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The Biggest Voice Over Customer Service Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Customer service has always been a huge part of doing business, and in our hugely competitive, global market, it’s become even more important than ever. Folks put a lot of stock in the online customer reviews they read, and disgruntled customers are not typically shy about speaking their minds. The digital age has also opened up the door to instant gratification – which people have come to expect when it comes to timely replies from your company.

Since voice over talent works so closely with clients, delighting customers is especially vital in the VO industry. Keeping our clients delighted involves staying on top of our game while avoiding these top customer service mistakes.

Putting New Customers above Existing Customers

Some businesses offer amazing deals, free gifts and all types of perks to new customers to generate new business, forgetting the existing customers who helped to get them where they are. This can happen in the voice over world when talent puts a priority on gaining potential new clients at the expense of existing ones. Some mistakenly assume once they land a client, the client is already in their corner and they needn’t continue to cultivate the working relationship.

How to Fix It:

Customer loyalty is not something that comes automatically, and ignoring your current customer base is a surefire way to test it. Treat existing customers with the same level of enthusiasm you do new customers. Offer them perks, nurture relationships and quickly respond to their needs. I regularly touch base with my existing customers through an email newsletter, and I also offer a Client Loyalty Rewards Program.

Delay in Communication

When you snooze, you lose. Speedy delivery of an audition or communication back to a client can be critical for proving you’re a professional, ready to deliver what’s required.

How to Fix It:

Respond ASAP to all inquiries, especially new ones. Being the first to respond is often what lands you the job. Because I’m a full-time voice talent, I’m on my computer all day, checking email about every 15 minutes or so. I always aim to respond immediately to requests for quotes, auditions or project details. We all love it when we get an immediate response, so do everything you can to provide that to your customers and prospects.

Over-Promising and Under-Delivering

Demos are great and necessary, but make sure you can deliver that same performance in a session with a client, or even just on your own, without one-on-one coaching. This especially holds true for newer voice talent in the market.

How to Fix It:

Under-promising and over-delivering is a much keener strategy, and it will lead to stronger client loyalty. While you still have to meet deadlines and do your best to give clients what they’re asking for, under-promising often provides the opportunity to exceed their expectations. Delivering the finished recording earlier than promised will most certainly elevate your value in the eyes of your client, prompting them to hire you again and again, and even refer business to you when appropriate. On the other side of the coin, keep in mind that clients sometimes ask for the impossible, and it’s important to be honest about what you can deliver. Your client will appreciate your integrity.

Also make sure you’ve developed your skills and talents to a level where you can deliver whatever a client needs in a session. Reaching this level takes time, practice and good coaching. Even if you don’t get direct feedback from the client you can usually tell if you ARE delivering what they want. The session will go smoothly, and you won’t have to spend inordinate time providing multiple takes. 

Not Listening or Understanding What the Client Wants

Doing it your way doesn’t always work for delivering exactly what the client wants. It’s imperative to understand all the details of the job, from the vocal tone and style all the way to the technical issues. These include format, file labeling, delivery method, audio processing requests, and other details. You need to be clear on client expectations before you even begin.

How to Fix It:

If you’re not sure what the client wants with a script, ask more questions until you do. Some of my clients like to provide direction during a live recording session, in which case I set up my phone patch so they can. This often saves everyone time and trouble, allowing for hand’s on direction in real time, resulting in an approved, final product the FIRST time through, avoiding a lot of back and forth over email.

When it comes to technical issues, talk to other voice over talent or do online research to find out what you’re expected to know about different file types, delivery methods and other details. Sometimes you’ll be asked to provide something you’ve never provided, which can be a cue to learn something new and add it to your offerings.

Being aware of the top customer service mistakes is the first step to avoiding them. The next step is making sure you’re covering all bases when it comes to satisfying customers. You’ll be on the right path if you treat every customer as your best customer, delivering exactly what they want as quickly and professionally as possible.

