In the process of teaching my course, giving my workshops, holding [OFFICE HOURS] and socializing with other voice talent in various groups on Facebook and LinkedIn I’ve met hundreds of amazingly talented voice artists who struggle to make a living doing voice over and are looking for help creating a reliable income through voice work.

And the biggest reason they struggle? Is because of what they charge.

Price is a Function of Perceived Value
Price is a function of “perceived value”…yours and the clients.

There are a lot of things that go into perceived value … what you can charge for your services is a function of the value the buyer attaches to the purchase and that YOU attach to your own worth.

What you can charge and what you ACTUALLY charge is almost never the same thing.

Why Undercharge?
In my experience far too many voice talent undercharge because they feel that price is simply a function of competition OR that they simply don’t value what they do enough to get what they’re worth!

Compounding the problem are inexperienced engagers who are awarding projects to the “lowest bidder” as apposed to the voice talent who is able to communicate the idea of their script the best.

There’s a reason why big ad agencies pay more for what you do, and that’s because they “value” what you do.

I think we can all agree that selling your voice services on Fiverr is no way to create a reliable income…even if some say they do it as an introductory offer. When a client who’s hired you through Fiverr has the budget to hire someone at a proper price they will most likely NOT turn to you. Why? Because of perceived value. They believe that you are only worth the $5 you charged them before.

Reevaluate What You Bid
Somebody recently told me that before you send a quote for a job, pause…comeback and add 15% to what you were going to charge. More often than not, if they like your voice, they will accept the quote. By that one gesture you have increased your perceived value in that customers mind.

Another way you can increase your perceived value is by doing something called a “results review”. A report card of sorts, on how you did after you’ve delivered your audio to the client.

Ask Your Client’s Opinion
You can do this review by sending an email and casually asking or you can do something more formal through a Survey Monkey short question survey. You could ask questions like:

• How would you rate the quality of my service? 1-10, 10 being the best.
• How would you rate the sound quality? Again 1 through 10
• Would you recommend my services to a colleague? (If no…how can I improve?)

And finally be sure to leave them a space to write a general comment on the transaction. You’ll will likely get a usable quote that you can put on your website!

It’s important to keep the list of questions short and easy to respond to, a click here and a click there. You don’t want to take up more than 2 minutes of their time. You can sign up for free at SurveyMonkey.com go have a look.

What You’ll Discover
Once you have the results of your review one of 2 things will happen:

1) you’ll find that you didn’t deliver on the clients perceived value… and that’s ok because that’s how you can improve or
2) you’ll define a tangible amount of value that the customer received…because that will act as proof of value delivered and should give you the confidence to raise your prices.

At first it may seem scary to turn down low paying jobs but “stick to your guns” and to use another cliché…”short term pain, leads to long term gain”.

In order to create a reliable income you’ve got to step back and measure your “perceived value” …and then start charging what you’re worth.