0089: VO Rates – Price Versus Value

Video:

Audio:

Show notes:

Hey there, hero!

We all have our feelings about pricing our voice over services: uncertainty, frustration, bewilderment, confusion and occasionally, satisfaction.

One of the times that can be very challenging is when we decide to really lower our rates in an effort to make it a no-brainer for someone to hire us.

Big mistake.

In this episode, I discuss the failure of a fellow artist to attract any takers to a steeply discounted course, because of a simple concept: perception of value.

Have you had this experience? What challenges do you have with pricing (our Pros have a complete class on it!)? Let me know in the comments below.

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Responses

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  1. Honestly, I feel like is an across the board with digital creators, media, online education or service industry. Knowingly, I don’t charge what I am worth. This is excellent insight, sir.

  2. This gives me so much anxiety because I live in a small market and it seems my town has commoditized everything (I also sell insurance). Once, I sold a man an insurance policy because he saw the value, even though it wasn’t the best prices of the bids he received. ONCE. Price is what I have found people care about the most, and I hear a lot about “sell on value” without any concrete steps to do so. I still set my rates as I feel I should to not be an Undercutter, but I know I’ve missed out on a lot of work because of my principles. Should there be a sliding scale based on a customer’s previous purchasing habits? Should I constantly be asking their budget first and fit my rates into their perceived ability to pay? Should I just forget about trying to network and market to local businesses because they’ll never understand the value? All of this is assuming I have the talent to actually get the job in the first place… 🙂 Thank you for all you do.

  3. Wow, David…GREAT podcast! As soon as I saw the topic, I felt like grabbing some popcorn before sitting down to watch (it’s breakfast time, so I reconsidered that one). But this is one of the most vitally important lessons I need to learn…and RE-learn on a periodic basis.

    One of the greatest challenges I have when beginning a new venture (or dusting off a skill I haven’t used for a very long time) is feeling WORTHY of charging the same–or even close–to the people who I perceive to be more experienced/established/etc. than me.

    This episode is also perfectly timed, as I’m just about to submit my first audition for an audiobook. So, are there any caveats to the “perceived value” philosophy when you have absolutely no track record, not a single thing on your audiobook resume? While I wasn’t going to price myself “cheaply,” I did consider that getting the chance to do my first one is a significant value to ME, so pricing myself below the SAG-AFTRA minimum for just this one didn’t bother me. But now I find myself mulling that over…

    I’d love to get feedback on that.

    1. I have this same question about audio book pricing.

      I loved this podcast. It is something of which I need to be reminded frequently. Especially in the areas of my career where I know I am top notch.