Exercises for Voice Over Actors to Combat Life in the Recording Booth


As voice over actors, our vocal cords regularly get a hearty workout. But the same may not be true for the rest of our bodies which is why we need special voice over exercises. Even if we consistently schedule exercise into our off-work hours, it may not be enough to combat the effects of spending our days in a recording booth.

Whether we sit all day or stand while recording and then sit for editing, we’re still not moving around all that much. While a combination of sitting and standing can be better for you than prolonged bouts of just sitting, the effects of a largely inactive job can still add up.

Detriments of Sedentary Jobs

When we engage in extended, uninterrupted bouts of inactivity, a number of negative biochemical reactions can actually start to occur. Our bodies become less effective at breaking down cholesterol and blood sugar, which increases the risk of strokes, heart attacks and diabetes.

Being sedentary for extended periods can result in:

  • Higher blood sugar levels
  • Increased triglycerides, which are fats known for causing disease
  • Lower levels of HDL (aka “good”) cholesterol
  • Increased fatty buildup and calcium in the heart’s arteries
  • Increased risk of obesity
  • Higher risk of heart disease and cancer

If you switched your extended hours of sitting for prolonged hours of standing, you can end up with an entirely new set of risks. These include:

  • Lower back issues from constant compression of the spine
  • Deep vein thrombosis, varicose veins and other cardiovascular problems
  • Double the risk of heart disease over people that mostly sit

How to Lower the Health Risks   

Being aware of all the risks gives us great motivation for correcting them, and we have several things we can do.

Maintain Good Posture: One of the most important is to maintaining good posture, whether sitting or standing. We voice over artists tend to maintain good posture when recording, as we know the effects on our delivery if we don’t. But we may still hunch over or slouch when we’re editing or otherwise working at the computer.

Follow the 20-8-2 Rule: Another recommendation is known as the 20-8-2 rule. For every 20 minutes we spend sitting, it recommends eight minutes of standing and two minutes of gentle movement. Since this may be impossible to keep up based on our recording schedules and deadlines, we can at least get up and move around when we get a few minutes between tasks.

Physical Exercises for Voice Over Actors

One more way to help combat the negative effects of inactivity is with exercises specifically designed to work areas that tend to stiffen up throughout the day.

Neck and Shoulder Stretches 

Stretch the sides of your neck by sitting tall and dropping your left ear towards our left shoulder. Keep your shoulder level, making sure you don’t raise it to meet your ear. Hold for five seconds, then repeat on the right.

Stretch the back of your neck by dropping your chin toward your chest, then smoothly and gently rolling your head from one side to the other side.

Stretch your shoulders by shrugging them up towards your ears. Hold for five seconds, then release. Repeat five times.

Upper Body Stretches

Open your chest by bringing your palms together behind the middle of your back. Sit tall, pressing the palms together and holding for at least five seconds. 

Stretch your sides by extending your left arm over your head, then reaching as far as you can while bending to the right. Hold for several seconds, then repeat on the other side.

Do a seated spinal twist by turning your upper body to the right, putting both hands on the arm of your chair. Drop your shoulders and twist to the right, lengthening your spine as you inhale. Look over your right shoulder and hold for at least three seconds. Repeat on other side.

Stretch your upper back by intertwining your fingers with your palms facing outward. Reach your palms upward towards the ceiling as you inhale and elongate your spine.

Lower Body Stretches and Exercise

Do mini squats by standing up from your chair, and then sitting back down 10 times in a row.

Work your calves by standing up behind your chair, holding the back for support. Start with feet flat on the floor, then raise your heels as you stand on your toes. Lower back down slowly. Repeat to complete three sets of 10.

Stretch your glutes by putting your feet flat on the floor while seated, and then lifting your right ankle onto your left knee. Gently press down on your right knee three or four times. Repeat on other side.

Stretch your legs with a knee hug. Bend your right knee, then lift your knee to your chest, wrapping your arms around it to pull it as close to your upper body as you can. Hold for at least five seconds, then repeat on the left.

Although we may still spend hours in the recording booth, these tips can help offset the detrimental effects of daylong inactivity. Moving, stretching and exercising throughout the day, even briefly, can also make us feel more energized while bringing on longer-term benefits.

