I'm a bit hacked off at an online voice talent bank - YOUR thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Barry Trussell on March 20, 2009 at 10:15pm

Hi Lisa,

Well, I agree with everyone, you should let them know who pays the bills, first and foremost. Should you not receive any satisfaction you should not give them any more money once your subscription expires. When these sites go through turmoil and make decisions that we are not happy with (as paying clients) then they don't get paid anymore. However the downfall is that alot of new voice talent use these sites as their only lead generation tool, so they continue to get new subscriptions, and until the attition rate is high enough, the site in question will make decisions however they like, not necessarily in the benefit of their paying clienele - untl someone else comes along with a better mousetrap. I did NOT resubscribe, but I would consider it as part of my future marketing should the better decisions (in favor of paying clients) be made.

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Permalink Reply by Jorge Velasco on March 21, 2009 at 3:59pm

V123 just doesn't seem to figure out who are their main customers: Us! Not the producers!

My membership will expire in less than a month, but after reading your case, Lisa... now I'm having second thoughts about the renewal.

Jorge Velasco

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Permalink Reply by Tim Simmons on March 21, 2009 at 10:17pm

Yep. They are doing that to try and cover their own image. They get some people to sign up who just bought a $100 mic last week and then realize they can't just talk in front of a mic and sound good and they don't log in and maybe don't reply to emails and such. But again, punish the 99% for the crimes of the 1%. And in this case, it isn't even a crime. You pay your $200 and that's that. I tried voice123 and just had too many issues with them. Crappy demo quality (and mono to boot!), website was goofy, etc. So... I asked for a refund. the cust svc guy was nice tho.

Since I'm just beginning in vo, and live in the boondocks, I felt it important to sign up for gigs on one of these sites. I am on voices.com and voplanet.com. So far, I like voices.com the best. voplanet has higher money gigs but then if you don't have the "Golden Voice(tm)" you probably will never land one of them. I don't see too much hope in me landing a gig when these people are hiring Richard Dreyfuss and such. But, I send my little demos in and hope. Prob not renew voplanet tho. I am not born with a golden voice so I am more content to do $100 gigs.

Yeah, the older I get, the less I let people bully me. Along these lines ref prices and such, I got an email to join a vo roster in Australia. Their rates of pay? $15 for a 15 sec spot. etc. Man, I considered joining just due to the lack of work for me but then I thought wha? They are probably charging $100 and giving me $15 and keeping $85! That ticked me off. I told them I didn't want to work in a sweat shop.

So, we all have our positions in the food chain but sometimes you have to just turn your nose up and walk away. My 2 cents.


Tim

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Permalink Reply by Joe Van Riper on March 24, 2009 at 10:42am

Lisa, this sounds like a service I also have used. If it's the same one, their biggest problem is that their service is completely automated and computer generated... no human beings involved to generate any sense of warmth or empathy. The excerpt sounds like it was an after thought on the part of whoever wrote the code for the web site interface.

Imagine the situation: "Hey Boss, the server is getting jammed up by old talent accounts that aren't active any more. What d'ya want to do about it?" "Oh, tell the web techie to program something into the code that will fire off a warning to the inactive accounts after a few weeks. If we don't get a reply they get weeded out." And, of course, the "web techie" has all the people skills of a door knob, so the message reads something like your excerpt.

At least, that's one possible explanation. Before you flame them out of your life, you might want to email the CEO or some other actual human with authority at the service and tell them about your feelings. Oh, and congratulations on a good first quarter! I suspect you are in a fairly small group, considering the economy. Good for you!

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Permalink Reply by Joe Van Riper on March 24, 2009 at 10:52am

Lisa, this sounds like a service I also have used. If it's the same one, their biggest problem is that their service is completely automated and computer generated... no human beings involved to generate any sense of warmth or empathy. The excerpt sounds like it was an after thought on the part of whoever wrote the code for the web site interface.

Imagine the situation: "Hey Boss, the server is getting jammed up by old talent accounts that aren't active any more. What d'ya want to do about it?" "Oh, tell the web techie to program something into the code that will fire off a warning to the inactive accounts after a few weeks. If we don't get a reply they get weeded out." And, of course, the "web techie" has all the people skills of a door knob, so the message reads something like your excerpt.

At least, that's one possible explanation. On the other hand, they could simply be web slime. Judging by other's comments, that seem very likely. Anyway, congratulations on a good first quarter! I suspect you are in a fairly small group, considering the economy.

