Let's share our hit ratio, starting now.

Bill Oxley

Hi folks,

I started as a Premium member more than a year ago and after approximately 400 auditions and a maybe 10 paying jobs, I decided not to renew. I was tired of being #156 in a line of 300 auditions, most of which were of poor quality for a variety of reasons. IMHO, clients just won't listen beyond #20, particularly if they're only filling a $300 job.

I came to that realization when I had to fill a job myself with a British talent and found that I stopped listening to auditions even before reaching #20. So, why would other businesspeople be different?

But, I've just purchased a Premium Membership. Why? In the past few weeks, I've heard and read that V123 is going to make a genuine effort to reward talent who receive excellent client feedback with more audition opportunities, which would leave behind those talent with poor ratings and prevent them from clogging the system. I've also heard that there'll be a opportunity for clients to specify the limit of auditions they'll want to hear.

Both of these improvements I think are two positive steps in an effort by V123 to improve its business model and service both of its customer groups - talent and clients - better. I'm ready to give it another shot.

Let's share our hit ratio with one another to see how it changes over time particularly after V123 makes those changes.

Under the present climate, I'd estimate my hit ratio to be 50:1 What's yours?

Thanks,

Bill
www.billoxleyvoiceovers.com

Freddie Molina · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006, 23:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Dear Bill,
We are really excited these new changes coming on to Voice123, we really hope these steps and new tools help Voice123 become what you expect it to be and bring the return you want. Please keep us posted, we’ll like to get your feedback once the new system is released. wink und grin

Al Connors · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006, 23:43 (GMT) Post subject:

Bill,

It's your old Program Director from K-BEST 95 in San Diego. You sound great.

Al Connors
audiobuzz1@aol.com
www.alconnors.voice123.com

John Moore · Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006, 03:58 (GMT) Post subject:

Hey Bill,

I'm new to voice123 - my hit rate is 45:1 at the moment.
I think it's an interesting stat to share. As I said, I'm new here, but the quality of the leads I've received so far is pretty good. At 40-50:1 if you can build a few relationships along the way, this could work...I like the sound of the new screening rules - just hope I can get some positive feedback into the mix quick!
John

Alex Torrenegra · Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006, 05:53 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you guys, specially Bill. We are working hard to deliver what you have heard Wink

. Exciting news are coming soon.

Andy Rowe · Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006, 07:37 (GMT) Post subject:

Many good points raised so far... Its just gone 8am, Ive just turned the machine on and great a new audition lead from V123. The client has specified both US and British English... and already 150 talents have responded. I wont bother then...

a) this must be tough for the client and b) poor old us on the other side of the atlantic

Kind regards to all

Freddie Molina · Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006, 12:05 (GMT) Post subject:

Hello Andy.

We are totally aware of this situation and as you probably know by now, Voice123 is going to be implementing a few tools that will help clients stipulate how many auditions will they like to listen to and limit the amount of answers to a single lead.

Also the new matching system is coming with ¨Voice123 SmartCast¨ it´s going to be way more personalized, helping the system select the best talents for each lead.

In the near future you won’t have to worry about how many talents have replied or even the time difference

All these exciting changes are coming very soon.

Dustin Ebaugh · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006, 06:59 (GMT) Post subject: Hit ratio

My hit ratio is about 270:4. And one of the four jobs I got, the client didn't pay. But, the first of the other three jobs paid for my membership. So, it's an ok deal. I hear you about being the 300th person, etc. I'm VERY pleased that Alex and Co. are working on a solution to this issue. It's very frustrating to do a custom audition and have a pretty good sense that it will never be heard.

Peter Michael McGowan · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006, 07:29 (GMT) Post subject: Hit ratio

Hi Bill & all using V123.
My ratio is about the same, 50:1, but have had some 'private ' leads that became jobs, among that.
Glad to say also, that everyone has paid up too!
Regards,
Peter

Brad Venable · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006, 07:57 (GMT) Post subject:

Greetings all fellow friends of the mic!

