”, just announce that you are going to take some time off and set a date. Never fails. And this year was the best and most stressful.
Off we went – The sun felt good and I truly needed the break after that!
In an effort to offer my client list a bit of an extra “oomph” to their bag of tricks, this month I offered my clients a FREE audition of their proposed spot, narrative project or any audio specialty that they can pitch to their potential current customers or new clients in an effort to drum up new business.
It’s a “win-win”. If I can cut a portion of the audio for a script that the agency wants to pitch to their clients and they get to hear how it can sound, it adds extra value to their pitch and has a better chance of bringing in a timid client or helping the client pitch it to their “powers that be” in order to get that buy.
The client seizes the opportunity – the agency makes a successful pitch and I win with bringing in some business that was out there just waiting to be plucked off the proverbial advertising tree. Everybody’s happy. And the agency remembers what you have done for them by going that extra mile and you most certainly are remembered for being the inventive catalyst for the buy that made it all come together.
Have you done this or a version of this before? Do your agencies ever ask you to do free voice work in an effort to secure business? What are your thoughts?