7 Biggest Voice Over Narration Mistakes that Clients Make

Voice Over narration mistakes can be very costly to clients

With projects that include everything from e-learning courses to corporate videos, voice over narration is hot. What’s not so hot, however, is the lineup of mistakes some clients make when creating a voice over narration project. Voice over narration involves using an off-camera narrator to provide information or commentary on what’s happening on the screen. While the concept is fairly straightforward, there are a handful of ways it can go wrong. Check out the biggest narration mistakes I’ve seen during my 22+ years in the industry.

Trying to DIY 

Some clients may feel voice over narration can’t be all that difficult. After all, the person speaking doesn’t even have to appear on camera. All the narrator has to do is say a few words and it’s done, right?

While that could be the case if the company just so happens to have the proper production equipment and experience, it’s usually not. A DIY voice over narration project typically sounds, well, like a company tried to do it themselves. The audio settings and timing may be off. Editing may be choppy or nonexistent. The file may not even be in the proper format for use with the overall project.

Hiring a professional voice over talent comes with professional production assistance, a surefire way to end up with professional results.

Putting Low Cost ahead of High Quality

Trying to cut corners by using your own voice is another faux pas. Even if the receptionist sings in the choir or the CEO gets premium payments for speaking gigs, attempting to save money with an inexperienced narrator can end up costing you big time.

The voice in your project does more than just relay words. It becomes the voice of your company. Those that opt for anything less than a pro may not understand the importance of branding and the first impression using a professional voice over artist can make.

Choosing the Wrong Voice

Even when a client goes with a professional voice over talent, the voice can be totally wrong for the project. Not every professional voice will align with every single project. Annoying voices can be a turn-off for any project, while others may not be suitable for a particular topic or use.

You don’t want a loud, booming voice talking about a delicate or sensitive subject, for instance. A perky, high-pitched voice is probably the wrong choice for a project related to serious matters, while a monotone, flat voice is likely to put your e-learning audience to sleep.

Narration voice over pacing is critical to keep audience engaged

Not Setting the Right Pace

The pace of the narration also needs to match the project at hand. Certain projects, such as medical narration or e-learning, typically require a slightly slower pace to give the audience time to absorb the information. Yet it still needs to be fast enough to retain interest. The pace is an integral component in voice over narration projects, and experienced actors tend to know how fast or slow to go for their target audience.

Using the Wrong Tone

Would you trust a happy, peppy voice that’s explaining a serious medical procedure? Feel like hopping on a plane to a travel destination if it’s being explained by a ho-hum voice? What about enjoying your e-learning experience that’s narrated by a haughty, snarky voice? All three are just a small sample of examples of using the wrong tone.

The tone of voice contributes to the overall mood of the project, and you don’t want one that turns off or offends your audience.

Failing to Ready the Script

Just because a voice over narration script is written doesn’t mean it’s ready for action. Before the script lands in the hands of the voice over artist, it needs a final review. This includes proofreading for copy errors, grammar and potential timing issues. It also includes specifying pronunciations of numbers, unusual proper names, words with more than one pronunciation, and unfamiliar or highly technical words.

Not Providing Proper Direction

While the most experienced professional voice over artists may be able to discern the ideal way to read a script, you still want to make sure her ideas align with your own. For best results, clients need to give proper voice direction as to style, target audience, and usage.

A phone patch session can be extremely useful to allow clients to direct voice talent in real-time and make 100% certain they get exactly what they want in the final recording. This avoids costly re-records which usually waste time and money for both the client and the voice talent.

To ensure your voice over narration project makes the greatest positive impact on your audience, it’s crucial to avoid the biggest mistakes. And avoiding those mistakes is certainly easier with a professional voice over artist by your side. Contact me for a quote or to request an audition today.

Voice-Over Narration: Do It Yourself or Pay for a Pro?

Voice-Over Narration: Do It Yourself or Pay For a Pro?

