Working in the engineering world can introduce you to some ideas that are simple, yet very effective. Many will have heard the terms “Kanban” or “6-Sigma”. These are methods to increase productivity and improve business processes. A subsection of these methods is to use “5 why’s” in root cause analysis. Sounds a bit complicated but it really can have an effect in many aspects of any business. And remember, voice over is a business. If you don’t treat it as such then you are destined for failure. Jeez, that sounds really depressing when I write it, but it is SO true!
How can the 5 why’s help you? Well, most of us are using this time of year to start setting goals and preparing for 2021. If you are setting goals correctly you should be asking the “5 how’s”. I should patent that! The most common goal we all set is our financial goal for the next year. It’s all well and good saying that “I will earn $100K in 2021”. That is a goal. But how are you going to do it? This is where you have to start asking “how?”. And you must do it over and over until there are no more how questions left. Here’s an example:
Goal: I will earn $100k in 2021 How? I will book enough jobs to generate $100K worth of revenue. How? I will increase my direct clients by 100%. Currently my direct clients generate $30K. This will increase my direct client revenue to $60K. (There will be other sub goals to this How) How? I will reach out and contact twice as many people every day as last year. (There will be other sub goals to this How) How? I will use an email scraping service to find more contacts in the fields and areas that I focus on. How? I will ask somebody more experienced in this field for advice on where to find an email scraping service that I can trust.
Now we have a goal with quantifiable actions and outcomes. And that is how all successful businesses operate. You then use data to adjust what you are doing to make sure that you stay on track. In this example, lets’ say that you added 12 clients to your list last year. That’s an average of 1 per month. Therefore, the data says that your expectations should now be to add 2 new direct clients per month. You MUST track this data. If you add 3 clients in January, then you only need to add 1 in February. If you add none in January, then you need to add 4 in February. And so on.
How do you add new direct clients? I can’t answer that for you. There are many people out there who say they can help you with that. I just find that it is a very personal and organic process. The basics are:
· Get lots of email addresses of people who will be willing to use your service (the start of your sales funnel)
· Send them an email that is not selling your service but a light introduction that preferably has a single call to action such as “if you are interested in hearing how I can help you, please click here to listen to my demo”
· If someone replies, then that is now classified as a warm lead and you can get more personal with them. Check out their website. Find something on social media that they posted that was of interest and let them know that you have shown an interest in what they do
· Mark these people in your system and follow up monthly. Still, do not sell your service. You are creating a relationship. They know you are a voiceover. You are just trying to stay top of mind
· Rinse and repeat
Warning! This is not a recipe to get quick results. It takes time to get on someone’s radar. Remember, they don’t know who you are and if they can trust you with a project. Relationships take time but once you build them, they are very satisfying and also profitable.
So, let’s look forward to 2021. Put some plans in action and ask the “5 how’s” for each goal. Track that data and watch your business improve. What do you have to lose? 2021 can’t be worse than 2020 – can it?