Those last couple of months of the year are always super busy. If it's not holiday commercials that need recording it's end of year funds that must be spent by December 31. Happy holidays? More like Hopping holidays!

And then...Happy New Year! For a lot of folks, things have a tendency to slow down this time of year. Oh sure, we're still booking work, but not like that previous couple of months. So we have a lull in the action. A little down time. Here's my advice for the slow times in our business.
 

1. DON'T PANIC. It's only temporary. As tired as you and I were at the end of the year, our clients are at least that tired. Maybe they are taking a break. Maybe they are planning what to do in the new year and don't need our services just yet. There are many other productive things to do, but don't panic.
2. KEEP IN TOUCH. It's a good idea any time of year, but we can initiate "top of mind" contact with clients we've done work for in the past with more even more vigor. I call this "shaking the trees" to see if any fruit falls. You might book a project, you might not. But at least they've been reminded of your presence.
3. CLEAN YOUR STUDIO. A clean and uncluttered working environment is important. The less clutter, the easier it is to stay focused on the task at hand (the script you are reading!). This might also be a good time to dust. Electronic equipment and dust are not friends. Here's what I do: I completely clear off my desk, wipe it down, and gradually add back only what needs to be there. The studio monitors and display gets wiped down too. If I had  PC (I'm a Mac), I would take the opportunity to take the cover off and blow the dust out from inside the case. (Go outside or in the garage to do that.) I would do this even if my computer was not in my studio. 
4. TAKE TIME TO LEARN. There's always something going on in the voiceover world that you and I can participate in to hone our craft. John Florian's wonderful VoiceoverXtra is a great place to start with webinars and articles that are top-shelf. Or get local and find other VO talent in your area; help each other out with script reading and interpretation. Setup that next session with your VO coach and sharpen those skills! It's always good to get a fresh perspective and you'll learn a thing or two along the way. 
5. PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE. At some point, if you stick to your marketing plan, keep auditioning, and keep your name in front of clients and leads, the tides will turn and you'll start to see it get busy again. Take time now to re-evaluate your processes when recording. Can you make it more efficient so you can reply to audition requests in a more timely manner? Can you do anything to improve the quality of your audio? This is a good time to contact guys like George Whittam or Dan Leonard. They know how to talk gear and audio quality to mere mortals like us. :) 

Don't sweat the lull in the action. Take advantage of slow time to catch your breath, hone your craft, and prepare yourself for the next Avalanche!

I'm a big believer in the power of Customer Relationship Management software, or CRM. From tracking all the parties involved in a project (proposed or booked) to keeping good notes on all interactions with clients, I think the CRM is a must-have tool for any serious business person.

The problem for me has been finding the right CRM for me. There are plenty of them out there. ACT, Daylite, PerformerTrack, iPerform, and heck, even Outlook (or Entourage, for us Mac users) will work in some capacities as a CRM.


If you've known me for any amount of time, you know that I am a big fan of web based services. I use Freshbooks for invoicing, am probably a candidate to be a Google poster child, and now, I'm going to add BatchBook to that list. 

With a 30-day free trial, it's hard to go wrong at least giving it a try. And believe me, there's a lot to try.

• Integration with a ton of 3rd party services like Freshbooks, Mailchimp, Zendesk, Eventbrite, Google Contacts, and more.
• A decent mobile app.
• Tiered subscription levels at affordable prices.
• Ability to BCC BatchBook when emailing a contact and have that communication show up in the contact/company record in BatchBook.
• Very flexible list generation. 
• An interesting concept called "SuperTags", which lets you track custom data fields when you tag a record with that "SuperTag". It's like another little database inside the database!
• Social media awareness. You can have it look for associated social media accounts for your contacts (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
• And a lot more!

As you can see, it's a good thing they give you a 30-day trial. There's quite a bit to try out.

Give it a spin and let me know what you think. What CRM are you using?