Your corporation could have one, two or even dozens of video ideas in your lineup, from how-to instructional videos to those providing a description of your company or a rundown on specific services or products. You may also have an in-house team that typically takes care of all your production needs.

But, is that team using a voice that can really “cut it” when it comes to keeping your viewers fully engaged?

If you’re tempted to tap the smoothest-sounding voice from your staff to narrate your corporate videos, you may think you’re saving time, money and the hassle of searching out a full-time voice-over pro to hire for the job. But you could instead end up wasting time, money and creating an even bigger hassle when the smoothest-sounding voice doesn’t necessarily produce the smoothest final result.

As a longtime professional voice-over actor, I often get contacted by clients who have already completed their narration with someone that just didn’t work for them. The companies have already shelled out money as well as enormous amounts of time and effort – only to be saddled with a video they couldn’t use – due to shoddy and substandard narration.

The shoddiness may have come from any number or combination of problems. These are problems you simply won’t face if you hire an experienced full-time voice-over pro.

5 Reasons to Hire a Pro to Narrate Your Business or Corporate Videos

Reasons to Hire a Narration Voice-Over Pro - We've got the pleasant sounding voice down pat

1. We’ve got the pleasant voice down pat.

Just because a voice is smooth or distinctive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pleasant for the listener. And a grating or irritating narration can make people turn off your video within the first few sentences.

Human beings get annoyed by a variety of things they experience through their senses, as this article explains: “You Bug Me, Now Science Explains Why.” When you are competing for your audience’s full attention, you cannot afford to have anything that could be seen or heard as annoying.

Full-time pro voice-over actors generally have years of training and experience that allows them to produce the pleasant voice listeners enjoy and trust. Listeners want someone who sounds knowledgeable on a topic without sounding arrogant. They need fluidity in the presentation of the material so it’s easily understood.

They want someone they can relate to, similar to a coworker or immediate supervisor. Voice-over pros can deliver all of the above, which is especially important in longer e-learning or instructional videos where viewers are tuning in for an extended period.

In general, people are very picky today. They have short attention spans but no shortage of distractions (both worthwhile and time-wasting) constantly pulling on their attention to focus elsewhere. It is imperative that you do everything possible to ensure that your video has a narration that is pleasant and engaging all the way through to the end.

For a very interesting article about the current and future “abundance of content” which is driving the need for better and better quality of business videos, check out “The Age of Abundance: How the Content Explosion Will Invert the Media Industry.” Thanks to CourVO for bringing that one to my attention!

Reason #2:

Voice-Over Narration: We Get Your Style

2. We get your style.

Full-time voice-over actors typically come equipped with an arsenal of different vocal styles they can produce, along with the capabilities to adapt them as needed to suit your own company’s vibe. Your corporate video narration may beg for an exciting, vibrant style; a serious, professional and responsible style; or a style that gives off a sophisticated and intelligent air.

The voice of your video narration is, in effect, the voice of your brand. Choosing a voice over artist carefully is a must. Picking a voice that doesn’t align with your overall brand could have the same jarring impact as picking a misaligned color scheme for branding materials. Not only can it clash with your existing materials, but it can derail your entire message.

Pros can serve up a variety of different styles, with many able to automatically produce what you’re looking for by simply reading the script or getting a bit of background on your company. Our voices are an effective tool for helping to position your company with the status you want. And once we know the audience you want to target, we can shape our voice to hit the bull’s eye.

Here are a few style examples from my Portfolio . First off, for CareNotify, we needed to create a Friendly, Reassuring and Uplifting feeling for the viewer:

The target style for this next video for the Child Check System was Responsibility and Compassion:

For a more Serious, Concerned read:

Finally, when narrating for technology-related videos, it is often important to convey Sophistication and Intelligence while still sounding very Friendly and Approachable:

You can see dozens more examples on my Narration Voice Overs page, across a wide range of types of narration.

Read Part 2 of this article, “Professional Narration Voiceover Has Many Advantages” to see 3 more reasons to hire a professional voice-over talent for your corporate narration projects.

Please share your comments and questions below. Thanks for reading!