I would have to say that my ratio when I started a year ago August was about 200:1...but then I started taking some tips from some industry folks, reading books and the like, and now it's about 20:1...Honestly, and I've had about two dozen private leads in addition to that. And I believe that it is simply because I started answering leads that I *knew* were "me."

That is to say, I know my strong areas are building characters, impersonations, animated...all the cartoon/video game type VO work. I only started answering those types of leads, with the occasional foray into the trailers for indie films and whatnot...but I am very selective about what I audition for, and those custom leads end up being all that much better, because I'm not sitting in the studio recording 30-40 custom demos an hour.

By doing it this way, I'm getting enough work to pay for equipment upgrades and other expenses, but I've also got three regular clients. I love this more than anything in the world, and I know everyone else here does too. I wish the very best of luck to everyone here...and drop by my site and leave a message.

Regards,
Brad Venable

http://www.bradvenable.com
http://bradvenable.voice123.com

Maureen (moe) Egan · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006, 16:00 (GMT) Post subject:

Greeters Fellow Talent!

First of all Thanks V123 for this forum...it's nice to have a virtual watercooler! I've been doing voice work full time for 3 years from home...the dog under my desk is my coworker, and she's not much of a conversationalist.[img] Very Happy

Regarding "Hit stats". When I first joined up with V123 (i'm on my second renewal so that's 3 years ago) I used to keep detailed records of every lead I responded to, which jobs I got etc. But I found that I was spending a lot of time keeping track of #s which took away time from me working and finding new jobs.

As a freelancer, my job is to audition so I just keep throwing those auditions against the wall and hope they stick...and keep throwing until I hear from them. If I focus TOO much on the #s game, I get side tracked too easily. When I was keeping track, I was averaging 65 answered leads to one job.

There's an old movie this reminds me of- some car chase flick. In one scene, one of the racers rips the rear view mirror off his windshield saying "Back there doesn't matter, I'm going to go forward". Good bad or indifferent, that's how I operate....throttle, ahead full.

I can tell you that I do answer about 50% of the leads that I get from V123. I used to answer EVERYTHING. Now I'm more selective now, like you Brad...and yes, Private Leads and leads that lead to regular clients are what we all strive for. Most of my current business comes from regulars...and about half of my regulars came from V123. (I love you guys!)

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Alex Torrenegra · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006, 03:20 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you all!

Being selective to what you answered is a very good strategy that pays off. In our new release talents and producers that are picky (in reference to the projects they submit auditions or proposal) will be rewarded even more.

Noel Gibilaro · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006, 03:29 (GMT) Post subject:

Barry Seymour · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006, 20:08 (GMT) Post subject:

Yeah, my hit ratio is not so good. 693 answered over the past 2 years, only about four gigs.

I have tried to be more selective lately, and I honestly don't think I s**k, so other than the admirable advice of 'practice, learn, read,' etc. I'm not sure what to do.

I do like the idea of the better-rated talents 'bubbling up,' but then what about talents who have not gotten ANY work? Where do they show up? How do they get rated? Just some thoughts.

On a related note, it seems like things have really slowed down lately. Has SmartTrack kicked in, and am I suffering because of it? [g]

Gary Johnston · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006, 05:38 (GMT) Post subject:

It makes me feel better to read your post, Barry. At least I know I'm not alone. So far my hit ratio is 241:0 and I've had a few late night chats with my confidence as a result. I'm not sure what else we could do to improve our hit ratio. Last night I was working on a project when an email arrived from Voice123 with a new lead. I opened it immediately to answer. There were already 243 submissions! I can't sit at my computer and constantly refresh the leads page but it seems the emails get held somewhere and are about 20 minutes late. I can't help but think, as I've heard others express, that submitting that late in the game is a futile effort. That'd be an interesting survey to run; How many have gotten jobs when more than 100 auditions preceeded them? I know it happens but my reality says it is a rare occurrence.