A Price List for your VOs

If you are new to the voice over industry one of the main questions that go through your head is what should you charge for your voice over services? If you are an established voice talent, this post might also be of interest to you. Rates are a recurrent and controversial topic because we are moving in a very competitive and fast-changing business environment.

A price list is a must for your voicing business. You may or may not publish it, but knowing your rates per recorded minute and VO genre is essential. It can provide a ballpark quote to that nervous client who wants to have an idea of how much a voice-over costs.

You don’t want to appear too greedy by asking for too much but you also don’t want to be a ‘busy fool’ – rushing around working your tail off and not getting the appropriate reward. Like in any business you need to be aiming for prices that are competitive but fair. The skill is in having a strong sense of your own abilities and confidently presenting your prices in a professional manner to your clients.

There are many “schools of thought”, academically speaking, on this sensitive area of rates. Some say rates should be “customized” to the client and the specific project, which is true. Yet it’s only natural that the client gets a quick idea or ballpark quote of the voicing service he is considering to hire.

So how do you create a price list for your voice over services? Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Research!  There is no better place than the internet to do this. If you search for Voice Over Rate Card and the country you are in, you are likely to find plenty of advice about how other VO artists are pricing their services. You will come across industry rate cards, forums, articles, blogs and VO artists who put their rate cards on their website. Some of the advice will be conflicting but the more research you do, you will start to find a common theme for what kind of price is correct for somebody new to the industry and relevant to the country you are in. Also, don’t be afraid to ask other VO artists. Yes, that means picking up the phone and giving them a call. Most VO artists are a pretty decent bunch and will give you the benefit of their experience.

2. Use a pattern, typically based on the price in final recorded minutes and the kind of job category or genre. You might put a minimum start-up fee. From your research you will start to see a pattern on how much to charge for a corporate voice over compared to an e-learning project. Research the different genres of voice over and start to formulate your pricing based on the findings.

3. Whatever you do, don’t lowball your prices! It can be tempting when you are new to the industry to lower your prices just to get the work. This is not good practice. Remember that you have invested time, coaching, equipment, networking etc into your VO career. You need to charge a competitive price for your time based on how long the VO job is going to take and don’t forget to factor in prices such as studio time or ISDN fees if you happen to be using that facility. If the client doesn’t want to pay the going rate then the answer should be NO.

4. Once you have produced a rate card that you feel is fair and competitive then always keep it to hand. If a client rings you and wants to know how much you charge you want to be able to give a confident answer there and then. This will illustrate to the client that you are a professional. Any hesitation and indecision on your rates will put you in a weaker position when it comes to price negotiation.

Another thing to consider are your colleagues in the VO industry. The more VO artists that lowball their rates, the stronger the likelihood that rates for the industry will start to fall. Hold firm on your prices for the benefit of the entire VO artist community!

For further reading please check out this excellent blog by the talented VO artist Paul Strikwerda. You will never lowball your rates again after reading this!

Do you think it’s a good or a bad thing to announce your rates? How did you put together your voice over rate card? What experience have you had of clients trying to reduce your rates? Please share your feedback here below.