Overcome Common Objections and BOOK the Gig
As a voice actor, as really any freelance creative writer, developer, designer, you name it, your ability to attract and retain clients is going to be key to your success. And as a freelancer, you're going to run into some pretty common customer objections. And those customer objections can get in the way of or at worst, completely derail closing deals and booking gigs.
And when I say common objections, I'm not kidding. They happen all the time.
Now you've got to understand these objections ahead of time and be prepared with strategies to help you overcome them. That's essential for building strong relationships and expanding your freelance business. Now, the key is again to anticipate and address these potential objections ahead of time, even before there's a project on the table.
And today I'm going to help you do just that. We're going to explore some common customer objections. And I'm going to give you some strategies to overcome them so you can close more deals and book more gigs.
Number one: Pricing and Value
One of the most common objections we face as freelance creatives is around pricing and perceived value. Clients either flat-out question the cost of your services… Or they compare your cost to that of the competition.
There are two elements here. Price, which is just the number, and value, which is everything that the buyer is going to get for the price. In other words, it's the context around the number.
To overcome a price objection, it's essential to clearly communicate the value of what you're providing. In other words, to give that price, that number, context.
And communicating value starts way before there's ever a project on a table, way before the quote. It starts with your first ever communication with that client. That's where you start communicating value of the service and the customer service that you provide.
This is where you're going to highlight your expertise, your skills, your experience, so that you're clearly communicating the value even before that buyer gets to a price on a project. That's what's going to set you apart from the billion other voice actors or designers or creative, whoever that you are in competition with.
Showcase your demos or your portfolio, show them examples of successful past projects, show them social proof, in other words, testimonials and references of past satisfied clients that prove that you can deliver the goods. And also emphasize the long-term benefits and the savings and the return on investment that you provide by being a professional, setting proper expectations and delivering on those throughout your process.
You can do all of that without even having a project on the table. But when you get a project on the table and you need to provide a quote, make sure you clearly define the deliverables, the timeline, so that you're setting clear and proper expectations so that you can at the very least meet them and ideally exceed them and provide a great customer experience.
Now, as voice actors specifically, like myself, we enjoy a luxury that many freelance creatives do not, and that is that we have established standard rates in our business thanks to organizations like the GVAA and Gravy for the Brain and SAG-AFTRA, we have established standard industry rates that we can go by, that we can show third party rates specifically to provide that context and communicate that value.
In other words, “these are standard industry rates and Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, you can be assured that I'm not taking you to the cleaners and this is a fair and reasonable rate.”
Again, it's all about context. So if you've done a good job communicating the value and not just the price, and there's still a significant gap between where you are with your rates and where the client is with what they want to pay, then it's likely that this client is not a good long term partner. Move on. These are not your people.
Number two: Reliability and Timeliness
A lot of clients have tight timelines. They have deadlines, they have other considerations, and they're concerned about a freelancer’s ability to be able to hit the deadlines on the deliverables. Now, to overcome this objection, it's crucial to establish your reputation for reliability, dependability and professionalism.
And again, that starts way before the quote with your first marketing communication and how you establish that reputation.
There are a number of different ways you can do that. First, social proof, testimonials and references and examples of past projects with past clients that help you establish your track record.
Now, when there's a project on the table and a quote and an opportunity to reinforce the perception of value, that's another opportunity for you to clearly communicate timeline expectations, things like that, so that you reinforce this perception, and rightly so, that you are committed to your deadlines, that you're committed to the timeline, and that you're organized and professional and are setting clear and proper expectations.
Offering a clear timeline and demonstrating your commitment to your obligations in terms of timeline goes a long way to build trust and build strong and tight collaboration between you and your client.
Number Three: Communication and Collaboration
Some clients have a concern, an objection that they may voice, that they may not be able to clearly communicate their vision of the project and what success looks like to you as a remote creative freelancer, a voice actor.
Now, to overcome this objection, you need to clearly communicate your commitment to understanding the client's needs. And I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but again, this starts with the very first communication, the first time you ever reach out to this client, focus your message even early on on how you believe in clear communication and tight collaboration and understanding your client's needs rather than all the great things that you can do.
Then when there's a project on the table and a quote to be provided, there's another opportunity for you to actively listen to your client's needs. Note them down and reinforce the fact that you've heard them and that you will address them. The better understanding of the client's needs and the project, the better you're going to be able to set and fulfill expectations.
For voice actors, you need to understand the basics:
genre,
length of the recording,
the usage,
the duration - how long is the recording going to run,
and finally, the budget
If you don't have an understanding of those basic five things, then you need to shore that up.
Now, if the client is concerned that they may not be able to communicate to you their vision of success artistically, in other words, how to get the best performance out of you and the one that they want for the project, then offer to do a live session with the client. That way they can direct you live during the session that ensures they get out of the session with exactly the performance that they're looking for and it minimizes pick-ups down the road.
Now, if the project is self-directed and it's longer than a day or two, let's say it's a longer form e-learning project or maybe even an audiobook, then it's your job to communicate regularly with the client to make sure that you don't leave the client hanging. Regularly can mean every couple of days, it can mean at least once a week in the case of an audiobook.
But by nurturing that open and regular and proactive communication, you're building trust with your client and tightening up that collaboration between the two of you.
Number four: Quality and Expertise
Now the time to prove the quality of your work and your expertise is not in the end when you have a project on the table and you're providing a quote. In fact, if you don't provide those things before there's a project on the table, you likely won't get asked to quote the project.
Now, how do you overcome this objection? Well, as voice actors, the way we demonstrate the quality of our work is through our demos and through our auditions.
You can also shore up those perceptions with testimonials, case studies, examples of past projects that you've done, and happy clients.
And finally staying up to date with current trends and keeping your skills sharp with continuous coaching will keep you current and make sure that you address the quality and expertise portion of the objection from your client.
Number five: Flexibility and Adaptability
Now, this is all about the client's concern around what happens when, and not if, the project gets a little sideways. What's going to happen? How are you going to stand behind your work? How are you going to adjust and adapt when that happens? Demonstrating and proving your flexibility and adaptability is going to go a long way into building trust when it comes time for a project or a quote.
Objections are part of the sales process and overcoming them and anticipating them from your first communication very early on and continuing all the way through the customer service process goes a long way to building trust, into building relationships, and ensuring your success as a creative freelancer.
If you can understand and proactively address concerns around pricing and value and reliability and dependability and communication and flexibility and adaptability, you can not only build a strong relationship with your client, but you can set yourself apart from and above your competition.
Remember, it's all about emphasizing your value, the context around the price, demonstrating your expertise and nurturing that open communication between you and your client.
Now that you understand these objections and the strategies to overcome them, you can now be proactive and start from the jump rather than waiting to provide some sort of value around the price that you've just given them and scrambling to do so when you're quoting, anticipating and proactively dispelling those objections even before they come up, will go a long way into building trust with you and your clients and will go a long way into the success of your creative freelance business.
Providing value is an integral part of what we teach in the VO Freedom Master Plan. If you'd like more information on that, make sure you click on this link, and to get my Seven Steps for Starting and Developing a Career in Voiceover, it's an absolutely free guidebook that you can get with this link as well.
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Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you back here again next week.