Joe Van Riper

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Permalink Reply by Mike Harrison on April 2, 2009 at 12:38pm

Dump them. I'm not about to let those with little to no experience in the voice-over industry dictate to me how I should or should not conduct myself. The only reason these entities continue to exist is because they've managed to convince hundreds upon hundreds of people to send them money every 12 months. Once we all begin to realize we each have the power to market ourselves BEST (if we put our minds to it), we can move forward without the wasted time and frustration associated with these online cattle-calls.

Dump them. Quickly. And run far away from them.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Merritt on April 8, 2009 at 7:24pm

Hi Lisa, Please see my comments at this link in VU

http://www.voiceoveruniverse.com/forum/topics/best-lead-site-voice123

It is regarding a letter I got from Voice 123, my letter back to them and their response.

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Permalink Reply by Shelley Chester on April 9, 2009 at 5:44pm

I too have been on the fence with the big 3. I had voice123 for a time and have continued to receive the auditions that I "miss" by not paying the premium. I read their auditions fully every day - including the non union talent auditions. I find the pay dismal and the quality of the material offered somewhat worse than a junior high paper. All caps, bad spelling and grammar, and the length of auditions are enough to edit me out of a job. I too hate the rating system and the jobs that I have won with voice123 have not materialized. To penalize a paying customer for auditioning too much is quite sad. My range is large and if there is a good gig I have PAID for the right to audition. We are adults and should be treated as such. Conversely if I were to pick and choose auditions only to be threatened I would NOT use them.
Dems my thoughts!

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Permalink Reply by Steven Mane on April 20, 2009 at 6:48pm

Hey there, fellow voice artists. First post on here. Cool.

Okay, first of all, why does ANYONE PAY to use these sites to begin with? Finding jobs is what an agent is for. Can't get one? There's a reason. You know what that reason is. I'll stop there.

That being said, the only reason you should use sites like Voices.com or Voice123 is to display your work and link it in other websites like Myspace or Voice Acting Alliance. And you should ONLY get the free subscriptions.

Agents should not and can not charge their talents money to be part of their company, lest they be thought of as scam artists by everyone involved.

To you, Lisa, my advice is: stop paying for it and use Webs.com to create your own website. And guess what? It's free until you decide to upgrade, and you can do whatever the hell you want on it. Only downside? It would be LisaFoster.webs.com. It's still a valid site.

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Permalink Reply by Richie O'Shea on July 11, 2009 at 11:03am

Do you honestly think that VoiceABC (letters used instead of numbers to disguise the actual name, I would have used other numbers but that might have been too obvious.) are on your side???? If they were interested they would take a percentage om the gigs you landed though the site and not expect you to pay an annual. I had a lovely online chat with a rep from voices.com, I just wish I could post the transcript..

Richie

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Permalink Reply by Steven Mane on July 14, 2009 at 11:14am

Still kind of obvious, Richie.

But, dude, you just hit the nail on the head. They don't care. Not in the least. And like I said all those months ago, if you apply, take the free subscription and leave it be.

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Permalink Reply by Barry Trussell on July 14, 2009 at 3:24pm

What's interesting to me as a paying Client and Voice Talent is that I don't recall receiing any survey or phone call to ask me how the site could better serve my needs. This is perplexing since I think that the answer to all these subscription websites woes is so simple and easy.....The paying Client comes first. This is the gold standard of any business.

Here's a few of my thoughts, now that I've brought it up:

1. Customer service should take responsibility in solving problems. No finger pointing, just solve the problem in a fast, friendly and courteous way.
2. No political answers. No double talk. No evasive answers. Answer the question in a helpful way.
3. Cater to the PAYING Client.
4. Make it easy for everyone to use the website and systems. Don't create hoops to jump through.
5.Talk to us once in a while. Really ask our opinions and then use the information to help us.
6. Designate sales people to obtain voice seekers to submit listings with useful information and a standard format . i.e. How will the voice be used? How long will the voice be used? What format is preferred? and so forth.
7. Focus on the benefits of using your members. Presentation is everything.
8. Treat Talent and Voice Seekers both with equal respect, but for Pete's sake.....CATER TO THE PAYING CLIENT.
9. Smile, be friendly to all, and you'll have more Clients than you know what to do with.

Do that, and you've got a winner. That advice is worth $100,000 and it's free to all subscription websites.

-Barry Trussell
Voice Talent



-Barry Trussell

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